Monetize Google Gadgets and Brain Teasers Website

How to monetize google gadgets and website that does not sell anything.

[rookie1ja]

hi guys,

pls could you advise how to monetize my international "brain teasers site" (I do not sell any products, I have just a good collection of logic puzzles):
AdSense - I already have it on some pages (I would like to add some complementary ads in line with AdSense policy)
Yahoo Publisher Network - only US publishers allowed? in that case not applicable for me
Chitika - will not work for me, since I don't offer any product reviews (I just have a site with lots of logic puzzles)
Amazon (and other pay-per-action systems) - I tried it, but pay-per-action simply does not work for my site

in addition to my classic website (static pages and forum), I would like to monetize my google gadgets with pay-per-impression ads (advertising space in gadgets is max. 250x100px)

where could I find a good advertiser for my site and my google gadgets (note that pay-per-action does not work for my site)?
- Casale Media site is down for me (I have also deleted cookies and restarted my PC)
- ValueClick?
- Tribal Fusion (are there any better alternatives?)

let me know your suggestions on how to monetize my google gadgets and my website

thanks

ps: I can let you know details via PM

[eljefe3]

Welcome to WebmasterWorld. It sounds like at this point you will need to go out and find advertisers.

BTW, what are you uniques per month. If you are close to 1 millionj uniques per month, I'm sure you could get an ad network on there.

[rookie1ja]

eljefe3, thanks for your response ... to find advertisers - that's exactly what I want ... and my question is "how/where to find them" ... I mentioned a few ways, but I wonder what your advice would be (maybe based on my traffic and the content - both mentioned)

as per google analytics, I have split my site into 3 groups:
static html pages (AdSense already present) - 70,848 Absolute Unique Visitors/March 2008
forum pages (no ads at all) - 120,200 Absolute Unique Visitors/March 2008
4 google gadgets - 1,540,381 Absolute Unique Visitors/March 2008

of course, visits and pageviews are much higher

thanks for advice

[eljefe3]

One way would be to see what sites and types of sites your competitors are getting to advertise on their sites. If they don't have any either, then it'll be tougher as that would mean that people advertising on these types of sites don't get enough of a return for them to continue advertising. With the number of uniques you have for the gadgets, you should be able to get some advertisers, but you might have to become a salesman to get them.

Not sure if any of the " get smarter" type products would work for you, but you could at least give that a shot while you are looking for advertisers. Also what about other sites that have games, puzzles etc. Maybe they would be interested in buying a link... I mean advertising from you :).

[rookie1ja]

getting some idea on advertisers from competitors is an option ... however, I was hoping to get some tip on a good agency/website that would find suitable advertisers for my site - is there any you could advise?

it seems that I will have to become a salesman and find advertisers on my own ... writing to each and every possible advertiser personally

[eljefe3]

>>however, I was hoping to get some tip on a good agency/website that would find suitable advertisers for my site

You'd probably have to pay a large percentage for this if you could find one to take you on. I just don't think they would see that doing the work for you would be worth it.

>>it seems that I will have to become a salesman and find advertisers on my own ... writing to each and every possible advertiser personally.

That or just go with a cpm network that will accept you and take what they pay.

[soudou]

How were you using Amazon affiliate? If you just put up generic links that may be why it didn't do too well. But Amazon has alot of individual "brain" products. Games, puzzle books etc. It would take more time but you should probably create Do-It-Yourself individual links directly to individual products with a pic of the product and snippet of what it is. I read on Amazon affiliate forums there is some tutorials about how to do this effectively.
If you dont already you could even have a news/blog section where you inform people of new games/books etc. and put your direct affiliate links there.

[rookie1ja]

amazon does not work for me very well (and I have played around with it - tried a few things)

My Favorites Widget (4 great books related to the content of my site) - Q4 2007 data:
463254 impressions brought less than $10 (9 shipped books)

aStore Q4 2007 revenue through purchase = $3.76

I am sure that it could be improved, however, I don't expect big changes

any other ideas except of amazon?