Pros and Cons of Putting Banners on Forums

[webmastertexas]

My forum is one of my site's biggest bandwidth hogs, so I was thinking of putting banners on there just to earn back some of the bandwidth it's draining. Nothing big, no pop-ups, maybe an Adsense or a Fastclick 468 banner. What are the pros and cons of this? I know people don't click on banners in forums, but I'm thinking that the impressions alone (with Fastclick banners) would make it worth it. Good idea? Bad?

[Rosalind]

I think the crucial questions are how many and how relevant. Overdoing it with banners will make the forum slow to load and turn members away. But if you have just one banner that's directly related to the subject matter, it's pretty much expected.

[webmastertexas]

With Fastclick it would be random banners.

[Anat]

Forums can definitely be resource hoggers... We have ads on our forums now - leaderboards/banners by several networks in 3 tiers + pop-ups. I hate pop-ups as much as the next person, but they do pay well.

What we did is we have optional paid subscription. Paying members can opt to switch ads on or off. That way, if people really hate the ads, they can take them off there by paying $5 a month. Surprisingly, many of the paying members keep the ads. They say that they'd like to help us a bit more. Also, some of our ads are targeted and they want to see those :D

BTW - I think Fastclick doesn't allow ads on forums. I would suggest checking with them first.

[webmastertexas]

BTW - I think Fastclick doesn't allow ads on forums. I would suggest checking with them first.

I've seen Fastclick's ads on a lot of forums.

[rogerd]

As an alternative to CPM banners or Adsense, consider a sponsor approach in which an advertiser could sponsor the whole forum or individual topics. This is less intrusive than cheesy, off-topic banners, and it gets you away from having to talk about low click rates.

[Anat]

You can put them on forums but it is against the TOS :)

[webmastertexas]

You can put them on forums but it is against the TOS :)

But if it's against the TOS and I see some major sites doing it, is it REALLY against the TOS? :)

[Jenstar]

AdSense is allowed on forums - just watch for discussions about the AdSense which can sometimes be against the terms (depending on what specifically the discussion is about). CTR tends to be low on forums, often in the .5% to 1% CTR.

Having a monthly banner sponsor is another idea I have used.

[benevolent001]

But what i think is that,placing Google Adsense ads which are relevant to the discussion going on in the forum would be much more relevant and earning then placing random ads

[webmastertexas]

The assumption I was going under is that, since CTR is abysmal when put on forums, that I would rely more on impressions (CPM) to earn revenue instead of click-throughs. That's why I was considering Fastclick. For the CPM, because the forum is really hogging a lot of bandwidth.

[rogerd]

CPM ads are fine, but be sure the TOS allows them to be put on forums. I wouldn't assume that CPM ads are a panacea for a forum's low CTR. CPM advertisers count clicks, too. If they see a low CTR that results in a low ROI, they'll pull the plug on your ads very quickly.

[aghill]

I've had a good experience running adsense on my forums over the last few months. Not going to get rich, but it more than pays for the cost of the site. WHat I really like about adsense vs others is that not only are the ads generally relevant to the discussion (and not flashing "Click here because you're the winning 1000th visitor" etc), but I've adjusted the color scheme so that they fit in to the forums without being obtrusive. I've recently begun experimenting with different color schemes, that are still similar to the look of the forums but stand out. Also, I remind people that the ads offset the cost of running the site (a subtle "Please click the ads")

[gethan]

> Also, I remind people that the ads offset the cost of running the site (a subtle "Please click the ads")

Be very careful here - this is against the Adsense TOS's. I'd do a quick reread just to make sure what you're doing is within them - [google.com...] (incentives to click...)

HTH

[aghill]

That's a good point Gethan. I just reviewed the TOS, and I think I'm in the clear... but will revise my practices to be safe.