How far can you merchandise a content site?

When will you drive your readers away?

[universetoday]

I've got a content-related site that's got pretty good traffic (5K pageviews a day), PR 7, and a very loyal subscriber base. I've done a good job in personalizing the site so my subscribers feel like they know me, etc.

I've had affiliate programs and ads in the site for a few years, but I've never really put much effort into it, and only made a few bucks here and there. I've done some recent experiments and seen that people will buy if I do a good job of presenting the offers which are appropriate to the audience.

I want to figure out ways to earn revenue from the audience, but I don't want to make them grumpy when I'm hawking my wares to help pay for the site. Amazingly, nobody's complained so far, and I've put up some pretty large advertisements.

Anyone have any suggestions? Are people so glad to receive free content these days that they're willing to withstand advertising?

[Chris_R]

I don't mind ads, but I think most people hate popups - and HUGE ads with sound or those stupid things that follow you.

A couple banners or well placed text links that are clearly ads will not offend most people.

[europeforvisitors]

I have a travel-related content site that earns significant revenues from affiliate links, and I've never had a complaint about my site being too "commercial." I think that's because most of my affiliate material consists of text links in product categories that my users are interested in (hotels, car rentals, rail passes, and so on). I don't have display ads plastered all over the site, I don't use popups or popunders, and very little of my editorial content could be described as "advertorial." I'm also careful to use a design that says "editorial" rather than "e-commerce." (If I had to pick a design model, I'd go with The New York Times or The Guardian, not L.L. Bean or American Airlines.)

[Jenstar]

Is your site in an area where you can have advertisers? It is amazing what a link with "Advertise With Us" will do ;)

I have one content site that does quite well in advertising revenue (virtually all through an "Advertise with us" link that appears within the regular nav bar of the site). I hardly do any advertising with outside affiliate programs such as CJ because I do so well with individual advertisers, and I also don't want to make my visitors feel like I am "hawking my wares". Definitely more work, but definitely more profitable for me.

Make sure you have enough information on your "Advertise with us" page though, such as site stats, exactly where different ad options will be placed on the site, next available date for each ad space etc. You want to make it easy for people to order and pay for their ads right away, without having to email you for simple questions like how many visits per month your site gets, and if the ad can begin the following Monday, or if there is a two-month wait. You can always put a "we reserve the right to refuse any ad" if you are worried about what people might try to advertise ;)

If you have a newsletter component as well, you can also sell ads for the newsletter as well.

[universetoday]

I like the "advertise with us" idea right in the ad space, that will probably attract some eyeballs.

I'm definitely going to avoid pop-ups and any ads which are either annoying or irrelevant. No punched monkeys or Internet connection warnings - if it's annoying me, it'll be annoying the readers.

[Jenstar]

I don't use pop-ups either (and have only had one advertiser ever request a pop-up).

I also put a disclaimer for advertisers that no flashing or annoying banners are allowed ;) I also state that banners can only be in gif or jpg and under a certain size - I used to get people sending me flash banners.

Don't forget the text-only ads - banners aren't the only option, and for me, text-only ads sell much better.

[rcjordan]

Ditto to everything Jenstar said, pretty much right down the line.

>if it's annoying me

On content sites, you have to take editorial control ...that means that your instincts are often in the driver's seat. Go with them.

I routinely look through my referrals and grade my own sites. If it's answered their question or pointed them to a website that can answer at least part of their question, good. If I can find an advertiser or affiliate program that answers their question, GREAT!

[universetoday]

Can you clarify that? Are you saying you look through the keywords people searched with when they arrived at your site?

[rcjordan]

>you saying you look through the keywords people searched with when they arrived at your site

Exactly. Over time, and particularly if you have a broad site that picks up a lot of peripheral kw phases, you can develop a pretty good feel for the type of information they are seeking. I knew, for instance, that I had a LOT of people planning honeymoons at XYZ resort on some of my sites. I recently signed a regional association of wedding-related vendors as sponsors --EVERYBODY is happy.

[Jenstar]

peripheral kw phases

By seeing some of the (sometimes odd) keywords people were using to get to my site, it helped me to add additional content on those keywords. In turn, those visitors found additional targeted content related to the keywords that brought them to the site in the first place.

I ended up developing an entire section around something that I probably wouldn't have if I hadn't been watching those keyword phrases. And it brings a significant amount of traffic each month.

[MotherE]

universetoday,

Another possibility is to link from a high PR page to another domain of yours that sells stuff. This keeps your established site clean. For example, if you have a content site about getting old you can link to your other site that sells Geritol.

[Go60Guy]

Let me follow up a little on what motherE said. I'm going to commit what some may regard as heresy here.

By all means use your PR7 site to link to other sites you'll create for your ecommerce agenda. That will give those sites a significant initial boost which will see you through the time it takes to gather other external links to enhance support for each new site.

Your other sites do not need to be on-topic with your main site. Let your imagination run wild. Look into lucrative areas in affiliate marketing. Its a misconception that your affiliate links need to touch on the subject matter of your content site.

In other words, your content site can be the tide that raises all boats.

I know many will not agree. Its just that my experience has been in keeping with what I've described here.

[universetoday]

So, what you're saying is that you create a high-traffic, high-PR site and then link away to your various other ventures where you merchandise like crazy. Your high PR helps raise all your other ventures without really clouding the water with your main audience. Obviously, I'll be willing to link to myself. :-)

I like that.

[Go60Guy]

Yes, but do not neglect getting other external links to your new sites. And, there is no need to link back to your content site. As your other sites gain in PR, then link outwardly from them to other new sites, and so on. Again, no need to link back. All the time you should work on getting additional external links.

You're getting the picture.