Forum Moderators: martinibuster
On my editorial travel-planning site, I use a combination of AdSense ads, display skyscrapers, and affiliate links. The three revenue streams complement each other nicely, and it's nice to know that I'm not dependent on any one income source.
and it's nice to know that I'm not dependent on any one income source.
That's the true road to financial success.
Have lots of income sources... that way if one does bad... who cares.
It is also good to not depend on seasonal fluctuations. Having two niches with traffic peaking at different times is not a bad idea.
That's another reason for having multiple revenue sources: Each may peak at a different stage of the research and buying cycle.
For example, I've found that AdSense does surprisingly well at times of the year when affiliate bookings are low, presumably because travelers are using AdSense to research tours, resorts, transportation, etc. before they've reached the stage when they're ready to actually book. (This stands to reason, since DoubleClick's "Research Before the Purchase" study of 2005 showed that most buyers conduct multiple searches over a period of weeks or months before they buy. Such behavior occurred in all of the sectors that DoubleClick studied, not just in the travel sector.)
That's called shopping around..We women have been doing it since the dawn of eternity :) (we even shop around when hubby hunting).
I have always shopped around when buying something over ten bucks so that "study" was probably easy to research.
hehehe
Ann
Pros:
1- You cut the middle man, so the pay is better.
2- Reminds you to get down and dirty with your pages again, more than just inserting the ad code.
3- Throws you back into the advertising industry, following trends, news..
4- Feels more like running a business than with AdSense, it's like the difference between a McDonalds burger and a backyard grilled juicy steak.
5- No feedback is more valuable than that of a paying customer, something you don't get with AdSense.
6- More personally rewarding to close a sale, also a repeat long term advertiser feels & pays much better than getting site targeted in AdSense.
7- Payment cycle is much better when you get paid in advance.
8- Teaches you to put real value & quantify the return on your pages and traffic, pricing exercises are excellent eye openers, and even helps you with AdSense.
9- Forces you to follow your site statistics & errors more closely, when a client that paid in advance is holding the whip, it sure hurts more than when AdSense earnings drop.
10- An additional revenue stream is your best insurance policy against fluctuations.
Cons:
a- More time consuming than AdSense & affiliate networks.
b- Can also be unpredictable, so a third and forth revenue stream is needed.
Pursuing direct advertisers works best for me as a method of diversification.Pros:
1- You cut the middle man, so the pay is better....
Sometimes you'll earn more with a middleman. If you've got enough traffic and there's a knowledgeable rep firm in your niche, you're likely to attract a wider range of advertisers (especially big-name advertisers and their media buyers) than you could on your own. Having a middleman is an even better deal if the rep firm serves your ads.
What Hobbs said was pretty much what I was thinking about except I didn't realize it was that "scary".
1. What's the best way to approach advertisers?
2. What questions do potential advertisers ask when they consider advertising on your site?
3. Is is better to charge a monthly rate or ppc?
4. Since my site's just getting out of the sandbox, my uniques are only about 100 a day with visits reaching about 200 + a day. Wouldn't advertisers consider this peanuts? Should I wait until I get a higher volume of traffic and if yes, then what would the ideal volume be?
What about joining a solid reputable affiliate program?
Asked a lot of questions.... thanks in advance for your time and concern! ; ]
Great points for all to consider:-)
AdSense for me is a very easy method to get my industry to use the Net to advertise without myself being involved for, sure as hell, when I've tried to get them to advertise direct...not a cat in hell's chance!
They trust me to deliver the relevant pages in the SERPs at #1 however they prefer to deal with Google for their advertising needs since they know exactly what they're getting and precisely how much it costs.
I know how much it would cost me to set-up an ad promotion division and it would not be worth it for me since the global ad budget in my trade is very, very low.
This is precisely why AdSense/contextual ads win since the advertisers realistically do have the ultimate control over their own budgets and can accurately see their promotional results, whether successful or not, and without having to wait weeks or months and, even then, not have a definitive answer.
So, for any doubters of contextual advertising, re-read that last paragraph since more will be using it!
Ann
