When To Throw In The Towel

How long do you hang on?

[J_Evans]

I have a travel, sights and area information site and I am just getting tired of working on the site without any real gains. It is not my job. Just a hobby that I hoped would lead to more. I have been working for three years The first year I understand, new, unknown and slow. The second year better, gained some direct advertising and a second program to go along with Adsense. Now things are going backwards. I know the economy is down but gosh clicking on the ads is free. Is it time to look for another subject and bag the current site or maybe just time to quit? How do you tell? Thanks.

[J_Evans]

Actually those numbers have been alot better but I am taking about the overall earnings. You can see the return per unique is good but yes it is if you get enough visitors. On the other hand if that earning per unique is double that you only need one half the visitors. So I guess what everyone is telling me is that I need to build the traffic count. I agree, but as are some others I am evidently not doing something right. Few link trade requests are even answered let alone agreed. Don't remember who but I need to quit reading this forum and read the traffic forum. Thanks.

[BillyS]

>>I wouldn't call those great numbers, but they aren't that bad......

kenb - if he gets 1 pages per visitor, then the eCPM is $15, at 2 pages it's $30. If you figure 3 pages per visitor (which I did), then his eCPM is close to $50.

[hal12b]

It really depends upon how you value your time. If making $3 a day is what you make for 3 hours of work, bang it in. If you're making $300 a day for 2 hours of work, yet hoped to make $1000 a day... well.. the choice is yours.

[J_Evans]

Google Adsense shows my ecpm for 1/1/09 - 05/26/09 at $ 8.71 Page views at Adsense report show 1.69 but when you go to Analyticals the page views go up to 1.83 per unique visitor.

I am closer to the $3.00 for 3 hour ratio, but I would gladly settle for $ 300 for two hours and yes if I was $ 1000 for two hours I most likely would not be dicussing things so much. Maybe someday.

[ken_b]

BillyS
[quote]if he gets 1 pages per visitor, then the eCPM is $15, at 2 pages it's $30. If you figure 3 pages per visitor (which I did), then his eCPM is close to $50. [/quote}

Isn't that backwards? Or am I confused about the math?

Using $.015 per visitor and 1,000 visitors.

1 pageview per visit = 1,000 pageviews = $15.00 eCPM

2 pageviews per visit = 2,000 pageviews = $7.50 eCPM

3 pageviews per visit = 3,000 pageviews = $5.00 eCPM

Math never was my best subject.

[CWebguy]

well, techinically eCPM won't change at all. (It's based on 1000 views, it doesn't matter if these views come from 1000 visitors or just 1)

If the stat is $.015 per visitor, even if the visitor has 1,000,000 page views it won't change earnings (he is still only generating $.015 on average regardless of his pageviews)

You are mixing pageviews and unique visitors

Edit: Nevermind, I see what you are doing Ken. If it takes three times the pageviews to get the same earnings, then yes, ECPM would be lower (by a third)

[edited by: CWebguy at 4:09 am (utc) on May 28, 2009]

[js2k9]

My click values are near nothing since March 2009. I don't know what happened, it was not the crisis because the crisis was on for a while and it changed overnight. I think the ammount they pay out has been drastically reduced in march 2009.

[Jane_Doe]

You might want to start a few other sites and see if some other topics make more of an income with less work. Sometimes the weirdest stuff makes decent money with little effort and sometimes sites I thought were a great idea never really get off the ground.

[workingNOMAD]

Never give up, ever.

[maximillianos]

Let me share me story, which hopefully will help you.

I started my site about 10 years ago. Well before adsense even existed. Spent 3-4 years busting my butt building it up, but never really seeing a return. Decided to throw in the towel and sell. Got an offer but I backed out last minute. Why? I had invested 4 years into my site. I was passionate about it. It was worth more to me than anyone else.

So I decided to keep it and make it more self sufficient. Run by the users/community. Less work for me and still get to keep the site growing.

Long story short. Adsense came along and the site became profitable. Now it is my fulltime job and supports my family.

If you are passionate about it, find a way to keep it going with less work from you. Take on a partner to keep running with it. You never know what it could turn into down the road.

[Play_Bach]

Maximillianos - I'm in a similar boat (though nowhere near supporting a family from AdSense, wow). I also made my site long before AdSense came along and making money on it wasn't something I really thought about. Google changed everything. Yahoo! and MSN hadn't ever offered anything like AdSense (and they still don't!). Even though I'm a relatively small fish in this pond, Ive made more money from AdSense than I ever dreamt was possible. Thanks Google!

[ken_b]

maximillianos; Congratulations on your success.

Someone in this thread asked why throw in the towel if it's a hobby. I can understand the feeling, but think the rewards of hanging on are worth it, and would be worth it even without the money.

Hobbies take time and effort and sometimes just get frustrating.

I'm into old cars, but I'm also the kind of guy that shouldn't be allowed to own a wrench, which often leads me to think I should sell the old cars, which need a bit of tender loving care on a regular basis. Instead I take the car to a reputable shop known for the quality of their service and fair prices.

Maybe the idea of finding someone to help with the site, maybe another web savvy enthusiast, is worth looking at.

Another possibility is to put the site on auto pilot for a while if possible, take a vacation so to speak, that can do wonders for your perspective and enthusiasm.

[acac]

> When To Throw In The Towel

"Never give up, never surrender"
Commander Peter Quincy Taggart - Galaxy Quest

;)

[fredw]

By Grapthar's Hammer, I shall avenge your Smart Pricing!

[Jane_Doe]

Galaxy Quest

The most under-rated movie of all time. My kids used to watch that over and over again when they were little, and they were never even Star Trek fans.

When To Throw in the Towel

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There's no use being a damn fool about it. - W.C. Fields