Do sites sell Just by Traffic

Need some guidiance.

[simpleton]

I've made a for kids.

I just checked it's page ranking and its 7.

I get about 3.2 million hits a month and over 2 lakh visits.

The reason I am writing here is I am crossing a traffic bandwidth of
30 GBs ( 30,000 mbs)a month.

As you know I am liable to pay my host for the extra bandwidth.

For the time being, my host has agreed he will not charge me for
the extra bandwidth and I have to insert his banners etc to reciprocate him.

I just wanted to know, If necessary, Is it possible to sell/know
the valuation of my site based only on Page ranking and hits.

I have never accepted advtms and there is no revenue model so far
but it does have a potential I believe.

I LOVE my website and hate to loose it but due this bandwidth restrictions, I may have to part with the site :(

Its my labor of love.

hoping for some help/guidance in this regards,

[thejenn]

You can search some other threads here and on other board about what happens when you tell folks that you'll accept advertising from them and charge based on your PR. (Don't do it!)

If you are seeing those kinds of traffic numbers there are likely several options you could try.

You could look into an appropriately relevant affiliate program. Even a small conversion rate on that much traffic might provide some extra revenue. You could consider offering premium content at a subscription rate. You could take the time to solicit and sell your own banner space based on your traffic numbers, or you could outsource this to a banner campaign management company. The more details you have on your audience, the more likely that method is to succeed.

You might try checking out some of the online marketing forums around here. There are many ways to make money from a web site. You just have to get creative. :)

[simpleton]

thejenn

Thanks for your prompt reply, indeed greatful.

regards

[buckworks]

Here's another suggestion for tackling this problem, from a different direction. Consider whether your pages are as bandwidth-efficient as possible. Finding ways to make your pages leaner could help you accomodate the same traffic but stay within your bandwidth allowance more easily.

For example, when I learned how to use CSS to eliminate font and formatting tags in my pages, the file sizes of some pages were cut by one-third or even half, without changing how the page looked.

Check that your graphics are optimized for the smallest file size possible. Depending on the image, sometimes you can achieve a significantly smaller file size with little or no discernible difference in visual quality. I like the GIFbot tool at Netmechanic for that. Also, look for places where you might be using an image to do a job that could be done by text.

Sometimes content that is repeated on multiple pages can be moved into an external .js file. The .js file is downloaded once and then held in the user's cache, so that bit can be reused instead of having to be downloaded new for every page. I do that often with things like search boxes or drop menus.

Tweaks that conserve bandwidth often result in faster pages as well, always A Good Thing.

Every bit helps, and I'm sure others could offer additional suggestions.

[shanz]

I would advise that you should get some expert advice and start up a revenue stream immediately.

That way you can keep your labour of love and get paid for it.

[onlineleben]

Hi simpleton,
I once had a similar problem with a site that I wanted to keep on topic and free of ads. The site was (and still is) listed as an adfree resource in directories and this attracts users. anyway, I couldn't keep it that way for long, as trafic increased.
I found a some products that are very much related to the topic my site is about. I wrote reviews and recommendations for these products and send the traffic to amazon. Conversion is OK. It pays for the hosting and that is just what I wanted.
Regarding bandwidth resuction you may find some valuable information in an other thread: Website Technology Issues / Bandwidth Reduction [webmasterworld.com]

[Slade]

You may find it cheaper depending on your hosts packages, to open a second account, say just for images. Then move all your images to this second account(call it images.yourdomain.tld).

[Jane_Doe]

> I just wanted to know, If necessary, Is it possible to sell/know
the valuation of my site based only on Page ranking and hits.

For the keywords people are finding your site on, see if there are Overture or Adwords ads on the same topic. Then check out what rate people are paying for those ads. If there's no ads at all, then that's not a good sign for your traffic being worth much. If there's lots of ads with high bids, then you might be on to something.

I just got contacted by a manufacturer to buy advertising on a couple of my pages, because I have content pages in the top 10 spots in Google for the keywords related to their products. The search term doesn't get tremendous traffic, but the Adwords sell for .50 - .75 a click (depending on the exact search term) and would cost them about $300 a month in adwords costs.

The ad space on my highest traffic page is actually worth much less, (close to zero), because the page is on a topic no advertisers care about.

[simpleton]

First lemme thank all ye guys for your replying to my post.
I guess I'll need some professional consultation in this regard, possibly an enterprising partner, since I am Not so tech-savvy. For the time being, my host has obliged and I'm putting up his banners/links on the site. Then, let's see. Just hoping 4 the best.

thanks again

[chiyo]

Other than raw traffic, the "value" of a site or page to an advertiser varies greatly depending on the "readership" or type of traffic it attracts.

For example, average CPM rates are quite high for sites relating to cars, business, business news, etc and low for sites about comics and education (in general). i think Toys attracts quite a high CPM.

If you are in a niche area with a readership with high disposable income or who are able to influence purchase decisions in a company the CPM can be 30 to 40 or even more USD CPM. For comparison, comic book sites and game sites often struggle to attract advertisers at $1 CPM. So a highly targeted niche site need not have many hits, just a lot of targeted hits!

You are getting a LOT of traffic. it would surprise me if you cant attract advertisers from say toy manufacturers, etc. As McDonalds proved, the target market need not have disposable income, just enormous influence with those who do!

I doubt your readers can influence decision re hosting decisions, but toys, hamburgers, other children's websites yes!

I use CPM as an example (cost per thousand impressions) as it does not involve you in complicated codes that may slow down site loading, and impression based avertising is more attractive to companies want to create brand awareness and recognition for later rather than just raw sales now.

[simpleton]

Chiyo,

thanks for your time & effort. Let's see If I can market the site. Not keen to commericalise but then good things have to come to an end I guess.

regards