Making Money From Forum/article Directory Sites

[kingsley]

One of the main reasons people decide to make a forum/article dirctory sites is to make profit or a living out of it. But, there are so maney forums/article directory sites out there.Is it still possible to make money out of forums/article directory sites? Are there people still making up to $500 - $2000 daily from it? Apart from adsense, wahat other good revenew you can put in your forum/article directory site that will make you money. Finally,how can one be different and maintain his community and make money from it?

kingsley

[peter_act@kiwismail.com]

I'd like to know this too.

I'm thinking of starting a forum for my site and would like to know the most adsense friendly one.

I'd like to put ads throughout the posts, not just at the start-are there any which let you do this?

Cheers from Australia

[bobtheteacher]

I've made an article directory within my free membership site www.TeachersInBusiness.com. Pulling just the articles that I find appropriate for the particular audience that I serve. The Adsense revenue is not a major feature of the site -- but the articles are allowing me to develop a relationship with my members so that they know that I am offering value to them, even at no cost. This way, when I offer coaching to them, they know that I will deliver as well.

Bob Jenkins
www.500ThingsToDo.com

[Chris]

Well I run a forum that gets over 2,000 unique visitors a day and it's definitely not converting into anything near $500+ a day, I'm normally content if it pulls in $5+ a day. Is it possible to build a forum that earns $500+ a day... well let's say you actually have a decent CTR of 2% which in my opinion is quite good for a forum, and probably more than you could expect from most forums without some really aggressive adsense integration, and say you actually have a fairly well paying niche that is earning you $0.30 a click on average. Then you'd need around 1700 clicks a day which at a 2% clickthrough rate that would require around 85,000 impressions a day!

So if you think you can start a forum in a, no doubt, established, competitive yet high paying industry and get it to the point where it is receiving 85,000+ impressions a day you could reasonably make $500+ a day but remember these figures are very favourable and in reality are probably not very likely, but hey it's far from impossible, but you'd really have to know your stuff to even have a chance.

[Diddy1]

Vbulletin is a nice one as it has google adsense integration right off the start. But I suggest you don't use Google Adsense on forums as most users will not pay attention to them they will just go to hteir topics. And if you put the ads in the middle of posts it's seen as a nuisance to your visitors.

Thank You

[shiva]

its good idea to put other adsense programme but which are the probables i want have one more suggestion that if i dont know anything about php can i maintain forum site easily ...

shiva.

[livingfree]

If you have a specific niche then you can attach an article directory or forum to that niche which I have found to be the most beneficial. The more specific & focused the better.

The revenue you receive from it will ultimately depend on the traffic, popularity & content. Some are highly successful simply because of the nature & popularity of their site, but others are not successful, again for this same reason.

Running an article directory or forum can serve a number of purposes:

1. somewhat 'live' conversation regarding the topic where you can build a reputation/knowledgable status and build trust.
2. adsense income & other affiliate advertising (bear in mind that visitors do get annoyed with advertising between posts. You can implement adsense in a creative way that does get seen and clicked on (eg. All Things eBay Help Forum (www.livingfreeonline.com/ebay_forum/) is only a new forum but is well laid out to attract Adsense clicks)
3. repeat visitors / traffic

In regards to maintenance, I use PHPBB2 and once setup (easy to do or you can get someone to do it for you), is easy to maintain with no real knowledge of PHP required. If you wish to edit the templates, you can do so by using a text editor (don't use an HTML editor coz it can scramble the code) as long as you have some basic HTML knowledge.

You need to consider the work involved in approving articles and moderating the forums however.

Hope that helps ;)

[jaykay]

Kingsley,

You are right and I agree with you. It is not possible to make money from forums / article directory to the levels in consideration.People who visit the forums are very focused and are interetsed in solutions for their own problems.

The key I believe is to give what your customer needs. The forum media was effective earlier but now I feel it is loosing its importance and only big players can make some money from it.

For being different and maintaining a community that makes money for you is a real involvment & you need to be very passionate in what you do.

I have seen many communities but I liked this one most. The focus is passion here.

For more details, please send email at truewealth.NewUser@followup.adlandpro.com

It's FREE.

Best regards,


Jaykay

[Chris]

You are right and I agree with you. It is not possible to make money from forums / article directory to the levels in consideration.People who visit the forums are very focused and are interetsed in solutions for their own problems. That is simply not true... there are many forum owners that earn in excess of $1000 a day from forums, of course these people are the exception more than they are the norm, but just because it is hard doesn't make it "impossible" to reach such levels... it just requires hard work combined with extensive knowledge of forums, SEO and the specific niche. There are actually forum owners out there making well in excess of $2000, and even $3000/day off ONE forum, so rest assured $500+/day is very possible off one forum let alone a network of them.

[jaykay]

That is simply not true... there are many forum owners that earn in excess of $1000 a day from forums, of course these people are the exception more than they are the norm, but just because it is hard doesn't make it "impossible" to reach such levels... it just requires hard work combined with extensive knowledge of forums, SEO and the specific niche. There are actually forum owners out there making well in excess of $2000, and even $3000/day off ONE forum, so rest assured $500+/day is very possible off one forum let alone a network of them.

Chris,

Earning from forums and earning from Adsense ads appearing in forums are two separate things. If the earnings you have mentioned are from clicking adsense ads, it is really commendable. If you don't mind, I would like to become the member of such organized forums. Are they paid forums or free forums. Please advise. Thanks again, Jaykay.

[Chris]

Earning from forums and earning from Adsense ads appearing in forums are two separate things. If the earnings you have mentioned are from clicking adsense ads, it is really commendable. If you don't mind, I would like to become the member of such organized forums. Are they paid forums or free forums. Please advise. I didn't think these earnings we were referring to were to be just associated with AdSense, but even if they were there are still people out there earning $500+/day from adsense on there forums. I'm a member of a forums called Big Board Admin (http://www.bigboardadmin.com/), it's a bit exclusive in way that you have to actually have a forum with 100,000 posts before you can participate in dicussions, but there are a number of forum owners there that are all making six figure yearly incomes from their forum/s - so it's definitely possible, and not only just possible - quite achievable if you have the know-how and the dedication.

I'd also recommend heading over to www.vbulletin.org and having a browse around their forums, I swear I have read at least a couple of posts about people earning six figure incomes a year from their forums. I also have a friend that has a forum in the industy that I run sites in that gets 25 - 30K unique visitors a day to his forums, whilst I have never been as blunt to ask him what he earns I'm very confident it is $xxx/day, and again that is just from ONE forum, but again these cases are the exception not the norm.

EDIT: Here are some forums that run AdSense that are all in the top 15,000 on alexa and if I had to guess are definitely making $xxx/day from their AdSense ads alone:

http://www.dslreports.com/forums (1150 in Alexa! Aggressive AdSense integration. I'm guessing minimum $2,000/day)
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/ (Get's 25,000 uniques a day according to Big-Boards)
http://www.hwupgrade.it/forum
http://forums.jeuxonline.info
http://www.disboards.com/

These sites IMHO are definitely earning $xxx/day from AdSense if not $x,xxx/day.

[jaykay]

I didn't think these earnings we were referring to were to be just associated with AdSense, but even if they were there are still people out there earning $500+/day from adsense on there forums. I'm a member of a forums called Big Board Admin (http://www.bigboardadmin.com/), it's a bit exclusive in way that you have to actually have a forum with 100,000 posts before you can participate in dicussions, but there are a number of forum owners there that are all making six figure yearly incomes from their forum/s - so it's definitely possible, and not only just possible - quite achievable if you have the know-how and the dedication.

I'd also recommend heading over to www.vbulletin.org and having a browse around their forums, I swear I have read at least a couple of posts about people earning six figure incomes a year from their forums. I also have a friend that has a forum in the industy that I run sites in that gets 25 - 30K unique visitors a day to his forums, whilst I have never been as blunt to ask him what he earns I'm very confident it is $xxx/day, and again that is just from ONE forum, but again these cases are the exception not the norm.

EDIT: Here are some forums that run AdSense that are all in the top 15,000 on alexa and if I had to guess are definitely making $xxx/day from their AdSense ads alone:

http://www.dslreports.com/forums (1150 in Alexa! Aggressive AdSense integration. I'm guessing minimum $2,000/day)
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/ (Get's 25,000 uniques a day according to Big-Boards)
http://www.hwupgrade.it/forum
http://forums.jeuxonline.info
http://www.disboards.com/

These sites IMHO are definitely earning $xxx/day from AdSense if not $x,xxx/day.


Chris.

You are simply great. Thanks for the education and the time you have spent in educating me. This gives me an idea of creating a niche ebook which titles " How to make Six Figure Income from forums?" Will it be worth Chris?

Thanks again,

Jaykay

[Chris]

Chris.

You are simply great. Thanks for the education and the time you have spent in educating me. This gives me an idea of creating a niche ebook which titles " How to make Six Figure Income from forums?" Will it be worth Chris?

Thanks again,

JaykayLOL I can't tell if you are being serious or not or if that was a sacastic reply :p. I'll assume your reply was a serious one and say "probably not" your target audience would just be too small I think, but I could be very wrong and there are millions of people running forums out there so there definitely a market for it, how did it is... well I can't tell. I'd also think that inlight of the generally poor returns from forums, costs vs revenue for you small to medium size forum - largely due to the fact that CTRs from forum just genuinely aren't all that great, would say to me that making the "six figure income" from forums is a hell of a lot harder than making it from websites, but on the plus side they can be a hell of a lot easier to run when managed well.

So all in all - if you have the experience and knowledge go for it. The worst thing that is going to happen is your probably going to create laods and loads of good quality content that could be turned into articles for a well optimised site with Adsense if the ebook doesn't sell.

[peter_act@kiwismail.com]

I'm sure you are right about the low CTR, Chris.

I know myself, I have never clicked on an adsense ad on this forum, as I automatically click "New posts" without even looking at anything else.

As for an ebook, wouldn't be much point in selling an ebook which tells you why you shouldn't do something instead of telling you of something you can.

[livingfree]

:rolleyes: Have you ever considered about the 'tall poppy' syndrome in regards to Adsense?

How often do you think visitors to your site (who know that clicking your Adsense ads will make you money) actually choose not to click even if they are interested simply so they don't put money in your pocket. I heard of some people actually type the link in the address bar to avoid clicking! :mad:

... all the more reason to get tricky with those adsense layouts.

[wwwSENSERELYcom]

I know myself, I have never clicked on an adsense ad on this forum, as I automatically click "New posts" without even looking at anything else.

Me neither, because there isn't any!

On forums you can earn better with CPM ad networks, since forums tend to generate lots of page impressions.

[jaykay]

LOL I can't tell if you are being serious or not or if that was a sacastic reply :p. I'll assume your reply was a serious one and say "probably not" your target audience would just be too small I think, but I could be very wrong and there are millions of people running forums out there so there definitely a market for it, how did it is... well I can't tell. I'd also think that inlight of the generally poor returns from forums, costs vs revenue for you small to medium size forum - largely due to the fact that CTRs from forum just genuinely aren't all that great, would say to me that making the "six figure income" from forums is a hell of a lot harder than making it from websites, but on the plus side they can be a hell of a lot easier to run when managed well.

So all in all - if you have the experience and knowledge go for it. The worst thing that is going to happen is your probably going to create laods and loads of good quality content that could be turned into articles for a well optimised site with Adsense if the ebook doesn't sell.

Hi Chris,
Thanks for your reply. I asked you seriously and I like your approach in simplifying the things. Now writing loads and loads of content is certainly not easy and I am not a copywriter too hence I will drop the idea. Thank you again, Jaykay