Business Coach
Active member
As a business coach, people hire me to help them increase profits.
Because I have owned and managed multiple forums as well as coached many owners, I notice the same challenge faces the majority of forum owners.
How Do I Make Money With My Forum.
Usually they have worked with some cpa (clickbank) or cpm (adsense) network and experienced less than stellar results.
I often tell my customers they are underutilizing their resources when it comes to fans, members, traffic and eyeballs.
Forum owners have a unique type of repeat traffic. Owners have influence over the community and are voices of respect and authority. Use that to your benefit if you are trying to profit from your forum.
I think the worst way to make money is an 3rd party driven ad model. This is any form of advertising provided by a network and includes cpm/cpc offers provided by adsense, etc and cpa offers provided by clickbank etc.
You basically are making pennies to send people away from your website and become someone elses customers.
I believe that model is dead. A waste of your efforts in the least. In fact, the LARGER your forum and the more traffic you get, the LESS you want to use adsense!
Direct sales models will be much more profitable. If you do not have the time or resources for such, then try a joint venture where you can split the profits. You should get no less than 50% and ideally should make 70-90% of PROFIT (as compared to revenue).
Here is a short list to get your mind going on how to make profits with your forum
now that I have written all that, i think i will submit an extended and revised version to my ezine account, so...
©2011 Maurice Evans. all rights reserved
lol
I know of a dozen more ways, but I hope this at least gets you thinking outside the box.
What creative ways have you used to make money with your forum as an alternative to adsense/cpa?
Because I have owned and managed multiple forums as well as coached many owners, I notice the same challenge faces the majority of forum owners.
How Do I Make Money With My Forum.
Usually they have worked with some cpa (clickbank) or cpm (adsense) network and experienced less than stellar results.
I often tell my customers they are underutilizing their resources when it comes to fans, members, traffic and eyeballs.
Forum owners have a unique type of repeat traffic. Owners have influence over the community and are voices of respect and authority. Use that to your benefit if you are trying to profit from your forum.
I think the worst way to make money is an 3rd party driven ad model. This is any form of advertising provided by a network and includes cpm/cpc offers provided by adsense, etc and cpa offers provided by clickbank etc.
You basically are making pennies to send people away from your website and become someone elses customers.
I believe that model is dead. A waste of your efforts in the least. In fact, the LARGER your forum and the more traffic you get, the LESS you want to use adsense!
Direct sales models will be much more profitable. If you do not have the time or resources for such, then try a joint venture where you can split the profits. You should get no less than 50% and ideally should make 70-90% of PROFIT (as compared to revenue).
Here is a short list to get your mind going on how to make profits with your forum
- Branded Items
T-shirts, mugs - cafepress can get your feet wet but the profit margin is small. I suggest partnering with a local vendor and sell limited editions of items. Think outside the box, what about specialize posters, or autographed pictures or DVDs of celebrities. What about pet gift baskets for your members? Get creative!
- Direct Ads.
Sell the ads YOURSELF...and don't limit yourself to banners. You can theme your forum, have sponsors for specific sections, add special menus...the sky is the limit
- Premium Membership.
Many forums are afraid of this, but the ones that have them pro$per. Keep the main functions free and come up with incentives that are valuable to your member base for a premium membership. Ideally multiple levels and a monthly fee (so people can quit when they want) will bring the most profit and be most well-received by members.
- ebooks.
Ebooks are easily housed on your forum and sold via paypal or other processor. Your members will find them valuable and you can even make a specific forum to discuss the topic matter and application. No matter what subject matter your forum covers, there are sure to be ebooks available to help members. If there are none available (highly unlikely) - WRITE ONE. If you are not comfortable writing one, hire someone who can. Go to elance, scriptlance, freelancer or even your local busines coach {shameless plug] can help.
- Ice Cream
seriously, sell candy, ice cream, flowers, gift baskets, wrapping paper etc during special holidays. Instead of going to a "cpa" site. Use a fundraiser company. They will give you a large cut and you just have to take the orders. Use this for profit, or to help your favorite charity using part or full profits. When a charity is tied in, your members will get behind it in greater numbers.
- Private Label.
Everything from books to merchandise can have your label placed on it. This is different than co-branded items or traditional merchandise. Instead of a t-shirt with your forum logo on it, think clothing line named after your forum. Instead of selling someone else's book, imagine one that is authored by YOU because you purchased the copyright.
- Software
Your members are already online. They need antivirus, photo album, apps, etc that are interelated to the type of forum you have. Find something that fits, find a source and sell it!
- Color
If you have an active forum with creative or expressive types, you can sell upgrades. Special trophies, ribbons, forum functions like adding color or tagline to their name to show in the post bit are things people will pay a buck or two for. A dollar or two is not much normally, but when multiplied by hundreds or 1000s is pretty nice.
- sell the forum
That's right sell the actual forum itself...for 24 hours! If your forum is even semi popular, offer it at auction or fixed price with the buyer earning the ability to "own" the forum for a day. The winner gets their picture in the header, the name of the forum is changed and they get a special forum all to themselves to moderate as they wish. You might be surprised at how many members (and companies wanting to pitch to them) will want to be "king for a day".
- Special Sections and Events
Create a section for "special" people. Or have a special chat or seminar. Members pay a one time fee to have access. Sell "tickets" (access) for a limited time or to a limited quantity. Make sure you are involved and contribute as the owner.
now that I have written all that, i think i will submit an extended and revised version to my ezine account, so...
©2011 Maurice Evans. all rights reserved
lol
I know of a dozen more ways, but I hope this at least gets you thinking outside the box.
What creative ways have you used to make money with your forum as an alternative to adsense/cpa?
