Do you show ads to members?

[rellek]

Calling targeted ads spam is a bit extreme. If someone is reading a section devoted to one topic, the ad normally relevant.

It might not be spam on its content value, but it is when it comes to load times. You depend on your ad server's performance and this slows down your whole website.

Despite this, I want to keep people on my site, when they click ads, they're away.

 

[MattW]

It was fine on chrome but IE users could not sign in properly. I only found out about the problem after a member emailed me about it. I came to XenForo and saw that many other people had the same problem. I recommend logging into your forum using IE 6, 7 or 8 to see if you have the same issue.

I can sign in fine using IE8, but if people are still using IE6 or IE7......more fool them!

 

[Blue]

On XF my philosophy has been that registered users provide the content, with which the search engines send unregistered users our way. The payback for registered users is that they don have to see the adds, other than a single line of text plugging Amazon.

Unregistered users aren't so fortunate, but I do let them know up front that if they register, the ads disappear.

Not a bad strategy. IMHO, visitors are much more likely to click ads than regular members. I have thought about hiding ads at a certain post level. While active posters may not contribute directly with cash they are still contributing to the site in a valuable way.

 

[Blue]

Despite this, I want to keep people on my site, when they click ads, they're away.

This is true.

 

[CTXMedia]

Not a bad strategy. IMHO, visitors are much more likely to click ads than regular members. I have thought about hiding ads at a certain post level. While active posters may not contribute directly with cash they are still contributing to the site in a valuable way.

Interesting idea - and one that could work very well with usergroup promotion; show ads to newly registered members, but promote them to the "No ads" usergroup once they've posted 'x' no. posts ... I like it!!

 

[jt2011]

I leave ads on for everyone and I'd say 90%+ of the members run ad blockers so they don't even see them. (Tech savy crowd)
I do have certain zones/sections that contain less ads for members as it makes reading content easier.
In any event the advertising revenue more than helps pay the server/hosting fees, so I don't chastise members for blocking ads.

 

[JRW-910]

Here's my take:

Most of my organic traffic is sent by search engines... mostly google. People search for a topic and click through to my site. Most of these 'guests' are looking for something specific and will never register or become a member. They will receive ads.

Registered members contribute content to the site... which ends up indexed by search engines... so they may use the site ad free. They grow the site and in the long run help bring in guest traffic and new members. I also believe that members that use the site regularly know where the ads are located and avoid them... maybe even block them... so why serve them ads at all? It also makes YOU, the admin, look like a hero by offering them a website advertisement free.

This model has worked great for me on a site with fewer then 10k members but makes hundreds of adsense dollars every month.

Good luck,

-JRW

 

[0xym0r0n]

A $1 a month from ads isn't my cup of tea but I have ads up because it helps me upgrade/provide for the community. Since the money earned from the ads is like 2 happy meals a every few months for me... i don't use it. I use it for the site or save for an upgrade.

I DONT appreciate the full page ads or pop up ads even if they pay more. It's really annoying and it's kinda like being jumped by a salesman before you enter a mall. Just something I wouldn't appreciate and I'm sure my members don't either. Ads in the obvious places like under the header or the footer is just fine for me.

 

[System0]

Here's my take:

Most of my organic traffic is sent by search engines... mostly google. People search for a topic and click through to my site. Most of these 'guests' are looking for something specific and will never register or become a member. They will receive ads.

Registered members contribute content to the site... which ends up indexed by search engines... so they may use the site ad free. They grow the site and in the long run help bring in guest traffic and new members. I also believe that members that use the site regularly know where the ads are located and avoid them... maybe even block them... so why serve them ads at all? It also makes YOU, the admin, look like a hero by offering them a website advertisement free.

This model has worked great for me on a site with fewer then 10k members but makes hundreds of adsense dollars every month.

Good luck,

-JRW

A few hundred dollars is pretty good for less than 10k members. Out of interest, how many threads/posts do you have (as member count is pretty irrelevant if few people post).

 

[JRW-910]

Members: 7,400
Threads: 6,400
Posts: 39,000

-JRW

 

[Adam Howard]

I've added "guest" ads through SlimLinks

Although I don't think anyone has clicked on 1 single link at all.

 

[System0]

Members: 7,400
Threads: 6,400
Posts: 39,000

-JRW

I appreciate you posting that. I've launched two new forums recently and I'm launching a third within the next week. It's encouraging to see that kind of income.

My forum with around 950 posts has made around $64 in the last 30 days, which seems to be about the same rate you are getting. As long as more people keep signing up and posting, income should keep increasing

 

[JRW-910]

Check this out...

Look at your analytics... more specifically, New vs. Returning Visitors. In my case, I have 80+ percent as new visitors. Where will I make most of my money... from the 20% or 80%?

How your ads perform has to do with two things IMO:

1) Display... location, colors, etc ... determines how many clicks per user you receive

2) Niche... I have a finance site that will often receive $4-$11 single clicks. Yet, on a general tech site, I can get 20+ clicks and maybe receive a dollar.

Once you have adsense up and running ... then you should spend time looking at other revenue models.

Good luck,

-JRW

 

[System0]

Thanks JRW.

The forum I mentioned is getting a rate of 63.86% for new visitors. It's still a really new site though so I reckon that once there is much more content on the site this rate will be much higher.

I make a few thousand with adsense every month at the moment through other sites so I'm sure I'll be able to tweak things once the forums get traffic. Thanks again for the advice

 

[Blue]

Mine is the opposite.

78% Returning Visitor
21% New Visitor

 

[JRW-910]

Mine is the opposite.

78% Returning Visitor
21% New Visitor

Well, that's very interesting. I don't have any sites like that so I can't really comment on your situation.

My guess is that you have a very small community right now or a super dedicated group of members. In that case, you will have to find a way to serve ads to your members.

-JRW

 

[Blue]

Over 300,000 posts and almost 2,9oo members.

 

[JRW-910]

Ok, let's see...

Me: 39,000 posts / 7,400 members = 5.27 posts per member

You: 300,000 posts / 2,900 members = 103.5 posts per emmber

Your members are 20x as active as mine. If that were my site, I don't think I would rely on adsense for revenue. I'd try selling amazon products via news / reviews or something along those lines. If your members are spending that much time on your site then they will surely figure out how to avoid any ads that you place on it.

Good luck,

-JRW

 

[Blue]

Different demographics require different strategies. What I have found to be common in general is to not rely on only one method of monetization.

 

[System0]

Different niches will definitely have different stats etc though it does seem strange that with such an active community (103.5 posts per member), you aren't getting more traffic from the search engines etc. I assume you haven't blocked your forum to search engines i.e. do people have to sign up to see most rooms?