What mix of ads do you run on your forum?

[asymmetricinfo]

Hi there... I run a forum targeted towards the Aussie over 60 crowd: https://seniorsdiscountclub.com.au/

Things have been going reasonably well regarding user and pageview growth, however we're still at very early stages on monetisation and have only just started introducing ads.

I'm wondering if there are a couple of more experienced users on here who have any tips of metrics to share when it comes to monetisation? For example, what's a realistic RPM (i.e. revenue per thousand views) figure to shoot for?

How do you balance various forms of advertising (e.g. affiliate links, display, native, etc.)?

Cheers

 

[StarArmy]

I didn't find ads to be worthwhile, as the amount they generated was minimal and I hated having to think about content members posted (e.g. upsetting Google because someone said a bad word or talked about sex). I got rid of the ads and it's been nicer ever since. I support my site with subscription donations (user upgrades) these days.

 

[asymmetricinfo]

Interesting! How many members have been willing to subscribe?

 

[StarArmy]

Right now numbers are low and don't really cover the site's costs anymore, but in the good days I had enough that I made over $2,000 annually and actually was making money (although I spent it all on extras for the site like art). If you can get just 10 people to donate $10 a month that's $1200 a year, which is enough to fund most websites unless you're a rather large forum.

 

[JRobert]

On our old forum we used both ads and upgrades for funding. Ads really didn't work well -- too many people use ad blockers, and then you need an ad-blocker blocker, and people complain about the ads that are "recommended" and it just gets too messy.

Our new forum is funded entirely by upgrades; I'm not sure how much revenue they bring in, but it's enough to keep our site funded and that's all we really care about.

 

[Paul B]

No ads.

As above, just upgrades and it covers the bills so that's enough.

 

[cdub]

No ads. Just user upgrades.

However my user upgrades allow access to exclusive data and bonus content so uptake is pretty good for my active members.

 

[ichpen]

Never had ads. Terrible user experience, minimal impact to the bottom line. Subscriptions, sponsors and donations all the way.

 

[greenchicken]

I have made about 350k since 2004 running ads on my forum, Started with Vbull and switched to this.

Times have changed , Wastebook groups etc has hurt the forum business but still make like 1k per month

 

[Suzanne O]

Zero ads.

Why no ads?

Am worried about scam ads, ransomware, etc.

My mate has ads on his site bigfooty.

 

[Seeker-Smith]

Interesting! How many members have been willing to subscribe?

I stopped doing ads except for sponsored posts which I charge 150.00 US for. My paid membership runs between 30% to 40% depending on time of year. Summer is the low.

 

[tajhay]

Ads and paid memberships.
RPM around $1.50
In Aus as well