Money From Website

MarianoGrafiks

New Member
Not sure if this is the right forum for this thread but, I always find forums talkking about website design, etc. and no talk about actual website profit.

So far I've only designed sites advertising a business. I would like to build my own website that will attract heavy traffic and am wondering how well can somebody profit from banner ads if you get some heavy traffic?

Can you realistically make a full-time paycheck from banner ads, or is it more like part-time money? This is an anonymous forum, so hopefully someone can give me some real answers about ability of profit.

I appreciate anybody who can give me any kind of tips on money from banner ads.
I see a few 'ads' right here on this page. Can forums advertise for money as well?
 

ian

Administrator
Staff member
Short answer, yes, you can make a full time paycheck from banner ads, there are plenty of sites out there doing just that. Just make sure you have the right niche and good content and rank well in search engines for the right keywords and you can make money from ads. Google adsense is a good way to start out, but selling direct ads can be good as well.
But rather than focus on making money from advertising, affiliate programs are one of the best ways of making money on the internet.
 

ian

Administrator
Staff member
oh yeah, please dont post the same thread in different sections of the forum. Once will do.
 

MarianoGrafiks

New Member
Thank you, thank you Ian! I've been looking all over the internet for an answer. However, I'm new to the affiliate programs idea. Where can I find more info on that?
Google adsense is a good place to get banner ads? I'm assuming they pay a little for each hit to your page....but pay more for every hit to their banner?

To be more straightforward...I'm looking into a free-services type website based primarily on some sites that give free web templates to attract traffic.

I'm thinking maybe support graphics or graphics to help people build their sites who aren't so Photoshop saavy. I want them to have to post their art and idea....I can elaborate on their idea with better graphics and maybe a logo (gif or flash image if need be)....and have them come back to the website to check when their web-art is ready.

I give free graphics as long as they check my site waiting for their art to be done and tell friends to come. That's the basic idea. Yes, I know porn would attract more people...but I like my computer clean. lol

Is this idea workable ian?
 

zkiller

Super Moderator
Staff member
i like that idea and it should be workable, however it does sound rather time consuming.

most ads pay per click or per sale. you won't get paid simply by displaying them.

it is not easy to make money from ads. you will need find ads that are aimed at your targeted marked for best results. placing of the ads also makes a lot difference. getting those two right alone won't bring any real money on their own either. on the internet "build it and they will come" does not apply. so a good marking strategy and SEO is a must.
 

MarianoGrafiks

New Member
Thanks Ian, your small replies are priceless. I didn't know you only get paid for clicks and not displaying banners. I would think it would be like a billboard next to a high-traffic highway....lots of people will still see the ad.

But now I know the reality of the situation. As far as a lot of work, I have a few designers who would help me...and we've 'practiced' how much graphics we could get out an hour. It's workable...but not if the banner ads aren't going to produce how I wish they would.

Bottom line: What if I changed the idea and decided I would charge a small fee (much smaller than if they paid an expensive graphics firm) for the graphics?

You said they pay per click or per sale. Does per sale mean if they sell THEIR product through my link....or if I make a sell on my site? Maybe I should go the small fee route...however, people with free services like YouTube and Google (all free) always seem to do the best.

I'm not saying I'm near those big corporations, but once people have to whip out credit cards...you lose a lot of traffic. Napster is a good example. Free services equaled huge traffic......Napster Pay equaled the death of Napster. They weren't expensive...it's just that people had to whip out credit cards.

So would charging a small fee for my services help me make more advertising money?
 

zkiller

Super Moderator
Staff member
you are welcome, but i am not ian. ;)

their used to be programs out their that payed per view, but payouts were minimal as it would otherwise not be profitable for the advertiser.

what i mean by per sale is if the advertiser makes a sale, you get paid, either a percentage of a sale (this is commenly seen with low dollar amounts) or a set amount per sale (usually seen with advertisers selling high dollar products).

free services don't always create large amounts of traffic. napster did well because they were one of the first to offer a free P2P service and marketed it very well. they did a lot of free promotion work such as free concerts and so forth.

their are many free services out their that don't do very well. regardless of whether you want to offer a free service that is dependent on advertising or a paid service, you need to have a plan. a free service would obviously be easier to sell though.

in regards to offering a paid service instead, i have one piece of advice for you. don't sell yourself under value. if you can offer quality service, charge accordingly. i am not saying to sky rocket your pricing though. you need to find a good balance of cost and value to be successful in the design biz. that's just my .02 cents though. :)
 

MarianoGrafiks

New Member
Wow Killer, I love the breakdown. I needed that kind of honesty. I'm starting to re-think this to be a pay site. Like you said, sell my service and let the advertising just be a little side bonus. Got it.

I'm going to offer cost-effective graphics, but not so cheap. It's true most companies out there completely rip people off with high end pricing. Before I knew this game, some company actually tried to charge me 50$ for embossing a pole in a picture. Key words: tried to charge me. And emboss is just the click of a button.

So, there is a middle ground. Affordable but not so cheap.:cool:
 

ian

Administrator
Staff member
You may need to offer free graphics to start with as a means of building up your graphics portfolio, if you dont already have one. But yeah designing free graphics, you would get tonnes and tonnes of requests and find yourself unable to continue it.
A good example of a site selling banners is bannersmall.com
I was happy with the first banner I got from them, not very impressed with a second one. I may use them for future sites though. Basically a good example of a site charging for small graphics jobs.
 

zkiller

Super Moderator
Staff member
I'm going to offer cost-effective graphics, but not so cheap. It's true most companies out there completely rip people off with high end pricing. Before I knew this game, some company actually tried to charge me 50$ for embossing a pole in a picture. Key words: tried to charge me. And emboss is just the click of a button.
now that's just retarded to charge like that and a very business practice. i go by the philosophy of... treat your clients well and they will treat you well.
 

MarianoGrafiks

New Member
now that's just retarded to charge like that and a very business practice. i go by the philosophy of... treat your clients well and they will treat you well.

That's what I believe Killer (thanks also to Ian for the response). Yah, those guys charged me $250 alltogether for graphics I couldn't use! When I went back for the emboss and they tried the $50 charge I just let them have it.
 
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john238

New Member
You can make some good money. If you become big then you can get better paying ads just like the large companies. I have one on my entertainment site that is paying me around $0.45 - $0.70 CPM on each banner ad format I use. I use 3 banner ad formats per page. The full rate is never really 100%, but then you can chain them.

Not sure if this helps, but this is the cpm ad network I am talking about. I have give a link to some quick details about the program.
 
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