Marketing funded websites

Marketing funded websites

Author
Discussion

Snozzwangler

Original Poster:

12,230 posts

193 months

Monday 25th May 2015
quotequote all
I have an idea for a website which would be funded by adverts etc, so no financial input by the users.

Is there anyone here that has run/is running something similar?

Would be interesting to hear.

Hoofy

76,253 posts

281 months

Monday 25th May 2015
quotequote all
The trick would be getting enough visitors to make the ads pay.

Snozzwangler

Original Poster:

12,230 posts

193 months

Monday 25th May 2015
quotequote all
True, I know revenue is pegged by hits/visits. Does it also depends on type of ad/topic?

Any ball park numbers on revenue per volume of visits etc?

Cheers

Hoofy

76,253 posts

281 months

Monday 25th May 2015
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Don't know that info. You will probably need to get thousands of visits a month to even cover the hosting costs.

jonamv8

3,145 posts

165 months

Monday 25th May 2015
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I have and failed! You need lots of traffic like lots and lots

jammy_basturd

29,776 posts

211 months

Monday 25th May 2015
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Imagine things in the ballpark of $1 per thousand to ten thousand impressions.

Really does depend on your idea, your niche, your execution. You can multiply and divide both those figures by a factor of ten, both in your favour and against you depending on your situation!

KFC

3,687 posts

129 months

Monday 25th May 2015
quotequote all
jammy_basturd said:
Imagine things in the ballpark of $1 per thousand to ten thousand impressions.

Really does depend on your idea, your niche, your execution. You can multiply and divide both those figures by a factor of ten, both in your favour and against you depending on your situation!
So in other words, your ballpark is just pulled from your ass and is completely meaningless laugh

Traffic from one of my sites today:


Income from the same site today:



You could earn anything from £50 a visitor to 0.000001 pence per visitor. Without further details from the OP there isn't even any point in guessing.

Hoofy

76,253 posts

281 months

Tuesday 26th May 2015
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KFC said:
So in other words, your ballpark is just pulled from your ass and is completely meaningless laugh

Traffic from one of my sites today:
Not bad!!

What's the site/topic?

Frimley111R

15,537 posts

233 months

Tuesday 26th May 2015
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Snozzwangler said:
'hits'

Cheers
Any time I see this mentioned it makes me worry. Its an 'ancient' term which is pretty meaningless. How much online marketing experience, skill or knowledge do you have?

jammy_basturd

29,776 posts

211 months

Tuesday 26th May 2015
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KFC said:
So in other words, your ballpark is just pulled from your ass and is completely meaningless laugh
Not "pulled from my ass" but, yes, completely meaningless. But it did give the OP what he wanted, even if it's not helpful in anyway.

KFC

3,687 posts

129 months

Tuesday 26th May 2015
quotequote all
Hoofy said:
Not bad!!

What's the site/topic?
finance, affiliate lead gen.

Hoofy

76,253 posts

281 months

Tuesday 26th May 2015
quotequote all
KFC said:
Hoofy said:
Not bad!!

What's the site/topic?
finance, affiliate lead gen.
Ah, not Google Ads then. I was going to suggest affiliate stuff to the OPer but wanted to save that for later once Google had been explored.

akirk

5,377 posts

113 months

Tuesday 26th May 2015
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yes - experience...
is it easy - can be, but usually not
can it be passive - yes, but there is work up front to get there
can you live off it - yes, but not as easy as it used to be

I know of a niche forum bringing in revenues of £50k + p/a with minimal running costs / time
I know of very popular sites running advertising which have cost the owner £100k p/a to run after income

there is no way of generalising...

is this a generic query, or a specific idea - we might be able to advise better if we know what you are thinking...

KFC

3,687 posts

129 months

Tuesday 26th May 2015
quotequote all
Hoofy said:
Ah, not Google Ads then. I was going to suggest affiliate stuff to the OPer but wanted to save that for later once Google had been explored.
It could have been Google Ads I'd monetized with, and i'd still be significantly outside of income range somone else posted above though. But then those Adwords ads i'm getting paid per click, would just go to lining someone elses pockets. As they'd be directing the clicks to a lead gen setup like I have currently. So it makes no sense to let someone else take most of the benefit from my hard work and investment.

Generally if you're creating all your own content, Adwords is going to perform awfully. You're far better looking to see who would be buying the ads on that type of site, and then cut players out of the equation. Buyers sending traffic to an insurance comparison site? Set up your own insurance comparison section internally and route your traffic through that. You'll make far more as both Google and the other affiliate aren't getting a cut now. Buyers sending traffic to a 'real' business like say a Lambo main dealer? Contact them and sell them the ad spots, as you'll be able to command more money (since Google aren't getting a share).


The site I posted the other day, has done £850 from 1000 visitors today. And I've been out most of the day, I've done 3 hours work max. So when its working well, its awesome. Though of course that's not representative of the full picture... it costs time/money to set these sites up then promote them, and some fail miserably. I've lost £250k+ on one website before, more than once.

Edited by KFC on Tuesday 26th May 19:42

Hoofy

76,253 posts

281 months

Tuesday 26th May 2015
quotequote all
KFC said:
It could have been Google Ads I'd monetized with, and i'd still be significantly outside of income range somone else posted above though. But then those Adwords ads i'm getting paid per click, would just go to lining someone elses pockets. As they'd be directing the clicks to a lead gen setup like I have currently. So it makes no sense to let someone else take most of the benefit from my hard work and investment.

Generally if you're creating all your own content, Adwords is going to perform awfully. You're far better looking to see who would be buying the ads on that type of site, and then cut players out of the equation. Buyers sending traffic to an insurance comparison site? Set up your own insurance comparison section internally and route your traffic through that. You'll make far more as both Google and the other affiliate aren't getting a cut now. Buyers sending traffic to a 'real' business like say a Lambo main dealer? Contact them and sell them the ad spots, as you'll be able to command more money (since Google aren't getting a share).


The site I posted the other day, has done £850 from 1000 visitors today. And I've been out most of the day, I've done 3 hours work max. So when its working well, its awesome. Though of course that's not representative of the full picture... it costs time/money to set these sites up then promote them, and some fail miserably. I've lost £250k+ on one website before, more than once.

Edited by KFC on Tuesday 26th May 19:42
Sounds pretty good (apart from the last bit).

How much would you make if you had stuck to Google Ads?

And do you just get an idea then get it built then market it madly?

KFC

3,687 posts

129 months

Tuesday 26th May 2015
quotequote all
Hoofy said:
How much would you make if you had stuck to Google Ads?
Its really hard to say. I reckon if you're making £1000 a day through a well optimised channel of pushing leads through affiliate markets, and its a mainstream niche, you'd probably do £200-300 a day in Adsense if you knew what you were doing.

Hoofy said:
And do you just get an idea then get it built then market it madly?
There are pretty much no new ideas in regular finance lead gen. You can only sell leads into already established businesses. So debt management, PPI reclaiming, credit cards, loans, etc etc. You'll probably need to get creative on the marketing side but creating the site itself is a job for a single day. Ignore the designers who tell you you need everything custom, and the logo guys who go on about what it represents for your brand etc. They're all full of st.

Also ignore the SEO guys who try and sell you snake oil.

If they were any good they'd be building their own sites.

mikef

4,826 posts

250 months

Tuesday 26th May 2015
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Hoofy said:
How much would you make if you had stuck to Google Ads?
Maybe 1% clickthrough and average 45p/click. Will you pull in a thousand visitors a day or a million? That's the difference between making £4.50 a day or £4.5K (updated after checking my all-time Adsense stats)

How much does your dignity matter to you? You'll get a bit higher revenue if you carry the ads for Russian dating sites and weird old dieting tricks, but do you mind if your site looks a bit council?


Edited by mikef on Tuesday 26th May 22:34

Hoofy

76,253 posts

281 months

Tuesday 26th May 2015
quotequote all
mikef said:
but do you mind if your site looks a bit council?
hehe What a great way to describe some sites I've seen.

Hoofy

76,253 posts

281 months

Tuesday 26th May 2015
quotequote all
KFC said:
There are pretty much no new ideas in regular finance lead gen. You can only sell leads into already established businesses. So debt management, PPI reclaiming, credit cards, loans, etc etc. You'll probably need to get creative on the marketing side but creating the site itself is a job for a single day. Ignore the designers who tell you you need everything custom, and the logo guys who go on about what it represents for your brand etc. They're all full of st.

Also ignore the SEO guys who try and sell you snake oil.

If they were any good they'd be building their own sites.
Christ. I know a few people who would argue with you all day!

KFC

3,687 posts

129 months

Tuesday 26th May 2015
quotequote all
mikef said:
Maybe 1% clickthrough and average 45p/click.
On a finance lead gen site you could easily get 40-50% click through, and several pounds per click.

mikef said:
How much does your dignity matter to you? You'll get a bit higher revenue if you carry the ads for Russian dating sites and weird old dieting tricks, but do you mind if your site looks a bit council?
I guess if it bothers me too much I'll drive down to the beach in my Lamborghini and cry for a bit laugh


Hoofy said:
Christ. I know a few people who would argue with you all day!
99% of people selling seo's to small businesses are either just starting out and want you to pay them while they practice on your site, or they have already failed at seo and can only pay the bills by charging others for it.

The numbers simply don't stack up any other way, and thats an unavoidable fact that will make seo sellers squirm if you say it to them.