Classic Problem - lack of Posts.

Started by shinglis, August 30, 2018, 05:01:21 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

drewactual

eh, I've seen it as high as $3 but as low as .30.... likely average a dollar or so.  I think i've had one click so far this month- so it's all CPM here too.   At one point last year i had as many as ten placements and would hit as high as likely $4/day average, but.... that was killing the user experience terribly, and I only did it a little while.  I also went through arguing with google about 'too little content' complaints when ads showed up on pages like 'login' or a recently started thread where there isn't/wasn't minimum standard content... honestly, they frustrate me and i'd likely not even have them on there if i didn't think it somehow plays in their rankings...

njtweb

Gotcha, I have to come up with some sort of engaging content on a daily basis which I then repost on the bigger FB user groups relating to youth hockey. That is how I get traffic, otherwise my average idle traffic is normally hovering around 15-20 guests. When I make a FB or Twitter share, it jacks up to about 50-80 or more active guests continually all day. But.....Nobody responds to the topics routinely. Every so often a guest will respond a few times but everybody will respond like wildfire on FB and Twitter to the share comments.

shinglis

Thanks everyone for the comments & feedback. Just jumping in to the ongoing discussion, I also already use Adsense and see earnings vary dramatically but the current average is about £0.44 per day which is enough to pay the annual hosting at the moment, so happy to keeps the number of adverts down to this minimal and lets be honest, not a forum admin for making money. (although that would be nice)

I also have the Social Login (mod) installed but have been surprised by the lack of use with only 18 members out of the 324 registered using the social login method.

QuoteExchange links with fan and official sites for other teams in same league.  All will benefit.

Been thinking how best to do this and since already use SimplePortal, going to setup a page with the relevant links or is there a better method using the posts ?


Quotejust today i posted (using a free mod for posting facebook, twitter, and google+) a thread to facebook, and have received almost 3k views off that one action on FB translating to over 200 eyes on the thread itself, and that isn't even including the wordpress (what my site calls the 'publisher') install working it's magic through news contributions...

What Mod was that ? could link it to the similar related FB group and cross share post.

Quoteave been working on making uploading and inserting images easy and user friendly (upload your 5meg camera pic no problem, let the forum resize and sort out etc). The other area is the matter of exposing users to historic content. A mod like 'related/similar topics' exposes older related topics as a user finishes reading an existing topic, prompting him to browse further and hopefully interact.

Will look into related / similar topics mods as that sounds appealing, any additional info regards processing images. Not really tried SMF gallery but just didn't quite like the look of it but will investigate as I think this would be a key area to entice more users / posters.


njtweb

Quote from: shinglis on September 06, 2018, 12:35:37 PM



Quotejust today i posted (using a free mod for posting facebook, twitter, and google+) a thread to facebook, and have received almost 3k views off that one action on FB translating to over 200 eyes on the thread itself, and that isn't even including the wordpress (what my site calls the 'publisher') install working it's magic through news contributions...

What Mod was that ? could link it to the similar related FB group and cross share post.

I use this - "Share This Topic", it isn't what @drewactual uses. Instead it's an unintrusive share bar with a drop down list of social share options. You can place it before or after each topic and comment. Or change the functionality as you see fit in the ACP.

xdresser

What I did for my forum was offer a prize.  Basically you just had to post in the thread to enter but you needed a minimum of 20 posts to win.  And I ran it for a month so that gave people a chance to get up to 20 posts if they were less than that.  I just offered a $75 gift certificate to a specific website but even an Amazon gift certificate would work.  I didn't have many people in the forum at the time but it was very popular.  I am going to try it again now that I have more members.

Looking

Content and Adsense don't give as much as they used to. Your site has to be really unique and offer something that they cannot get on FB, Twitter or wherever if they are to stay.

drewactual

'tis the season, and adsense is popping around $5~7 a day, and amazon is kicking in likely $20 a day- so... this is where we make our buck, like almost every other retailer... they retail 'goods', we retail 'community', right?

i'm on the cusp of launching something that will (should) make the flagship SMF page kick wide open- using all the social media and word of mouth ('their', aka 'users' social media reach as well) should help.....

but that isn't what should interest this thread- what should, possibly, is this:

I've always thought in terms of directly marketing to consumers.  i've dabbled in wholesale from time to time, but only with products i could get others couldn't- and by my increasing my sales of those products it increased my access to those products as the manufacturer responded... it was good for all.  this was/is with traditional retail. 

so there is a small time group that had a product that really took off- especially in my niche... i tried like all hades to get them to work with me but they declined, deciding me 'small potatoes', as they went from shipping single items to ten or fifteen customers a day to sending out orders of 20~25k to several major retailers a month... good for them, right?  but... they abandoned their core market- what gave them legs in the first place.  they also lost their agility to respond quickly to what i will call 'flow' in the niche... so... i'm jumping in that gap they created.  I'll directly market via the webpage as well as social media.... if i can turn 25 to 30 sales a week, it's well worth it. 

you needed to know that^ to grasp this:

I fully intend to use my forum users, what i call 'community' to market... they are going to be my 'affiliate' sales force, and will be cut in on a substantial percentage of revenue for what they 'sell'.  this ought to create a greater sense of community and purpose- and perhaps draw more who want to be a part of it- and hopefully render my operation to directly supporting their sales and not worried about my own... call it a multi-level marketing scheme if you will.  As soon as the enterprise catches traction and i'm busy filling orders for their sales instead of my own, i'll stop directly marketing and sell only through their efforts. 

if people have something invested, albeit effort and not $$$, they'll play along it's been my experience. 

also, this notion is leaning on my 200 very active users, of which 50 or so will actively engage at first.  I'm using the power of the community to reach markets others can't even with the most sophisticated advertising plans. 

now hear this:

EACH of you with a community, however small, however large, have access to direct markets others don't.  it's up to you to figure out how to leverage it while not negatively impacting your community.   it can be a positive symbiotic relationship.  in my case, let's suggest, 50 of the 200, which is 25% of the 'staff' reach 10 people each they know have interest in the product... they sell to 2 of them? that's 100 sales... it's also access to 10/2 people they know.... who can perhaps join the forum and become 'affiliates'...

this model has worked for me in the past pretty well.... i've just never used it in the niche the flagship page is in until i finally found a product that would/will work.  I'm going to press ahead with it and see what happens... and if the past behavior is best indication of future behavior, then i'll be selling it off and off to the next one.... building is fun... 'maintaining' is boring. 

Arantor

This presumes you want or need to make money out of your community... not true for all communities.

drewactual

and........ the conversation was about making enough to be self sufficient.  so.... applicable...

I swear to baby Jesus in a tuxedo shirt if i said the sky was blue Arantor would be along shortly to argue shade.... i've little clue or concern as to why, but it's fascinating on some level i'm sure....

Arantor

I'm not disagreeing with your piece, I'm just saying that it isn't as simple as the assertion that everyone should do this. The way you pitch it, the only acceptable types of forums are the ones who monetise and potentially sell products.

shinglis

As OP I will chip in. Personally I don't run / admin the forum to make money, yes I use google ad-sense which helps cover basic host fees but the intention is not to run the forum to make money but to provide a space for open discussion about a specialist topic, in my case a football (sports) team.

Always interest to hear people's views on how to monetize the forum but don't really have the time or inclination to work towards that goal and continue with maintaining security and ensuring regular new content for discussion.

Gwenwyfar

That is still making money from your community. Some people run forums without ads or any kind of required payment.
"It is impossible to communicate with one that does not wish to communicate"

shinglis

Quote from: Gwenwyfar on November 26, 2018, 10:04:21 AM
That is still making money from your community. Some people run forums without ads or any kind of required payment.

yes OK guilty as charged, but I guess in my own head, the ads are very limited to the header area, compared to some sites, in-between boards or topics with side panels etc.  what I was trying to say is that I don't think I will ever be retiring on the income from the forum  ;D

Arantor

It's also not such a huge area of your focus, as you point out you don't have time to seriously look at monetising, which is kind of the point I was getting at.

Fun fact, though, trying to monetise a forum too hard will usually cause the actual problem that this topic is even about: a lack of posts.

For many forums it's not even about making money out of them but giving people a place to call home, and if that's on the decline, ruthless monetisation isn't going to help at all...

drewactual

and what i suggest is a flavor of turning a buck, but NOT at the expense of users.  a positive symbiotic relationship can be had, and should be the focus by my reckoning/philosophy.  it IS a community, no matter how it's sliced, and the community should always be the basis. 

what i offer users, free of and investment, is opportunity to make a few dollars on the side.  they're helping me by helping themselves, and the 'product' is fun- actually hilarious- and the ability to change the presentation of the 'product' can happen real-time, which adds agility others can't.   it's a good gig... but this thread isn't about me, the community using my SMF, or even ideas beyond using items outside of adverts to monetise enough to cover costs.....

to make adverts work, there HAS to be traffic, unless you're beating the street, literally, to find someone who pays you directly for advertising.... and even then they'll be demanding exposure that a forum will have to provide/prove. 

all that said^, it is a curious thing to me that often times websites in general, unless outright ecommerce sites, aren't taken serious unless there is an advert on them...... it's almost a measure of 'value' at face value.... too many and you are gaudy and in it for coin alone- but one or two placed tastefully? it almost lends credibility..... to this point, in addition to running one or two adsense, for instance, it may be worth while to offer free adverts to local business in something related to your subject in attempt to kick-start a relationship... if they in fact turn a few sales because of it, they may be willing to pay a few dollars after six months or so..... which may be enough to cover hosting fees? 

don't get any of this wrong, i'm ALL about 'community' and recognize that as the basis of what i do- and that is the motivation... however, if you're not eating you're getting eaten, plain and simple- and much of this comes down to YOU being motivated.... remaining motivated and developing 'community' means always being 'on the hunt'..... it dang sure isn't 'field of dreams' where 'if you build it, they will come'- it takes effort.  the better way to keep yourself engaged is to be willing to 'kill your children' (harsh, but a phrase i learned from several well established songwriters- meaning YOU think it's perfect, but it doesn't fit- so you have to 'cut' it out)... if something isn't working, it's time to move to something that does as a community of 'one' doesn't exist. 

All the dissertation above this dissertation is suggesting is that connecting with people on an almost primal (monetary) level is another way to establish and grow a community as all have a vested interest. 

landyvlad

Quote from: Gwenwyfar on November 26, 2018, 10:04:21 AM
That is still making money from your community. Some people run forums without ads or any kind of required payment.

Yeah me.

Once the forum had been established for a year I made it possible for people to donate toward running costs (usually via paypal).
Absolutely voluntary. No pressure at all. 
I don't offer any special access or other benefits for this. All members are entitled to the same whether they pay or not.

Members generously donated enough to pay for the last year's forum hosting etc expenses; and also enough to cover 50% of next year :)
"Put as much effort into your question as you'd expect someone to give in an answer"

Please do not PM, IM or Email me with questions on astrophysics or theology.  You will get better and faster responses by asking homeless people in the street. Thank you.

Be the person your dog thinks you are.

Advertisement: