Alternative Monetization

I operate a number of Adsense and affiliate websites, but my best performer, traffic-wise, is not monetized at all.

It is a humor site, with original flash animations and buttons and linkbait in the form of "put this [funny thing] on your myspace page".... kind of stuff.

I know humor is not a particularly strong performer, so I've been lax about it. No promotion, save getting it listed in three respected directories right upon its launch (hedir, dmoz, joeant). But the average visitor goes to 6-7 pages, and the whole site is only about 18 pages.

I think I might have a brand here, albeit a bizarre brand, so I'm thinking about t-shirts and bumper stickers and that sort of thing. I have an account at cafepress but haven't used it, would love to know if there are easier ways to make a buck with a site that people like.

TIA

 

You probably have to think of creative ways to package what you have yourself - I'm sure you've been puzzling it out, but just to brainstorm:

Can you offer a package deal for webmasters or designers? Can you sell ads directly to advertisers if you have that much traffic (vs adsense)? Can you build a list to let peple know when a new design has been added, and monetize your newsletters? Try doing a poll to ask your visitos what else they want to see/buy - online greeting cards (just thinking out loud here)? You avea tough one there but it's gotta be doable. Look at Comedy Central. Other small graphic sites are full of flashing blinking banners and etc....

 

funny you should bring this up I am wondering what monetization for a funny site would be like.

Have you even tried adsense ads? I imagine for a humor site they would only pull 5 cents or so per click...but who knows...adsense can suprise you sometimes.

why don't you post some different adsense links on different pages and see how they perform.

If you wouldn't mind, let me know if it works for you!

At least that is a fun type of site to build!

You might try affiliate ads for some generalized stuff like weightloss or dating ebooks etc...stuff that appeals to college guys...maybe you should post a survey on your site to find out a little bit more about who your audience is, then brainstorm about what you could offer them.

I think it would be easier if you had some idea of who your main audience is.