Would a video game site be profitable?

I've been working on this site for about a week http://www.fpsgaming.us, and yesterday I posted it on another forum for people to critique it. They basically said that the layout sucked, and I needed to accept content from other people because it would take to long for me to make all the content.

When I started this site, I thought I would just concentrate on my 3 favorite games, but now it sounds like a good idea to make a site like http://www.gamefaqs.com. They have pretty much every game listed there, and the users can submit content.

But I have a couple questions:
#1 - How profitable would it be? On my fpsgaming site, one day 8 people clicked ads and I made 66 cents. That's terrible, right?

#2 - Why would people want to submit articles? Just to be nice?

 

well, i would agree with them on one thing. Change the layout. It's not the worst i've have ever seen, but it also isnt really appealing. What you need to think is: would you browse further in such a site if you come from a search engine, or just exit and pick the next result?

Answers on your questions:

#1 Well, its only 8 people... gaming sites dont have the best paying ads (and i know, since i run one also). It all come down to traffic on such a site. You see 8 people clicked, well imagine 800 people clicked, then it would be profitable. Traffic, traffic, traffic. If you cant get a high CTR or high-paying keywords, go for high traffic.

#2. Well, on sites like gamefaqs, it is about the community. They praise your faq, they comment on it, you get thank you mails, question mails, etc, etc. And the people writing faqs just like writing them. Problem is, most of them only post it on the big sites (aka gamefaqs). I would not give you the best change of getting many FAQs submitted.

I think, you just need to focus on a few games like you do now. It is better to have a site covering 3 games for 100% and having great content there, then having a site covering 100 games for 1% and each having just a little bit of content.

Dont let yourself be put from your idea because some people say it. If you have great content, unique content, and do a bit of standard SEO, you can come a long way. Just keep writing; make at least an article a day. Let people know you have updated on you mainpage. Put a message there, saying "Look, I've updated the Halo 2 walkthrougn with this and this.".

And DO NOT do it for the money. You need to like it. In the first few weeks, maybe even months, you get very little traffic. But once google starts to like you, and you have exchanged links with a good amount of sites, traffic builds op quickly.

I would say, just go for it. Do your thing, your UNIQUE thing. Give the people information they cant find anywhere else about the games. Just give it a try for a few months and see how it runs, and you might end up making a few dollars a day. But dont expect the traffic (and money) to come easily. It takes time, hard work, etc. Keep going and you will get visitors.

 

Wow. Great help
Alright, so I should stick with these 3 games. I will still have to change the layout, so that brings up another question - how? Some people say I should use PHP so if I need to change my nav bar, I only have to change 1 file and not every page. Only problem is, I don't know PHP. What do you suggest?

Oh, 1 more thing - Even if I get a lot of visitors, are they going to click the ads? I know for Counter-Strike there will be lots of dedicated server/hosting ads, but for Halo and Halo 2, the ads pretty much suck. If all the info is on my site, why would they click other links? The only reason they were clicked before is because the people on the forums wanted to help me out (I didn't tell them to though).

 

I think focusing on a particular segment of gaming, and becoming the 'authority' in the field would be best.. or maybe focusing on a single game that you know will be around for a looong time.

 

like the other i would target a certain section or certain gaming platform, or even just a certain game to get your self of the ground, you can always add sections at a later date.

 

Well, as for the design, you can go with an open-source CMS, like Joomla or a blog-like style like Wordpress (google them, dont know the URLs from my head). It will take some time to learn CSS and a bit of PHP, but if you put some time in it, it will go quickly. If you use a CMS, you dont even need to know PHP, just set up a MySQL database, fill in the install forms of the CMS and you're ready to go.

And you can integrate the ads in your text, like an adblock on the right (a bit like www.teamxbox.com has). Try getting a good color combination, so people will see it, but don't get irritated by it and leave. For the first weeks, dont even think about earning good money with adsense (i myself have a xbox 360 website since october and only started earning $3+ a day late februari).

 

Is teamxbox your site?

 

If you can get the traffic such a site can be profitable even with a low EPC. Immagine 100 people a day clicking 7 cent ads. You make $7/day or $210 a month. Not that much money but it will easily coverall hosting.

 

Yeah, now I need a template. I checked out Joomla and some other stuff, and it is WAY complicated for me, so I'm probably just going to use HTML and hope that I never need to change my nav bar.

 

Why don't you find a template that comes close to what you are looking for and pay someone to modify it for you. A content manager solution will surely save you time in the long run and make your life easier.

 

You may want to take a closer look at Joomla. It really is quite easy to learn. Give yourself a day or 2 to learn how things work in the system and you will be good to go. There is also a huge, active community at http://forum.joomla.org

 

Well, I just don't understand what exactly it is. Right now, I make a page with Frontpage and then upload it with FTP and Internet Explorer. When I downloaded Joomla, it wasn't an actual program. I think I needed to upload it with FTP, and the download PHP (which I did), and I needed an Apache server or something. It was really confusing, and that was't even how to use it, that was just how to install it.

 

You do need to have hosting that supports mysql and PHP. If you do, look up your your hosting instructions on creating a database and database user id. Upload all of the joomla files to your server and type in your url. The instructions are pretty easy to follow.

 

Ok, I just checked and I only have MySQL support, not PHP.

 

Well, then joomla will be out of the question. Who do you use for hosting? Is it linux based, or windows based?

 

godaddy.com, I don't know if it's windows or linux.

 

no, would have wished that . I got a dutch Xbox 360 site.

I thought all godaddy hosting packages had PHP support? Just make a test.php file and ad the code:
<?php echo 'Hello Everyone'; ?>
See if you get Hallo Everyone at the page. If it shows up, you got PHP support.

 

I would hire someone to do the site for you. Time is money, if you can't do something, there is always someone willing to do it for you at a cost and they do it way better. Be the boss, work smart... not hard.