Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Interesting however, I believe the writing's on the wall where Google's concened. They've effectively shut out affiliates through the evolution of their business model. In other words, they'd rather court big business and that too presents some challenges for them as evidenced in their stock price (down about 20% since Feb)... Hint: Facebook is Replacing Google for Mom 'n Pop.

forums are extremely difficult to monetize in my experience given the motive / purpose of the visitors. the best way i have been able to do this is through private advertisements, not CPC, rather fixed fee. you will get a very poor CPC / click through ratio if that is what you count on

Yes, paid membership with extra privilege to members would gather good revenue. People actually look for it. Some more ways are banner advertisement, ads on the forum. All the best!

You need to advertise to the members of the forum products related to your niche. Laser targeted campaigns, that is the way to go. Send them e-mail with followups, don´t rely only on banners or other ads. You must presale them with your e-mails.

Frank from how to get skinny fast

Google Adsense and all kinds of Affiliate programs with large online stores. You may find quite a lot of opportunities at Linkshare.com or JC.

I think if you have good content on your site, money will flow automatically.
Affiliate marketing is one of the very many choices to approach this.

Since you've already established a community, why not take advantage of their interests and generate a contest based on them? I imagine it wouldn't be that hard to come up with something considering that you've already defined your target market.

Try and see how that works and if things pick up, or even before you see any increase, find advertisers. These advertisers could then provide the necessary prizes that you want to present the winners.

Best,

Emma

You can place some google ads in your forum.

The best thing is to promote them Clickbank products, they offer very high commissions.

 Jenny

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When you have a lot of hits you can mix and match relevancy. Some well targeted Google adsense on the right places. With some affiliate links from different vendors aimed at different category conversations within your board.