[Unknown]

Same thing goes for me to bbrian, don't lose hope. The thing is that stories like this make me want to put even more effort in my work, because there is always a big chance that it will get a good revenue. In case it doesn't, at least I would have learned something in the process, and I can build upon it in my next venture/project.

[blaze]

Originally Posted by bbrian017

What omg what am I doing wrong? I only made 11 cents today and had over 1100 hits!

Is it where my ads are placed, am I not doing something right. how come I always here these great stories of adsence revenues and I see nothing myself?

I took a look at your site and you know what I saw? I saw an aggregator for blog feeds. You may have members posting these articles, but again, there are 1000's of other sites doing the same thing. Now, I am not saying that your site sucks -- but how is your site ANY different from Digg, Technorati, or any of the other Blog Aggregators? After 10 seconds, I left because there wasn't anything different from Digg.

Now look at Design Float, gen3ric's site. Basically the same thing as you're doing -- or is it? In my opinion, it's not the same at all. Design float is dedicated to DESIGN only, which is a niche. If I were designer, I'd likely be 100 times more interested in that site because it's a site dedicated to designers who would have something in common with me. It's a community I could relate to, which would entice me more to join and gab amongst the other designers.

Still though, imagine if you narrowed that selection down even further? Perhaps you created a site that was only dedicated to Adobe Fireworks Designers? The traffic wouldn't be nearly as high, but it would be higher in QUALITY as far as any type of affiliate sales was concerned because it's even more niche related. Are you beginning to understand? An Adobe Fireworks design site is interesting only to users of that particular product. They are a smaller community, however, they are a community nonetheless and they need place to socialize in as well. It would be easier to market that site too because the competitiveness is not nearly so great as compared to the keyword phrase "graphic design."

Ok, so let's say now that you've had this great idea for an affiliate themed site and so you go out to find a great affiliate product(s) and start to list them. You design the site, you market, you get members, your members rate the affiliate products you list, some even give product testimonials via comments, etc. Right now, the site is setup to bring about discussion on how these products could possibly make your life easier using Adobe Fireworks. You're not begging anyone to use the product -- you're only laying it out there for them to view and participate in discussion. If they want to know more about it, they will click on the link to view the product page, which has your affiliate code in it. If they buy it, you get the sale.

From the other aspect, you participate in Google adsense. You place your ads carefully on your page by discovering WHERE YOUR HOTSPOTS are. And how do you do that? You use a heat map for where the majority of users are clicking at to help tell you this info. Pligg Pro actually has this available for sale and it is a must have tool to find out where the best spots are on your site to place those google ads. Since your site is solely dedicated to Adobe Fireworks, guess what ads will dominate your site? Only products related to Adobe Fireworks -- and nearly 70% will be related to Fireworks, such as plugins or mods.

The way your site is setup now, it's no wonder why you're not making money from Google ads. You have Google ads ranging from so many different things because your site theme ranges in those very aspects. You also trusted that a template designer KNOWS WHERE YOU SHOULD PLACE YOU OWN ADS? Sorry, but that "above the fold" banner position is to be used as a guide only. Every site is different and you need a heat map to discover where most people are clicking at on your site. The spot where your ads are now may be completely ignored by your users. This is why you need a heat map.

Other things you need to do would be to check the stats on how long people stay on your site. And here's a tip, if the majority of visitors leave within 15 seconds, then guess what? They all left probably because they felt the same way I did when I arrived at your site, which means you should consider narrowing your site down to a niche market.

Check the stats and see where the most popular pages on your site are. Check the heat maps -- check the paths people take on your site and discover what they are mostly interested in. You have everything you need to make money, but you're not using these tools the way they are supposed to be used. And how do I know this? Because if you were, then you'd be making some kind of money, and a helluva lot more than 12 cents a day from Google Ads.

If you don't have a great stats tool, then use statcounter and place an invisible counter in the footer of your template. It's a great free tool. By the way, if you do use statcounter, turn on URL method 2 for your pligg site, otherwise you won't be able to detect which pages are more popular due to the query strings. You should have that on anyway because it's better for search engines -- and do the mod I suggested for the duplicate content filter. Also, stop changing your template around. I think this is the 3rd template I have seen on your site. I have seen your site before from other posts you have made. Keep it simple for your users and stop forcing them to figure out how they should navigate on your site.

Your site can make money bbrian, but I feel with your current theme being a blog aggregator (so to speak) and with so many varied topics, it'll be a lot harder to tighten up your market. But using the methods I described above, it should get you on the right path towards making a lot more than what you're currently making.

One final thing I want to mention is that you have to pay attention to duplicate content on your site. I am telling you now, if you have it, it will kill you. I watch the videos on StomperNet.com and Andy Jenkins, a SEO Guru, provides many free videos to help people get higher rankings. I suggest everyone see these. Use the menu playlist on the flash player to switch videos. There are only two videos as of now, but they are great videos -- especially the one about getting double listings on Google! That is amazing and I can't wait to do this. Check out these videos. These guys know their stuff -- so pay attention.

I am not an expert nor do I refer to myself as one. I am just a guy who is constantly learning. I am passing on what worked for me and what continues to work for me. I am making over $1000 per month and nearly $375 per month on ad words, so I must be doing something that you're not, yet I have told you everything I have done. I hate it when people don't share their success and how they achieved it. I am not hiding anything from you besides what market I am in and the keywords I use -- because obviously, my business relies upon this niche and I want to own that market. Do the things I mentioned and see what happens. Worse case scenario, it won't hurt your site's profits, that's for sure.

[gen3ric]

Great advice blaze, thank you for taking the time to share everything that you have. This thread should be saved by anyone interested in monetizing their Pligg site through affiliate marketing.

[bbrian017]

Well I don't think I'm like digg.com because I'm only for bloggers so like you I have a niche market. The rest of your advice is great. I like the idea about a heat map that's sounds great I will have to look into that for sure 100% Regarding the ad placement yes it was set like that and you're right I should look into some new placement ideals.


Thanks for all the info! It's almost over whelming

[web20guy]

No use using a heat map as the studies that the StomperNet group will give you is all the data that you need for now. I've been a member for 6 months and the material the group delivers in top notch..no hype

Design is everything, where you place your navigation, keywords in your navigation, how much text you have on each page, the use of no-follows and internal site structure and off site optimization just to name a few.

btw - there is really no such thing as a niche market...kinda like the word web 2.0...made up. You can build a site that will generate $1000 of dollars a day and be as general as a walk down a grocery isle.

Tech Support and Business Questions? Ask Dave Taylor!

Personally I think both your sites look just fine and if you both stick with it you will succeed.

Good luck - Happy Holidays to all!

[joehunk]

This thread is interesting. Wish I can make at least $500/month on my pligg site Thanks for the informative post/suggestions/recommendation from blaze. Time to develop my other pligg site that i left behind.

Currently making @ least @ least $100/month on all ads.

-----------------------------------------
my mini pligg site: http://www.ebenta.com

[blaze]

Originally Posted by web20guy

No use using a heat map as the studies that the StomperNet group will give you is all the data that you need for now. btw - there is really no such thing as a niche market...kinda like the word web 2.0...made up. You can build a site that will generate $1000 of dollars a day and be as general as a walk down a grocery isle.

Good luck - Happy Holidays to all!

The use of a heat map is actually pretty beneficial if you plan on monetizing your site with google adwords. I raised my daily CTR from 2.3% to 8.7% by using the heat map in under 2 days. Now my average CTR is around 9% consistently. However, I didn't just place the adwords where the most valuable clicks were, I placed them in locations of pages that had high clicks for where they exited from. This way, I figured if they were gong to leave, why not get them to click on a Google ad? It worked out very well for me and I never could have done that without the use of heat maps.

I can't testify that anyone can make 1000's of dollars a day having a site be as general as you say -- because I have never known anyone that ever made that kind of money with a startup. I don't have the luxury to hang out with those kinds of people nor have I ever had the luck to meet those kinds of people. Sad really. I wish I knew some of those people! I read about it here and there in the newsletters, but from what I have read, many of these sites also started with Venture capital in the Millions. Look at "KillerStartups.com™". It's a digg style format and is pretty successful from the surface. Not sure how much money they take in, but from the info given on their site, they seem to be pretty successful. But are they a GENERAL type of site? Or are they a niche site? IMO, they are a niche site since they only deal with startup companies. Maybe you don't think the word "niche" applies, but for me, it's a very realistic word and a very realistic market to tackle.

Oh well, tomato -- tomahto.

[not2serious]

I have suggested it before, and I will do it here again … it is time that there is a forum category dedicated specifically to marketing, monetization and advertisement. I think Pligg users need to continue to have this kind of dialog.

When there are individually like gen3ric, bbrian, lateefx, Unknown, myself and many other who are ready and willing to make improvements to their Pligg sites. Specific information from other successful members, like blaze, willing to provide such a complete analysis and guidance is hard to come by, and I greatly appreciate their willingness to share and educate.

I for one will take your suggestions and try to implement them to the best of my ability. I know I have a long way to go. I thank you all for this great exchange of ideas and insight.

[320studios]

I am just starting out with Pligg and this should definitely help me along. Thanks.

B.

[Unknown]

I agree. I'm finally starting a new live site. I'm gonna try some tactics amongst the ones suggested here. I will report back here with what I did and the results I got (what worked what didn't)

And while speaking of a niche, DesignFloat's niche is quite awesome, me myself visit the site on a daily basis (along with RSS), I always find some interesting stuff there.

Blogengage is quite nice also, the news is still slow a little bit, but bbrian's site isn't as old as designfloat, give it some time, I'm sure the site will rock, I for one also visit it daily. (found a nice snowman tutorial today)

As for me, even though I like design articles, I'm not entering this niche, I don't like to compete with someone who worked hard at getting where he is now (design float), so I'm gonna try going either general (a la reddit) or think of a nice niche.

Originally Posted by not2serious

I have suggested it before, and I will do it here again … it is time that there is a forum category dedicated specifically to marketing, monetization and advertisement. I think Pligg users need to continue to have this kind of dialog.

When there are individually like gen3ric, bbrian, lateefx, Unknown, myself and many other who are ready and willing to make improvements to their Pligg sites. Specific information from other successful members, like blaze, willing to provide such a complete analysis and guidance is hard to come by, and I greatly appreciate their willingness to share and educate.

I for one will take your suggestions and try to implement them to the best of my ability. I know I have a long way to go. I thank you all for this great exchange of ideas and insight.