[confusion]

I definitely don't think that web sites are the way to money. There are roughly 1025234234562345 web sites out there that would disagree with me, and take your money to do it, but it's unlikely at best. I'd liken it to playing football or basketball in highschool, dreaming on that being your career and making money off of it. Sure, it's possible, but very unlikely. Most people do it for the enjoyment. For me, like most other people, it's a hobby. I get to have fun and meet new people and that's what I'm after.

I remember a while back in the simplemachines circles a lady started up a forum called smfusers. She harvested a collection of participants from the simplemachines forums and sent personal invitations. She spent what must have been an incredible amount of time growing and participating in the new forum for about a week. And it grew to have several hundred, if not thousand active participants. As it turns out, her whole intent was to cash out. I believe she only got a few hundred dollars for her effort. I think there's a lot less time intensive ways to make that much money, particularly since she's now a pirrah in the smf community.

But, overall, uniqueness is what's going to win the day. The problem is that for amything you can imagine, there are already 1000 forums on the internet for that subject. So, no matter what you do, you're having to steal people away from those established sites, and that's not an easy thing to do. It can be done, though - look at digg. They offered a fundamentally different way to interact with media than their target audience was used to (ala slashdot). So now there is a "thundering herd" of sites moving out on the web 2.0 wagon in the vein of digg, but it's already been done and isn't unique enough to differentiate yourself.

Sorry for the long rant... To sum up, quality content that hits a target market well and some kind of fundamental differentiation is what's going to make you money.

[newuser]

Originally Posted by confusion

But, overall, uniqueness is what's going to win the day. The problem is that for amything you can imagine, there are already 1000 forums on the internet for that subject. So, no matter what you do, you're having to steal people away from those established sites, and that's not an easy thing to do. It can be done, though - look at digg. They offered a fundamentally different way to interact with media than their target audience was used to (ala slashdot). So now there is a "thundering herd" of sites moving out on the web 2.0 wagon in the vein of digg, but it's already been done and isn't unique enough to differentiate yourself.

Sorry for the long rant... To sum up, quality content that hits a target market well and some kind of fundamental differentiation is what's going to make you money.

I totally agree with this. I don't think it is really possible for a pligg site to achieve mass wealthy and possibly not even comfortable living. Now matter how large it gets, the basic functions are already a copy of a massively successful web site. I hope that people don't think they can actually take out digg or what it is doing. For the others that put their small twist on things, I commend you. Although I still believe that in the end the site remains a step child to digg. Just one mans opinion.

[chuckbutt]

Build the community, and the revenue will come. The trick will be to generate a community of people who enjoy interacting with the site and continuing to come back.

Digg is an overall news site. I think going after specific niches (i.e. bird enthusiasts, cat lovers, ferret farmers, etc.) will have a much easier chance of succeeding than a site focused on a larger audience (i.e. digg, youtube, etc.).

If you can create a compelling site, with some personality, and bring like-minded users to the site, while giving them a reason to keep coming back, you've got a chance to monetize the site. But in the beginning, it will be all about creating the community and driving them to come back.

Just my two cents,

Chuck

[jon]

Pligg is just like any other website - it's just a numbers game. Once you have placed the relevant ads, then it is a matter of getting visitors through the door. The more people, the more clicks, the more money.

Simple. Getting them in the door is the tricky part though.

Cheers,

Jon.

[onelessthang]

Jon -

I noticed that you have adsense on both your collaboration and community sites.

Would you care to share with us how long you have had them up, what the traffic is like, and approximately what kind of revenue you have seen?

I am working on a couple of pligg sites that I hope to generate income through. I do agree with other forum members that it is about community and building that community is the first step. If you place a lot of ads on a new site, it will be difficult to build the community in the beginning, and it is that community that provided the content. We can talk about RSS feeds providing content, but I have many concerns with that in terms of building a community. Too many to discuss here, plus they are off topic.

Thanks in advance-
Onelessthang

[enzofsilva]

I'd like to know, if possible, how much some of Pligg users are making with their websites thtough ads and other ways (if any)...
just so we can know, with examples, what strategies are or not profitable with this kind of websites.

Just estimate amounts, nothing precise...

I know it depends more on your kind of website and niche than on Pligg itself... but it sure would be nice to know a few success (or not) stories (numners) here...

[dertonline]

I just launched beta on my pligg site and it is doing around $18 a day. I have a rare case. I will be backing my pligg site with my monthly magazine and our 24/7 radio station.

[brandondrury]

I think you're headed down the wrong direction. If your main goal is just to get revenue coming from your pligg site, you will probably end up with a site that isn't very user friendly, and tries to force feed ads down the users throat.

If your main goal is to make money, you will work HARDER to make it user friendly. This is the way of capitalism (in ideal state anyway)

For me, my pligg site is about something I enjoy ... a hobby.

Great! But please don't compromise the information on this thread simply because this is simply fun for you. If you want to promote socialist views, you have that right, but I'd prefer you do it on a relevant thread.

I have to agree. I do not see much ad rev being generated by a pligg site, at least in the begining.

It took me 9 months before one of my blogs made $1,000 per month. Sometimes it takes a little time. Of course, I've made exponentially more with other sites in a very short amount of time, but those were product based.

You can power it with whatever software you use, but in the end the software will still be a tool, and not an end in itself that makes or breaks your goals for monetization.

Well stated, Nicholas!

I'd liken it to playing football or basketball in highschool, dreaming on that being your career and making money off of it.

Confusion, your username is perfect! There are under 1,000 professional basketball players in the nation. There are probably 1,000,000 people that make their living online. Maybe more! So, yes there is competition, but if you REALLY want to make money online, it's not that difficult. Making a zillion dollars isn't easy, but the internet is about 50,000,000 niches that need drastic improvements. The problem isn't opportunity. The problem is time.

I think you are a bit defeatist. If you really wanted to win, you could and you would.

Brandon

[enzofsilva]

I may sound kinda defeatist too, but I thought my website would be a cool idea: a video aggregator for Education... well... I only have (after a month or so) about 10 or 15 users...
I can't seem to get enough ACTIVE users to join, all videos were posted by me except for one...

Someone here mentioned they have blogs and websites (product-based) making money even $1000/month, someone else mentioned a PLIGG website making $18/day...

What are these Blogs? Websites? PLIGG websites?

I need to see some examples for encouragement and maybe inspiration on the right way to advertise my own PLIGG website...


thanks...

[brandondrury]

I'm not trying to brag or anything like that, but I once made enough money in a single day to buy a brand new car. Of course, easy come easy go. I made $14,000 in one day. (Not with pligg)

The point of me saying this is not to toot my own horn. The point is to illustrate that the possibiliies are OUTSTANDING even for an idiot like me. So, don't ask "How can I make $18 per day?". Ask "How can I make $14,000 per day?".

This mindset should open up ENORMOUS doors for you. I'll give you a hint. You only need to sell 140 $100 products to make $14k per day (in sales anyway).

If you approach the web $$$ arena with the "How am I supposed to run a website mentality?" you will probably fail. You'll do what everyone else who is unsuccessful is doing.

Instead, figure out how you can give $14,000 of value to your visitors each and every day.

That's the vague, general route anyway. However, ANYONE who thinks that the web is perfect is a complete idiot. So, all you really need to do is solve some problem for someone.

Brandon