big board money goal?

ok.. I've been asked to take over admin for big board....
roughly

18000 members
50,000 threads
1,000,000 posts


so.... with that kind of board...
What do you think a reasonable revenue goal for the board via advertising should be per month?

I know its a range and a lot depends... but assuming all ads (like adsense) are implemented well and in various locations (like header, between posts, end of posts, side bars, footer, archice etc), I'm trying to get a realistic rough idea...
like is it more like $1? or more like $1000 or $10,000? etc

Also, I figure for broad strokes steps to "monetize" I'm thinking....

1. add subscriptions for "premium" content or features
2. adsense or other ad network in various location.

then go from there. any other "big" areas I'm missing?

[Shazz]

Originally Posted by Irisfire

you are about 180 degrees wrong on that...

there are MANY more ways to earn money than that...(i.e...adsense is probably one of the worst advertising systems in terms of money earning (it's just the easiest))

Yup...
Many people think they can make a TON of money off that.

[Staxed]

Originally Posted by Shazz

Yup...
Many people think they can make a TON of money off that.

private investors are always the way to go if you can get them

[UltimateOreo!]

Just saying the main ones.

[Ted S]

Originally Posted by UltimateOreo!

Just saying the main ones.

Since when?

[GrendelKhan{TSU]

Originally Posted by Irisfire

and if he limited ads to only show to non registered members...he wouldn't earn that much extra anyway...the conversion rates on the site are pretty wild, they either sign up the first time, or they never come back most times...so advertising to the non-paying usergroups wouldn't really make a big difference (just guessing)

I'd be it was more than he thought. esp considering when people search and come into the first time...they could be clicking around.

Also...the subscription are always and option as well...if you install some nice hacks that people might want to use, you can restrict them to a 'contributing' usergroup (or allow that usergroup to use more of said options)...sometimes that works out well too (but not always)...

great tips thanks! I was thinking arcade first for limited viewing. but I know that's no gimme.

I'd love to add premier content section for subscriptions... but its hard for general sites.... not realy anything "premium". if it was a business oriented one it'd be easier (best info), but this is most social site. that said,

what kind of hacks are people using that are "stickiest"?

standard imo would be:
arcade
profile
gallery

Originally Posted by Irisfire

there are MANY more ways to earn money than that...(i.e...adsense is probably one of the worst advertising systems in terms of money earning (it's just the easiest))

I know there are other adnetworks with probably better payouts... but what other "methods" or "ways" are you talking about?

or were you referrign to better paying networks?

Originally Posted by Irisfire

private investors are always the way to go if you can get them

lol. well that's not necessarily ... "making money" just getting capital to pay for ways to eventually make more money (which brings us back to this question).

Originally Posted by Ted S

Since when?

I think just meant most commonly used.

still.. are you saying there are better methods?

[kevcj]

I know this is a zombie thread - but I wanted to post my experiences.

My site is banner and ad free, and they are going to stay that way. My site is also kinda small with @850 members - we just started in April. Instead of banners or ads, I have a donations link. Right now I make over $100 US dollars a month with less then 900 members. The donations pay for the server cost, plus some left over every month.

People like a banner free site. My members dislike pop-ups, and flashy ads & banners - so I give my members what they want. In return, the members make donations to keep the site banner free.

I had google banners, it took ten months of clicks to make what I do in a single month with donations. Banners are lame, they are a lame way of making money or supporting your site. Give your members what they want, and they will help support the community.

One thing I do, I post a monthly update, or semi-monthly update about the site. In this update I remind the members that donations keep the site ad and banner free, as well as where the site is going, number of members, new add-ons I am looking at, upcoming changes and so on. Kinda like a news letter but its posted in the forums - I do not like spam mail either.