Ads vs. Subscriptions
Barry is lamenting about how a lot of the problogging sites out there are all about how to get your readers to click on your ads and ad placement techniques. Successful Blog is different in that Liz likes to talk about how to build your site to keep readers coming back. No talks of money. No talks of clicks. Just building a great site with a strong readership. Shouldn’t that be your focus with every site?
I guess not if you are trying to make some quick cash. Barry offers up the suggestion of following the subscription-based model of revenue generation to make money, which almost forces you to produce strong content. This argument has been made before in the past and will continue to do so in the future. The conclusion usually ends up being that there are just too many blogs out there for any one person to be enticed enough to subscribe to one. It’s hard enough for traditional content sites to get subscriptions so why would it be an easier for blogs to run it?
So what other models can be followed? I do think that too many of us have gone into CPC hypnosis and forget that there are a couple of other models that fit very well with sites that have strong readerships and these are Sponsorship and CPM models.
With Sponsorships a company simply places an ad on your site for a set fee over a set time period. The greater your content, hopefully the greater your pageviews and therefore the higher you can charge. CPM is based on the amount you charge per 1,000 pageviews and should only be used with very high traffic sites (ie. 50k pageviews daily and above), but that’s just my opinion.
Don’t get too caught up in the CPC hype and cause you to believe that just because your Adsense earnings aren’t up that other forms of revenue won’t make the site a success. A large number of the Fine Fools sites will probably only see at most 10% of the earnings come from contextual advertising due to the nature of their content.
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POSTED IN: Online Money
5 opinions for Ads vs. Subscriptions
Barry Bell
Nov 21, 2005 at 4:09 pm
Yep, as much as I’d love to charge for subscriptions, it’s not something that’s gonna work right now. It might be something we’d like to try in the future, though.
One way that bloggers could make subscriptions work is to also offer something tangible along with the content. For example (in our case), personalised career coaching over email could be an option. That’s waaay down the line, though!
In the meantime, sponsorship and, to an extent, co-branding will prove to be the most workable model right now.
ME Strauss
Nov 21, 2005 at 5:13 pm
I think you have a real point with sponsor ads, Scrivs. It’s already in the marketplace, both in magazines and TV, so consumers and advertisers understand it and how it works–hurdle gone. Mo business model to explain, because again they already know it. Just a couple of people on the phone making cold calls doing ad sales and the train is rolling. Makes total sense–elegant simplicity.
Nick Wilson
Nov 21, 2005 at 5:33 pm
Another way is to make longer, more detailed versions of content available only to subscribers — or to build resources sections that are built and maintained soley for subscribers.
I agree though, it’s not a great model for blogs…
liberalcowboy
Nov 21, 2005 at 8:22 pm
Again Content is king. Let’s stop talking about money and blogging. Let’s talk about content and money. I know I am here for the money too. But I am also here for the ride. For the fun, the community, and the enjoyment I get out of it.
Shawn Anthony
Nov 22, 2005 at 11:48 am
I agree. Strong content should be the goal, everything else will naturally follow. I need to connect with readers in my niche, if I do so with good content (and a relevant/contextual design too!), they will return and often. I can’t see anyone subscribing to a feed that is connected to content they don’t find interesting or compelling.
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