Ways to turn a lot of members into a lot of purchasers?

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Nathan

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Say for example you have a web site with a forum attached.

Say that forum has well over 1000 members. Not all of whom are active.

Say that the forum is set to become the dominant site in a given area.

What, in your opinion is the best way to capitalise on that?

Adsense? Affiliate links?

How do you include those things into a forum without them looking so obviously like an ad?

At the moment, I make around $2 / day from the web site and next to nothing from the forum. The forum is the most visited part of the site with over 1000 members, I'd like to increase that revenue without necessarily slapping the members in the face with blatent "buy now" ads.

Your thoughts?
 


Well first do you have them on an opt-in list? That might be a nice way to get the "not all of whom are active" back and active on your site.

As far as advertising goes with a fourm I'm not all that sure. I know that Banners/Links inbetween posts make more money than on the tops/bottoms (at least with adsense).

Also.. others will probably ask, so I will just ask now... what is the forum based on? Could really help.
 
It's a fan site for a computer game.

At the moment it has no competition to speak of. It used to but they have since died off and essentially my site is the only one left.

In about 2 years time a new game will be released and I have been promised several things from the game developers - such as copies of the games to give away and t-shirts to give away as well as things to help me create walk-through guides etc.

The site is already 1.5 years old that's why there are so many members.

The forum is a VB one so yes there is the ability to send a newsletter out. The biggest issue at the moment though is with the new game so early in development there isn't a great deal to actually talk about yet.
 
Sounds like you have a good situation. If there is a release coming up, I would suggest looking into setting up a deal to distribute the game through your newsletter. For example have a set number of people sign up for the release, and offer perks for doing so. You should be able to get a cut of all copies you sell this way.
 
This is from other types of forums, but could you do a "group buy" where you can guarantee the publisher a number of sales and the group gets a discount?

How about having the members place their orders through your site and of those orders, have a drawing for a special edition copy signed by the developers and maybe include some free goodies?

I think any way that you can encourage people to buy game-related items through your links would be beneficial
 
Payton said:
This is from other types of forums, but could you do a "group buy" where you can guarantee the publisher a number of sales and the group gets a discount?

How about having the members place their orders through your site and of those orders, have a drawing for a special edition copy signed by the developers and maybe include some free goodies?

I think any way that you can encourage people to buy game-related items through your links would be beneficial
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Good point. I'll ask them about it. The sad thing is the game is at least 2 years away, however I'm sure I can get things like alpha and beta testing worked out.

In the long run various things will be available for it, so it's just a matter of time before I can affiliate more with it.
 
Create a system where people have the option to become "premium members" for $40 a year. In return they get a badge on their posts, unlimited pms, an ebook, or something else you consider valuable.
 
In my opinion, your value is in the sites ability to get links. If you can get ahold of alphas and betas and publish previews you should be able to get some very credible links to your domain. If I was in your position I would merge your forum with a general gaming site. Build up a database of game profiles so you can cast a very wide keyword net.
 
donn said:
Create a system where people have the option to become "premium members" for $40 a year. In return they get a badge on their posts, unlimited pms, an ebook, or something else you consider valuable.
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Interesting. I could probably arrange for a discounted price on sign up of the gam too. It will be a MMO monthly payment thing.
 
Andrew said:
In my opinion, your value is in the sites ability to get links. If you can get ahold of alphas and betas and publish previews you should be able to get some very credible links to your domain. If I was in your position I would merge your forum with a general gaming site. Build up a database of game profiles so you can cast a very wide keyword net.
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I don't know that I want to do that. Meging with a general gaming forum devalues it somewhat and makes it just like every other game site out there.

At least being specialised on one brand of game, it has a very highly targetted audience
 
WallaceCleaver said:
Why don't you sell ad space on your forum? If you receive a lot of traffic, then you should be able to generate some cash.
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Sell ad space to who? It's pretty specific on the topic of the game. I run two ads on therei at the moment from CJ that are related to the genre the game is in. I get aroun 600 - 700 clicks on those ads but no conversaions to sales at all therefore no affiliate money from it.

I thnk the issue there is most of the people that visit the forum are teenagers and don't really have disposable income on hand to purchase things when they click the ads
 
how about changing those things that get clicked 600 to 700 times with ad word banners , even if it halfs your clicks you'll still make a pretty penny.
 
I have adsense on the page too - left hand column type deal. I also have adsense in the articles etc. This is how I make around $2 a day. Interestingly the front page of the site never gets a lot of clicks on the adsense ads. It's only those in the articles themselves that get clicked. The CJ links are on that front page too.

I suppose I could put hte small adsense ads there the small list style ones. Worth a shot I suppose. Given that I'm about to be kicked out of CJ for no slaes, I need to replace that section with something
 
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