Is it me or is this useless

[lotsofissues]

Why does anyone even bother trying to make money, its all just useless. The best possible is a couple bucks a month, and think of all the focus that goes into putting up ads. I just make my site ad free because why bother until you get a million visitors?

[niv]

it is because at least, if you're using a pay host, you can get enough money to get some upgrades without using your pocket money. as long as you can cater your viewers, they won't really mind the ads.

[Haze]

Every little bit helps.

[niv]

your best bet is to not load up on ads right away, not until you roll in the traffic.

[Gracklor]

Even with the advertising slump, my site has been paying for its web hosting costs *and* my internet connection each month, plus it provides me with a little more spending money.

And all this with less than 100,000 uniques per month. Not really a bad deal.

I may not be rich, but every bit does help. :D

[MrsGiggles]

The key is targeting, really. For instance, I make a decent income as an Amazon affiliate because my website is mostly all about books. The ads that really work are those that are in sync with your website focus (and hence your visitor interests). That, and of course, porn banners, but that's a different thing altogether.

I don't like CJ though. Their stats page is confusing and more often than not, their products rarely coincide with what I can sell from my website.

[jiminsd]

I've started using CJ and ClickXchange to pay for a site that I had with free hosts and now have with a low cost pay host. I figured that since the good free domain hosts were gone that I had to go it on my own. So far it's working... I am recovering the cost of the host, registrar and a little pocket money to spare.

As far as making big money... I won't quit the day job.

[Czar]

Well I did quit my day job in 1999, and have never looked back. The ad downturn has hurt us all, and has created a situation whereby publishers are forced to innovate and perspirate in order to reach the highs of the bubble in terms of earnings, but it does remain possible to make one's living (and then some) purely from ad-supported websites.

Dedication, research, innovation, an on-going education and plain-ol' hard work are qualities that you will need to pursue in order to generate anything substantial, but not every publisher wants or needs to make their living from the biz, so even the 'build site, keep content fresh, promote, slap up banner/popunder' approach is worthwhile for some.

[jiminsd]

Actually, you should study Czar's methods, he is one of the Gods of Web Advertising.

[Czar]

Hmmm...well I wouldn't say that. I've just made more mistakes than most, since I've been doing this for several years, so I've been able to learn via trial-and-error.

That's where forums such as this can be of great benefit, since publishers with less experience can learn the pitfalls and be made aware of rising opportunities via proxy, so as to not have to endure so many mistakes, or such extensive research themselves.

It still takes a lot of work to get things right, but there's not much value in re-inventing the wheel.

[Michael]

The key with advertising is to work it into your site. Most people think that only the header is the place to put adverts. After awhile even the most novice internet user realises that the header is used for advertising and will not pay attention to it.

Be creative and work the advertising into your site. That is the key.

[Archbob]

Hey, the money for my domains has to come from somewhere.