Last week I posted that I would be taking suggestions for Monetization Makeover. Well I got a whole lot of them, and couldn’t decide on one site to profile. So instead, I looked at every single site and commented on the first and foremost change I would make to monetize each site better. So without further adieu, I give you the first Monetization Makeover Special Edition: Quick Hits.
p.s. sorry to the adult sites that PM’d me, I had to skip you.
- NewsDrunk – You might not like hearing my advice on this one. Briefly: this is going to be a very hard niche to monetize in any significant way. You obviously have skills, I suggest you apply them to a more profitable niche.
- The New Homemaker – This is a cool topic and I think it’s likely you can make a sizable community out of it if you put out enough good content. A topic like this screams newsletter. Go to ConstantContact.com and get rolling.
- The Wine Gift Guy – I only see a tiny ad unit above the fold. I’m all about clean design, but c’mon.
- OWatches – Nice product blog, and nice affiliate link implementation. I think you need to mix up your posts a bit though, I’d advise you to throw in the odd longer article (not watch review) for linkbaiting purposes.
- untitledlife – Your PM to me explained you know the weakness of personal sites, a site like this is nearly impossible to monetize significantly. Spend your efforts monetizing on a new site in a monetizable niche. Meanwhile write you can write on this blog when you feel like it, but throw in the towel on monetization. Sorry, that’s all I got.
- Blueprint for Financial Prosperity – The webmaster asked me to be brutal on this one. I’ll reluctantly oblidge. Why the crap is your skyscraper in the right column? Go LEFT, son. And what is with the ugly border & background on that unit, nevermind the fact that this color scheme is burning my retina, you have to blend to get high CTR. And why is Chitika on your permalink pages? Haven’t you heard they suck now? Your blog makes me sick!! There, was that brutal enough? 😉
- Yaybasketball! – Why not put some keywords in the title tag? e.g. “YAYbasketball! – the basketball blog”. Couldn’t hurt.
- holyvoip – Again, get some keywords in the title tag, at least on the index page. I also might lose the Amazon affiliate links — Adsense pays the best in this sector. Believe me, I know 🙂
- BikePortland.org – Advertising will not destory your credibility, just discuss it with readers beforehand and make sure not to go too far. Unless your readers pay you a salary, you have a right to put ads on your site, and they know it.
- Fantasy Football Spiral – Again with the burning of the retina. You gotta lose the striped background, it’s killing me.
- Daily Olive – Not too much I can critique here, you’ve done a bang up job. The Adsense implementation on your permalink pages may be just a tad too spammy. Try dropping the Chitika, and putting the Adsense where the Chitika is now.
- Anthropology.net – Again we have a very nicely done site. I’m guessing this is another of those hard-to-monetize topics. Maybe you can find a direct sponsor?
- Learn How to Box – The blog is darn near hidden from the main page. Why not feature it a bitt more? Perhaps put snippets / titles from the latest 5 posts on your homepage in a prominent position?
- Go Play AV – I think you’ve done a good job on this one (it’s inspired from Darren’s digital camera blog, and it shows). The only glaring fault I can find: it needs more links. Go get links from related sites, and consistently (and without being annoying).
- Camera News – In 5 words or less: You picked a tired niche. Go for something smaller, and dominate it. There’s just too many people doing these, it’s going to be very hard to compete when you’ve had a late start.
- Sales Team Tools – Get a newsletter. Use more Adsense units (and use them more prominently). How about an Adsense box in between the post and comments on the permalink pages?
- Miamity – Local-based blogs take a bit more effort to monetize. If you can get your traffic up, open it up to direct sponsorships via a little note on your sidebar. It won’t make you rich, but I could see you getting $100 a month each from a half dozen sponsors (local restaurants and such).
- Nate Ritter – Frankly I think picking “technology and business strategy” as your niche is making things hard on yourself. If you go a bit narrower, you can become the number one guy a bit more easily. Seriously, I think there are approximately 100,000 people already blogging on “technology and business strategy”.
- Piggington’s Econo-Almanac – Adsense unit in left sidebar, the link color is very muted. If you can use a shade of blue, red, or orange as the title color (and make it look good) you can probably increase CTR by a bundle.
- The Disabled List – For the life of me I can’t imagine how to monetize this one well. Readers?
- Backyard Cafe – Great ad implementation here. How about sexing the design up a bit?
- Scratch My Brain – Ads in left sidebar have a gray border. Blend them instead!
That wraps up Monetization Makeover Special Edition: Quick Hits (Volume 1). Sorry if I hurt anyone’s feelings (not really).
I welcome your thoughts.