[thelist] revenue programs

deke web at master.gen.in.us
Fri Apr 13 23:09:26 CDT 2001


On 13 Apr 2001, at 10:41, Ryan Mayberry posted a message which said:

> I've got a site which is starting to generate moderate traffic (over 2000
> unique visitors a day - approximately ).
 
> While I don't have any hopes of making serious coin from the site, I would
> like to find a way to generate enough money to at least cover my costs which
> are only about $15 a month.
 
> I also don't have a lot of time to spend setting something up or
> administering it, so I was thinking of joining an Ad Banner Affiliate
> program.
 
> Does anyone have experience with any of these programs and is there any
> suggestions you can make?
 
> Does anyone have any alternative suggestions in how to turn 60,000 unique
> visitors into a measly $15

It was hard to find per-exposure banner deals a year ago, and 
the online advertising business has imploded. Even Yahoo is
losing money.

Most of the banner networks are paid on a per-click basis. From
the advertiser's point of view, this is ideal, because you put the 
domain name fairly big in the banner and the user will decide to
keep on doing what he is doing, and go to the webside *later* 
by entering the URL manually. Voila, free advertising!

That leaves per-sale deals, which are even worse, because if your
user decides to buy, but the credit card is sitting in wifey's purse
and she's out of the house, the user has to bookmark and return,
and you *don't* get the commission. 

Best of a bad lot seems to be quinstreet.com  But sheesh!

I've often thought that wholesale pseudo-blackmail sounds like a 
great business model. Collect as much personal information as 
you can about each of your users. Then contact them in six 
months, telling that you sell information and that you have come 
across their embarassing secret. 

Since it isn't actually illegal, only embarassing, you would be
glad to remove this information from your inventory, so that it
doesn't accidently fall into the hands of someone who might
be inclined to use it irresponsibly.

This isn't blackmail. There is no threat to expose a secret. There
is a good chance, you tell the user, that nobody will ever buy a
file on them, and in that case, their secret would never get out.
But since you only sell information once, if they buy it from you, 
nobody else will get it. 

Technically, I don't *think* it's blackmail. I'm not sure how the law 
reads. But at that price, it's cheaper than getting your own credit 
report.  I suspect a lot of people might jump at the opportunity to
protect their job, their marriage, or their social standing.  And who
is to say what is embarassing. ("You mean you were born in OHIO?
Heavens to Betsy, how lowbrow can you get?")

But if all you want is $15, you better find a different business model.
That information sales scheme might just put you in a different tax
bracket....

deke












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