Creative Monetization for Content-Driven Sites

You already have the perfect idea, a strong online following, and plenty of valuable content. If not to make money, your goal is to AT LEAST break-even off of what was once a simple online hobby. Welcome to the new American dream…

“How to be a millionaire from your blog” was the title of a recent webinar by Brazen Careerist founder Penelope Trunk. Catchy — like one of those “do nothing, work from home” scams offers. Ironically, this is exactly what most bloggers think they can do by simply putting ads on their site and waiting for clicks.  Penelope HAS made money from her blog however – not from putting up ads that make cents on the dollar via a limited number of clicks, but rather through “self-discipline” and knowing where to “work for free,” making trades for valuable services through her online community.

As Penelope suggests, the drive for monetizing an ever-growing number of content-driven sites that range from blogs to media sites to social networks requires, above all else, creativity – the ability to go beyond the traditional advertising model to get real value from your site.

The traditional advertising model for the online world says that eyeballs = dollars, i.e. just drive traffic to your site and the money will follow. This may ultimately be the case, but startup sites need a little more insight to move from hobby to revenue stream. Take a freelance project of mine, a Spanish language social network with a growing 7,000+ member base and a continuous stream of user-generated and shared content. The founder is GREAT at generating ideas, but until the site makes money, they are using their personal funds, time, and energy without seeing a return.

The task? For every idea generated, figure out some creative way to “make” (or save) money.

Example – Currently, the founder is reaching out to various Latin artists and authors from which to get written interviews and thus boost user interest in site content.

Non-monetary goals are seemingly simple – boost the number of user sign-ups, average number of page views, and ultimate user engagement via highly targeted content that is most apt to be shared.

We asked ourselves two questions, however, to get to the true bottom-line implications.

• What do we have to offer?
  Not only are we giving free publicity to the featured artist but are typically putting a direct link to their site or product on our site – ultimately providing a traffic increase to their site.
• What can they (in this case, the artists) offer us?
  The stereotype of the “struggling artist” means that, while we could exchange a feature article for a piece of art, we may or may not get money from them to advertise now or in the future. We could likely get other artist referrals, but sorry ‘art’…sometimes cash is king.

How do we use this information?

• Up-sell advertising or content:  Track relevant conversions (whether they be click-throughs or purchases) that flow to the featured artist. Use this information to sell advertising to the featured artist or, at minimum, persuade future artists to take part in a paid or non-paid feature piece.
• Solicit reciprocal publicity and INBOUND LINKS: You already have an inbound link to their site and are featuring their name. If the artist does not want to put a permanent link to your site on one of their pages, they can at minimum blog about how they were featured on your site, mentioning your name and likely, putting a direct link to the featured article that sends their own visitors back to you.
• Pick your artists well: Obviously, the more famous the artists/authors, the more likely you are to get visits to your site, either via your own visitors, the artist’s followers, or simple organic traffic. Plus, the more followers or the better the artist’s PageRank, the more it can benefit your site, with or without an actual monetary exchange (but certainly saving you the expense of paid traffic).

Note: Offline media publishers have probably long dealt with featured content, both paid and unpaid. Whether you have experienced this in the online or offline world, what creative “trades” or “up-sells” have you made? Have you used the above suggestions before, and if so, with what result?