Can you make money with these things? #tal10 session
william perrin
could sell local advertising on their site or sell some services to
make a few bob. But very few do manage to do so. Many people i speak
to aren't motivated enough to go out and sell adverts or similar five
days a week - either the return isn't perceived as big enough or that
wasn't why they got into hyperlocal sites in the first place.
Some folk though do manage it - James Hatts at the magnificent
http://www.london-se1.co.uk/ does make it a business and so do one or
two others such as the Towcester about my area. Mr Rick Waghorn and
his Addiply product make it easy to put in some text ads with more
control than Google. Philip John at Lichfield blog has long
maintained that it is possible to monetise.
When you look at some audiences in agrgegate they appear very
attractive - could some ad sales co-ops emerge where a professional ad
sales person (who shares the values of hyperlocal owners) is employed
to sell across a collective - say the West Midlands family of
excellent hyperlocal sites.
Philip is interested to have session on making money - would anyone
like to join - let us know
CountCulture
how we can do some tools to make things work better.
Obviously I've got a perspective doing OpenlyLocal, but would be great
if we could find some way of tying hyperlocal posts together with
democratic records -- so that a mention of a councillor, for example,
would link to their record on OpenlyLocal, which would then link back to
that post from the councillors page on OpenlyLocal.
That's just an idea off the top of my head, but I'm sure there are
others that would be start helping the disparate posts together, to make
them easier to find, and more relevant.
Chris
--
-------------------------------------------------------
OpenlyLocal :: Making Local Government More Transparent
http://openlylocal.com
Blog: http://countculture.wordpress.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/CountCulture
RayDuff
have no choice! If I want to continue to do what I love doing - then I
have to generate an income! I have to get the governance right, I have
to do the necessary bureaucracy and admin! Damn!
Yes reluctantly very interested in this session!
On 8 Apr, 16:07, william perrin <williamjper...@googlemail.com> wrote:
> Few hyperlocal site owners have not thought at some point that they
> could sell local advertising on their site or sell some services to
> make a few bob. But very few do manage to do so. Many people i speak
> to aren't motivated enough to go out and sell adverts or similar five
> days a week - either the return isn't perceived as big enough or that
> wasn't why they got into hyperlocal sites in the first place.
>
> Some folk though do manage it - James Hatts at the magnificenthttp://www.london-se1.co.uk/does make it a business and so do one or
MattyB
I've now spent the last year trying to make some money out of
Bankeyfields (no http://mytunstall.co.uk ), which I then hoped I could
create a nest egg in which I could advertise the site further.
My first attempt has been to join a lot of affiliate networks, and
then slap a stack of banners all over the place. This has only ever
really had any limited success, as you only ever make any money from
affiliates if someone clicks through and buys something.
I have had enough success with google adsense, to pay for hosting
charges and to shell out for some limited printing to promote the site
further. It wasn't a vast amount, in the region of about £80 over the
course of 8 months. However I feel if the site had just shown just
google ads, rather than randomly flitting between affiliate ads and
google ads, this might have been bigger.
I have however, had more success when I write the odd article with the
affiliate market in mind. Back in October I published the Peter Kay
tour dates for Manchester and ranked highly in google, so over those
few days, site traffic was way up, and people were clicking through to
ticketmaster and buying peter kay tickets. This is the most luck I'd
had with affiliate publishing, but because the tickets sold so quickly
via other means, again I could have made more money for the site.
Recently a couple of local businesses have asked to advertise since I
changed the name of the site from Bankeyfields (a small area in stoke-
on-trent) to myTunstall. So far I've got 3 private ads up on the site.
I've not charged very much as I wanted to attract more local
advertising. It's still early days yet, but I think I'm going to end
up cutting down on the affiliate banners, and sticking with google
adsense and local ads.
Finally, because the sites built in drupal, it's allows your content
to be very flexible and has the ability to present a large set of
results in presentable ways
http://mytunstall.co.uk/tunstall-links , http://mytunstall.co.uk/directorymap/all
, http://mytunstall.co.uk/directorymap
My other aim, is to get as many local businesses on the site for free,
and another thought was if a particular page was doing well in terms
of traffic, it would then give me further opportunities to approaching
businesses, rather than them approaching me. A local business
directory also helps with google as you can attract a lot more
visitors to your site, through longtail keywords such as Pizza in
Tunstall, Curry in Tunstall, chip shops in tunstall and so on.
So to answer your question, can money be made the answer is yes. For
me though theres also another question to ask, what do you do with it?
Here are my suggested replies
1. Pay the server bills
2. Advertise (printing)
3. Local causes - http://www.justgiving.com/rubyowen
Have a great un-conference, wish I could be coming to learn more.
Matt
Anthony Hickey
On Apr 9, 10:24 am, MattyB <matty.burk...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi William/Talkabout Local
>
> I've now spent the last year trying to make some money out of
> Bankeyfields (nohttp://mytunstall.co.uk), which I then hoped I could
> ,http://mytunstall.co.uk/directorymap
>
> My other aim, is to get as many local businesses on the site for free,
> and another thought was if a particular page was doing well in terms
> of traffic, it would then give me further opportunities to approaching
> businesses, rather than them approaching me. A local business
> directory also helps with google as you can attract a lot more
> visitors to your site, through longtail keywords such as Pizza in
> Tunstall, Curry in Tunstall, chip shops in tunstall and so on.
>
> So to answer your question, can money be made the answer is yes. For
> me though theres also another question to ask, what do you do with it?
> Here are my suggested replies
> 1. Pay the server bills
> 2. Advertise (printing)
> 3. Local causes -http://www.justgiving.com/rubyowen
>
> Have a great un-conference, wish I could be coming to learn more.
>
> Matt
I too am interested in making some money from my hyperlocal site
www.mayotoday.ie
Specifically, regarding your reference to local directories, have any
of you guys taken a look at .tel - the new communications based
domain?
I have leveraged .tel to set up a series of local business and
community directories http://www.mayotoday.ie/mayo-directory-2 that
also drives traffic to MayoToday.ie
It has allowed me add value and a community service to my website that
I could not otherwise have done.
The directory listings are free, but this is not a problem as .tel
domain registration costs less than £15 per annum and there are no
hosting costs. They can also be used to funnel traffic to your main
website. I am using Twitter and my own advert placements on the
directories. See local directories here http://mayo-directory.mayo.tel
Some other points to consider:
.tel also has huge potential in the world of the mobile web and its
applications and functionality are only starting.
It has its own search engine telpages www.telpages.com - soon to be
embedded in .tel domains
Google loves .tel with its longtail keywords.
Just Google Mayo Phone Directory, Mayo Directory, etc In less than a
year, I am getting great results for a competitive search that I am
using to attract visitors to my site.
Hope this is helpful.
Craig McGinty
http://www.thisfrenchlife.com/ pay it's way and earn an income.
Think where you place adverts if you want them to be clicked upon or
offer your advertisers a better 'bang for their buck'.
Adverts at the foot of articles, before any share links etc, are
clicked on approximately 3x more there than in a side column.
It's similar when comparing affiliate links at the top of an article
to one at the end of a piece.
Also I've found simple text links to things like Amazon are more
effective than the small graphics featuring book covers.
You'll also have a lot more success making Amazon work if you review
the book or product, instead of just linking to it from the side
column, also don't be scared to ask publishers for review copies
especially if the book has only just come out.
If this worries you then review related books you already have on your
bookshelf.
Something that might work with some is to link up with local
businesses in taking leads and passing them on, for example, financial
services, estate agents, higher value products really.
Receive payment either on a per lead basis (a flat fee) or on the
successful completion of a deal (go for a % in this case).
If you are using Addiply or selling your own adverts then there is a
bit of hand holding at first so make suer your Advertise page is clean
and simple, and I also offer advertisers a little more as well.
They get a mention on the advertising page itself, and every Friday I
write a 'Thanks to site advertisers' style piece so that their
websites appear on This French Life but also Facebook, and each
advertiser also gets a mention in the weekly newsletter.
And that's my final tip, offer readers a newsletter sign up, I have 5x
as many people subscribed to the weekly newsletter than to my RSS
feed, again you can use it to promote advertisers, but in the main use
it to get in front of readers on a regular basis to highlight what's
been happening on the site.
Hope this helps.
Craig
This French Life
http://www.thisfrenchlife.com/
Philip John
their core aims. To be sustainable we have to make money but not loose
site of our objectives and I believe there are ways to do this so I'll
touch on this in the session, too.
On Apr 9, 8:59 am, RayDuff <rlduff...@googlemail.com> wrote:
> I'm not interested in making money from my community website. But I
> have no choice! If I want to continue to do what I love doing - then I
> have to generate an income! I have to get the governance right, I have
> to do the necessary bureaucracy and admin! Damn!
>
> Yes reluctantly very interested in this session!
>
> On 8 Apr, 16:07, william perrin <williamjper...@googlemail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> > Few hyperlocal site owners have not thought at some point that they
> > could sell local advertising on their site or sell some services to
> > make a few bob. But very few do manage to do so. Many people i speak
> > to aren't motivated enough to go out and sell adverts or similar five
> > days a week - either the return isn't perceived as big enough or that
> > wasn't why they got into hyperlocal sites in the first place.
>
> > Some folk though do manage it - James Hatts at the magnificenthttp://www.london-se1.co.uk/doesmake it a business and so do one or
Philip John
The Lichfield Blog made £18 from Google ads. In the first month of
using Addiply we generated £40. That £80 you made in 8 months we make
in less than two months and it's opening many doors for us. I would
suggest you try Addiply, even if just one small ad and see how it
goes. The key is that Google keep most of the revenue and give you a
tiny amount with you having no control over the ads whereas Addiply
gives you 90% and ultimate flexibility.
On Apr 9, 10:24 am, MattyB <matty.burk...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi William/Talkabout Local
>
> I've now spent the last year trying to make some money out of
> Bankeyfields (nohttp://mytunstall.co.uk), which I then hoped I could
> ,http://mytunstall.co.uk/directorymap
>
> My other aim, is to get as many local businesses on the site for free,
> and another thought was if a particular page was doing well in terms
> of traffic, it would then give me further opportunities to approaching
> businesses, rather than them approaching me. A local business
> directory also helps with google as you can attract a lot more
> visitors to your site, through longtail keywords such as Pizza in
> Tunstall, Curry in Tunstall, chip shops in tunstall and so on.
>
> So to answer your question, can money be made the answer is yes. For
> me though theres also another question to ask, what do you do with it?
> Here are my suggested replies
> 1. Pay the server bills
> 2. Advertise (printing)
> 3. Local causes -http://www.justgiving.com/rubyowen
MattyB
At the time, the site went under the name of www.bankeyfields.co.uk
which is a very small area of about 300 houses. The site has only been
know as my tunstall for the past few weeks, so it's hard to say if
businesses were put off by smaller target audience, but I ran
addipity for 4 months and never got a sniff. I wrote it off as a
complete waste of time.
The adsense was also watered down by the ad delivery system I used to
drop ads on the page. I say about 5% of ads shown were google adsense,
the rest were affiliate ads (I kind of got carried away signing up to
lots of ad schemes), so as I lower the affiliate ads and revet back to
local sponsored ads and also adsense ads tat some income to pay for
the costs of the site should be recouped.
Looking forward to picking your brains further.
Matt
> > results in presentable wayshttp://mytunstall.co.uk/tunstall-links,http://mytunstall.co.uk/direct...
Ally Tibbitt
Greener Leith, as a charity is perhaps a different model, as we do
lot's of other stuff in the neighbourhood. Greener Leith doesn't have
any bricks and mortar property, and although we've been in existence
since 2006, it's only this year that a combination of memberships and
advertising now more than cover the basic fixed costs of running the
site.
This is partly due to Addiply - they're certainly our best option for
text ads on the site, although I have found that I have to 'sell'
them. And although they won't sell themselves, I could certainly see
how we could make much money through Addiply if we did have someone
working properly on sales - and I'd be very interested in exploring
the 'Sales Co-op' idea.
We drive a lot of traffic to our site via our 'free weekly email,'
which is simply all the weekly posts, bundled up and automatically
fired off in an email to everyone who subscribes using the magic of
RSS. We're now nearly at 400 subscribers, and the number slowly grows
each month. We have Google ads in the feed that powers the mail out,
and for us, this seems to be the best way of generating cash from
Google ads (although it's nothing to get excited about). I would love
it if I could find a way of incorporating Addiply ads our emails - as
getting their brand sent regularly to peoples inboxes would be quite a
compelling offer to local businesses.
With regards getting paid to generate the content - well, we find that
our website, and our relative competence with social media tools - is
fairly appealing to grant giving organisations, when we're pitching to
them for funds. It also allows us to partner with other organisations
who have other complimentary skills. Therefore, there's a bit of a
virtuous circle in some senses, where we get funding to do
'neighbourhood improvement projects' of various kinds - and if we're
lucky this includes staff costs - and part of their job description is
to document stuff and produce content for the site.
We also get funding to do specific community involvement projects, for
example see: http://www.weloveleith.com/future-travel-plan/
Whether all this counts as "hyperlocal" I'm not sure. But, for the
people who are out there who are running Hyperlocal sites in order to
'improve their neighbourhood' then I hope our experience shows that it
doesn't all have to be voluntary - but you probably will need to do
more than just blog. If you can build a community by using a broad
brush 'community development' approach that actually identifies
problems and takes action (or influences others) to fix them - then
you might get paid some of the time to blog as part of that process.
I've been lucky enough to secure two years of funding to work full
time for Greener Leith - but my primary target is to cut the transport
related CO2 emissions of 50,000 people by 15%!
Although Greener Leith is primarily an environmental organisation
first, and a media organisation second, I think there is a viable (in
the sense that some people will get paid to do stuff - even if there
are lots of volunteers involved too) 'social enterprise/charity' model
out there for what you might call 'straight' Hyperlocal media. In our
'hood, we're lucky enough to have a 'community media' organisation too
- but their focus is on running a radio station: http://www.leithfm.co.uk/
So will a hyperlocal site on it's own pay the bills? I don't know. But
maybe we need to aim higher - Integrated community radio/website/
podcast/video/newspaper/digital marketing agency/adult literacy &
training for work social enterprise/non-profit/charity thing anyone?
Sorry for long post - but as you can probably tell it's a subject
close to my heart...and I'd be delighted to chat about it further.
Best wishes,
Ally @greenerleith
google.a...@oxburymedia.co.uk
We are working on a solution for Hyper Local sites to capitalise on Ad
revenues for thier sites. We currently sell advertising into a network
of local magazines right down to parish magazine level. We work with
nearly 6,000 titles across the UK. We simply work as a broker on thier
behalf so that they can concentrate more on the editorial side. Our
clients range from one man bands , franchisees, small busineses to
national brands trying to be more localised with thier message. We are
going to be to tied in with Addiply and Local Stars for creative work
and then simply up sell from our exisistng cleint base or new ones .
On another note we also have an exclusive UK partnership with FWIX to
try and monitize your editorial but this phase is still being worked.
I would have come along to the meet this Saturday but I willl be at a
wedding but I am more than happy to talk further about this project
with you.
My details are : ja...@oxburymedia.co.uk or 0800 0887282 web
www.oxburymedia.co.uk
Hope to catch up soon
JM
> > > > Matt- Hide quoted text -
>
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