The most profitable forum monetization method tried

[Shawn Gossman]

What's the most profitable forum metization method you've ever tried?

For me, two different types;

(1) Direct ad sales. AdSense never really did much for me, but made my members annoyed at me. However, selling ads directly to people and brands that directly relate to my niche has always been the main way of making money with forums. I can also control what the ad looks like and where it goes which is important to me.

(2) Premium membership. Most of the time, I sell premium memberships to members who simply want to support the community. It is important to add some extras and benefits though even if it's a private section, a cool premium member banner, and something like that.

How about y'all? What have you done to make the most profit with your forum?

 

[JWeb]

I didn't make much profit, but it was direct ad sales as you mentioned.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

I didn't make much profit, but it was direct ad sales as you mentioned.

I think you can make more with direct ad sales than ad networks any day of the week, unless you undersell yourself.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

I’ve seen decent results offering paid memberships for special content and private sections. It works best when the forum already has an active userbase that feels connected to the community.

I agree.

You have to add value to it.

My current premium membership is $6 a year. You get a little more than what you pay for, but you don't get much more than $6 worth of premium features. But I keep it low for that reason.

If I were to charge $10 a month, I would expect those who buy it to expect more value in return to keep paying monthly.

 

[King Belieal]

Paid upgrade by members is the monetization method that has earned me the most money. Running a fictional story blog, I lock the peak part of my stories, and my useless have to upgrade to their membership to premium to access the peak part of the stories. And they actually pay for it.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

Paid upgrade by members is the monetization method that has earned me the most money. Running a fictional story blog, I lock the peak part of my stories, and my useless have to upgrade to their membership to premium to access the peak part of the stories. And they actually pay for it.

Gated content is a common practice with article sites. If you have a good enough story leading to the paid portion, it will definitely work! Great job in getting to that point!