So I've decided to give this whole advertising thing a go... having it on my site that is. The only problem is, I'm not really sure on where to start properly looking... :erm:

I do have a rough idea of what I want, which is having a banner ad (banner/leaderboard) across the top of my front page, as well as text links along the left hand side under the menu blocks. I'd also like to add one banner type ad to my forums, either at the top of the bottom.

I'd like to get one of the pay per page view (CPM is it?) as my members are very much against clicking apparently. After having a bit of a chat to them they are strictly against pop ups of any kind, and they won't click. They'd also like it to all blend in with the site and don't want the real flashy ads (animated is ok).

But this is as far as my knowledge takes me. I've been reading up on all sorts of different advertising places that you can sign up with, but don't know who are reputable and who I should avoid. I found one called vistabanners which advertised they pay $1 CPM, to me that's a pretty good rate! Other places only say along the lines of $0.25 etc. That said.. vistabanners haven't replied to any of my emails, so I don't even know if they are legit.

How do I find a decent paying CPM advertiser? Ideally I'd like the ads to at least relate to my members... being an online gaming site, anything to do with gaming/computers would be relevant. I've been reading a bit of the Advertising Opportunities and Requests section here, but admitedly it all goes a little over my head.

To give you an idea of my sites, the following is between the 09 Jun 2006 to the 23 Jun 2006:

Main front page stats:

Unique visitors 19398
Number of visits 37761
Pages 113066

Forum stats:

Unique visitors 14212
Number of visits 29731
Pages 227760

As per my last thread (here (http://webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=522655)), I want to try to make a living off my site, and although I realise I may not be able to do that right off the bat, I'd like to try to get as much as possible for my CPM... I mean, who wouldn't? :nuts:(( P.S. Not sure if this is the right forum... ))

If you're getting that many unique visitors, why not try something like google adsense? I used them for a few months and made $150, but then bizzarely my account was suspended for supposedly violating the TOS (although I'm clueless as to what I actually did wrong).

They say if you follow the TOS by the letter of the law you won't have a problem.

There are quite a few other pay per click ads, and a quick search should give a lot of results.

If you're getting that many unique visitors, why not try something like google adsense? I used them for a few months and made $150, but then bizzarely my account was suspended for supposedly violating the TOS (although I'm clueless as to what I actually did wrong).

They say if you follow the TOS by the letter of the law you won't have a problem.

There are quite a few other pay per click ads, and a quick search should give a lot of results.
Vs (damn 10 character limit)

I'd like to get one of the pay per page view (CPM is it?) as my members are very much against clicking apparently. After having a bit of a chat to them they are strictly against pop ups of any kind, and they won't click.

Thread moved to Web Design and Content.

and they won't click.You're not offering your advertisers that much value then. ;)

Now, despite what they say, you never really know until you try it. You shouldn't ask your membership to click on the ads if they're not truly interested in what the ad presents anyway. These days Google advertisers can choose to pay not only per click but per impression as well, which means that (at least in the long run) you might be able to make money without having that many clicks on your ads.

What about link exchange to a relating site that does not focus on the same aspects as your website?

Hrm, maybe I'm not explaining myself correctly...

If I put pay per click ads up, my users won't click just for the sake of clicking. If they see something they like then yes they might, but if I go for pay per click type of ads to try and make money, I'll fail.

If I go for pay per view (CPM), then me and my users don't have to worry about clicking on each one, they can just leave them be, and then if they see something they like they can follow it through.

You're not offering your advertisers that much value then. ;)

I'd be offering advertising nothing if I went pay per click, because those users that would click to help the site wouldn't take any notice of the ads anyway. I'd be taking the advertisers money without actually giving anything in return.

Perhaps I worded my questions wrong.

I'd like to find a group to sign up with that offer CPM advertising. I'd ideally like to sign up with someone that would perhaps try to tailor ads to my site rather than throw anything up there. An example of this would the a site called Direct2Drive. They offer games you download instead of going to a store and purchasing. An ad for them would do a whole lot better on my site than an ad for a dating service. If I can find a group that would try to match ads to my site, then the advertisers have a whole lot more chance of getting clicks... like Direct2Drive, I know they'd get a lot.

My question is who do I sign up with? There are so many different options out there. I don't know who is reputable, who doesn't pay, or pay on time etc. I'm looking for recommendations for someone to sign up with that might pay $1 CPM or higher...

What about link exchange to a relating site that does not focus on the same aspects as your website?

Link exchanges don't reward money... I'm looking to make money from my site.

I don't think you'd make much money at all off pay per view advertisements, although if you can find a company who would want to enter into such a deal, I'd say "well done" :P

Some 'popular' sites obviously run a rotating script for banners and charge a certain amount per month for that one banner to be shown on their site pages (randomly obviously) - price not obviously based on click throughs but more because of banner exposure! Based on stats such as Noctavia's site what would be realistic? Is it possible to get people paying say $5, $10, $15, $20, $20+ per month to have their banner shown on a site with a higher number of page hits and visitors?

Thankyou sabian1982 (http://www.webhostingtalk.com/member.php?u=129928), you seemed to be able to word it a little better than me.

I'm not expecting to make millions of my website, however I would like try to make a little on the side as I am dropping back to part time work... perhaps use the site to supliment the two days I am loosing?

I was looking at a site called Vistabanners that have on their front page they pay $1 CPM. I checked my stats just now, and between the 9th of June to 26th of June, I've had 382,703 page views. $1 CPM would = $382.70 for this month! Problem is Vistabanners don't answer emails or any form of contact so I don't trust em.

I just don't know who I should be looking at? I was hoping there might have been some other people that had done / are doing something similar that might have been able to point me in a direction :erm:

Tbh id think that if you had that many visitors someone would surely want to advertise on your site! Perhaps a sticky in your forum for your members to see detailing the advertising oppotunities you have avaliable. With that many visitors/members im sure they'd be a few people who'd want to see their banner on your site. Then when you get some interest either set an amount or negociate a monthly, quarterly or even yearly fee for their banner placement. If i were doing it, id go for a monthly fee if i had the vistors that way you know exactly how much income you'll get each month/quarter from advertising. But then again thats just me... im sure some advertising guru will put me straight!