The Old Joel on Software Forum: Part 4 (of 5)

Supporting A Content Site?

Wow. One of the things I like about JOS is that you don't have to spend hours looking for the perfect topic for your forum yet there are really google answers.

Suppose someone has a site that's something between a weblog and a content site whose primary audience is people in a developing nation with no ability to spend online and hence very little interest in ads.

Suppose the writer(s) have an interest in providing the 'best deals', or recommending specific products, and it has been observed that the text of the articles often make the ads redundant or unnecessary (e.g. telling the users how to get a free domain name or recommending a particular registrar yet having ads for paid domain names from the registrars not recommended??).

Suppose the writer uses google adsense and he is beginning to feel there is something fundamentally wrong with adsense as a business model for his site (the more he improves the value his site offers, the less he would make from adsense)...

What could such a web publisher do?

Regards,
Seun Osewa.

Seun Osewa (afriguru.com)
Thursday, April 8, 2004

Ask for donations?

Steve Barbour
Thursday, April 8, 2004

1. So you're saying JoS is a free Google Answers?

2. You're looking to make money from people who have no money? Is this right?

3. Affiliate programs with the people you're recommending.

4. Sounds like a shady business, you wouldn't be selling web hosting to people in Nigeria would you?

www.MarkTAW.com
Thursday, April 8, 2004

MarkTaw,

1) Did I say it was me?

2) A 'content site' is not the same thing as web hosting.

3) But Nigerians need web hosts too. (I use one.)

4) What if JOS is a free google answers? Can't pay google anyway even if I wanted to.

5) Unlike google answers, JOS allows more than one person to look into the issue at hand.

6) Should I apologize for asking this question? So sorry.

Regards.

Seun Osewa (afriguru.com)
Thursday, April 8, 2004

Quoting myself:
"One of the things I like about JOS is that you don't have to spend hours looking for the perfect topic for your forum yet there are really google answers."

Wow. I meant "GOOD answers". This is really funny :P

One might think of it this way: the writer of the site in question is helping those people to effectively use IT and at the same time save money. Why, some of the money saved should end up in her pocket ...

Seun Osewa (afriguru.com)
Thursday, April 8, 2004

I'd like to help. In fact, you seem like a person I can trust. I am a wealthy Am_erican politican and I need hle[p movinq a large sum of money out of my country. Please post your bankiog derails here.

Ivana Cheetya
Thursday, April 8, 2004

And by the way scammers only ask for bank details to guage the seriousness of their potential victims; they cannot force money out of your account just because they know the number ;-) You have to be silly enough to send it to them and apparently enough people are.

Seun Osewa (afriguru.com)
Thursday, April 8, 2004

You're still facing Mark's (2):

"2. You're looking to make money from people who have no money? Is this right?"

If OTOH you are providing a "public not-fot-profit service", find ngo sponsorship, governement grants etc.

Just me (Sir to you)
Friday, April 9, 2004

Dear Seun,
Making money from a content site on the web is what people have been trying to do with limited or zero success for years.

And that is with people from First World countries with credit cards, PayPal accounts, and a culture of paying for intangibles.

Stephen Jones
Friday, April 9, 2004

"1" Was a comment on the way you present yourself. There's no problem with asking for questions, but rubbing it in our face that we're a "free" and "easy" way to get answers won't really win anyone over.

You said you (or someone) wanted to make money by selling advertising to people who can't buy things. You said you would recommend products for them, like domain name services, web hosting was a logical extention.

Ad Sense, I presume is a bad business model because you'll be making the recommendations, and they should be following those, not the Ad Sense links. I suggested affiliate programs with any of the pay services you may recommend. Is it against the Ad Sense policy to say "please click on our sponsor links" ?

If your business model is suggesting free or cheap products, why not follow your own advice & use only free or cheap products? You won't make money, but you won't lose any money either.

www.MarkTAW.com
Friday, April 9, 2004

'1 Was a comment on the way you present yourself. There's no problem with asking for questions, but rubbing it in our face that we're a "free" and "easy" way to get answers won't really win anyone over.' Apart from the regrettable 'google' typo, there is nothing in my post along those lines. Check it again.

It is most definitely against the adsense policy to encourage users to click in any way besides showing the ads more prominently.

Stephen Jones has a point be cannot be ignored.

I think the site visitors in question simply have *less* money, but they are easier to reach because the articles are specially tailored for them (the publisher knows the issues that are important to them). However, 99% can't spend this *less* money they have thru the net; they can't buy the advertisers' products.

The publisher in question will probably be stripping off the ads so he can save his sanity while he tries other approaches to supporting the site.

Seun Osewa (afriguru.com)
Friday, April 9, 2004