David Fiske Affiliate marketing & web development musings from Fiske Towers

Today I'm walking you through Problem Exchange.

There's a prerequisite with this one so here it is:
 
I've found it a challenge to monetise because:

• Some of the content is unsuitable for some UK affiliate networks
• Many of the users are returning users so they're aware of where the adverts are and passed the stage of clicking them.
• The site has a global audience so I need to bear that in mind when choosing how to monetise it.

Any thoughts on layout, usability or the affiliate side would be very
welcome .

Here's the site:



Building a global site is always difficult as adverts that would suit me may not suit people in America or China. Not only can language be interpreted differently around the globe but so too can adverts. Some brands have changed their names when they have gone global to avoid the complications of translations. Jif became Cif and Oil of Ulay become Olay.

Anyway, back to the task in hand.

The design of the site is good. It's pleasant on the eye tough it would have been nice to see the top navigation bar text based using CSS rather than image based.

It would have also been nice to see a CSS only design, using tables for data. It doesn't necessarily affect accessibility for most, but some accessibility browsers may have a thing or two to say about the tables! Running it through an Accessibility Test reveals it fails on all levels (there are 3 main levels - essentially basic, intermediate and advanced). It's only simple things that need to be changed so it should be simple to fix.

It fails XHTML validation as well as CSS validation, both of these need attention. Speed tests reveal nothing alarming.

Monetising Your Site

AdSense appears on the site and apart from the bottom bar, they all blend in well. You've pointed out that the content can be unsuitable for networks and so that limits you to two options: text based advertising or subscriptions.

AdSense is one way to monetise your site but try Text Link Ads or something similar. Offer your own advertising program.

Alternatively, try and sell subscriptions. Perhaps subscribers see no ads for a reasonable $5 a month. Perhaps for $50 a year they get additional privileges. Forums do this and an apt example is A4U Forum.

At the moment, this seems to be the most logical way to generate revenue. Perhaps in the future, there will be other solutions but for the time being, I'm afraid this is it.

As you quite rightly point out, if visitors are recurring, they are used to the advertising. The way to combat this is by changing the colour or positioning of the ads.

UPDATE: You could always set up sites (e.g. Breakdown Cover type sites) and then create your own banners to advertise on Problem Exchange. Yes, it takes time and money but you can advertise what you want to how you want to. How about a site that advertises charities, or a site that advertises loans?

To Do List

I would focus on getting the site as accessible as you can to as many people as you can. Then you can start targeting on getting the advertising sorted.

It's a good site with growing user submitted content. Just work on the traffic and with the correctly matched advertising, you should be laughing all the way to the bank!

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