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It's not the amount of traffic, it's the fit between your users and the advertising, how targeted they are, intent, etc etc. Also it totally depends on the ser

by axod 16y ago

It's not the amount of traffic, it's the fit between your users and the advertising, how targeted they are, intent, etc etc. Also it totally depends on the service/product. For stormpulse I don't think advertising supported is probably the right idea unless it's made more mainstream. For example I'd start a "enter your email to get local weather reports free". Build up a massive email list, then start including promotional adverts at the top/bottom of each mailing. You'd be sending out a large amount of mails, to a large amount of people... I think it could generate a good revenue. It's not as simple as slapping up some ads and going home. This is the mistake I think most people make.

wensing 16y ago
Let's boil it down to eCPM. What is your eCPM going to be? Multiple that by impressions and tell me how you're going to support N employees on that revenue.
- axod 16y ago
  For what? What website? One of my websites generates $20 eCPM. Another generates $0.10 eCPM :/ What's your service going to cost? Multiply that by paying users and tell me how you're going to support N employees... I don't think arguing over this is useful - making money out of advertising isn't rocket science, but it does require learning and experience.
  - wensing 16y ago
    It's important for bootstrappers to understand the mass traffic that's needed for advertising to fuel growth. $20 eCPM means to have just a $200k/yr. business you need 10 million impressions per year. $0.10 eCPM means you need 2 billion.
    - axod 16y ago
      The same could be said for 'paid subscribers'. If you have a product you're selling for $10/mo you'll need 1,667 subscribers to make $200k/yr not taking into account churn, customer support overhead, etc The question is whether you think getting millions/billions of impressions is easier than getting thousands of paid subscribers or not. Also, FWIW, 10m impressions a year is nothing - it's 1 impression every 20 minutes on average. 2b impressions a year is more like 60 impressions a second, but still not ridiculously unattainable.
      - rick888 16y ago
        "The same could be said for 'paid subscribers'. If you have a product you're selling for $10/mo you'll need 1,667 subscribers to make $200k/yr not taking into account churn, customer support overhead, etc" 1667 customers isn't that difficult if you have a good product that works well. Free services still have all the same customer support costs (not to mention the order of magnitude amount of traffic you will have to support). "The question is whether you think getting millions/billions of impressions is easier than getting thousands of paid subscribers or not." In almost all cases, paid subscribers are easier. Most sites that are ad-supported (unless it's a blog) eventually move to a paid plan (or have both paid and free accounts).

by axod 16y ago

wensing 16y ago

Let's boil it down to eCPM. What is your eCPM going to be? Multiple that by impressions and tell me how you're going to support N employees on that revenue.

axod 16y ago
For what? What website? One of my websites generates $20 eCPM. Another generates $0.10 eCPM :/ What's your service going to cost? Multiply that by paying users and tell me how you're going to support N employees... I don't think arguing over this is useful - making money out of advertising isn't rocket science, but it does require learning and experience.
- wensing 16y ago
  It's important for bootstrappers to understand the mass traffic that's needed for advertising to fuel growth. $20 eCPM means to have just a $200k/yr. business you need 10 million impressions per year. $0.10 eCPM means you need 2 billion.
  - axod 16y ago
    The same could be said for 'paid subscribers'. If you have a product you're selling for $10/mo you'll need 1,667 subscribers to make $200k/yr not taking into account churn, customer support overhead, etc The question is whether you think getting millions/billions of impressions is easier than getting thousands of paid subscribers or not. Also, FWIW, 10m impressions a year is nothing - it's 1 impression every 20 minutes on average. 2b impressions a year is more like 60 impressions a second, but still not ridiculously unattainable.
    - rick888 16y ago
      "The same could be said for 'paid subscribers'. If you have a product you're selling for $10/mo you'll need 1,667 subscribers to make $200k/yr not taking into account churn, customer support overhead, etc" 1667 customers isn't that difficult if you have a good product that works well. Free services still have all the same customer support costs (not to mention the order of magnitude amount of traffic you will have to support). "The question is whether you think getting millions/billions of impressions is easier than getting thousands of paid subscribers or not." In almost all cases, paid subscribers are easier. Most sites that are ad-supported (unless it's a blog) eventually move to a paid plan (or have both paid and free accounts).