Where money grows (how we make money on a flower bed)
Like most people, I have not imagined for a long time that you can earn money on the Internet. Two years ago, I came to work at an Internet company, and I was surprised - you can. Unfortunately, very little is written about making money on Internet projects. There are few people who really earn money on our Internet, but there are only a few who earn money not on banners, and everyone is silent as partisans.
And time goes on, experience accumulates, I want to share it. I'll tell you how we learn to make money on our flower bed .
')
Items are arranged in order of introduction on the site.
Flowerbed was conceived as a catalog of children's products. Began to do in April of 2008. At that time, the only competitor in terms of content was Yandex.Market . Now he is not a competitor: Yandex.Market has its own product descriptions in three categories, we have twenty . All other sites are just price list aggregators.
Therefore, if we hoped to earn something, first of all on transitions. Today it is, as it was supposed, the main source of income, cash.
The first store found us himself, half a year after the launch of the site.
Placement on the site
Blocks with prices on product pages.
Customers
Online baby goods stores.
Numbers
50 kopecks for the transition (6 cents), in the future - up to 1 hryvnia (12 cents)
So far, on average - 700 transitions per day (including transitions on text advertising).
There are almost 150 Ukrainian children's online stores in our catalog. About 15 are placed for a fee. The total active players on the market are a couple of dozen.
It so happened that Google did not allow us to place AdWords ad units on the Flowerbed (yes, it happens). After the fifth unsuccessful attempt to register in the program, I got the idea to make my own text ad: the clients were already there, and sharing was not necessary with anyone.
In addition, its text advertising partly solved the issue of monetization of the most visited section of the site - second-hand bulletin boards. Lines with ads are inserted into the lists of ads.
Placement on the site
On all pages, under the main navigation and in the basement.
In the used ads section - also in the listings of ads.
Customers
Basically, all the same online shopping. Potential customers are everyone who buys children's context in Yandex and Google.
Numbers
See "Placing prices in the catalog"
***
Tried, of course, and Yandex advertising, and Runner, and even Meta. Yandex is sad: there are not many ads, the cat has wept for money, there is nothing to say about other systems.
***
Potentially - a source of big money, practically - random money, paid with big delays.
Placement on the site
On all pages
Customers
Large and medium business, FMCG sector.
Mediators
Advertising agencies, advertising networks, sales houses.
Most of them are arrogant, stupid and lazy. During the 1.5 years of life of the Bed, no one agency came to us independently, although this should be one of their main functions - the search for new high-quality sites. Of those to whom we wrote during all this time, 10 percent came out in touch. The rest did not even bother to answer.
Take up to 70% percent of the commission.
Numbers
1,000 hits of a premium banner - 50 UAH. (about $ 6)
1,000 hits horizontal banner - 40 UAH. (about $ 5)
The daily number of hits on the flowerbed - 50-60 thousand.
The real income of the site is 20-25 UAH (approximately $ 3) (after a 50% agency discount)
That is, potentially, if you sell all the impressions of 2 banners, you will get about 50 000 UAH. per month (about $ 6,000). Considering that the majority of banners are shown 2-3 times to a unique visitor, in order to sell all the shows, you need to have at least 3-5 different campaigns per banner in rotation. The main potential clients - global FMCG companies (Procter, Nestle, Unilever, Kraft) are so far reluctant to go to the Internet. In addition, banners are a seasonal thing: today there is, and tomorrow is winter, holidays, blah blah blah.
And as the crisis showed, banner advertising and certain industries are highly dependent on the state of the economy, in contrast to paid transitions and small businesses.
There is a directory with lists of useful companies for young parents of Kiev.
As in some sections of the company until the fig, there are those who want to stand out and get more customers.
Placement on the site
On the main pages of the directory sections, the block at the top of the list.
Customers
Small and medium business: private clinics, schools, kindergartens, online shopping.
Numbers
300 UAH ($ 35) per month for posting information about the company at the top of the list, in perspective up to 1000 UAH. (120 $)
Potentially, you can place ads in 10 sections, up to 3 customers in each.
In reality - while 4 clients (3 of them are online stores). The reason - not enough resources to engage in sales. If the placement of prices sells itself, you need to call, explain, wait, call back ... Because clients are offline companies, for many of them the Internet is still exotic. On the other hand, in this area there are pioneers (kartka.com.ua, mapia.ua), and the first task is to first attract their customers.
Every day 400-600 ads with today's date appear in used ads. This is 15-25 pages of ads, 25 each. Given the daily activity, the new ad is on the main page of the section for half an hour, and is shifted to the second, third, ...
In addition to ordinary people who really sell unnecessary children's things, there are quite a few people for whom this is a business: commissions, second-hand, craftsmen. Until recently, we actively fought with them - we sought out and were banned (we, as intermediaries, were annoyed that they earn money using our product without paying a commission). And then we realized that we simply did not provide them with such an opportunity. After that, they entered a mandatory registration (so far, they submitted ads even when they were banned, just using made-up emails) and wrote the rules of the notice board.
Placement on the site
Classified ads
Customers
Commissions, second-hand, craftsmen. We call it microbusiness or home business.
Numbers
100 UAH ($ 12) per month for the right to publish commercial ads.
Launched a week ago. Already have a few customers.
The site has a page with a flyer for a discount when you buy anything in an offline store. If a person prints a flyer and makes a purchase, he is given a discount, and we are given a percentage.
The main drawback of the scheme is that everything is built on trust, since the transaction takes place without our participation. You can check, but very dreary.
Anyway, in our case it works.
Placement on the site
A separate page that is advertised by internal banners and on product pages.
Customers
Offline shops and services.
Numbers
Percentage of actual sales. Real sales for tens of thousands of hryvnia per month. And then there is a strong temptation to sell themselves. But more about that next time.
***
For now, that's all there is. The result was a detailed version of our advertising page . To complete the picture, here are some more options.
People who want to quickly sell something expensive (a carriage for 2-3 thousand hryvnia) may well spend 5-10 hryvnia to advertise their ads.
The main problem is how to receive money automatically without using SMS payments (due to too high commissions of operators). So far, the options are WebMoney and LiqPay. I hope by the time we mature, LigPay will become a reliable and convenient tool. WebMoney - not too common among moms. Although, the cooperation of this system with VKontakte can change the situation.
Another option is direct replenishment of the phone from another phone. Provided that there is not a very large number of applicants, it is possible without automation.
Placement on the site
Classified ads
Customers
Mom-dads
Numbers
A few hryvnia to highlight the ad among others.
Placement on the site
Link button in the main navigation, leading to the promo page.
Customers
The same as in the banners.
Numbers
Commensurate with media advertising.
This is what we could earn. But we do not want and will not. Written under the advertiser article without explicit indication of advertising - a rare rubbish. This is the fault of almost all print publications for parents and half of article sites.
***
Over the past year and a half, it has become clear that the ceiling is not visible: at first it seems to you that 10 thousand per month is unreal, then you realize that 50 is not the limit.
To date
Turnover - about 13 000 UAH (about $ 1,500)
Costs (not taking into account our work) - about 4 000 UAH (approximately $ 500)
I work on the Flowerbed 2-3 full days (+ happens on weekends and in the evenings), Natashka - in fits and starts, and there will not be enough days a week.
Profit - 9 000 UAH. (approximately $ 1,050)
This is without banner advertising. So far we have placed one campaign, we are waiting for the money.
And time goes on, experience accumulates, I want to share it. I'll tell you how we learn to make money on our flower bed .
')
Items are arranged in order of introduction on the site.
1. Placing prices in the catalog
Flowerbed was conceived as a catalog of children's products. Began to do in April of 2008. At that time, the only competitor in terms of content was Yandex.Market . Now he is not a competitor: Yandex.Market has its own product descriptions in three categories, we have twenty . All other sites are just price list aggregators.
Therefore, if we hoped to earn something, first of all on transitions. Today it is, as it was supposed, the main source of income, cash.
The first store found us himself, half a year after the launch of the site.
Placement on the site
Blocks with prices on product pages.
Customers
Online baby goods stores.
Numbers
50 kopecks for the transition (6 cents), in the future - up to 1 hryvnia (12 cents)
So far, on average - 700 transitions per day (including transitions on text advertising).
There are almost 150 Ukrainian children's online stores in our catalog. About 15 are placed for a fee. The total active players on the market are a couple of dozen.
2. Text advertising
It so happened that Google did not allow us to place AdWords ad units on the Flowerbed (yes, it happens). After the fifth unsuccessful attempt to register in the program, I got the idea to make my own text ad: the clients were already there, and sharing was not necessary with anyone.
In addition, its text advertising partly solved the issue of monetization of the most visited section of the site - second-hand bulletin boards. Lines with ads are inserted into the lists of ads.
Placement on the site
On all pages, under the main navigation and in the basement.
In the used ads section - also in the listings of ads.
Customers
Basically, all the same online shopping. Potential customers are everyone who buys children's context in Yandex and Google.
Numbers
See "Placing prices in the catalog"
***
Tried, of course, and Yandex advertising, and Runner, and even Meta. Yandex is sad: there are not many ads, the cat has wept for money, there is nothing to say about other systems.
***
3. Banner advertising
Potentially - a source of big money, practically - random money, paid with big delays.
Placement on the site
On all pages
Customers
Large and medium business, FMCG sector.
Mediators
Advertising agencies, advertising networks, sales houses.
Most of them are arrogant, stupid and lazy. During the 1.5 years of life of the Bed, no one agency came to us independently, although this should be one of their main functions - the search for new high-quality sites. Of those to whom we wrote during all this time, 10 percent came out in touch. The rest did not even bother to answer.
Take up to 70% percent of the commission.
Numbers
1,000 hits of a premium banner - 50 UAH. (about $ 6)
1,000 hits horizontal banner - 40 UAH. (about $ 5)
The daily number of hits on the flowerbed - 50-60 thousand.
The real income of the site is 20-25 UAH (approximately $ 3) (after a 50% agency discount)
That is, potentially, if you sell all the impressions of 2 banners, you will get about 50 000 UAH. per month (about $ 6,000). Considering that the majority of banners are shown 2-3 times to a unique visitor, in order to sell all the shows, you need to have at least 3-5 different campaigns per banner in rotation. The main potential clients - global FMCG companies (Procter, Nestle, Unilever, Kraft) are so far reluctant to go to the Internet. In addition, banners are a seasonal thing: today there is, and tomorrow is winter, holidays, blah blah blah.
And as the crisis showed, banner advertising and certain industries are highly dependent on the state of the economy, in contrast to paid transitions and small businesses.
4. Priority placement in the directory
There is a directory with lists of useful companies for young parents of Kiev.
As in some sections of the company until the fig, there are those who want to stand out and get more customers.
Placement on the site
On the main pages of the directory sections, the block at the top of the list.
Customers
Small and medium business: private clinics, schools, kindergartens, online shopping.
Numbers
300 UAH ($ 35) per month for posting information about the company at the top of the list, in perspective up to 1000 UAH. (120 $)
Potentially, you can place ads in 10 sections, up to 3 customers in each.
In reality - while 4 clients (3 of them are online stores). The reason - not enough resources to engage in sales. If the placement of prices sells itself, you need to call, explain, wait, call back ... Because clients are offline companies, for many of them the Internet is still exotic. On the other hand, in this area there are pioneers (kartka.com.ua, mapia.ua), and the first task is to first attract their customers.
5. Advertising in the used ads section-1
Every day 400-600 ads with today's date appear in used ads. This is 15-25 pages of ads, 25 each. Given the daily activity, the new ad is on the main page of the section for half an hour, and is shifted to the second, third, ...
In addition to ordinary people who really sell unnecessary children's things, there are quite a few people for whom this is a business: commissions, second-hand, craftsmen. Until recently, we actively fought with them - we sought out and were banned (we, as intermediaries, were annoyed that they earn money using our product without paying a commission). And then we realized that we simply did not provide them with such an opportunity. After that, they entered a mandatory registration (so far, they submitted ads even when they were banned, just using made-up emails) and wrote the rules of the notice board.
Placement on the site
Classified ads
Customers
Commissions, second-hand, craftsmen. We call it microbusiness or home business.
Numbers
100 UAH ($ 12) per month for the right to publish commercial ads.
Launched a week ago. Already have a few customers.
6. Affiliate programs
The site has a page with a flyer for a discount when you buy anything in an offline store. If a person prints a flyer and makes a purchase, he is given a discount, and we are given a percentage.
The main drawback of the scheme is that everything is built on trust, since the transaction takes place without our participation. You can check, but very dreary.
Anyway, in our case it works.
Placement on the site
A separate page that is advertised by internal banners and on product pages.
Customers
Offline shops and services.
Numbers
Percentage of actual sales. Real sales for tens of thousands of hryvnia per month. And then there is a strong temptation to sell themselves. But more about that next time.
***
For now, that's all there is. The result was a detailed version of our advertising page . To complete the picture, here are some more options.
Advertising in the used ads section-2 (in the future)
People who want to quickly sell something expensive (a carriage for 2-3 thousand hryvnia) may well spend 5-10 hryvnia to advertise their ads.
The main problem is how to receive money automatically without using SMS payments (due to too high commissions of operators). So far, the options are WebMoney and LiqPay. I hope by the time we mature, LigPay will become a reliable and convenient tool. WebMoney - not too common among moms. Although, the cooperation of this system with VKontakte can change the situation.
Another option is direct replenishment of the phone from another phone. Provided that there is not a very large number of applicants, it is possible without automation.
Placement on the site
Classified ads
Customers
Mom-dads
Numbers
A few hryvnia to highlight the ad among others.
Website branding, promotional sections (in the future)
Placement on the site
Link button in the main navigation, leading to the promo page.
Customers
The same as in the banners.
Numbers
Commensurate with media advertising.
Promotional articles (never)
This is what we could earn. But we do not want and will not. Written under the advertiser article without explicit indication of advertising - a rare rubbish. This is the fault of almost all print publications for parents and half of article sites.
***
Over the past year and a half, it has become clear that the ceiling is not visible: at first it seems to you that 10 thousand per month is unreal, then you realize that 50 is not the limit.
To date
Turnover - about 13 000 UAH (about $ 1,500)
Costs (not taking into account our work) - about 4 000 UAH (approximately $ 500)
I work on the Flowerbed 2-3 full days (+ happens on weekends and in the evenings), Natashka - in fits and starts, and there will not be enough days a week.
Profit - 9 000 UAH. (approximately $ 1,050)
This is without banner advertising. So far we have placed one campaign, we are waiting for the money.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/69358/
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