Monetizing vBulletin Forums

**Brandon Sheley** · 10-04-2006, 05:10 PM

The Different Ways to Monetize Your vBulletin Forum

In my opinion Forums are some of the best ways to make money online. They are fun and provide you, the forum admin, with free, user generated content for search engines to index and others to link to. Whatever your target audience is for your forum there is a way that you can monetize your traffic. This thread will help you determine all the companies that can help you make money online.

Google Adsense
--------------------------------------------------
Google Adsense is by far the most popular way to monetize a vBulletin Forum. It is a Pay Per Click type of advertisement in which users get paid for every click that is registered on their site. The price per click is determined by another Google service, Google Adwords. Google Adsense is contextual so they present ads on your site based on the content of your page. This means if your site is about Ford Mustangs then they will present ads related to Ford Mustangs. Companies can bid on keywords such as Ford Mustangs and based on the price of their bid on the term it determines how much you make on the click. If they bid 1.25 per click for the term Ford Mustang and someone on your site clicks the ad that company will pay Google 1.25 and then Google will give you a percentage of that click. No one knows how much Google takes as a cut.

Google adsense also uses Smart Pricing so even though a company may bid 1.25 per click they may not always pay this. Many things determine how much a click is worth. This could be the time of day that the click is registered to how much of the pages content is releated to the term that the advertiser bids on.

Important Information Concerning Google Adsense
- Please review the Terms of Service thourghly before implementing Google Adsense on your vBulletin Forum. The Terms of Service can be found here: Google Adsense Terms of Service

Yahoo Publisher Network - BETA
--------------------------------------------------
The Yahoo Publisher Network is also Pay Per Click and is also Contextual. Yahoo allows companies to bid on keywords and then Yahoo presents these companies advertisements on sites that run their Yahoo Ads.

Yahoo Publisher Network is currently in Beta and not open to international traffic. Yahoo Ads are generally seen as not as relevant to your targetted audience as their rival Google Adsense. However, Yahoo Publisher Network takes a smaller cut than Google Adsense which passes on more of the earnings to you, the Admin. This can lead to much higher earnings than you would get with Google Adsense if you have content that Yahoo can present decently targetted ads too. From a personal stand point I am making more than double what I made with Google Adsense but I am making it off less clicks as the ads are not as relevant. An example is that Yahoo will show an ad for a car dealership that is based in California to someone that lives in Florida.

Important Information Concerning Yahoo Publisher Network
- Please review the Terms of Service thourghly before implementing Yahoo Ads on your vBulletin Forum. The Terms of Service can be found here: Yahoo! Terms of Service
- The Yahoo Publisher Network is not open to International Traffic.
- The Yahoo Publisher Network is in a Beta state.

Tribal Fusion
--------------------------------------------------
Tribal Fusion is a CPM type advertiser (Cost Per Thousand Impressions) that pays you based on how many impressions that you serve to the Tribal Fusion ads. Many people say Tribal Fusion is the best CPM network in terms of payout and ad configuration. You can elect to server Pop-Under ads, have variable ads (show different size ads in one ad spot such as 160x600 and 120x600) which helps increase revenue. It also gives you a way to run alternate ads when Tribal Fusion would other wise present PSA Ads (Public Service Announcement). The one big downfall to Tribal Fusion is the control panel. It is very sloppy and hard to navigate.

Important Information Concerning Tribal Fusion
- Tribal Fusion requires a minimum of 2,000 uniques per day to be allowed into their network.

Burst Media
--------------------------------------------------
Burst Media is the same type of advertising as Tribal Fusion. They pay out by how many impressions that you serve their ads. They are said to have similiar rates to Tribal Fusion. I can not give feedback on their control panel or their ads as they will not let me into their program due to their adult content guidelines. If you run an Automotive type website and have a gallery of females posing in bikinis in front of the cars then you more than likely will not get accepted. My Gallery contains no nudity. They are very strict on these guidelines.

Important Information Concering Burst Media
- Minimum of 5,000 impressions per month required
- Very strict "Adult Content" guidelines. Read above for example.

Casale Media
--------------------------------------------------
Another CPM type network. Lower CPM rates than the two above and are very strict regarding forums. If you have a content site seperate from your forum where you control the content then you may want to give them apply. They generally do not accept sites that are solely forums... if even at all.

Important Information Concering Casale Media
- Requires 10,000 uniques per month of non forum generated traffic

Value Click
--------------------------------------------------
The last CPM network I will list here. It is generally said to have the lower CPM payout out of the 3 above. I have never attempted to apply to Value Click due to the feedback I have received from it. If you can not get into any of the other CPM networks then you may want to give Value Click a shot.

Important Information Concerning Value Click
- Requires a minimum of 3,000 Impressions per month to apply.

Vibrant Media - IntelliTXT
--------------------------------------------------
Vibrant Media's IntelliTXT pays based on CPM or CPC (I was never asked about CPC, but others have said they have been given the choice) but is a bit different than the rest of the CPM networks listed about. IntelliTXT turns the text on your forum into ads by highlighting certain keywords and then when you hover over these links it will open a box with an ad for that keyword. An example of IntelliTXT can be seen here: SprintUsers.com Message Forum The words that are green and double underlined are IntelliTXT ads. IntelliTXT pays pretty good at 4 dollars per CPM. Be careful how you implement these on your forum since this type of ad can be quite annoying to some people. I only run it for guests.

Important Information Concerning IntelliTXT
- Requires your forum to have 500,000 impressions per month for acceptance.

Kontera In-Text Advertising
--------------------------------------------------
The exact same thing as Vibrant Media's IntelliTXT just a different company. Your text is turned into ads and you are paid by CPM. I prefer Kontera as they have a nicer control panel and pay out more for me. Both companies are solid however so I would try running both to figure out which one will work the best for you.

Important Information Concerning Kontera In-Text Advertising
- Requires the same as Vibrant Media. 500,000 impressions per month.
- Terms of Service page here: Kontera Terms of Service

Azoogle Ads
--------------------------------------------------
Azoogle Ads is an CPA type advertising company. CPA is Cost Per Action. Affiliate type advertisements. You get paid once the user completes an action such as filling out their email or purchasing a product.

Important Information Concerning Azoogle Ads
- Terms of Service: AzoogleAds Terms of Service

Commission Junction
--------------------------------------------------
Much like Azoogle. You get paid everytime someone completes an action. The biggest CPA type network online.

Important Information Concerning Commission Junction
- Please read their Code of Conduct

LinkWorth Text Link Ads
--------------------------------------------------
Linkworth allows you as a vBulletin Owner to sell basic text links on your site by listing your site in their service. You set how much each text link will cost and where the text link will appear. Linkworth takes a 30% cut on whatever price you set if someone purchases a text link through linkworth.

Important Information Concerning Commission Junction
- Learn more about the program here: LinkWorth Solutions - Partner Account - Sell Links - Sell Ads

Text Link Ads
--------------------------------------------------
The latest craze in buying and selling text links on your site. Made popular due to the high referral payouts. Do not have any experience with it so I welcome feedback on it.

Important Information Concerning Text Link Ads
- Check out their FAQ for more info: Frequently Asked Questions - Text Link Ads

* These are the most popular and most used companies. Feel free to leave replies with companies that you use that you do not see listed or even add on to what I have already listed.

This article is Copyrighted to vBulletinSetup.com. You may redistribute this article as long as you include a link back to vBulletin Setup and/or this thread.

**cajunboy2208** · 05-18-2007, 12:26 PM

I tried using CJ.com
I have no idea how it works though.
It isn't a simple ad code. I think you have to go through and select which ads you want to be displayed...

Right now I am using Clicksor. But so far the support is slow, and their information has been wrong. I have been sending in tickets left and right. If things don't get straightened today, I will be trying Tribal Fusion AND Kontera. Also, the payout for Clicksor seems really low

**Brandon Sheley** · 05-18-2007, 04:39 PM

I've never tried clicksor. I sorta didn't care for how they would pick out words and make links out of them

Has anyone had a good turnaround with clicksor?

**Caddyman** · 05-18-2007, 08:48 PM

anyone use adbrite, and can anyone tell me where to input the script that adds the inline ads into the posts?

**sassy** · 05-18-2007, 09:30 PM

I have AdSense and Auction Ads on my site.

AdSense is bringing in a good amount in
each month. With Auction Ads that hasn't being
to good so far but i only have had it on less
then a month so members have to get used to it.

With AdSense it has being a success to us
from word go.we continuously check the add
to filter any that we dont want displayed on
the site.

:wink:

**Brandon Sheley** · 05-19-2007, 10:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sassy

we continuously check the add
to filter any that we dont want displayed on
the site.

:wink:

This is something I seriously need to work on more.
How do you determine what sites to filter ?

**cajunboy2208** · 05-20-2007, 12:01 AM

Ok I am officially done with Clicksor. The payout is the lowest I have ever seen. Somewhere between 2-3cents a click, and I get roughly 2000 impressions a day.
Plus as stated before, their customer service is really poor. I have had the same problem for 3 days now, and they say ok it's fixed now, and it isn't. And my last reply was over 24hrs a go, the 1st 2 were responded within 12hrs. So I don't know. Just know that I am done with them, and will be giving a go on something mentioned above tomorrow.

**sassy** · 05-20-2007, 06:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brandon

This is something I seriously need to work on more.
How do you determine what sites to filter ?

We filter anything we don't want displayed.
We set out some rules from the start for
us owner/admins and we abide by them.
That way members know what to expect from
your site.
It's good to make money but you have to
consider your members too. I dont think
its fair to them to bombbard them with too
many or unsolicited adds.

As we all know its the members that make a site
and members wich bring a site money.

:wink:

**Caddyman** · 05-20-2007, 11:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caddyman

anyone use adbrite, and can anyone tell me where to input the script that adds the inline ads into the posts?

nobody?

**Brandon Sheley** · 05-20-2007, 12:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caddyman

nobody?

I had to setup adbrite for a client once. Did you see the area where you pick "vb3.5" from a list of scripts ?

**Caddyman** · 05-20-2007, 01:43 PM

no i didnt, i got that for TLA, but not adbrite

**Brandon Sheley** · 05-20-2007, 03:04 PM

ooh ya, it was text link ads
my bad

**cajunboy2208** · 05-20-2007, 11:53 PM

Just applied for Tribal Fusion and Kontera. Seems like it will be a good combonation. Hopefully I get accepted.

**James** · 05-21-2007, 11:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cajunboy2208

Just applied for Tribal Fusion and Kontera. Seems like it will be a good combonation. Hopefully I get accepted.

Should be a good combo. Keep us updated!

**HotRodGyrl** · 08-27-2007, 09:39 AM

I'm going to try adsense now and see what happens

**Michael Biddle** · 09-26-2007, 02:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by merriweather

I would also like to see some sort of drop-down for the difficulty, though I was thinking more like, "easy", "medium", "hard" or something.

I was thinking about this already.

Quote:

Originally Posted by merriweather

Fix the tab order so when you are posting, it doesn't tab from Title to Submit -- it should go through the fields in order.

I am looking into this already

Quote:

Originally Posted by merriweather

Hide the "Quote" button on recipes -- it's kind of confusing as it just quotes the steps.

Can be done with a simple if, I will include this.

Quote:

Originally Posted by merriweather

Also, another field for "tips" -- sometimes users like to add notes that aren't really part of the steps or whatnot.

I could include this also

Thanks for the feedback

**Michael Biddle** · 09-26-2007, 02:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doctor Death

1. The ability to import/export recipe files. You can then swap/exchange them here. Think this would really help a lot.

Hey Doc, the problem with this is that the Recipe Mod Database is based on the exisiting tables of threads, posts, forums etc. Which means in order to share, it would need the same threadid forumid, and postid, from the same userid, etc. It just is a lot of trouble and ALOT of manual edits from the users, so I do not see anything like this in how it runs now.

IvyKeepMommy · 10-01-2007, 07:16 PM

I'd like to see a classification feature (i.e, when entering the recipe you can state what type of recipe it is like breakfast, beef, dessert, etc.) Perhaps a drop down menu with choices I select.

Thanks!

Doctor Death · 10-01-2007, 07:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by whitemike

Hey Doc, the problem with this is that the Recipe Mod Database is based on the exisiting tables of threads, posts, forums etc. Which means in order to share, it would need the same threadid forumid, and postid, from the same userid, etc. It just is a lot of trouble and ALOT of manual edits from the users, so I do not see anything like this in how it runs now.

Ok, roger that, thanks for consideration though. Is this true even from doing it from within VBulletin Options? (XML Xport and XML Import to populate a database?)

Thanks much again

**Michael Biddle** · 10-01-2007, 11:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IvyKeepMommy

I'd like to see a classification feature (i.e, when entering the recipe you can state what type of recipe it is like breakfast, beef, dessert, etc.) Perhaps a drop down menu with choices I select.

Thanks!

You can use different forums. Such as how I have it here, 1 forum for American Recipes, and 1 for Mexican Recipes. Ideas are endless.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doctor Death

Ok, roger that, thanks for consideration though. Is this true even from doing it from within VBulletin Options? (XML Xport and XML Import to populate a database?)

Thanks much again

Hey Doc, it is still really virtually impossible and no way to make this user friendly at all. Sorry, but no implementation in the future that I can see.

IvyKeepMommy · 10-02-2007, 06:26 AM

Hmmm, the only problem with doing the different forums is that it will make it very bulky (we would have lots of categories, because we are a mom's group).

**Michael Biddle** · 10-02-2007, 10:51 AM

Make the main category called recipes, then do sub categories under that one, that can only be seen when you open the main category, that way it does not bulk the forum home

**The Modfather** · 10-23-2007, 03:35 PM

Hello.

I just tested out your script. I like what you have done so far - it's been very challenging for me to find a good balance between a recipe script and interactive site. Your script bring these 2 things one step closer together, and for that I say "thank you."

Being that this is the "Offical Recipe Mod Feature Request" thread, I have some ideas that I feel might enhance your script. Please understand, I'm *not* bagging on it - just offering some suggestions as to what I feel might be nice additions.

- Allow IMG tags in the Description field, or have the attachments shown up in the description field. Allow it to "auto resize" if it's too big (based on admin pre-defined dimensions).
- Steps to make your recipe field could either be WYSIWYG or automatically bullet point each step
- Level of difficulty (IMO) should be a drop down box that can be admin defined - something along the lines of 1 thru 10, or Easy thru Difficult - or whatever. This would allow better consistency for user submitted recipes.

edit: One thing that might be cool (but not sure how feasible it is) would be to offer a "batch import" feature.

Again, please don't think I'm baggin on ya - cuz that's DEFINITELY not the case. And I know that what I think will make it better is not necessarily the same that others will think.

Keep up the good work - looking forward to hearing from you.

-Moddy

**Michael Biddle** · 10-23-2007, 09:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Modfather

Hello.

I just tested out your script. I like what you have done so far - it's been very challenging for me to find a good balance between a recipe script and interactive site. Your script bring these 2 things one step closer together, and for that I say "thank you."

Being that this is the "Offical Recipe Mod Feature Request" thread, I have some ideas that I feel might enhance your script. Please understand, I'm *not* bagging on it - just offering some suggestions as to what I feel might be nice additions.

- Allow IMG tags in the Description field, or have the attachments shown up in the description field. Allow it to "auto resize" if it's too big (based on admin pre-defined dimensions).
- Steps to make your recipe field could either be WYSIWYG or automatically bullet point each step
- Level of difficulty (IMO) should be a drop down box that can be admin defined - something along the lines of 1 thru 10, or Easy thru Difficult - or whatever. This would allow better consistency for user submitted recipes.

edit: One thing that might be cool (but not sure how feasible it is) would be to offer a "batch import" feature.

Again, please don't think I'm baggin on ya - cuz that's DEFINITELY not the case. And I know that what I think will make it better is not necessarily the same that others will think.

Keep up the good work - looking forward to hearing from you.

-Moddy

Hey Moddy,

In your requests, their is a lot that is already developed in the 2.2 (which is running here). It now allows bbcode and images to be placed in all sections but time, difficulty, and ingredients. Also, there is a admin option that already enables the auto numbering on each hit of the enter. I will post some screen shots either later on tonight, or tommorow of the new system. As of right now I am replying on my mobile. Once again thanks for the requests.

**The Modfather** · 10-24-2007, 08:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by whitemike

Hey Moddy,

In your requests, their is a lot that is already developed in the 2.2 (which is running here). It now allows bbcode and images to be placed in all sections but time, difficulty, and ingredients. Also, there is a admin option that already enables the auto numbering on each hit of the enter. I will post some screen shots either later on tonight, or tommorow of the new system. As of right now I am replying on my mobile. Once again thanks for the requests.

Awesome man! I'm excited to see the updates! Thanks for the response, and I'll keep my eyes open here for 2.2 to be released

**Michael Biddle** · 10-24-2007, 08:27 PM

2.2 Has Been released

**The Modfather** · 10-25-2007, 09:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by whitemike

2.2 Has Been released

Screen caps or admin demo available?

**Michael Biddle** · 10-25-2007, 09:46 AM

Available Here: http://www.vbulletinzone.com/t112/#post493

**dgenx210** · 01-14-2008, 05:59 AM

well I signed up for LinkWorth and they should be good

**LinkBliss** · 02-26-2008, 08:27 AM

I have used LinkWorth for a long time but never really liked it.. from my experience Direct-Link-Ads is much better. I am making more than 10x per day than I was with LinkWorth.

Eric