No more Ads on StatSheet
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One warning about sponsors, though: Sometimes the sponsors may expect more than a simple display ad for their money -- they'll want "rich media", special ad units, or interaction with your audience that may end up being more irritating than Google AdSense.
Another suggestion: If you haven't already done so, set up an email newsletter or alert system based on interesting stats, user-determined criteria, or sudden spikes. That could be one of your premium services.
>> "Let's face it, no one likes to see ads on websites."
Let's agree to disagree instead :) I do, lots of people do. They wouldn't click if they didn't find them useful. If they don't click, you're doing it wrong.
>> "There is a sad truth to web advertising. Unless you are 1) willing to put a half dozen ad units on every page and 2) serving tens of millions of page views per month, advertising will not help that much when it comes to paying a startup's bills (even a lean startup like StatSheet)."
This is also not a "truth". It completely depends on your sector/niche, and how you arrange the ads. I run a freestuff/competition site that made 4 figures a month from advertising and doesn't even register on alexa/quantcast/compete. It's traffic is tiny - but it's the monetizable type of traffic.
I'm not trying to say you made a bad decision here, just that your experience isn't something others should take in isolation when deciding on revenue streams.
I can't remember the US stance on online betting/gambling, but that would be my choice of revenue. The affiliate commission for gambling/betting sites is really good. Like a large payment for each new customer, and often a revenue share for future losses. You'd only need a handful of referrals to pay server costs etc.
For example, Paddypower (betting site): Sale: 20.00% - 25.00% GBP, £11.00 GBP signup. 3 month EPC=£196.02 Yup, that's £196 ad revenue per hundred clicks on average. (Stats from cj.com)
>> "Here are a few recent articles and videos about how advertising is losing favor in the startup world:"
I know it's popular to go with the 'hype', but often it's better to go against it. There's more money to be made than ever from online advertising.
You are saying people like seeing ads?? They click on them because they are in front them, not because they necessarily like seeing them. Fundamentally, I believe ads hurt the overall user experience. You are saying it helps? Or keeps it on par with a non-ad experience? Guess we would have to disagree with that.
> This is also not a "truth". It completely depends on > your sector/niche, and how you arrange the ads. I run a > freestuff/competition site that made 4 figures a month > from advertising and doesn't even register on > alexa/quantcast/compete. It's traffic is tiny - but it's > the monetizable type of traffic.
You actually just agreed with my point, but I think we differ on scale. I'm looking for more than 4 figures / month and not willing to put ads all over the site to get "just" that.
>> "They click on them because they are in front them, not because they necessarily like seeing them."
You really credit your users with that much intelligence eh? That given a link, they'll click it?
This is not the formula:
* Create something * slap on adsense * profit!
It's about seeing where advertising may be useful for the user. For example, say you had a 'betting odds' page showing some stats on what odds are available, it'd make obvious sense to have some sponsored links to betting sites if the user wants to place a bet. That is a net win for the user, you, and the betting site - look at expedia etc. Advertising done right is useful for all parties. Done wrong, it's useless for all parties.
4 figures a month from negligible traffic was my point. Larger sites are obviously making a lot more. Scaling with advertising is easy enough if you can grow the traffic.
I'm not arguing with your reasons, I'm just saying to others, don't believe every startups experience of advertising is the same.