When and Where to Place Ads on Your Forum

New forum owners tend to get excited when they open their boards to the public, they're open minded, but still adsense virgins. They think "the more ads, the more money" so they fill their infant forum up with text link banners. You are probably thinking "Well isn't that the point, to make money? The more ads, the more likelihood of clicks." That's a very common misconception. You're not trying to make money quick by flaunting your ads in front of your new visitors, you want them to stick around, not click an ad and leave. A possible member and poster is worth more than one 15 cent click on adsense.

If you want to build a good reputation, start small and build from there. One thing I like to do on new forums is to start a link exchange in my board's header and place a 468 x 15 link unit underneath the links from the link exchange. This is a great strategy because people may think your ads in the link unit are just normal sites, resulting in a possible click.

From there, I like to put one 728 x90 banner or a 468 x 60 banner (depending on the board's theme width) in the footer. It may not be seen that often, but it may very well get you some clicks and will give you a general idea of impressions per day.

Once you've established a good member base and a good amount of active members who like you and your site, you might be ready to step it up. Aggressive ad campaigns, however, can be tough on regular members who may call you a "sell out" for trying to make money off your own site. What a crime, eh? Well, what I like to do is offer less ads for members who are very active on the site and deserve a reward for their loyalty. I like to place two 728 x 90 banners within the showthread.php template of my vbulletin, one at the top, one at the bottom. Its not only good exposure for the ads, but its not getting in way of the content.

Another great way to monetize your board is to offer "Premium Memberships" for a certain price. These premium memberships need good incentives though, otherwise no one will purchase them. You could make your board ad-free for "Premium Members" and have a special user color and title for them as well, perhaps even a private forum for discussing the good life of a premium member.

There's a great article on vBulletin.org about adsense integration. Check it out. Good luck with your money making and check back tomorrow for more tips.