We have a video sharing website which is a collection of youtube comedy videos for a specific country and 20% of the users are from U.S. We have 2000-7000 visitors per day and it has been 5 months since we started. Right now the maximum we made in a day is $20 and on average $9/day using AdSense. I know that other similar sites make up to $400/day but they have a lot of traffic. We also use Affiliate marketing posting (links to services that users may use) and it just started making us $30/week. We use Facebook ads to get 95% of the traffic.
Is increasing traffic the only way to increase revenue? Should we try using a new video plugin that might be intergreted to advertisement companies to advertise before the video begins like youtube? Any suggestions ? Thank you.
The first thing you should do (if not done already) is analyze your current traffic. You have to make sure a good percentage of your visitors are actually sticking around to either watch the video or at least enough to look at your other content.
If this is not the case, then improving targeting for your ads might be your best bet. It is not just the quantity of the visitors but the quality that makes them worth it.
100,000 visitors that just bounce off immediately after arriving are worth less than 5,000 visitors that actually stay for the intended purpose.
A visitor that is on your site for a minute is much more likely to see an affiliate link and/or ad than one that just exits after a few seconds.
The next point would be looking at your site performance and formatting. If the site is slow to load, then people are more likely to exit as fast as they came in. Also, if they are there to watch a video clip and all the page is filled with ads everywhere, it does no good to the user experience.
Finally, make sure the ads shown on the pages are either relevant to the content in question or relevant to the customer.
Good Luck and let me know if you have any questions!
While there are many ways to generate revenue, remember that the goal is to keep providing something of value to your site users and those who pay (which in your case right now, is separate).
Your target audience right now is consumers of comedy videos. Find ways to connect with comedians and get them to advertise their events on your site. Sell gag gifts. Explore similar sites and figure out how they generate revenue and do it better.
I have seen many startups and projects rise and vanish, in short period of time. The only ones that stay and gain true momentum are original in essence and provide value to users.
If you truly want to carry on this platform and make it a renowned destination for fun, you need to shift your focus from revenues to value proposition, in long run.
To simply put, you need to think and brainstorm, how you can more useful or beneficial for your current users ?
If you can add value consistently, while maintaining your costs, your returns will be far better.
