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We're launching a user generated content web site in late 2Q. I'm looking to get a realistic view of revenue opportunities from impressions and per click ads.

The site will serve members across multiple segments.

Are there good planning assumptions to use now? What are good sources of data here?

Thanks!

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2 Answers

up vote 2 down vote accepted

Thread on basically this same question here:

http://answers.onstartups.com/questions/2773/how-to-estimate-revenues-valuation-of-an-advertising-supported-internet-website/2776#2776

Here's how I would estimate for a fairly straightforward site:

* Your site map - how many pages on your site.
* How many ad units on each page and what type (300x250, 160x600...)
* How many visitors and average page views they'll generate.
* How many page views do you estimate for each of the pages.
* Total ad impressions then that generates for each size ad.
* Going CPM rates for each size ad in your industry. Check on competitors, do some research on ad networks you might use to fill inventory like advertising.com (et.al.) or if you're going to use AdSense.
* Do the math and you'll come out with a number. Do a "best case", "worst case", "expected case" scenario. Sell 40% of your inventory, 75% of your inventory, 90% of your inventory if you're getting advertisers directly.
* Note that other variables will affect these rates. They include whether an ad is above the fold or not, context of the pages, etc. But this will give you a ballpark for business plan.
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The amount of money you'll get per click will depend on the type of ad. Ads for some keywords pay more, others pay next to nothing.

It takes a lot of visits and a lot of clicks to get anything noticeable in terms of revenue from ads. I have a site with about 14k page views per month and the ad revenue is next to nothing.

Every site is different though. So good luck.

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