Content sites need to be highly focused, if they are to make a profit off of advertising
In the comments to this post, Krista Neher writes:
Look at CNN – they sell t-shirts with headlines, other news sites are selling photos, books and more…. For both the content creators and publishers there seem to be better paths to monetization than advertising.
I wouldn’t know how to make money off of a property like CNN, because it is so broad in scope. But it came into existence before the web, and it still draws most of its profits from its offline business. Content sites that have no offline divisions tend to be much more niche oriented. I think advertising still offers the possibility of excellent profits for online properties, but the editorial strategy needs to be quite different from anything like CNN.
Lately, when I’ve been asked for advice about how to make a content site profitable, I’ve been emphasizing the need for extreme focus. Over the last 9 years, I think I’ve seen close to $2 million wasted on startups that simply were not focused enough. Most people who consider startups are somewhat aware of the need to be focused, but I think the need is especially intense for content sites that will supported by advertising.
I think it’s best if the entrepreneur starting a startup knows, before the site is created, which industry the site will get its advertising from. Then they need to create the content that will bring the customers who are interested in that industry. For instance, if an entrepreneur were creating a content site focused on fishing, they would (I hope) decide ahead of time whether the focus would be on deep sea fishing or freshwater fishing. After they make that decision they would know, roughly, which companies they could expect as advertisers. Then (hopefully) they would create the content that would bring in the ideal customers for those advertisers. They might, for instance, hire some bloggers who are already writing about fishing. For any large community (such as fishermen), it is possible to find at least a few bloggers who are in that community and who have distinguished themselves as excellent writers.
There is, of course, room on the web for authentic voices that speak about personal experiences or insights. Most of us have blogs where we write with no expectation of turning a profit (at least not in any direct, obvious way). But if the goal is a content site that lives 100% on the web and is meant to turn a profit, I think there needs to be a very high level of focus. And then, I think, the profits can be quite good.