Being a self-publisher has led me to try many different things in order to increase my exposure on the web, as well as make money with my creations. Selling games directly was one idea, which sometimes worked, but sometimes didn't. A combination of free and premium service with virtual currency for the online games has been an OK way to make a little money but that has also been sporadic.
So, I decided to try putting advertising on Arcane Journeys. I was hesitant because advertising interferes with clarity of design often, and detracts from the main offerings, but I thought maybe with Google Adsense it might be ok. Well, after a almost a year, I haven't made the $100 minimum required to withdraw money from my account. Maybe I'll reach it in a few years. The result being that I still need more exposure to make money.
Then a casino contacted me, asking if I would put an ad on my page if they paid me a monthly fee. I was hesitant again, but they paid right away, and now that one boring text ad at the bottom of the main page makes the most consistent money on the site. I halfheartedly went looking for more casino ads, but came up empty.
Recently I decide to try TrialPay, which is a weird twist on the advertising scheme, where when a person signs up for someone else's offer, you get paid, and the person signing up gets your thing as a bonus. So far, lots of people have looked at it, but no one has done it.
I thought I would write about these experiments in order to give a perspective that was different than the 'make money with no effort' & 'succeed beyond your wildest dreams' often seen on the internet.
-Jim DuBois