Just a quick glimpse at numbers, maybe just some thumbnail guesses, really.
In the Pay per view section, the current scopes? Less than 1%. I’m not even sure that it qualifies as a portion of that, and just for the sake of content, the weekly audio file? That’s a whopping 10% of the site’s throughput (bandwidth burned) each month. I’m not complaining, that’s paid for. It’s a steal of a deal, less than a six-pack of Lone Star. Probably less than a Venti-Mocha-Latte-Decaf, too.
On the splash page, though? There’s one banner ad, paid-per-hit, standard size. Then the sidebar itself is about 80% advertising, maybe less than that, and it’s less than half the page length, so it’s 20% of 50%, or about 10% of the total page, and that works out to 8% of the available web page that’s advertising. Plus the banner. Call it between 10% & 12%.
On the journal, here? Each page currently has an Amazon badge, a Bass Pro sticker, Fat Cow Hosting badge, and a link to the sales area. Still weighs in at a lot less than 10% of the available web page.
Now, click on the “more” button, and the extended text has a standard banner, and on a short entry, that can account for as much as 10% of the available space, plus the 10% that’s taken up with the Amazon/Bass Pro/Fat Cow stickers.
Here’s a hint, use the “comment” link instead of the “more” link, and bypass the banner. Of course, that’s fewer hits for their counter, and that means less revenue. But it’s also free of advertising.
Less than 20% of the page is advertising. Next time? Look at any other site, and figure out how much of the page is advertising. What’s content, and what’s marketing?
