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How ThatHigh solved the chicken and egg problem and grew to 1 million pageviews

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Re: How ThatHigh solved the chicken and egg problem and grew to 1 million pageviews

#21

Post by covercash »

jayzee wrote: post #12

I am more curious to know how much traffic it takes for a site like this to become profitable ads? Anybody has any details? ps: I guess quite a few of us have such "Oh that would be a fun site" ideas... I just don't know what traffic will make it worth the effort.

From his reddit AMA:

My rent is $1050 / month, I live with two friends. Adsense pays me per click, but when I charge advertisers, I charge them CPM.

August - 150k uniques

Sept. - 100k uniques

Nov. - 140k uniques

organic = ~20%

referral = ~30%

direct = ~50%

I don't get direct advertisers often, but when I do, I charge them anywhere from $2 - $5 CPM (obviously it depends on the company)

Edit: I forgot to mention, the AMA title was "I run ThatHigh and it pays my rent in SF" so I guess it's safe to say that he makes at least $1050/mo from the site.

Re: How ThatHigh solved the chicken and egg problem and grew to 1 million pageviews

#22

Post by baby »

il wrote: post #8
baby wrote: post #5

I've read a similar article which was on the frontpage of HN not so long ago. And it was better. Why would you use ThatHigh as an example to illustrate this ? I think this site did poorly. And just looking at how much fan they have on their facebook can pretty much prove my point (I got like 95k fans on my page just by liking something with my facebook account. Never did anything else than that to promote my website)

The traffic numbers are legit and not inflated, if that's what you're wondering about. Honestly, I don't know that many people who have built a community site of similar traffic level that quickly, especially without doing any SEO. If you can put me in touch with others who have accomplished something like this, I would love to write about them too.

The thing is. I don't see a big traffic on this "community site". I call that a fair traffic that will maybe not last.

Re: How ThatHigh solved the chicken and egg problem and grew to 1 million pageviews

#24

Post by iaskwhy »

patrickaljord wrote: post #16
oldstrangers wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From my experience, 500,000 pageviews a month will turn a decent profit. Absolute minimum seems to be 100,000 a month, which is extremely easy to obtain these days.

How much can you make with 100,000?

My numbers from January: 159k pageviews (137k with ads, one per page at the bottom), $84 in Adsense.

Re: How ThatHigh solved the chicken and egg problem and grew to 1 million pageviews

#25

Post by dalore »

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #3

This was a good article, all except for the last little bit: Sometimes, driving traffic simply demands ingenuity, creativity, and hustle. Be more creative than your competitors, work harder than them, and test faster than them. Go where your competitors dare not because they are too complacent, too conventional, too risk-averse. There are literally thousands of diverse traffic sources out there…go explore them! Not t…

Did he not give an example in that white text box just above that paragraph?

"Every 2 days or so, I’d go to my school’s quad and chalk every vertical surface I could find. Then I’d do the same thing in town. I even went to one of the dorm’s and used dry-erase marker on the mirrors and windows on each floor and in each bathroom. "

Re: How ThatHigh solved the chicken and egg problem and grew to 1 million pageviews

#26

Post by SeamusBrady »

oldstrangers wrote: post #14
jayzee wrote: post #12

I am more curious to know how much traffic it takes for a site like this to become profitable ads? Anybody has any details? ps: I guess quite a few of us have such "Oh that would be a fun site" ideas... I just don't know what traffic will make it worth the effort.

From my experience, 500,000 pageviews a month will turn a decent profit. Absolute minimum seems to be 100,000 a month, which is extremely easy to obtain these days.

OK - I'll bite :) Could you qualify why you think it is easy to get 100,000 pageviews a month? I am intrigued.

Re: How ThatHigh solved the chicken and egg problem and grew to 1 million pageviews

#29

Post by maneesh »

iaskwhy wrote: post #24
patrickaljord wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How much can you make with 100,000?

My numbers from January: 159k pageviews (137k with ads, one per page at the bottom), $84 in Adsense.

Hrm, my January numbers: Page Impressions, 12900; AdSense, $340

Re: How ThatHigh solved the chicken and egg problem and grew to 1 million pageviews

#30

Post by iaskwhy »

maneesh wrote: post #29
iaskwhy wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My numbers from January: 159k pageviews (137k with ads, one per page at the bottom), $84 in Adsense.

Hrm, my January numbers: Page Impressions, 12900; AdSense, $340

Well, it's public how numbers vary so much. Mine's a niche music site so I don't think I should expect much more than what it's doing right now. I could easily improve the banners placement though, I just think it isn't worth it.
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