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Ask HN: How to make money with a diary site?

3 points by hndb ↗ HN
I am running a diary site, on which users can keep their diary both private and publicly. People also comment on each others diary posts (if public). Me and a friend started this as a hobby project a couple of years ago. We have regular day jobs, so we have limited time to spend on the site. So far the google ads pay for the hosting costs, but that's about it (there are not a lot of targeted advertisments for diary posts). We would like to make a bit more money on it (we are not expecting to be able to build a real business out of it though).

We have started a test with premium accounts which are about 15 euro a year (about 20 dollar, not much) which gives the user some extra features such as changing the font color, size etc. Only a handful of users applied for it, a lot responded that it is too expensive (yes, the amount is for a whole year and still people say that) and that diaries should be free. There are a lot of users who dislike the idea that we would make money of the site (especially if it is their money). Also, a lot of the users are still in school/students, and can't or do not want to pay for this kind service. We are glad that a few are supporting the site, but do not expect to make a lot of money with it (the money we do get can be used for a tiny upgrade, which leaves us empty handed). My guess is that the money should not come from the users nor the ads.

So we are basically out of ideas, so any are welcome!

numbers: - active users, that is, the amount of users that logged in this month (20 days so far): 1152 - traffic: 2500 visits a day, of which 56% is direct, 28% is search engines, and the bulk of the rest is from emails send by the application (users get notified of comments etc. if they indicated that they want that) if I read my Analytics account properly

10 comments

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terra_t
how's this different from livejournal?
hndb
Probably not that different, although I don't know it that well.
terra_t
You should. Livejournal has been run by an excellent team for years and they've perpetually struggled with this.

One of the big problems of "Web 2.0" is that web communities lead to high user engagement, which leads to two things: (i) low click through on ads, (ii) self-selection of an audience that's got a lot of time but no $$$.

The result is that you can bust your butt to build a community with, say, 40k users, and still be struggling to pay for $800/month server costs, never mind getting paid yourself for the butt-busting.

I've got an answer to this, sort of a way to make a "community" site without actually having a community, but that's a card I hold close to my chest.

hndb
Indeed, it is extremely hard. Advertisements seem like the only way to get money from this kind of sites, but pay very little. Good luck with your 'card' and thanks for your comment.
tocomment
How about affiliate links? For example if a user links to a page on Amazon, you add your affiliate id into the link?
hndb
Thanks for the idea. Users almost always write about their day or write some opinianated stuff. They don't really link to products, so I don't think it will earn us much. But it could be an easy to create addition, so why not...
captaincrunch
Is this a real site, or a, I missing the URL somewhere?
hndb
The site is indeed real and has been for a couple of years. Don't want to show it right now (or want the site's users find this post), sorry.
byoung2
My guess is that the money should not come from the users nor the ads

Then where could the money possibly come from? Twitter struggled with this in the beginning, and one idea they tossed around was charging outside companies for analytics. It doesn't sound like you have enough traffic for that. You may have a site that is just not monetizable.

hndb
It would probably have to be an idea to add value for a business (since the normal ads and user won't bring in the real money). Maybe you are right about the monetizable, Hacker News was kind of my last hope to get to that idea. :)