

Ask HN: Make money w/o banner ads or subscriptions - pilom

I've been helping work on a website www.kayak411.com and we just had a major re-release. We're not really doing it to make money or a company, we just like kayaking. It would be nice to make a little money off of it just to cover hosting costs + a little (think craigslist).
So, we're looking for really creative ways to make a little money without sidebar/banner ads or subscriptions. So far we are planning on getting a cutback on camping referrals and maybe a small fee to list things in the marketplace.<p>Anyone have any other unusual ideas?<p>www.kayak411.com
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byoung2
A big one is affiliate links, which are particularly well-suited to niche
sites like this. You can regularly review products and put affiliate links so
that readers can buy them online. Look into Commission Junction, Linkshare,
Google Affiliate Network, Amazon Associates, etc. You can make a decent amount
per sale (usually around 1-15%). If 10 people buy a $400 Kayak and you get 5%,
that's $200 in your pocket.

You can also put together an instructional ebook or video about kayaking and
sell it on the site.

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user24
there's <http://flattr.com>, which is gaining popularity, or a paypal donate
button.

I run ads on my blog <http://puremango.co.uk>. I don't think ads have to be
ugly or obtrusive. I like to think my ads are subtle and not annoying.

So, I wonder why are you against a few simple ads?

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sabat
I know why I'm not crazy about them: they don't make you much money. At least,
in my case, Adsense and Adbrite haven't done much for me.

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Andrew_Quentin
What makes you think anything else would? I mean, is this a site of 100
visitors a month?

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sabat
Thousands.

