Ask YC: What options are available for sharing ad revenue with users?

5 points by ulfstein 18 years ago | 6 comments

Is anyone here aware of a way to share a site's ad revenue with a site's users?

yourabi 18 years ago |

I think for a smaller shop / startup the easiest way to go would be to have users enter their own google adsense client number and use that a certain portion of the time.

By making them sign up for Google you get G to do the footwork of verifying they are eligible, and managing payments...etc

rrival 18 years ago |

Take a look at what Revver has done with user accounts. Or Jellyfish.

There's usually a float involved which can be fun for cash flow (time between affiliate payout >= time your affiliates need to be paid).

Some companies won't let you / have rules about compensating users. For ex: WalMart doesn't like it, on the grounds that they feel their brand is strong enough to attract people without affiliates having to offer a monetary incentive.

axod 18 years ago | |

Float is good. Also usually the deal is "Minimum payout $20" for example.

Reward sites actually make most of their money by relying on the fact that most people earn a few rewards, give up, and never claim because they don't get to the minimum payout threshold.

Not a great business, but that's how that sort of thing works...

andr 18 years ago |

Well, just give it to them.

Cut checks, use PayPal, or Amazon FPS.

Accounting would be your biggest hassle. You need to file a separate 1099 with IRS for each person you pay more than $650.

concealed 18 years ago | |

But how do you easily measure what pages the clicks are coming from?

Oh and if a ton of people were making me 1200 each (@50%) then I wouldn't mind filling out 1099s all day:)

ulfstein 18 years ago |

Thanks for the feedback everyone - some nice leads.