Part 2 : Advertising, building revenue and diversifying

Your income at the moment is mainly based on fixed rate or CPM banner or button advertising. What are your views on commission-based, CPA and CPC advertising?
CPM or fixed-rate advertising provides a predictable, steady revenue stream that compensates publishers fairly for providing exposure for an advertiser's web site, products or services.

However, CPA/CPC and revenue-sharing type advertising is going to become more and more popular, and more frequently asked for by the advertisers who approach us (we currently reject all non-CPM or fixed rate advertisers). The content site is being asked to shoulder the financial risk and is reliant on the advertiser's ability to convert visitors into customers or leads.

Due to this dramatic shift in the industry we will soon be launching a new site which will allow us to capture a slice of this pay-for-performance advertising pie without affecting our core revenue stream.

You do mention sponsorships in your media kit, but have you thought about going more in this direction aka the ClickZ model and getting companies to sponsor the various channels and content categories?
We're definitely moving more towards the ClickZ style sponsorship model; our new front page design will be a big first step towards that.

And what about developing other forms of revenue - any thoughts for our webmaster readers who seek an alternative to the advertising-supported content model?
Speaking for SitePoint, we have an Interactive division employing several people and which splits our revenue stream into advertising and services, and adds a lot of stability to the business. Content licensing and diversifying into pay-for-performance advertising through one of our soon to be launched sites are other ways we're diversifying our income. Selling information products, whether it be eBooks, newsletter subscriptions or access to a private site are also excellent avenues to complement an advertising-supported content model.

Finally, what can we expect to see from SitePoint in the near future?
Two new sites, a re-designed front page and more email newsletters. That's all I'm saying. Our competitors are surely reading this.