Most of the sites I host use the sponsor system. Some do ads only and a few are a mixture of ads and sponsors.
The sponsor system when handled right works the best in my opinion.
The key to it working from what I have seen is to give the sponsor their own section.
You go in there and its that sponsors territory. Which means you dont bad mouth the sponsor in their "home".
Outside of that section is wild country. The sponsor knows this upfront so it keeps their home section civil so they can handle customers and draw new customers.
But outside in the general section sponsors have to deal with people that may not like them so much.
It seems to work pretty well for the larger forums. They use a banner that rotates thru a picture for the sponsor with a link to their site. This banner isnt blocked by most ad blockers so the sponsor gets an ad and a forum section for what they pay.
The ad system seems to work but doesnt pay that much from what Im told by the people I host. Also most people run ad blockers. So you lose revenue from that also. Plus people whine all the time about ads. Its human nature so expect whining no matter how innocuous the ads are setup.
The sponsor system when handled right works the best in my opinion.
The key to it working from what I have seen is to give the sponsor their own section.
You go in there and its that sponsors territory. Which means you dont bad mouth the sponsor in their "home".
Outside of that section is wild country. The sponsor knows this upfront so it keeps their home section civil so they can handle customers and draw new customers.
But outside in the general section sponsors have to deal with people that may not like them so much.
It seems to work pretty well for the larger forums. They use a banner that rotates thru a picture for the sponsor with a link to their site. This banner isnt blocked by most ad blockers so the sponsor gets an ad and a forum section for what they pay.
The ad system seems to work but doesnt pay that much from what Im told by the people I host. Also most people run ad blockers. So you lose revenue from that also. Plus people whine all the time about ads. Its human nature so expect whining no matter how innocuous the ads are setup.