How good are IPS monetizing features?

[John H20]

I've only ever used an IPS forum that is not being monetized as a member, and don't really run across IPS forums in general, so my only recent exposure as a member to a non-VB monetized forum is with one using XF. I'm not one of these people who is looking to just publish a forum without seeking to monetize, and my intention is to try doing that right away and have it set up and ready to work even while there are no members yet.

Basically, I want to be able to do with IPS what I've seen being done with XF.

In particular, there is an XF forum I have used before which does a lot of monetizing, the most I've ever seen. For instance, they have graphical ads appear right under your individual comments. I never even saw that being done before to my recollection until using this forum. They may have also been using what I think may be this VigLinks in places, where seemingly random words in a person's comments are made into clickable and presumably monetized links.

So my question is - can I do all this with IPS? Specifically, are there settings that are easy to use so that I can decide that in some cases I may want PPC ads to appear right under people's comments, and in other cases I might want my own affiliate links to appear, and not just all one or the other? I definitely want to use a mix of PPC and affiliate links and do not want to be limited to either. Can I use this VigLinks or the equivalent to get the desired effect with text?

Apart from things like having a classifieds or ecommerce section, what else am I missing in terms of monetization settings?

I really want these capabilities to be part of the normal management GUI options that can just be easily set at will and to not require custom coding.

 

[Ryan Ashbrook]

Yes.

IPS4 has built-n advertising display options, including the option to display them inline in topics. You can also define your own custom locations, if you wish (though, this requires you to add the appropriate tag to the templates).

You can also add ads to emails sent from your community.

VigLink is also supported, as well as Facebook Pixel, should you decide to sell physical / digital goods.

 

[John H20]

Thanks Ryan, appreciate that info. I know it might sound like a bit much to have users experience to some, but let's say I wanted ads to appear under every comment in a thread, or every other comment, or every third comment - could I set that to happen too? Could I also set it to alternate between graphical PPC and affiliate ads in the same thread, and so forth? Would those abilities open up when you check that "Define your own locations" box? And if a thread became long, could I set it to cycle through a body of ads so that ads are not duplicated, for instance?

 

[Joel R]

IPS supports:
Advertising

Email advertising

Digital downloads

E-commerce store

Viglink integration

Subscriptions

Donations

I think you'll find the monetization options to be very robust for professional communities.

 

[John H20]

Well it sounds promising. I'm definitely focusing on IPS. I see you have experience with both.