How does this website make money

[level200]

Hi Guys

Out of interest, how does this guy make money from his website?

Its the website of GMTV's Martin lewis, the website is classed as ad free and displays offers, has a forum and offers loads of money saving advice.

so... how does Martin make money from his site??

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/

cheers
John

[FireFleur]

He puts ads on, and calls them something else?

Have a look at some of the links going to an external site, it runs through a redirect, so he can keep a tally.

[Subbynet]

Affiliate Links...

They're all marked with a * on that site, so you can see which links he benefits from...

[level200]

But if its classed as ** Ad Free ** and is supposed to be impartial and give non biased advice, how can he do this?

[sirearl]

He had 14 million visits in feb.

I hate him.:D

Earl

[crossdaz]

But if its classed as ** Ad Free ** and is supposed to be impartial and give non biased advice, how can he do this?

He can't - nobody can give un-biased advice.
I think the idea is that you are not forced to click ads to get the advice offered?

[beadell]

I love him....well his site. Great place to get a link on ;)

[Subbynet]

But if its classed as ** Ad Free ** and is supposed to be impartial and give non biased advice, how can he do this?

There are no adverts as such - in the sense some company has said "speak about this" or "put this banner on your site".

He says he writes stories, and then finds links, and if an affiliate link is available, they will use it, but if not, the normal link will go in. All affiliate links are marked so you're not tricked.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/site/moneysavingexpert-finance

[KidsBeeHappy]

The website also helps build "his" personal profile, and he makes money out of TV & Radio appearances, books, and other offline stuff. Sometimes the website itself doesn't need to generate the revenue, the website is only part of the whole MSE product.

[The Dreaded Lurgy]

He does use affilliate links and this is fully and clearly explained at the bottom of each article and all the affilliate links are labebbed so the user can tell which ones they are. The website as boxby said is just part of it and he also has a slot on radio1, a half hour programme on 5 and appears in interviews in countless places. He has built up a massive reputation fpor himself that will no doubt provide him with decent earnings.

On a personal note I think he is great, I follow his advice and that of forum users on his site all the time and find it to be accurate, well thought out and obviously less expensive.

[The Dreaded Lurgy]

By the way I note he gives boxby a heads up in the cheap courrier department, so I used boxby to get a big package delivered from a town in north yorkshire to norfolk. I was very happy with it all until the next day when my sister in law came round and told me she had just come back from visiting people in that exact town!

Never mind still give boxby a thumbs up if you need to get stuff shifted.

[adam]

I think he also advises on some really irrelevant rubbish and I seem to remember was one of those advocating chopping and changing credit cards every 5 minutes which can wreck your credit file and encourage unsustainable consumer borrowing.

Okay, he is not single handedly responsible for the collapse of the banks but he made his money from it!

[The Dreaded Lurgy]

Every 5 minutes is a slight exaggeration, once a year to take advantage of 0% intrest deals, especially if you calculate that you can affoird to pay the balance of in full within that time. If you read the full article it actually looks at 3 soloutions of short term 0% borrowing, medium term low fixed rate balance transfers for life and long term loans and helps you work out which is likelly to be the most suitable for you.

As for the collapse of banks who offered up mortgages to really risky people then covered piles of these dodgy investments in a thin veneer of fairly safe mortgages, then paid somebody to assess them as really safe or "triple A" so they could sell them to other banks (not to mention buy them back themselves) Like a bunch of billion dollar second hand car salesman. Martin lewis was not responsible for their actions and any damage he did to them like encouraging people to stand up against extortionate bank charges they had coming.

[Astaroth]

He encouraged people to renege on their responsibilities and many forum members actively encouraged others to run up bills before getting out of them. There may be a question on the reasonableness of the fees that are/ were charged but at the end of the day everyone knew what they were before they started. Would love to see how far you get if you eat in a restaurant and after eating then saying you think that £15 for the steak was too much and so you arent going to pay anything.

To answer the original question, the main income from the site is from affiliate links. Whilst these are marked with a * I have never liked the fact that the "NO ADS" is plastered all over the site where as the fact there are advertisements (of a sort at least) is in the small print at the bottom of the page.

[The Dreaded Lurgy]

Well if people did encourage a running up of charges before claiming that is both irresponsible and stupid, however to run with your restaraunt theme it is true that everybody knows in advance of bank charges but when all your income has to be paid into a bank you have no choice, so if your food budget was paid to the restaraunt and they could then charge what they like it might not be so clear cut. If a customer accidentally shortchanged me by £1.50 I would not issue them with a charge of £35, they would just go somewhere with better service and more of an understanding nature. I have yet to find a bank that does not apply over the top charges for the most minor of mistakes.

I have to use a bank to get paid, I have to put up with whatever terms and conditions they wish to impose on me (no matter how illegal or unfair) and I cannot go to one tht does not do this as they all do and all in a very similar way.

[PromoAde]

He has a whole page which explains how the site is financed -

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/site/moneysavingexpert-finance

[J-Wholesale]

Take a look at the size of the forum:

Threads: 967,068, Posts: 13,148,215, Members: 487,190Now that is something to inspire envy.

[TotallySport]

Hi Guys

Out of interest, how does this guy make money from his website?

Its the website of GMTV's Martin lewis, the website is classed as ad free and displays offers, has a forum and offers loads of money saving advice.

so... how does Martin make money from his site??

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/

cheers
JohnI think you'll find he isn't limited to GMTV, he is only radio 1, BBC and all over the place, I agree with boxby, the site is a by product of this image, it doesn't matter if it makes money.

[TotallySport]

only = also on

[cragrat]

You can get google ads on your site. Search for google adsense.

That's the easiest way :)

[streetslocal]

I feel spam occuring:D