How BuzzFeed is Cashing In on Social and Site Traffic

I’ve always been a huge fan of creating quality content rich web sites and having the site flooded with traffic. Using these same practices I was able to generate over $800,000 with one of my sites in just a few months. With the addition of social networking and over a billion users on Facebook, there is now even more potential for success than ever before.

When it comes to making money with web sites traffic you have a lot of options. I was pushing CPM banner advertising, pop unders and affiliate offers through my bigger sites back in the day. You can also do direct ad sales and focus on building out your mailing list or creating your own products/memberships programs.

Let’s take a look at how one of the most successful entertainment sites online is bringing their business to a new level through the use of paid sponsorships and social media advertising.

If you’ve been on Facebook lately, you’ve probably seen some of the ads from BuzzFeed.com, which look like the following.

I’m sure these ads don’t get the highest CTR, but I do see them around often and for quite a few different posts of theirs.

When you click on the ad you will be sent over to the BuzzFeed web site and their featured article.

You will see the full post below and I went ahead and outlined all of the sections that are linking back to or sponsored by “Bravo”. You will see the text description in the article refers to the new Bravo “Princesses: Long Island” show that the station is pushing. The article goes on to provide 20 different funny tips on how to find a great husband, while mostly using Bravo “Housewives” content.

I don’t know how much BuzzFeed gets paid per sponsorship, but I’m sure it’s a lot and they are doing a good job at getting the word out there.

I also came across this killer article on TheAtlanticWire.com that also discusses this topic and how they can be raking in over $100k per sponsorship.

A company like Virgin Mobile knocks on the door and pays about $100,000 for about a month of jointly-produced posts with BuzzFeed’s viral wizards. Rice sat in on the meeting with the Virgin Mobile and BuzzFeed teams plotting their campaign.

It’s also important to note that BuzzFeed landed over $15 million in funding last year.

The takeaway… the formula works and the money/sponsorships are endless!

The best thing about this business model is that BuzzFeed continues to build their brand and audience while making money and growing their brand with some huge advertiser partners in the process.

If you currently have some large web sites or blogs of your own, see if you can scale them big enough in size to see if you could create a similar sponsorship formula for relevant advertisers and your audience.