Strategies for monetizing a vertical search engine?
jamesshamenski: 1 slap the business in two. 1 as a non-profit research entity (with a watershed of tax and funding possibilities) the other as the for profit side which licenses the tech developed by the non profit.2 offer premium experiences on top of your technology. consulting, curation, etc.3 if someone wants a feature, great. inform them of what it will cost and bill them.4 charge per usage. this rolls with a freemium model where the basic is free but they have to pay in order to get deeper information revealed. make sure you constantly bait the hook on this one and are clear up front about how it works. nobody like clicking 5 times and then getting a sudden request for cash.and on to the ads...5 sponsorship is technically advertising but by aligning your site brand with the advertiser, you dont have to worry as much about query volume. think: montblanc.professionalsearch.com6 what really works once you have query volume is advertising. look at yahoo autos. query any toyota car. who is advertising? yeah toyota. its brand protection and inside verticals it brings in the most money anywhere i can think of.7 advertorials. look at techmeme. love those sponsored listings.