How Much?

While eagerly awaiting the day where I can run a big-board, I was pondering how much it costs to run a place the size of AA? Do the ads help pay for the server/software costs? How are the Premium Memberships?

I need to anticipate this type of stuff for the future.

 

I would hope the ads and membership pay for this site, but Nick would be best to answer that.
I know when I was running my forum which is close to the same stats of this when it sold, I was paying 60-75$ a month for our server (although I had and still host a dozen other sites on it) but the forum itself paid for all hosting fees as well as a little left over for advertising.

 

$60 a month for host fees for me.

Then domains and scripts (which is yearly or every other year).

 

One thing I will say: The advertisements hardly bring in revenue. With AdSense, I'd say we've made no more than $5 for the several months we've been running them (since November, I believe).

Most of the ads you see on the sidebar are affiliate ads. In all the time they've been there (since June, approximately, IIRC), we've had two sales, both through HostGator, and they were in September and October. Since then, nothing else.

The other ads (which are advertisements paid directly by vendors) are the ones with the most potential, but it's hard finding advertisers. We have one advertiser who has been running many ads with us for a while, but will be cutting back come February. After them, we have just one other active client.

So basically, generating steady revenue here has been difficult, which explains the various experimentation of ads around the site.