What percentage(s) to charge for monetization efforts on forum?

I am newly in charge of the advertising and marketing department of the main forum that I help administrate. In exchange for additional revenue I am being offered a percentage of the revenue generated in return. What would be a fair percentage to ask for? Right now, other than site subscriptions the site is making negligible money.

I've never worked something like this on commission before so I'm not sure what to ask. I thought that 25percent might be fair.

Has anybody done this on commission before or paid somebody else to? I'd like to speak with him about this before I really get anything going, because I don't want to find out that he's only willing to pay a small percentage when I'm putting hours worth of research and effort into this.

My plan is to have some affiliate offers for targeted subforums as well as some rotated headers at first to see what starts converting the best. Then a couple of other adverts for guests (maybe textlink and a skyscraper). Also, I would be open to people sponsoring a forum if it's a relevant company.

Also, another question, if I can raise average revenue on subscriptions should I ask for a share of that as well? Or just ask for him for a percentage of them anyways, as long as we're making money from the external revenue (or even not since I'd be trying anyways)? I'm kind of split on this one, don't really want to ask for it, but if I can significantly raise the number of subscribers through my efforts, that was work that I did.



Summary of Questions:

• Should I ask for a flat percentage of all revenue outside of subscriptions? And what percentage would be recommended?
• Should I vary percentages based on type of campaign? (such as, if I find someone to advertise directly, should I ask for a higher percentage of that vs just running a relevant ads campaign like adsense).. any ideas of a rate for these types? (examples, click ads vs affiliate offers vs direct ads/sponsorships)
• Should I ask for a small cut of the subscriptions just for putting the effort into this.. or maybe only if I can raise the subscription rate significantly? If so, what might be a fair percentage to ask for?

Please advise and thanks in advance!

 

How many other administrators are there an how is compensation divided as things currently stand?

Does X% of revenue go back into the site and the rest is divided? I'm not sure what to suggest without knowing the current setup and division of revenue.

 

As of now all of the money goes to the owner. I would be the sole coordinator of marketing and advertising efforts. There are 4 admins aside from the owner (I know, a lot, but not my decision). 2 of us develop, one is more of the backend developer guy and I'm more of the front end developer/user relations guy. Currently neither one of us get paid (that I know of).

I am assuming that the owner and myself will be the only ones getting money from the advertising. I would like to see the other developer get a cut, he might already, I don't really know. For all intents and purposes we'll just say that the advertising is between the owner and myself.

This is the first reply I've gotten on any board I've posted this on, gotten a lot of views though, so thanks!

 

If you guys can come to an agreement, then yes of course! 25% does sound fair. That's about what I would really consider if I was in your position. It all comes down to how much work you do, what the results are like, and how the owner feels about it all. Ultimately it's all up to him.

Hm, I'm not sure really. I think a fixed percentage would be easiest to manage. Depending on how willing the owner is to devise such an elaborate contract, it may just be easiest to take the easy road and stick with a fixed percentage.

If you can increase subscriptions, I think that is something you should also be compensated for. I think it's different than off-site and external promotion, so deserves its own classification.
25% might also be good in this case.

Does that show you something? :unhunh:

 

Thank you for confirming my thoughts and adding some tips in Nick, you've been of great help!