How can I monitize a conspiracy theory website/blog?

Sell tinfoil hats.
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Maybe sell some security gadgets, I guess this kind of people like such a stuff.

Can you place adsense there? Try what kind of ads are displayed and find similar CPAs.

CafePress or some other "tangible" item site that makes shirts and mugs and bumper stickers with catchy phrases and conspiracy stuff.

Amazon affiliate and link books about 9/11, UFO's, Alex Jones, Templar Knights, DaVinci Code stuff.

I think targeting Amazon products might work the best if you have high traffic

Jizza said:

throw in some porn.

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HAHA, great point, that way you cover 90% of the entire US Demographic anyway! LOL

Have you ever seen that series of books by Kevin Trudeau "[insert subject] SECRETS THEY DON'T WANT YOU TO KNOW!"

The marketing pitch totally plays on the public's love for conspiracy. Just take it and twist the pitch to your site's specific subject matter....

Then pump off a few ebooks about each topic.....

"UFO SECRETS THEY DON'T WANT YOU TO KNOW"

"GOVERNMENT CONSPIRACY SECRETS...."

Etc.

just go to torrent sites look for ebook conspiracy downloads, or keywords such as David Icke, Alex Jones, Bilderbergers, Tri-Lateral commission, Commission on Foreign Relations, Zeitgeist, Economic Hitman, John Perkins, David Wilcock, Project Camelot, Michael Ruppert, Crossing The Rubicon...

Oh wait I don't know anything about conspiracies... sheesh. HAHA. if you have any questions about whats real, fake, or marketable send me a PM. I know the kooky UFO demographic pretty well and the latest hot topics.

Like cadkins said get a Amazon Associate account and promote books about conspiracies, freemasonry, doctrines, codex, Alistair Crowley anything directly or indirectly related.

Direct your users to educate themselves with the recommended books through your articles, every time you mention a topic that they may know very little about you direct them to a book(with an Amazon Associates link) that will fill them in. It should get you decent conversions since I'm assuming most of your traffic is from people genuinely interested in conspiracy theories.

If your site gets huge traffic and you have given your site a decent Identity (logo etc.) then you could sell T-shirts and other merchandise.

Things related to computer security might be profitable as well, if you spin the whole paranoia angle. Other things relating to conspiracy stuff could be popular... there's a lot of "run your car on water" type stuff on CB that you could promote.. I've never looked into any of these products myself, but you could spin it as secret knowledge etc. (no clue if any of it actually works... those specific plans to run cars on water, I mean, not hydrogen fuel as an overall topic)

I'll second the suggestion that personal security products might sell, also going after the paranoia angle.

People like the idea of "secret knowledge"... you could sell photocopies of a "journal" that was full of notes taken over the years, with clippings, patents for obscure technology, etc. relating to conspiracy stuff.. should be pretty easy to put that together based on things found online, then start by getting a few copies made up at Kinkos & stapling them together.. You could put something on the site along the lines of "the government is monitoring this website so I can't post the notes here." etc.. If/when those sell, print more. You could have a lot of fun being creative with this.

And of course, funny shirts (cafepress or others) might be popular as well...

eg. "I went to Area 51 and all I got was a probe..."

(disclaimer: I like conspiracy stuff... fascinating reading! alex jones is quite a bit over the top for my tastes though.. whenever I'm in the mood to read that sort of thing, I generally prefer stuff about aliens, underground bases, etc.)

Best of luck with the site, hope some of these ideas work out for you!

See even most of the "films" those nut jobs make are given away for free (that's how crazy the 911 twoof movement really is).

How can you compete when you're in a niche where nobody expects to pay for anything.. unless the cult leaders like Alex Jones tell them to.

Hey theres some really good ideas here.
I liked the tinfoil hats Ha Ha Ha

Amazon books, security products etc sound like the best ideas though.

I had a site like that a few years ago. I sold MRE's and other survival products. A lot of them think the end of the world is coming in 2012, so yeah.

look at David Ickes website.

Also take a look at ATS (abovetopsecret.com) Look at some of there stuff, they make a killing off that site. And its a pretty interesting board also.

Alex Jones Invisable Empire premires today I believe.

Do you want to know something really funny that is actually being promoted on infowars.com? Check this out:


Now that is one hell of a funny salesletter. Just check out all the mayor conspiracy sites and see what they're selling. Most stuff has already been mentioned on this thread.

Books, ebooks, DVDs, shirts, security and self defense stuff, firearm training products, 'all natural' foods, 'all healthy' vitamins and 'herbal' dietary supplements, water filters, esoteric 'remedies', 'alternative energy' crap, fresh fruit, vegetables, seeds...

You should, however, find out which specific group of conspiracy folks you're targeting. There are hundreds of different little belief systems around, from 'no plane theory' guys to vegan raw food fans, esoteric 2012 spiritual healing fellows and radical hardcore christians expecting doomsday to come etc.

I could specify tons of different groups but it would bore the hell out of me.

Be sure to play with the usual psychological fear and dramatization techniques which these people react very well to.

I really do wish that instead of labeling it all "conspiracy theorists" people would distinguish between those who refuse to be brainwashed and want to know what's going on behind the scenes, and those who will idolize and follow absolutely anyone/anything like a bunch of sheep, be it CNN or Alex Jones. To the latter you can market anything, including tin foil hats.

mantwo said:

See even most of the "films" those nut jobs make are given away for free (that's how crazy the 911 twoof movement really is).

How can you compete when you're in a niche where nobody expects to pay for anything.. unless the cult leaders like Alex Jones tell them to.

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I have to disagree. Before today I hadn't really researched this market and yes I also thought everything was free but from what I've been seeing 90% of video content are sold as products. (mainly conferences and seminar talks) Also most of these sites are selling two or three books so GAMBIT's idea to knock up a few ebooks is a good one. Another bonus is most of these sites want affiliates for their products.
To be honest I'm actually shocked at all the different potential way's this genre could be monitised and if done correctly it could be quite profitable considering all the different long-tail keyword opportunities. Have a look around, most sites in this niche are made up of poorly designed sites with massive oversized banner ads everywhere.

A big thanks to Cadkins45, Shooter, bl4ck1ce and Gambit. All your ideas are noted

g111k said:

I really do wish that instead of labeling it all "conspiracy theorists" people would distinguish between those who refuse to be brainwashed and want to know what's going on behind the scenes, and those who will idolize and follow absolutely anyone/anything like a bunch of sheep, be it CNN or Alex Jones. To the latter you can market anything, including tin foil hats.

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Yes, in some cases the word 'conspiracy theories' does cause harm because it automatically makes most people run in the oposite direction without a second thought. The consequences of this is even if the information is credible and important it's usually ignored because of the stigma/reputation attached to conspiracy theory's. A follower of conspiracy theories would say this is a good 'get out of jail' card created by governments and secret organisations to discredit any damaging proof. Ha Ha Ha Bit of a catch 22 if the government intentionally created the notion conspiracy theory.

Get a few college students and form a
"Don't let the CIA read your mind - Protect your whole house and loved ones"

Like so:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1pv16G-liw

On a serious note, I just launched a news they don't want you to hear website 6 days ago and right now am sitting on 200 uniques a day - so yeah, the traffic is there and if you get a little cult following you're in the $$

1. books/ebooks
2. t-shirts
3. coffee mugs
4. UFO videos
5- .gov conspiracies
6. NWO Stuff
7. Vaccinations stuff
8. Freeman on the land stuff

The possibilities are endless