I have a question,why do people make faucets,is it profitable for them?
If so,how?
I can answer that directly, as I am the owner of a BTC faucet site (
http://www.cryptoplanet.co/BTCfaucet.php -if you would like to check it out). Yes, it Can be profitable if done right. Most of the revenue will be generated from advertisements displayed on the faucet site (banner ads & the like). Faucet sites, if marketed correctly and the word gets out, will generate lots of web traffic. However, you have to find the right balance of advertising revenue coming in vs. BTC being given out. I know for my site personally I have given out over 0.25 BTC in about 2 weeks already, just 200 Satoshi at a time. I have Publisher-advertising accounts set-up with 3 different entities right now. 2 of them pay me in BTC, although very little amounts so far (hopefully this will be starting to rise soon). The other one is a big-name technology/advertising company and they will be paying me in USD. I make alright amounts off of that company's ads, although it will be about 60+ days since the start of that company's ads until I get paid. I am definitely not making any huge amounts of money for anything to brag about. As I said though, hopefully this will rise over time as I continue to build up my site and build up traffic. I know a couple BTC-faucet owners who DO make sizeable amounts though, it is definitely possible. But it takes skill, knowledge, start-up funds, and time. I myself am not a rich person, by Any means. So giving out over 0.25 BTC in 2 weeks already has been very hard on my financial state. I didn't start out with very much $ or BTC to begin with- this was probably a mistake. In the meantime though I have done, and will do, anything possible to keep refilling my faucet and keep it from running out. I don't want to lose credibility for myself/my site, and I don't want to disappoint people using it. (I also know the feeling of loading a faucet site, entering my BTC address, and solving the captcha- only to be told the faucet's balance is empty. I don't like wasted time either.)
And still- you could get tons of traffic to your site, but not make much at all off of advertising. Most advertising pays on a pay-per-click basis. So, you could have tons of people visiting your faucet, but still not make much at all if they don't click on any of the ads. If you enjoy a faucet site and use it regularly- try to keep this in mind. You can help the faucet owner (who is helping you with free BTC) by just clicking on an ad every once in a while, they will definitely appreciate it. I have seen many sites that have frustrating pop-up ads and CoinURL re-direct links constantly bothering you. While adding this may help me to better afford my site, I don't want to put my end-users through this annoying, bothersome practice. So, in short- yes, it Can be profitable. But it can also be unprofitable and cause more losses than gains. I highly recommend starting out with a sizeable amount of BTC beforehand if you are thinking of starting one.
There is also another reason that I, and probably other people, run faucet sites: To help people get started with Bitcoin! I got started with BTC myself through faucet sites and earning sites, and I wanted to sort of "pay it forward" and add another faucet to help new users out. The more people worldwide using Bitcoin, the better. Mass adoption, baby. Economic freedom for all worldwide through this wonderful currency we call Bitcoin. This reason was equally why I wanted to start one, I didn't start it to get rich (but I wouldn't be sad if that eventually happened one day
)
This^ is a bit of a lengthy reply, but I hope it helped give you some answers to your questions. If you, or anybody else reading this, has anymore questions, PM me and I will do my best to reply when I have time. My site (
http://cryptoplanet.co/ ) is far from finished, and I have a Lot more work to do on finishing and adding new sections. However, at the moment I have to put it on the backburner as I am completely starting over on a new site from scratch for my friend's company. He has a lot of business and just got the legal authority to be one of only a handful of vendors worldwide allowed to sell a certain product. And remember- if you like and/or regularly use a faucet site, consider returning the favor by checking out some of the sites advertised on the faucet site.
Hope this helps,
snarlpill
