Reply To: Strange Business Model
Hey just wanted to drop a couple cents on this. I feel for ya! I am trying so hard to find time to work on my own stuff and still take care of the kids keep my job and go to school! (bad french accent/on) But such iz zee life no hough hough hough!(bad french accent/off)
EvilAvatar dot com is a site I go to for alot of gaming juice. Evilavatar sells it's own ad space itself. Or at least it did as of a year ago. Your front page and other pages are money brother. Money not being collected.
Don't go through the half a billion skeevy net crawler ad systems in place now.
Just plop a big banner on the front page that links to an e-mail for sales and put on it, "CLICK TO BUY THIS ADD SPACE, YOU KNOW YOU WANT IT!!".
Do a couple of those and you get to design the ad and charge them for that too.
You have numbers to support it and to be honest you are a strong enough personality and artist that they should appreciate the creativeness you would use making their ad fit your site.
Simple as that.
Second recommendation:
This website is crawling with geeks. (included) Most of us won't get brave and leave our day jobs so we really want to see you do well.
Put up an article asking for volunteers to send e-mails to companies we buy alot of crap from to convince them to advertise directly to your site.
Newegg, EA, blah blah blah!
I am sure if you just put out a blanket request for fans to spam the hell out of your URL to corporations who are all still swimming in garbage buzz words like Viral Marketing and Grass Roots, that enough people will throw down the 30 minutes at least once and something will pop up.
It may not be a phat sack of money heavy enough to crush the llama but A. It's money, and B. You didn't have to do all that leg work.
Viral Marketing works two ways you know.
If noone does it well…..you just look kind of lazy and pathetic, but thats not so bad right? 
Just ideas man. I don't think you can escape the need for gig, gig, gig! That's music. My dad played guitar at the Grand Ole Oprey for 3 years in the house band.
He travelled every Friday 12 hour drive to play for 4 hours and then the next night 8 hours then drive back home sunday to get ready for work as a Mechanical Engineer on Monday. That was his HOBBY! He never made alot of money off of it. Basicly the pay covered the cost of travel and hotel.
But he took a shot and he got some minor recognition. He got to meet and play music with most of his musical heroes and he has all those memories.
But the bottom line is, music is not an easy career and you have to suck it up.
Either give it up and get a day job and keep doing it as a hobby or accept that you may never actually "make it" enough to be self sustaining.
I hope you can pull it off man.