Adverts/sponsored link.

While TRIP was closed to all but subscribers, the subscriptions helped us develop the site. However, if you remove the subscriptions you remove the revenue. The bottom line is that for TRIP to survive and continue to improve it needs a revenue, hence the adverts and sponsored links.

Adverts via Google ads. These are positioned in a relatively minor part of the site and are unlikely to generate a significant income. However, as we’re testing the business model we thought we should try this method. We are currently being searched around 15-20,000 times per day (likely to increase significantly) and if 0.1% click on adverts per day that should make for an interesting income.

Sponsored links. This system allows users to purchase a keyword so that when someone searches on, say, hypertension the sponsors messages gets displayed. This is an interesting experiment to see if anyone likes this method. We’re hoping it’ll be of some interest, especially given our volume of usage.

In an ideal world we’d prefer not to have adverts at all. We’re hoping it’s a small price to pay for free-access