Need Business/Strategy Consultant for Established Website

I am brand new to the website ownership business and have purchased a two-year old site that gets a fair amount of traffic (50,000+ page views and 6,500+ unique visitors each month, with a registered user base of 50,000+ members). The site is www.bookmarkshout.com. It has never been monetized before in any serious manner other than throwing up a few AdSense links here & there. My ultimate goal is to monetize the site so it's netting me several hundred dollars each month, if not more. To do so, I need the analysis and strategy consulting services of someone who can guide me in the right direction to know where to go from here. ## Deliverables _Overview & Goal_ I am brand new to the website ownership business and have purchased a two-year old site that gets a fair amount of traffic (50,000+ page views and 6,500+ unique visitors each month, with a registered user base of 50,000+ members). The site is www.bookmarkshout.com. It has never been monetized before in any serious manner other than throwing up a few AdSense links here & there. My ultimate goal is to monetize the site so it's netting me several hundred dollars each month, if not more. _What I Need_ I need someone experienced in website strategy to analyze my site, its users, and its competitors to help me: * Understand the current status of the site .... a state of the union, so to speak. * Please do not underestimate this part. If we're ever going to have a good idea of where to go from here, we have to understand thoroughly where "here" is. If you do not delve deeply enough into this topic, the rest of the report will hold little value. * I need more than just traffic stats & rankings, and info about my user base's geographic location -- I can get that just by doing a simple google search. I need to know why people are coming to my site versus my competitors' (or vice versa) ..... what benefit they gain from using my site ..... what need of theirs my site is fulfilling (or not fulfilling) ..... what my site is doing well & what it's doing poorly .... etc etc. * Devise a strategy -- including priorities -- of how to grow and monetize the site so it achieves my goal of bringing in several hundred dollars per month in profit. This strategy should address both the short-term and long-term. * As with anything, the more specific you are, the better. What would you recommend doing first, second, third, etc, if this was your website? * I understand there are many different methods of marketing websites so they get more traffic and make more money .... what I need to know is what method(s) *my site* in particular should do. What method(s) are best suited for *my* user base given their demographics, the current 'state' of the site, and my goals? And why? * How long should it take with your strategy to achieve my goals (be realistic ... I don't buy into hype & instant wealth)? * What are non-negotiables and what has some wiggle room (i.e. are there things I absolutely *must* do? should do? would be nice to do?)? * If my goals are completely unreal, tell me. If they're too moderate, tell me. _Assumptions_ Please assume the following: * I don't want to hear *whether* I can achieve my goals. I want to hear *how* I can achieve them. * I'm not looking to flip this site for a quick profit. I'm looking to hold onto it for a long time & (hopefully) make it into a nice little source of residual income for me. * Financial resources to invest in site improvements are minimal up front (lets say under $1K) but will grow as time goes on (I am very dedicated to re-investing profits into the site in order to get it where it needs to be). * I'm not interested in spending money to buy anyone's "secret super cool strategies for instant wealth". I'd like to focus my money on further development of site features, software upgrades, design improvements, and legit advertising streams. * I am the only person behind this website. I don't have partners, developers, admin, etc working this with me. It's just me. I know HTML very well and CSS moderately, and am definitely a learn & DIY (when possible) kind of person. This site goes way above what I know, though (PHP, java, etc). * I have lots of time to put into this site. I have a 9-5 job, but it's pretty flexible and it usually isn't difficult for me to work on other things during the day. In any given week, I can devote 10-20 hours to working on the site; sometimes more. Time is not an issue. * I'm planning on a redesign of the site from a visual standpoint (new logo, layout, color scheme, etc) because I personally feel like it could do a lot better than what it is now. So don't worry about spending a lot of time focusing on that aspect of things. Spend more time on the strategy of the site operations. _Deliverable & Timeframe_ I would like a report with your analysis, conclusions, and recommendations that addresses each of the points I've outlined above, as well as anything else that's pertinent and I'm missing (don't assume I know everything you know). Length, format, media type, etc is totally up to you ... but I want something tangible that I can read, review, etc. I don't know how long something like this should take to complete. Please tell me what you think is reasonable & what you would propose based on your own work schedule/load. I was hoping to have something within the next week or two so I could be off & running as soon as possible. _Project Cost & Bidding_ I've got $100 set aside for this. If what I'm asking for is completely unreasonable for $100, then please tell me what you can do for that amount of money, and how much more would be required to complete everything else I'm asking for. Any references from folks you have worked with before in a similar capacity would be extremely helpful. _Final Words_ I'm sure there are things I'm missing (I'm new to vWorker), so please be nice ... and please don't hesitate to ask as many questions as you'd like to get an idea as to whether this is something you can do for me. If you are the winner, I will of course make any information you need available to you. It is not unlikely (although not guaranteed) that if I am impressed with your work in this project I will hire & pay you further to help implement some of the strategies you recommend. P.S. I'd love to get this site off of Pligg and onto something much more user friendly from a site maintenance standpoint if there are other scripts out there ... if you know of any, that'd be great to know about.