Intext advertising

[Jon]

To help fund these forums and keep them free, we will be trailing some in-text advertising. It means some words in posts will have double underlines on them, where if you hover over them an advert will pop-up.

In an ideal world we would like to keep everything free. However, we have bills to pay and want to continue paying for premium hosting for these forums. It was only earlier this year that we massively upgraded our hosting since the volume of traffic to this site was slowing everything to a crawl.

 

[Jon]

The in-text advertising will be going live within the next 24 hours sometime. This will help towards our growing hosting costs.

You will notice that we have gone from 450 to 650 max visitors per day over the last 6 months, since our last hosting update. That is a huge increase!

 

[boblarson]

You really should set up a system for donations as well. I think you've discounted this idea too quickly and perhaps would have many people donate to the cause. I've had people in the past ask me if there was a way to donate to the site because it helped them so much.

Perhaps you should put that into place as well as the advertising links and see what happens - which generates more money for defraying the cost of providing the site.

 

[DCrake]

Bob

If AWF did ever get around to donations I suggest that this should be placed on the sample databases section and make a charge for each download.

 

[boblarson]

Bob

If AWF did ever get around to donations I suggest that this should be placed on the sample databases section and make a charge for each download.

I HIGHLY disagree. I belong to another forum where you can just make a PayPal donation and it works great.

Putting a donation on the sample databases is a very bad idea and I'll tell you why. Many times when someone is looking for something they don't know what they want or where to find it. So, they are going to download several samples to see if it does what they want. I do that myself all of the time on various sites. But if I had to pay for them that way, then I would be much less likely to do it. Even if it is specified as Donation Suggested, it puts a "guilt trip" on some people who feel like they would be bad for not donating. Let donations be truly that - donations.

However, on the site I am referring to as far as the donations go, I've donated $5 and $10 at various times to help out and so do many others and their needs are met.

So, why not just have it set up so you can click on an icon and donate? Why the hesitancy to put something like that where it is unobtrusive but available if someone felt the desire. In fact, I even would probably donate as well.

 

[Jon]

I can see both your points of view. My current feeling is that if I had a donation button, it would be more like a VIP membership i.e. you would get extras over and above what you currently get. For example, extras might include a badge showing VIP status, more PM storage space, a higher download limit, maybe some freebies, that kind of thing.

 

[boblarson]

I can see both your points of view. My current feeling is that if I had a donation button, it would be more like a VIP membership i.e. you would get extras over and above what you currently get. For example, extras might include a badge showing VIP status, more PM storage space, a higher download limit, maybe some freebies, that kind of thing.

You could but why? Why not give it a go and see how it goes? The other site I've been helping out has not done anything of the sort and yet their needs keep getting met. In fact, they have a "goal" listed and a status bar which shows the donations to date and how close they are to the goal. Seems to be effective to me.

But, it is your site and you can choose what you want to do. I just think it would be worth a go (wouldn't take much to set it up) and you might be surprised. Then again it could be a flop, but there's nothing to lose with this as you don't raise anyone's expectations about getting extra value for a donation. It is simply to help keep the site going as a great site for helping people.

 

[Kryst51]

Jon,

Just my two cents..... Other then you seeing it, make the donations anonymous. No extra credit, no extra help. Gosh, given the experience and growth I've gained from this site over the past year, I would definitely donate when could. Especially if that means the information found here remains free.

 

[Jon]

Bob, I totally agree with your donation concept. But in the back-end, I foresee potential problems. If someone donates with nothing in return, that is great. But if I then decide to have a VIP membership, those who donated might feel a little aggrieved.

Additionally, I feel by offering something of value it would encourage more donations.

I feel this site has got so much more potential in helping others, but I need to pull my thumb out. A huge improvement was sorting the hosting out, especially when it started to slow to a crawl throughout the day.

Oh, and I've just noticed the in-text links. To be honest I hate them as much as the next person, but we live in the real world where "forever free" leads to cheaper hosting, slower load times and a poorer user experience. (I'm starting to sound like Google now! )

 

[stopher]

I'm with Bob on this. Sometimes people just want a quick fix and say thank you with no strings attached. A donation is exactly that. People who give a donation won't feel aggrieved.

In contrast, other people seek a longer term agreement e.g. membership. And the key word is "agreement".

The National Trust is a prime example of a business model where donators and subscribers co-exist.

 

[Simon_MT]

There are some really talented people on this site, I don't include myself, but there are some reoccurring threads, why doesn't someone create paid-for webinar, tutorials or subscription service. I don't like experts-exchange where you have to subscribe to a solution only to find the solution doesn't answer the question you are looking for.

Help urgent Please! or Newbie who needs to get over the initial threshold of creating a database could be resolved with paid-for live chat session. To be honest Access help is as useful as a fanny full of cement and this is why this site is a great resource. I do think anyone is unhappy to give advice but perhaps paying for more specialised one-to-one advice could be looked at. Even if there was a fee split between Jon and the advisor the site could harness the talent that is about.

Little wonder that the site is popular.

Simon

 

[Banana]

Regarding Expert-Exchanges... you actually don't have to subscribe. Just scroll down. How else do they show up so often on Google?

Even so, it's kind of a sleazy setup, IMHO.

 

[David R]

You really should set up a system for donations as well. I think you've discounted this idea too quickly and perhaps would have many people donate to the cause. I've had people in the past ask me if there was a way to donate to the site because it helped them so much.

Perhaps you should put that into place as well as the advertising links and see what happens - which generates more money for defraying the cost of providing the site.

As usual, I agree with bob. It's no exaggeration to say this site has helped me get the job I have today (which regrettably keeps me from posting as much as I used to, but...)

 

[tthuene]

Bob, I totally agree with your donation concept. But in the back-end, I foresee potential problems. If someone donates with nothing in return, that is great. But if I then decide to have a VIP membership, those who donated might feel a little aggrieved.

Additionally, I feel by offering something of value it would encourage more donations.

I feel this site has got so much more potential in helping others, but I need to pull my thumb out. A huge improvement was sorting the hosting out, especially when it started to slow to a crawl throughout the day.

Oh, and I've just noticed the in-text links. To be honest I hate them as much as the next person, but we live in the real world where "forever free" leads to cheaper hosting, slower load times and a poorer user experience. (I'm starting to sound like Google now! )

My two cents: the model could be a little bit like public radio.
Out ut a budget, say $x. Then show a barometer on how much against that has been collected. This tactic has dramatically increased the effectiveness of public radio. People understand that nothing is free and if there is value they are willing to contribute.
As for VIP membership: you could tie that to a mnimum amount of donatio per year. Here on many markets these memberships are growing at public radio. People get invitations to join live shows or so, nothing that too much rises the cost.
On the other hand, a little advertising doesn't harm too much. I actually have called on services advertised here as I trust the site and by extension the service providers.

 

[Jon]

Interesting thread.

I've considered many options, including:

- A paid users option - this shows your status as a contributor to the site. The idea is that where possible, paid users are helped a little bit more than unpaid users when having their posts replied to. They help keep the site running and so get a slight reward for it.

- A VIP section - only accessable to paid members.

- A paid-to-advertise section where you can post a thread for a set fee that advertises your wares. The criteria is that your offer has to be a Special Offer e.g. you normally charge $x per hour for consultancy but through here you are charging 60% of that. The threads do not get sorted by last post but instead the date the original post was made. You can bump the post for a repeat payment of the same original fee.