Chris 96 WS6
01-16-2008, 07:48 AM
Wanted to give an explanation for the new ads in case people are wondering.
For almost as long as we've been online, we show a large Google banner ad below the first post only to Guests. There's a link there for registration, so this is a way to generate a little revenue and also encourage people to join and make the ads go away.
I liked this approach because it didn't annoy members by placing a big ad in their way.
Recently we've started to have more issues with the server the site is hosted on. In the next 2-6 months we may very well have to move to a fully dedicated server. This may end up doubling our monthly hosting bill.
I am not in a position to raise our sponsorship rates right now, as I don't think an increase is justifiable right now. At the moment our rates are very competitive for a site this size.
One area we can increase revenue from is our members, though. So what we've done is added the new Google links unit below the first post in each thread. This is not the big banner the guests see, and hopefully this new ad won't be so obtrusive for you guys. Clicking through one of the links generates a few cents for LS1LT1.com. Clicking the link and buying a Supporting Membership will make the ad go away, and also helps the site out. So this gives us two ways to add some revenue to the site so that we can upgrade our hosting and keep the site running fast and consistent.
Moderators, Sponsors and Supporting Members won't see the ad.
We'll try this out and see how it goes. If you guys absolutely can't stand the ads, please let me know. I'd rather find another solution that annoy members to the point that they leave. Consider this an experiment.
I'm happy to answer questions.
For almost as long as we've been online, we show a large Google banner ad below the first post only to Guests. There's a link there for registration, so this is a way to generate a little revenue and also encourage people to join and make the ads go away.
I liked this approach because it didn't annoy members by placing a big ad in their way.
Recently we've started to have more issues with the server the site is hosted on. In the next 2-6 months we may very well have to move to a fully dedicated server. This may end up doubling our monthly hosting bill.
I am not in a position to raise our sponsorship rates right now, as I don't think an increase is justifiable right now. At the moment our rates are very competitive for a site this size.
One area we can increase revenue from is our members, though. So what we've done is added the new Google links unit below the first post in each thread. This is not the big banner the guests see, and hopefully this new ad won't be so obtrusive for you guys. Clicking through one of the links generates a few cents for LS1LT1.com. Clicking the link and buying a Supporting Membership will make the ad go away, and also helps the site out. So this gives us two ways to add some revenue to the site so that we can upgrade our hosting and keep the site running fast and consistent.
Moderators, Sponsors and Supporting Members won't see the ad.
We'll try this out and see how it goes. If you guys absolutely can't stand the ads, please let me know. I'd rather find another solution that annoy members to the point that they leave. Consider this an experiment.
I'm happy to answer questions.