Left side bar

vauge · 03-20-06, 10:01 AM

All,

It has become clear to me that the sidebar is not adding revenue to the forum. Since the first of the year, we can get 1 cup of coffee!! Woohoo! (at starbucks, so it's not *that* bad)

But, I believe we need to remove it and come up with a better ad system. It was a good idea while it lasted. Hopefully I will get this removed by the first of April. A banner announcement will be made with directions on how to turn this feature back on.

Concerns:

The Largest forums do not have this and it is in the way for smaller resolution users.
Current users are familiar with the sidebar look.
Some of our donators may have done so with the sole intent of removing the sidebar.
Additional bandwidth
Have we lost potential users due to the sidebar?
How do I find all the stuff I am familiar with?

Solutions:

Guests will continue to see this as when we do get clicks, they are mostly coming from guests.
Every user will have the ability to turn on/off the sidebar - default will be *off*.
If a donator wishes his/her monies back, it will be refunded less the paypal fees upon request.
A additional row will be added at the very top of the forums that will list links which are common.

Thoughts?

RightinNYC · 03-20-06, 01:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vauge

All,

It has become clear to me that the sidebar is not adding revenue to the forum. Since the first of the year, we can get 1 cup of coffee!! Woohoo! (at starbucks, so it's not *that* bad)

But, I believe we need to remove it and come up with a better ad system. It was a good idea while it lasted. Hopefully I will get this removed by the first of April. A banner announcement will be made with directions on how to turn this feature back on.

Concerns:

The Largest forums do not have this and it is in the way for smaller resolution users.
Current users are familiar with the sidebar look.
Some of our donators may have done so with the sole intent of removing the sidebar.
Additional bandwidth
Have we lost potential users due to the sidebar?
How do I find all the stuff I am familiar with?

Solutions:

Guests will continue to see this as when we do get clicks, they are mostly coming from guests.
Every user will have the ability to turn on/off the sidebar - default will be *off*.
If a donator wishes his/her monies back, it will be refunded less the paypal fees upon request.
A additional row will be added at the very top of the forums that will list links which are common.

Thoughts?

Google Adsense?
Blogads?

Also - if you get an amazon associates referral account, then you get a special link which you can post anyplace. If someone follows that link to amazon to look at a product you link to and buys it, you make $$$. It's between 4 and 7.5% on each purchase. ALSO - even if they don't buy that specific product, just by virtue of following your link, if they shop around while they're there and then buy something else, you make profit of that as well.

It's a fantastic program and seems to be really lucrative. I set one up, but I cant use it myself to make money, so id be more than happy to use the one from here when i buy stuff. I end up buying beween 3 and 6 hundred dollars worth of books for school each semester, mostly through amazon, so that'd be something like 20 bucks for DP.

vauge · 03-20-06, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RightatNYU

Also - if you get an amazon associates referral account, then you get a special link which you can post anyplace. If someone follows that link to amazon to look at a product you link to and buys it, you make $$$. It's between 4 and 7.5% on each purchase. ALSO - even if they don't buy that specific product, just by virtue of following your link, if they shop around while they're there and then buy something else, you make profit of that as well.

It's a fantastic program and seems to be really lucrative. I set one up, but I cant use it myself to make money, so id be more than happy to use the one from here when i buy stuff. I end up buying beween 3 and 6 hundred dollars worth of books for school each semester, mostly through amazon, so that'd be something like 20 bucks for DP.

We've already got one. lol

Test... http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...batepolitic-20

It should add our referal id to it

vauge · 03-20-06, 05:47 PM

Book I just finished reading... pretty funny stuff. lol

jfuh · 03-20-06, 06:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vauge

All,

It has become clear to me that the sidebar is not adding revenue to the forum. Since the first of the year, we can get 1 cup of coffee!! Woohoo! (at starbucks, so it's not *that* bad)

But, I believe we need to remove it and come up with a better ad system. It was a good idea while it lasted. Hopefully I will get this removed by the first of April. A banner announcement will be made with directions on how to turn this feature back on.

Concerns:

The Largest forums do not have this and it is in the way for smaller resolution users.
Current users are familiar with the sidebar look.
Some of our donators may have done so with the sole intent of removing the sidebar.
Additional bandwidth
Have we lost potential users due to the sidebar?
How do I find all the stuff I am familiar with?

Solutions:

Guests will continue to see this as when we do get clicks, they are mostly coming from guests.
Every user will have the ability to turn on/off the sidebar - default will be *off*.
If a donator wishes his/her monies back, it will be refunded less the paypal fees upon request.
A additional row will be added at the very top of the forums that will list links which are common.

Thoughts?

What side bar?

vauge · 03-20-06, 06:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jfuh

What side bar?

Is there a sidebar to your left that has "navigation" and a few ads?

jfuh · 03-20-06, 07:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vauge

Is there a sidebar to your left that has "navigation" and a few ads?

I see navigation, but no ads.
May have something to do with my using firefox

vauge · 03-20-06, 07:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jfuh

I see navigation, but no ads.
May have something to do with my using firefox

Yeah.. that.

Some popup blockers will block those ads as well.

RightinNYC · 03-20-06, 09:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vauge

We've already got one. lol

Test... http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...batepolitic-20

It should add our referal id to it

Is there a way in which, say, if I wanted to link to a book, I could create a link to it with the DP referral id?

Or, is there a place on the website where there is a link to Amazon that we can go through? I always feel like I'm missing out when I just buy books through there knowing that I could earn someone some cash through referral...

vauge · 03-20-06, 10:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RightatNYU

Is there a way in which, say, if I wanted to link to a book, I could create a link to it with the DP referral id?

Or, is there a place on the website where there is a link to Amazon that we can go through? I always feel like I'm missing out when I just buy books through there knowing that I could earn someone some cash through referral...

Every link to amazon will create a referal ID automatically.

I will make a referal icon for us as well.