Advertising on the Forum: What, Where, When, Why, How?

[andrewjs18]

Danp....

Far as I know, you can make money by people simply clicking on the ads, correct? If so, do they track the IP used to click on the AD and limit the amount of time a single IP clicks the ad?

I know with other forums I'm a member of people will click on ads to make the author of plugins for other forum software money because they normally release their code for free.

[soberbyker]

Originally Posted by andrewjs18

Danp....

Far as I know, you can make money by people simply clicking on the ads, correct? If so, do they track the IP used to click on the AD and limit the amount of time a single IP clicks the ad?

I know with other forums I'm a member of people will click on ads to make the author of plugins for other forum software money because they normally release their code for free.

My mother actually makes money from that kind of thing, she e-mails out a daily joke page filled with ads. She only makes money with "unique" IP addresses, so clicking on an ad 6 times only gives her one credit. Some months she brings in about $800, not bad for a woman in her 70's sending out a cartoon a day.

Bill


PS keep up the good work Dan & Doug.

.

[andrewjs18]

Originally Posted by soberbyker

My mother actually makes money from that kind of thing, she e-mails out a daily joke page filled with ads. She only makes money with "unique" IP addresses, so clicking on an ad 6 times only gives her one credit. Some months she brings in about $800, not bad for a woman in her 70's sending out a cartoon a day.

Bill


PS keep up the good work Dan & Doug.

.

That's what I thought.

[P-11 shooter]

I first have to say I'm 100% PAFOA to the bone, and I LOVEthe fact that this could make the PAFOA money. God knows we're going to need it (especially if our members keep getting arrested). But the look of the ads really does detract from the professional look of the site. Alot. If it really is a good money-maker, and the adds are for things our members would benefit from I guess it's worth it, it's just a shame to junk up one of the most professional looking sites on the web.

I do have to say that while the adds on the top of the page aren't all that bad, having adds below each OP is taking it a little too far. That would REALLY take something away from the forum. But hey, at least they aren't those flashing annoying things.

I hope we make lots of money from this, because my first reaction is I don't like it. OF course I don't sign the checks.


-Matt

[danp]

Originally Posted by andrewjs18

Danp....

Far as I know, you can make money by people simply clicking on the ads, correct? If so, do they track the IP used to click on the AD and limit the amount of time a single IP clicks the ad?

I know with other forums I'm a member of people will click on ads to make the author of plugins for other forum software money because they normally release their code for free.

That is click fraud and could in theory get our account booted.

Originally Posted by P-11 shooter

I do have to say that while the adds on the top of the page aren't all that bad, having adds below each OP is taking it a little too far. That would REALLY take something away from the forum. But hey, at least they aren't those flashing annoying things.

I hope we make lots of money from this, because my first reaction is I don't like it. OF course I don't sign the checks.

None of us like it, we managed to keep the site ad free for over 2 years but that time has passed. We're blowing through $600/mo in hosting alone.

I have no other ideas for raising that much money that don't involve charging people $10/mo to use the forum or something. Pretty much any other plan would destroy the forum. Ads are most definitely the least of the evils.

[P-11 shooter]

I hear you dan.


Anything to keep this place "in business"


You guys are doning an AWSOME job.

Thank you

[XD40coyote]

I'd be interested in it, but how often would my ad be displayed vs the "junk" ads?

I have a taxidermy studio in MD just over the line from York County and I see there are a good deal of people on here in what I would call the general area who would be willing to come here. Some of them must be hunters who might like my work!

I would have to update my website some and the guy who did it for me hasn't even billed me in over a year, so I have no idea what is going on, but commiting to advertising I have to pay for would get me to try and contact him and see what's up.

[colagrrl]

I don't have an issue with the ads, although I'd prefer graphical ads versus text, but is there any way to get them to open in a new window?

I clicked on an ad when I noticed them this morning, for some yellow pages type listing of firearms dealers in the Pittsburgh area, so when it tossed a pop-up at me and I shut it down I inadvertently shut down my browser. I'm just used to clicking links that people post and having them open in a new window. If it's not an option, I'll just need to remember to press the 'Shift' key when I'm trying to make the PAFOA money

[RocketFoot]

Another idea would be to get site supporters. We'd have to make deals with companies to advertise for 3 months, 6 months or a year for x amount of dollars and they might even offer discounts to PAFOA Members through the site ads...then we could have a custom page with site supporters' ads and encourage everyone here to buy our gear from them...

[danp]

Originally Posted by XD40coyote

I'd be interested in it, but how often would my ad be displayed vs the "junk" ads?

It all depends on a bunch of factors.

1. I can choose who is allowed to put ads on the site. As I get more "trusted" advertisers like people from the forum, I can boot some of the more generalized "junk" ads (although at this point the junk ads are all pretty much gone)
2. AdBrite will do it's best to give priority to ads based on how much they are willing to pay and how well they perform. Most of the junk ads pay between 5 and 10 cents/click, if you're willing to pay slightly more you'll gain priority. Additionally if 1/1000 people click on Ad A and 1/100 people click on Ad B, my understanding is that AdBrite will begin to give Ad B Priority over Ad A simply because it performs better.

Originally Posted by XD40coyote

I have a taxidermy studio in MD just over the line from York County and I see there are a good deal of people on here in what I would call the general area who would be willing to come here. Some of them must be hunters who might like my work!

My understanding is also that ads can be targeted towards general geographic locations.

Originally Posted by XD40coyote

I would have to update my website some and the guy who did it for me hasn't even billed me in over a year, so I have no idea what is going on, but commiting to advertising I have to pay for would get me to try and contact him and see what's up.

You also have a lot of control over how much you pay. You can say "I'm willing to spend 15 cents/click but I don't want to spend more than $5/day on clicks"

Originally Posted by RocketFoot

Another idea would be to get site supporters. We'd have to make deals with companies to advertise for 3 months, 6 months or a year for x amount of dollars and they might even offer discounts to PAFOA Members through the site ads...then we could have a custom page with site supporters' ads and encourage everyone here to buy our gear from them...

This would be good but the main problem is then we have to deal with the billing and whatnot which is what I want to avoid. The purpose of services like AdBrite is that we give them a cut of the advertising revenue to deal with 99% of the hassle. We just put some code on our site, they do all the work, and send us a check. If one day we start making enough money where I can work for PAFOA then we can start moving towards more direct advertising sales.

Originally Posted by colagrrl

I don't have an issue with the ads, although I'd prefer graphical ads versus text, but is there any way to get them to open in a new window?

Not that I know of, we don't have any control over the actual HTML for the ads.