First, Please review: Elsmar Cove Forum Advertising. I take a simple approach to Advertising in the Elsmar Cove forum.
> We may be interested in advertising - can you give me some indication of
> how many people you reach and how your advertising works/costs etc. How we
> can measure click thru etc.
First: The Cove isn't really a 'for profit' site per se. I know some people think I'm sitting here making a small fortune whilst doing nothing {or next to nothing} according to some emails I have had in the past, but I'm not, especially considering the time I put into maintenance.... Until it's in your hands, and all the 'background' stuff is in your hands, well... I assure you it's not a situation where I sit back, do next to nothing, while 'raking in the bucks'. If you don't believe that, contact me and make me an offer to buy the site....
I make enough to keep the server up and maintained, but I'm not trying to, or wanting to, 'maximize' advertising because I want to maintain a somewhat uncluttered site. As long as the site is paying for its self and its upkeep, I'm a happy camper. It used to just be my 'personal' site with no advertising, but in 2003 it started to become somewhat popular the expenses started getting pretty high, which is why I do take paid advertising now.
How people 'reach' the Elsmar Cove (find the Elsmar Cove):
Ummm, well, from friends and co-workers, from various course instructors to "the boss told me about it", from LinkedIn and from Google {and other search engines}, and from links on other web sites, and from.... Well - Once you register, you can look at peoples profiles and see. Now, that said, a lot of people put 'garbage' in their profile for one reason or another. Sometimes it's a language issue, sometimes a person just doesn't want to say (who knows why anyone would object to letting us know, for example, how they found the site {such as through Google, a co-worker, or whatever}, but some do, apparently).
I don't do 'clicks'.
Advertising in the Elsmar Cove forums is strictly 'Presence' (aka "Branding") advertising. Advertisers can count click throughs by giving me a specific URL for their ad and analyzing their log files for hits to that specific URL. NOTE: I do not guarantee, or promise, any follow through business/sales (aka "conversions").
What Do I Charge for an advertisement slot?
I charge based upon the ad location - Sidebar or Header, but I do not publicly post what I charge for advertisements. Contact me to discuss prices.
Limitations:
1. No annoyingly animated (blinking, flashing or otherwise annoying movement/colour change {flashing} distracting) ads.
2. I take a limited number of advertisements. If the quota is filled, the only option is the waiting list or using Google's AdWords.
NOTE about Numbers: I also have a Google Analytics 'script' on every page. I really don't go there often to look at the data, but since Google is the major source of income for the site I don't mind feeding them the data. And, now and again, I do go there and take a looksie. But, again, my main focus is on how many 'new' people visit, as well as total visits with respect to "numbers".
***********************************
There is also the option of using Google's AdWords program for advertising. Google's AdWords advertising placements are only on forum discussion threads (two per discussion thread page). I have removed Google AdSense advetisements from all the other forum pages to reduce distraction and improve user experience by serving fewer advertisements.
***********************************
If you have any questions, you can post them here or you can contact me via PM (see my profile for links).
NOTE 1: Advertising is only sold in 3 month time "blocks" with the option to continue or cancel at any time.
NOTE 2: Advertisers are invoiced at the beginning of their 3 month ad run.
NOTE 3: There is no "ad juggling", in part because that would involve "scripts" that ad blockers can use to block ads. An advertisement shows in the same place all the time. Ad slots are dedicated to one advertiser.
NOTE 4: Header ads show on every forum page. There are some pages in the forums, such as in photo albums, where there is no sidebar so obviously sidebar ads will not show on them. I will probably be adding sidebars to many pages on which they are not currently shown, but not all since a sidebar is simply inappropriate on some pages.
NOTE 5: Links in ads will be "rel=nofollow" unless otherwise requested.
> We may be interested in advertising - can you give me some indication of
> how many people you reach and how your advertising works/costs etc. How we
> can measure click thru etc.
First: The Cove isn't really a 'for profit' site per se. I know some people think I'm sitting here making a small fortune whilst doing nothing {or next to nothing} according to some emails I have had in the past, but I'm not, especially considering the time I put into maintenance.... Until it's in your hands, and all the 'background' stuff is in your hands, well... I assure you it's not a situation where I sit back, do next to nothing, while 'raking in the bucks'. If you don't believe that, contact me and make me an offer to buy the site....
I make enough to keep the server up and maintained, but I'm not trying to, or wanting to, 'maximize' advertising because I want to maintain a somewhat uncluttered site. As long as the site is paying for its self and its upkeep, I'm a happy camper. It used to just be my 'personal' site with no advertising, but in 2003 it started to become somewhat popular the expenses started getting pretty high, which is why I do take paid advertising now.
How people 'reach' the Elsmar Cove (find the Elsmar Cove):
Ummm, well, from friends and co-workers, from various course instructors to "the boss told me about it", from LinkedIn and from Google {and other search engines}, and from links on other web sites, and from.... Well - Once you register, you can look at peoples profiles and see. Now, that said, a lot of people put 'garbage' in their profile for one reason or another. Sometimes it's a language issue, sometimes a person just doesn't want to say (who knows why anyone would object to letting us know, for example, how they found the site {such as through Google, a co-worker, or whatever}, but some do, apparently).
I don't do 'clicks'.
Advertising in the Elsmar Cove forums is strictly 'Presence' (aka "Branding") advertising. Advertisers can count click throughs by giving me a specific URL for their ad and analyzing their log files for hits to that specific URL. NOTE: I do not guarantee, or promise, any follow through business/sales (aka "conversions").
What Do I Charge for an advertisement slot?
I charge based upon the ad location - Sidebar or Header, but I do not publicly post what I charge for advertisements. Contact me to discuss prices.
Limitations:
1. No annoyingly animated (blinking, flashing or otherwise annoying movement/colour change {flashing} distracting) ads.
2. I take a limited number of advertisements. If the quota is filled, the only option is the waiting list or using Google's AdWords.
NOTE about Numbers: I also have a Google Analytics 'script' on every page. I really don't go there often to look at the data, but since Google is the major source of income for the site I don't mind feeding them the data. And, now and again, I do go there and take a looksie. But, again, my main focus is on how many 'new' people visit, as well as total visits with respect to "numbers".
***********************************
There is also the option of using Google's AdWords program for advertising. Google's AdWords advertising placements are only on forum discussion threads (two per discussion thread page). I have removed Google AdSense advetisements from all the other forum pages to reduce distraction and improve user experience by serving fewer advertisements.
***********************************
If you have any questions, you can post them here or you can contact me via PM (see my profile for links).
NOTE 1: Advertising is only sold in 3 month time "blocks" with the option to continue or cancel at any time.
NOTE 2: Advertisers are invoiced at the beginning of their 3 month ad run.
NOTE 3: There is no "ad juggling", in part because that would involve "scripts" that ad blockers can use to block ads. An advertisement shows in the same place all the time. Ad slots are dedicated to one advertiser.
NOTE 4: Header ads show on every forum page. There are some pages in the forums, such as in photo albums, where there is no sidebar so obviously sidebar ads will not show on them. I will probably be adding sidebars to many pages on which they are not currently shown, but not all since a sidebar is simply inappropriate on some pages.
NOTE 5: Links in ads will be "rel=nofollow" unless otherwise requested.
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