Thoughts on Threadwatch Ads
Story Text:
The current sponsorship of TW ends at the end of this month, and based on our first go at monetizing this site, i'd like to take a new (and more informed) approach..
Whereas i dont think that I got it too far wrong with the previous scheme, i do think it could be a whole lot better. Currently, advertisers are required to front up 3mts money in advance, at $2k a month. Based on the fact that i turn down (or am turned down) 2x per week over money, i think smaller ads at less cost would work better for TW.
So....
Those that have been here a while, may have seen me dribble on about conversations, markets, and ads before. I firmly beleive that advertisers should be part of the conversation and to that end, i propose a new, and hopefully acceptable program..
Proposed New Program
Each advertiser (im thinking of capping it at 10, but im not certain yet...) will get a small ad on the left side about the size of the current logos. That ad will link to a post, where the advertiser can make their pitch, with maybe 3 links, to you and me. We can comment on those posts naturally.
I think that will really work for both the advertiser and us. Naturally some rules will need to be put in place such as "if i even suspect a comment is a *bump*, i'll remove it" and so forth but, in principle, what do you reckon?
The current sponsorship of TW ends at the end of this month, and based on our first go at monetizing this site, i'd like to take a new (and more informed) approach..
Whereas i dont think that I got it too far wrong with the previous scheme, i do think it could be a whole lot better. Currently, advertisers are required to front up 3mts money in advance, at $2k a month. Based on the fact that i turn down (or am turned down) 2x per week over money, i think smaller ads at less cost would work better for TW.
So....
Those that have been here a while, may have seen me dribble on about conversations, markets, and ads before. I firmly beleive that advertisers should be part of the conversation and to that end, i propose a new, and hopefully acceptable program..
Proposed New Program
Each advertiser (im thinking of capping it at 10, but im not certain yet...) will get a small ad on the left side about the size of the current logos. That ad will link to a post, where the advertiser can make their pitch, with maybe 3 links, to you and me. We can comment on those posts naturally.
I think that will really work for both the advertiser and us. Naturally some rules will need to be put in place such as "if i even suspect a comment is a *bump*, i'll remove it" and so forth but, in principle, what do you reckon?
- Y! MyWeb
Seems fair enough..
..as long as you don't have TW ending up looking like SEW - mein gott I really hate that with its blinking ads in a great bank
Ads, what ads?
You mean everyone doesn't have them turned off? :)
blinking ads
about:config -> image.animation-mode = none
I don't have an opinion on smaller ads. If I really try to come up with one, it will most likely be "Okay with me" or "Sounds good". Linking the ad to a post, however, sounds like a great idea both for the advertiser and TW.
.
I have a blind spot (in fact numerous blind spots, as many as there are adsense locations) for ads, so there's no need for me to turn them off. Besides, something useful might pop up - who knows. Not that I'd notice though, because of my blind spots "handicap"... ;]
Monetize as you feel you need to
Thanks for asking, but it is your property, and I enjoy it at not cost.
So, monetize away, put up the billboards where you need to and get yourself a good ROI.
Ditto
Ditto ditto ditto.
Thanks for the comments
Thanks for the comments everyone, if anyone has any better suggestions, or anything to say at all in this area then please feel free...
I think it'll work out nicely, but im open to suggestion..
New Program
New Program sounds good.
I’m probably one of the few members who still has the ads switched on. As long as they are unobtrusive they are fine with me – i like to look at what others are up to from time and even bought something from one site – and no it wasn’t an ad in the thread about bondage or women pissing standing up(honest)
don't even notice
I hope you're going to charge them more Nick 'cos like Wit I don't notice the ads at all unless we're talking about them (interesting how the LH adsense are about eyedrops and the inline ones about car parts). If there's a thread for each ad I'll probably take a lot more notice.
>>If there's a thread for
>If there's a thread for each ad I'll probably take a lot more notice.
Yeah, that's the whole point. The trick will be to strike a balance, i think the no. of adv's needs to be capped, and the comments on those ads ruthlessly pruned - i'm not going to remove negative comments from ads, that's half the point - have a conversation with the advertiser, but if they're silly/frivolous/fraudulent (ie. gamed) then they'll have to go..
We can't have an recent posts list made up of ads! But one or two of them bouncing up and down on the list as a conversation is had would be actually quite interesting i think..
Good outside the box thinking
I didn't quite know how to word something about how you would be handling negative comments, etc., without being, well, negative. So I left it for somebody else better with words. Glad to see you addressed it. Sounds fair.
Overall I think you hit on a pretty nifty idea, one at least good enough to give a shot. It can be win-win-win.
k5
K5 allows you to attach comments to text ads. it works really well, imho.
I still have the ads on.
I still have the ads on. I just don't really "see" them, y'know? I think Nick's new idea sounds interesting....
Sounds good to me
I've kept the ads on - out of respect for what you have here. Admittedly I don't pay a lot of attention to them so I love the idea of a thread where what they're offering is discussed.
Couple of last details
So, do you guys think i should prefix/suffix posts with [sponsor] [ad] or...? Or is it enough that they'll be in there on section?
Also, If an advertiser either decides not to run a 2nd month, or wants a new ad on a second month, clearly the first one has to be 'disabled' in someway, otherwise you have a lifelong link on TW for the price of 1mts advertising...
Im thinking of delinking it, and closing the thread - i don't want to delete it cos there may be (i hope there will be) good commentary in the thread and dont want users to waste their time...
Thoughts on the above would be really appreciated.
I'll have it all finalized tomorrow i hope (as always, right at the last minute! heh..)
Im really pleased this seems to be getting some good response, i think it could be realy, really cool!