Greetings from the Moderators and Administrators of Cre8asite Forums.
Since the first incarnation of Cre8asite Forums in September 1998 through today, our forums have been run on a modest budget, previously funded primarily by member donations and affiliate revenue generated by a sister site (which is no longer in operation). One of the primary reasons we have been able to stay afloat for so long with so little is due, in large part, to the immense wealth of knowledge and technical expertise donated by our talented pool of moderators and technical administrators.
Like any organization, we have day-to-day operating expenses and a vision for our future growth -- both of which require funding beyond our current revenue stream.
While it's taken us many years to achieve our current library of threads, membership numbers, traffic, respect and reputation of a world-class website development forum, we believe the time has come to seriously monetize Cre8asite.
We've tossed around the idea of charging a membership fee to help support the forums, but collectively decided that the wealth of knowledge, provided by all our contributing members and moderation team, should not be shielded by a gate that requires a cover charge to pass through.
Our past efforts in marketing Amazon.com products through an affiliate channel have produced limited success and because we no longer have the technical resources required to support this channel, we've recently abandoned it.
As a result of many months of behind-the-scenes discussions, starting today, we've decided to implement an advertising revenue model, which will feature, among other things, relevant Google advertisements, sponsored listings, direct advertiser links and graphical ads.
Experimenting and Phasing In
We feel its very important that you know we are going slowly and will be experimenting with placement. We will be taking your feedback as well as tracking click thrus and page views, so we can have a history for future potential advertisers.
We will be experimenting with the ad placements and limiting the number of ads, so that we can maximize clickthroughs and minimize banner blindness. We also invite you to give us your constructive comments on how we can improve our advertising campaign. Our goal is strike a reasonable balance between maximizing our advertising revenue and avoiding ad overload.
New
Non-Members who visit the forums will now see a blue default skin with Google AdSense ads at the top and bottom of the forums.
Once someone joins, however, they are encouraged to pick the skin they like (we have several colors and layouts), and members will only find Google AdSense text ads at the bottom of the forums. The ones at the top are removed from view.
This is our first test.
The second phase has already begun. This is where we will be placing text ads, graphical ads and affiliate ads in the new template pages where content goes, such as articles and interviews.
We will be experimenting for the next several months on where things will go, what we will accept and ways to prevent ad overload and banner blindness.
Your Opinions Count, Your Support Valued
From the entire Cre8asite Forums Team, thanks for your generous, continued support.
Example:
Not Logged In. AdSense at the top and bottom of forums. Blue Default (not the orange).
Members Only, Logged In. Google AdSense at the bottom only.
Although technically feasible, we do not think we will be putting additional or topic oriented Google Ads inside threads themselves, or in our RSS feed.
Edited by cre8pc, 04 January 2006 - 01:52 PM.
