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View Full Version : Ads, Subscriptions, and xjtalk



Mudderoy
09-05-2013, 12:05 PM
When :xjtalk: was conceived it was a beautiful vision of a friendly place people could come and post questions, comments without the fear of being called stupid, or worse.

At first we were even giving away stickers to all that wanted them. BOY THAT GOT EXPENSIVE FAST! :D

Then reality hit. The servers cost a couple of thousand dollars, the monthly Internet connection was $70, etc...

We muddled forward. Hell we even had 3 months of good give aways that totaled about $1000!

We put Google AdSense up on the site and soon we were seeing about $10 a month in revenue! Not much (especially since you have to get to $100 before Google cuts you a check!) but that made the Internet only $60 a month!

Thankfully that's changed and now through Google AdSense the monthly Internet is covered! :bacondance: Plus it's gone up!

About a year into running the site people were asking how they could contribute money to the site. We refused, thanked them, and just ask they tell people about xjtalk. Eventually we put up a way that people could contribute. It was important to us that people understood collecting fees isn't why xjtalk was here, and donations, subscriptions were very much appreciated, but NOT REQUIRED! That is still the case.

We've never pushed the subscription thing. If you saw it in the store, or asked we'd direct you to where you could subscribe, and several have!

Recently I was reminded about a project I was going to do but put off and forgot about. Ad blocking software detection! So a little research and foul language and BOOM! we have ad blocking software detection running on the site.

We're not going to tell you to turn off ad blocking, obviously you don't want to see ads and having that forced on you is just going to piss you off. It would me, so what I did is to remind you of an alternative. Subscribers don't see the ads. You'll still see the banner ads in the upper right hand corner. Those are the vendors that directly support the site! But you won't see the rest of the ads.

The idea is simple. If you like xjtalk, why not support it? You can support it by NOT blocking the ads, or becoming a subscriber and the ads will be blocked for you by the site.

I have started a conversation with the staff about ad blocking software, and subscriptions as an alternative. Looking for ideas about how we can get a good balance. Two suggestions so far have been annual subscriptions, and lifetime subscriptions.

We already have annual.

I've asked them, and now I'll ask you. What do you think of all this? Is $2.50 a month just too darn much for a monthly subscription? How much should it be? We do currently have a annual subscription, $30 a year, I believe. Any interest in a lifetime subscription? How much should that be?

As always thanks so much for coming here, and well I'm sorry you're having to go through these growing pains with us. I know how to build, configure and run servers. Doing all this people stuff I don't, and that's where I need your help. :patriot: :beer:

nickyg
09-05-2013, 12:45 PM
The ads don't bother me. It's sorta like window shopping.
2.50 a month seems reasonable.
FYI. I can block most ads with an extra layer of tinfoil.

XJ Wheeler
09-05-2013, 04:38 PM
Its a little annoying but if its toward making the site better or be able to afford itself then i'm game. Oh, and giveaways. :D Just don't go overboard and i think most can deal with it. I think the majority just ignore them anyways.

On the subscriptions, $2.50 just doesn't seem like much at all.

I would think $100 would sound right for a lifetime if a year is $30. Although i don't foresee many doing that much.

Sent via messenger pigeon - i talk, he types.

Mudderoy
09-05-2013, 07:56 PM
Its a little annoying but if its toward making the site better or be able to afford itself then i'm game. Oh, and giveaways. :D Just don't go overboard and i think most can deal with it. I think the majority just ignore them anyways.

On the subscriptions, $2.50 just doesn't seem like much at all.

I would think $100 would sound right for a lifetime if a year is $30. Although i don't foresee many doing that much.

Sent via messenger pigeon - i talk, he types.

Yeah I'm a cheapskate. One of the reason for the monthly thing. I tried to keep the price low but thought maybe it really isn't. I looked at the NRA lifetime thing once, but wow I really thought I could use that money for something else. Seems like it was $750 or $1000 at the time I looked at it.

$100 would be 3 years worth of a regular $2.50 a month subscription. Hmmm it's a nice round number.

rabies
09-19-2014, 12:56 PM
how does a man go about this?

Mudderoy
09-19-2014, 11:12 PM
how does a man go about this?

Thanks for asking. You just go to the store off the main menu, or click on this link... http://www.xjtalk.com/buy_goodies.php

xj-jake
09-29-2014, 08:33 AM
$30 a year is very reasonable in my eyes. The monthly thing is a good idea I can just see myself forgetting to renew every month. Now I like the idea of a lifetime membership. $100 seems VERY reasonable.

denverd1
10-08-2014, 12:20 PM
The NRA is lobbying for your gun rights in Washington. That shit's expensive. My point is you have to look at the value you're giving people vs what they pay. If not seeing ads is worth the price, people will pay it. If not, they won't. As much as we would like to think XJ talk is a sacred campsite out in the big big woods of the interwebs, people aren't IMO going to pay to sit around and sing cumbaya and make smores. If the value they receive from the site is worth the price, they'll pay all day long and tell their friends about it.

I will say that lately the site's been riddled with those stupid vag-link things. does that pay you money? Its annoying as hell to see banners, ads everywhere and vag-links all over the place. If you're planning to annoy people until they pay, you may rethink that strategy.

Also, did you really buy servers for this project? I'm not a geek but I would think a monthly lease of said servers would be the most ideal way to run things.....

Mudderoy
10-08-2014, 01:25 PM
The NRA is lobbying for your gun rights in Washington. That shit's expensive. My point is you have to look at the value you're giving people vs what they pay. If not seeing ads is worth the price, people will pay it. If not, they won't. As much as we would like to think XJ talk is a sacred campsite out in the big big woods of the interwebs, people aren't IMO going to pay to sit around and sing cumbaya and make smores. If the value they receive from the site is worth the price, they'll pay all day long and tell their friends about it.

I will say that lately the site's been riddled with those stupid vag-link things. does that pay you money? Its annoying as hell to see banners, ads everywhere and vag-links all over the place. If you're planning to annoy people until they pay, you may rethink that strategy.

Also, did you really buy servers for this project? I'm not a geek but I would think a monthly lease of said servers would be the most ideal way to run things.....

Tell me more about the VIG links? I thought it was just underlining some words in the posts. Not obtrusive at all.

prerunner1982
10-08-2014, 02:38 PM
Do we still have the VIG links? Im not a fan of them either but haven't noticed them lately...

Vag-links on the other hand... :D

Mudderoy
10-08-2014, 03:05 PM
Do we still have the VIG links? Im not a fan of them either but haven't noticed them lately...

Vag-links on the other hand... :D

Yes we do. The only reason I enabled them was because all it does it hyperlink words. It doesn't even pop up stuff when you accidentally move your mouse over them. I thought it was very unobtrusive. So that's why I'm making sure I'm seeing the same thing ya'll are.

denverd1
10-08-2014, 03:29 PM
no pop-ups are new? It looks to me like a link a user posted like this: xjtalk.com
in the past in would launch a site or video IIRC.

monetizing a website is still a feat. Facebook has learned how to do it but they have 1.3 billion users each month. What about getting sponsors? Seems like people are always trying to sell stuff. make 'em pay!

prerunner1982
10-08-2014, 05:00 PM
I think my dislike for the links came from other sites where they did pop up... obviously since I didn't notice we still had them they don't both me much here.

Mudderoy
10-08-2014, 06:03 PM
no pop-ups are new? It looks to me like a link a user posted like this: xjtalk.com
in the past in would launch a site or video IIRC.

monetizing a website is still a feat. Facebook has learned how to do it but they have 1.3 billion users each month. What about getting sponsors? Seems like people are always trying to sell stuff. make 'em pay!

As far as I knew they never did pop ups. That's what I'm asking about. What I see is a link like this on key words that viglink sees and marks.

I was not interested in having those popups if you just accidently moved your mouse over them. Basically easy to ignore but if interested you could click on it.

If all you are seeing is a word here and there that has a different color and an underline then thats what you should see.

As for advertisers, that was the first direction we took. People seemed to be willing to pay about $30 a year.

It costs about $100 a month to run the site, I'd need about 40 advertisers, now you REALLY would enjoy seeing stuff from 40 advertisers.

Google pays the bills around here. Not making any money and not spending any which is great.

Amazon and VigLinks help put a little extra in the account for stuff. I had a fan die in the server the other day for example.

prerunner1982
10-08-2014, 06:57 PM
Tony.... Thanks for everything you do. Im sure you don't hear that enough.

denverd1
10-09-2014, 10:38 AM
As far as I knew they never did pop ups. That's what I'm asking about. What I see is a link like this
As for advertisers, that was the first direction we took. People seemed to be willing to pay about $30 a year.


shouldn't that number go up as more users frequent the site?

xj-jake
10-09-2014, 10:55 AM
Here's my thinking on it. For $100 I would be doing it to support the site and the cause not to not see the ads. For $200 or even $300 I'd be doing it to support the site and the cause not to not see the ads. You have a good thing going here Tony. I will from time to time jump over to other forums just to see what's going on and it doesn't take long for me to end up back here. On my "local" forum the guys are all jack bags and recently just jumped all over a SPONSOR for posting a thread about their new KOH vehicle that they are building. It's bs. I'm not saying charge a premium price for a premium product but what I am saying is you could if you want to. Thanks again Tony for this site and forum. :patriot:

Mudderoy
10-09-2014, 11:09 AM
shouldn't that number go up as more users frequent the site?

Sending PM