removed all advertising

[Marko]

Hi members and guests,

Effective immediately i believe I have removed all google ads off our forum.

In the future new ads will show up, but they will be much more relevant and less in your face.

If members have ideas on advertising - I'd love the input.

thx! - marko

[Iguanasan]

I hadn't realized it was an issue. I assume you make money off the advertising to help fund the site and I see it as a normal operating procedure for pretty much every free site I use. How else do you pay for it if not through advertising?

[Marko]

The truth is, it wasn't/isn't helping enough.....
Gonna have to think of new and better ways.

any ideas - lol?

Thx!

[QuietOne]

I use an ad blocker in Firefox for exactly the reason you mentioned - the in your face. On some sites, it's very bad, with every unused pixel (and some used) taken up with something that flashes, jiggles and otherwise sets my teeth on edge. The blocker can be "fine tuned" to allow some in, and you can use list subscriptions to help that, but I haven't had time to sit down and look at the sites without the blocker to see what I can do as a reasonable compromise.

The only thing I can think of for folks like me is a section I know I look at for special offers, supporter acknowledgement and so on. I'm not sure how much help any ads I see would be to you, since I'm not in Canada.

[Barefoot]

Marko Wrote: The truth is, it wasn't/isn't helping enough.....
Gonna have to think of new and better ways.

any ideas - lol?

Thx!



How feasible is a two tiered site with one tier as it is now, and the other as a subscription offering things that an advanced photographer would be willing to pay for.

Upon further thought, some services might include a page for curated photos, webinars of your podcast with the opportunity to ask questions, print services, and the ability to enable sales from the site. Just to name a few.
Other sites have become a lucrative business based upon just this sort of model, with 1x.com being a prime example.

[Jim Scrimger]

Wish I could offer useful comment but way beyond my knowledge base.although Barefoot's comments certainly seem to merit consideration

[Andrew]

I too never see the ads so the impact will be zero to me. Funds for websites through subscriptions need to offer some benefit for that money. eg: our camera club gets a weekly offer from a local retailer. Last week it was 25% off of their normally stocked bags, this week it's 25% off of memory cards. Websites for groups other than photography that I frequent offer similar price reductions in return for the advertisers presence. No open advertising, just the acknowledgement that visitors are directed to that supplier through a sponsor thread(s) on the site that only members have access to and use a code published there. CIC has a very popular mini-competition routine that subscribers can see and vote on. I'm sure there are others but keep in mind that the internet has brought a ton of free library information that's easy access to us all. Photography is popular and much of what's available is free. You may not be able to cut the cord but I have to applaud you effort to at least making the ads presented here more relevant to the site theme.

[Marko]

preciate all the comments and input!