We need to be commercial - but not too commercial...

**keith** · 08-04-2007, 10:13 PM

Just introducing this topic in the Water Cooler news where the biggest forum fans check out what's happening on theBubbler.com as a whole.

We've had some success with affiliate programs like Amazon.

We've got a great sponsor with the Holiday Inns of Wisconsin right now.

Here's the deal. We want to add one or two free classifieds in all of the appropriate categories for products that fit, and for which we are affiliates (like we are for Amazon). TheBubbler is a pet project of mine, and I'm glad to do it for the 'psychic income'.

Nevertheless, a cash income makes things more than a little bit easier. A labor of love is one thing...a labor of love that costs a small fortune is another. I just don't want to overdo it and alienate our Members. That's why I'm posting here - asking for your responses.

In the new theBubbler.com that we're working on (awesome!) we'll also have more (at least more noticeable) Google AdWords text links. They match up nicely to the page content, so I believe they enhance our offerings by advertising stuff that matches our pages.

We've also added the 'Department of Shameless Self-Promotion' to enhance the prospects for a return of our investment of time and expenses in theBubbler. Our hope with that forum is to give everyone, including us, an opportunity to shout about our products and services, and keep the whole forums from being spammed at the same time.

What do you think?

Regards,
Keith

kmfarm · 08-05-2007, 09:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by keith

Nevertheless, a cash income makes things more than a little bit easier. A labor of love is one thing...a labor of love that costs a small fortune is another. I just don't want to overdo it and alienate our Members.

You'll never alienate me. When you run a site as good as this, it's inevitable that it'll grow to the point where it'll consume a great amount of effort, time and money. So, there's nothing wrong with trying to generate an income for the efforts as well as insuring the continued exisistance and growth of the Bubbler.

Mark

pk · 08-05-2007, 04:19 PM

Quote:

You'll never alienate me. When you run a site as good as this, it's inevitable that it'll grow to the point where it'll consume a great amount of effort, time and money. So, there's nothing wrong with trying to generate an income for the efforts as well as insuring the continued exisistance and growth of the Bubbler.

Great answer. I totally agree.

pk

MichelleC · 08-08-2007, 03:42 PM

It wouldn't alienate me, either. I can see things from the other side. I want to keep my site a hobby but I also would like to move it to better hosting so I plan on having some advertising once I have the page visits to justify it.

My philosophy is that ads are fine as long as they aren't so in your face that they're annoying. I much prefer subtle ads and will even click on them if they have something that interests me. Ads that take over the screen or are so hyper with flashing and jumping that it's hard to read the page will never get my clicks. What you wrote doesn't sound bad at all. I'm a newbie here and none of the ads that I've seen or that you propose would be enough for me to decide not to come back.

Michelle

**keith** · 08-09-2007, 09:37 AM

Thank you.

Good comments, all ~ and good analysis, Michelle.

I believe that appropriate ads can and do enhance the user experience. That's why context/content ads like Google AdWords do well because they advertise by reflecting the content on the page.

We agree that pop-ups, pop-unders, and ads that attack your eyeballs have not place here (or virtually anywhere else for that matter).

We have the first dozen-plus classifieds up.

We have a few more in 'Dept of Shameless..." in the Forums.

We've added a few affiliates in other, appropriate forums too (Sports Memorabilia in the Sports categories, etc.) with an admonishment that the link is to an affiliate of theBubbler.com...and that Ads in the Forums aren't generally allowed (save for signature files) - we're simply taking the liberty to help underwrite the site.

Thanks again for the comments.

Questions and suggestions are welcome.

Regards,
Keith

Crys · 08-13-2007, 11:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichelleC

Ads that take over the screen or are so hyper with flashing and jumping that it's hard to read the page will never get my clicks.

Those annoying flash ads that open out to cover the main content when you load the page will never be placed on any site where I have even the smallest of says in what's happening with the site. They're bad business and generate a TON of false clicks from people trying to get to the content underneath. I can't believe businesses let their marketing people buy those kind of ads. If they're paying per click, that's so much money lost. I've seen some flyout flash ads that were well done, where you had to choose to make them flyout, and those are fine, but the other kind, in my opinion, are one step shy of fraud for any company that's paying per click.

**keith** · 08-13-2007, 01:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crys

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichelleC

Ads that take over the screen or are so hyper with flashing and jumping that it's hard to read the page will never get my clicks.

Those annoying flash ads that open out to cover the main content when you load the page will never be placed on any site where I have even the smallest of says in what's happening with the site. They're bad business and generate a TON of false clicks from people trying to get to the content underneath. I can't believe businesses let their marketing people buy those kind of ads. If they're paying per click, that's so much money lost. I've seen some flyout flash ads that were well done, where you had to choose to make them flyout, and those are fine, but the other kind, in my opinion, are one step shy of fraud for any company that's paying per click.

Yep! Those suck!

Regards,
Keith