diy solar

diy solar

This forum has 0 ads... Well maybe it could.

Alkaline

Alkaline

Solar Wizard
Joined
Jul 26, 2020
Messages
2,065
Location
Orange, Tx
So I mentioned this in a reply a go and forgot, but I think you could do well with some ads that are not Google but rather self run.

RCGroups: Remote Control, Radio Control Planes, Drones, Cars and Boats

RC Groups - the most active Radio Control model community: electric and fuel rc airplanes,rc helis,rc boats and rc cars. Features discussion forums, blogs, videos and classifieds.
www.rcgroups.com www.rcgroups.com

This is a site an example, i'm sure anyone fooling with drones will know it. The adds on this are actually not bad, its related to the hoppy and most small biz mom/pop place adds there.

I usually run add block on most sites, but I unblock rcgroups because the ads are relevant.

Same is the case for other sites that target specific things. It could be a good revenue / assistance to help with forum costs. I used to work at a DC and hosting costs with attack mitigation can be very high.
 
Yeah I actually like the ads on rc group. I have been a member there for about a decade. And yes I am noticing that if I do everything right, it will cost a lot. I am currently paying monthly for email hosting. Also our server will need to be bigger in the future.

Last year I was making a lot of money so I didn't mind the cost. The hosting cost was nearly non existent. But as the forum grows, I may need to charge a membership fee if people do not want ads. Or I would run my own ads to my website. Or my book. That way there is no corporate influence of the ads. Just me, and if something looks bad, you guys could have me fix it. When people are paying for ads, they start to control how the site looks and I don't like that.

And I'll never use Google ads. Those look god awful haha
 
So you're thinking of possibly a subscription service? You wouldn't be the first and if handled well I think it would work. When my IT site Arstechnica went to a subscription model it was very well implemented I think and there wasn't really a lot of push back from the members. What the subscription got you was removal of ads on the news page and posting access to some of the sub forums (Lounge, Soap Box, Etc) but left the other sub forums (hardware, Video, all the different component and software sections) free to use for all registered members.

Now, I understand that your site isn't regularly posting news articles about the industry and doesn't need to pay for a dozen writers and operators so it's not directly comparable but it just struck me as an example of how to go from a Free site to a Subscription site pretty seamlessly.

Maybe a few extra benefits for paying members like seeing videos a few days before Youtube or a Merch page or the like could be an enticement but really it's up to you. It is your site and I whole heartedly agree that giving the advertisers too much control would be a bad thing. You're what made this site happen and you're the reason we all have such a great resource to work with. Keep it yours. (y)

Also, I couldn't bring myself to complain about a $20-$30 annual fee, it'd be totally worth it to me. Hell, I don't even complain about buying 2 copies of your book right before the price drop, still worth every penny. ?
 
Will Prowse said:
Just me, and if something looks bad, you guys could have me fix it. When people are paying for ads, they start to control how the site looks and I don't like that.
Click to expand...

I’m most comfortable with Will having control over his site and letting us live here as long as we behave to a certain degree. He’s done an amazing job so far IMHO.

Whenever I’ve given up control of something important to me for some potential benefit or savings the cost always turned out to be greater than it appeared to be. YMMV.
 
I'd be 100% okay with ads on the forum if they were solar energy related and carefully curated/vetted to weed out any scams. An enterprise such as this should be self-supporting.
 
I think a limited amount of solar related advertising would be OK as long as the advertisers have no control over what the forum members say about their products & services.
 
Will Prowse said:
When people are paying for ads, they start to control how the site looks and I don't like that.
Click to expand...
Aren’t there still tailored ad services anymore?
Or you could make a small LLC and have “them” as a subcontractor to serve ads to yourself and perhaps ‘sell that’ to other sites- perhaps not even related to solar- but yet desiring some cost-offset revenue without some of the crap ads that are the norm.

Sorry. You just provoked the pesky entrepreneurial gene in me for a sec. Maybe a crazy idea
 
12VoltInstalls said:
Aren’t there still tailored ad services anymore?
Or you could make a small LLC and have “them” as a subcontractor to serve ads to yourself and perhaps ‘sell that’ to other sites- perhaps not even related to solar- but yet desiring some cost-offset revenue without some of the crap ads that are the norm.

Sorry. You just provoked the pesky entrepreneurial gene in me for a sec. Maybe a crazy idea
Click to expand...
Ad serving software definitely exists that would allow Will to sell advertising to vendors of his choice for display on this website (and other websites). He would have complete control of every aspect of the process. Once it is set up, it doesn't even take that much effort to maintain.
 
While I have not been around here long enough to know the lay of the land, one idea would be to offer special manufacturer and vendor memberships for a sizable monthly fee. They have their own section on the forum where they and other members can post. Threads can promote their products but members would choose to view them as opposed to banner ads or google controlled obnoxious uselessness.
 
Interstitial ads that aren’t ‘persistent popups’ I don’t think would be objectionable. Nor interrupt the culture of this forum, imho. Especially if controlled selection.
 
Will Prowse said:
And I'll never use Google ads. Those look god awful haha
Click to expand...

I've found that some Yahoo news page ads are actually quite germane to the article in question.
For instance, one article about a woman murdered by her personal trainer.
On the sidebar, an ad, "Find a personal trainer."

When it comes to TV (which I rarely watch) I appreciate ads aligned to the show. A few are, most are unrelated. The Coke ad inserted in original Top Gun video (getting us accustomed to ads in rented movies) was at least entertaining and relevant. But it is scary to think what social media, spyware, and AI could accomplish in targeted ads.

I was trying to find your thread on the issue of being branded a SPAMer and no way to programmatically turn off email alerts for everybody.
I turned off mine (I think), but now still receive email alerts for a fraction of the threads I'm following. Wanted to alert you to that, don't know if multiple engines are running and only some got the updated preferences, or what. I don't understand computers, I only used to design the d*mn things.
 
SamG340 said:
What do you play mate , fancy a game ?

SamG340
Click to expand...
I use the Puzzle feature on the site. I don't have the memory to really learn openings or get any good at chess (it's a young man's game), but I can admire the website design from a programmer's perspective. They have a great team and it's all open source on Github. Thibault is amazing.
 
JLBinTN said:
Ad serving software definitely exists that would allow Will to sell advertising to vendors of his choice for display on this website (and other websites). He would have complete control of every aspect of the process. Once it is set up, it doesn't even take that much effort to maintain.
Click to expand...
Oh yeah it's easy. I used to make ads about ten years ago for various clients. I could put them in anytime but I love the look of this forum. Nice and plain. I do like the idea of ads for guests. It incentivizes people to sign up.
 
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i prefer a membership fee. I am on several truck, chainsaw, small engine and tractor forums and each one has two options paying member non paying. in each one to date they had the option of a yearly fee of like 20.00 or a one time 200.00 fee. i just pay the 200.00 and move on with life. no ads unless i want them, and no tracking by advertisers or other weird shenanigans. just me though. just do not sell to IB they ruin every forum they buy.
 
I'd be the first in line to buy an ad if things resorted to that, but I don't think it's an option worth considering. I think there may be only 1 way it can work right and about 1000 ways it can go wrong. Not worth it in my opinion. Here's a couple thoughts:

A free for all "highest bidder" strategy would be a catastrophic disaster...but hand choosing who gets to buy ads would be a management nightmare. There would probably be some criteria for getting an ad slot...but how do you come up with a good criteria that doesn't turn the forum into a mess?

Let's say one of the criteria is "good customer service". Is it now the admin's job to research the quality of customer service in order to approve or deny their ad request? That's a lot of extra work. If the criteria didn't factor in things like the quality of the advertiser's customer service, then the admins are going to have to deal with the repercussions of angry customers filling the vendor review corner. That's a double-edge sword.
 
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