Changes in forum coming soon.

[AB]

To be honest, I don't even care if this doesn't kick off but I'm a bit over being put into situtations that I don't like being in so at least this way I get to kill two birds with one stone so to speak...

The forum is costing a hell of a lot of money these days and there are two ways to generate more income without needing the generous support of members here...

This first is the vendors section.

A new vendors section will be produced. You can read more about it here (http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/vendors.html).

Example here = http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/forumdisplay.php?30-Vendor-Thread

If your serious about being a vendor on here with a great resource of perfectly targeted audiences then this is the site otherwise all non paying vendor posts (in vendor section) and signatures will be removed later on this month.

Tappatalk.....I never saw this coming but over 50% of our members are now using it.

TT does not have any advertising on it and although we now have over 115,000 visitors to the site each month I am earning less then I did years ago.

In fact It's severly hurt the income the forum makes and I can't keep going like this.

Matespace who look after the automotive advertisements have come to the party and joined up with TT to be able to show a banner on the app. It will be mostly automotive related but It's the only way to generate more income.

Unfortunately there is no way to customize this so if you are a forum sponsor then this banner will still be on TT. It's out of my control unfortunately as it is an external plug in feature for the forum and not part of my forum.

The no adverts on forum sponsorships will still be the same as always on your internet browsers.

More to come soon....

[Winnie]

Well done AB.


If you're happy and you know it tap a post!

[Bob]

Whatever it takes mate

sent from galaxy s3 using tapatalk

[MudRunnerTD]

Great stuff AB. Ill have a look at that link when I am In Front of a computer.

So is there a way you can get a bit from Tappatalk Talk given they are making money out of it? Seems only right! Tappatalk bloody Tap that

[macca86]

Good work mate that'll keep only genuine vendors here. You work to hard to dip into your own pocket to cover csts

[cgm]

It's worth paying for one way or another, so do what has to be done.

tapatalk on galaxy note

[AB]

Great stuff AB. Ill have a look at that link when I am In Front of a computer.

So is there a way you can get a bit from Tappatalk Talk given they are making money out of it? Seems only right! Tappatalk bloody Tap that

They are scum of the earth mate and would rather throw them off a bridge!!!!!!!

[Winnie]

Half the posts in this thread were sent through tappa..... Lmao!


If you're happy and you know it tap a post!

[AB]

Happy to discuss other mediums mate but the Internet is so swarmed with advertising that people turn off when they see banners. They're eyes don't even look at it.

Having a signature and getting involved with vendor threads and other parts of the forum is far more rewarding. Happy to talk about other banner placements or promotions though. What's your thoughts on other avenues?

Could possibly offer side bar spots on the main forum section...

[Maxhead]

This is well overdue to keep the forum healthy, hope many vendors come on board mate and hopefully keep back yarders at bay.

[growler2058]

Without being a w@nker, and I hope you would support me on this AB, I must have bought this up 12 months ago at least - well before we thought the business we're starting now would be viable.

Vendors should pay period - it's an advertising method that you'd pay for elsewhere so why not share a percentage (something like 0.00000000000001% is perfectly fine! lmao).

About time I say, and happy to contribute - HOWEVER, like all advertising mediums AB, the revenue from vendors will only continue to come IF the forum members continue to buy - whether because its a crap product, or because its expensive, or whatever, if the product doesn't sell, then vendors won't continue to contribute and will look for alternate means of advertising - IF that were the case, then you're back to square one, so whilst happy to pay, there has to be some promotion of products from paid vendors over and above that of standard advertising from other mediums (like google ads etc).


Scotty (Bigrig)

Excellent idea all the vendors should have give away prizes hahahahahhahahaha thatd keep interest up

[Sir Roofy]

Do what you have to mate

[nickpeacock36]

X2 with roofy. Do what you gotta do and thanks for keeping it going.

Sent from my GT-S7500T using Tapatalk 2

[macca86]

20 or 25 a year for sponsorship too

[Stropp]

ab agree with the lads mate, you need to generate something for your efforts but i know in my business i am making less than 5yrs ago.

[AB]

AB we've been saying from day dot you gotta cover costs. Having vendors pay for advertising their wares is a good step. This being a target audience I wouldn't understand if their advertising dollar was better spent in newspapers, tv, etc. they have a juicy slice of the cake here just waiting for them. Banners? Not an advertising executive but not sure if they have anything but subliminal effect. Special deals section? Now you're talking.

I like the special deals section...dedicated section for deals.

[Sir Roofy]

i like the special deals section...dedicated section for deals.

yeah special deals ,pensioner deals just love it theres a few here that would like that
but a bit shy

[taslucas]

So is there a way you can get a bit from Tappatalk Talk given they are making money out of it? Seems only right! Tappatalk bloody Tap that


They are scum of the earth mate and would rather throw them off a bridge!!!!!!!

How does tappa make money from forums? I'm dumb, educate me lol.

And being a sponsor but getting adds on tappa may make people not want to be a sponsor anymore?

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for you covering costs etc but I think the number of sponsors may drop off if the "see no adds" bit doesn't exist.

[growler2058]

I dont give a rats arse if i have to see ads or not

[Dominator]

I didn't even consider that using Tapatalk would cut the income of the forum. I feel bad now :( I only use tapatalk because it makes it easier to browse on my phone. I am more than happy to see adds if it keeps the forum afloat.

Taslucas, Tappa make their money by charging $5 for their app!

[AB]

You pay $2 or whatever it is to download their app...they've made 10k from this forum so multiply that by about a million.

As for the advertising on tt. I don't have a choice unfortunately mate. I will endeavour to make it work or design our own app later on would be a better idea.

Forum sponsor app!!!

[Dominator]

NP.com.au app, awesome. :D

[growler2058]

You pay $2 or whatever it is to download their app...they've made 10k from this forum so multiply that by about a million.

As for the advertising on tt. I don't have a choice unfortunately mate. I will endeavour to make it work or design our own app later on would be a better idea.

Forum sponsor app!!!

HAH the pricks didnt get me bwahahahaha i got it when it was free

[Maxhead]

I dont see any advertising on Tappa at all, using v2 through Play store(android) and not one single add?? :)

[Lieney]

At the end of the day, people can only do so much for free mate.
An add here or there, if it brings in some $ then so be it.
I don't use Tappatalk as I am tight and don't want to pay for an app, I also forgot my password.....
Getting rid of my CRapple Iphone soon and getting one of those tablet phone things, so will probably get it then.
Thanks for your help on previous posts and I know you will do what is right, for the right price

[NissanGQ4.2]

You pay $2 or whatever it is to download their app...they've made 10k from this forum so multiply that by about a million.

As for the advertising on tt. I don't have a choice unfortunately mate. I will endeavour to make it work or design our own app later on would be a better idea.

Forum sponsor app!!!

Now your talking a forum sponsors app, who was it that put there hand up once before on making an app for us????

Yeh mate do what you need to do

I don't really care if I pay sponsorship and still have to see ads

And maybe its also time to move the manuals into a Forum Sponsorship only thread as well

[BigRAWesty]

Well I've had a chat to you Ab and a few others about this side of things..
$30 is cheap as... Why not more as we discussed?
Others charge triple figures for your basic package.
So ill be signing up asap..

Kallen Westbrook
Owner of
Westy's Accessories (http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/showthread.php?15134-Westy-s-Accessories.-A-small-back-yard-builder.)

[BigRAWesty]

Um, Ab. As I read the link you get a Sig and access to vendors thread for $50, but it seams you get a lot more for $30...
I assume its "$30 more" for the extended package.
Could this just be cleared up. Cheers

Also can we request to keep pm's capped at 200? I'd get friggin lost with 5000... :eek:

Kallen Westbrook
Owner of
Westy's Accessories (http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/showthread.php?15134-Westy-s-Accessories.-A-small-back-yard-builder.)

[taslucas]

You pay $2 or whatever it is to download their app...they've made 10k from this forum so multiply that by about a million.

As for the advertising on tt. I don't have a choice unfortunately mate. I will endeavour to make it work or design our own app later on would be a better idea.

Forum sponsor app!!!

It's not money outta your pocket though?
If I use the laptop I pay Telstra for the internet (too much mind you! Lol) and how much profit do they make!? It's not out of your pocket though.
So does me using tappa right now affect the the dollars going to the forum?
Btw, I don't care about seeing ads on tappa, just mentioning that one of the big reasons stated for people to become a sponsor is to see no ads.
Yep I'm all for a forum app (cracks whip!)
Id use my laptop more but the internet is total cr@p here (until I get adsl2 soon).

Would my towball safety stickers have to be a paying vendor situation?




FanTapstic!

[krbrooking]

I didn't become a sponser to get no ads I did it to support an awesome forum so ads would not bother me one bit.

P.S is the fee change only for vendors or is it for sponsors as well, how would I find out when I have to renew my sponsorship.

[Winnie]

Um, Ab. As I read the link you get a Sig and access to vendors thread for $50, but it seams you get a lot more for $30...
I assume its "$30 more" for the extended package.
Could this just be cleared up. Cheers

Also can we request to keep pm's capped at 200? I'd get friggin lost with 5000... :eek:

Kallen Westbrook
Owner of
Westy's Accessories (http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/showthread.php?15134-Westy-s-Accessories.-A-small-back-yard-builder.)

$50 per year compared to $30 per month? Big difference.

[growler2058]

It's not money outta your pocket though?
If I use the laptop I pay Telstra for the internet (too much mind you! Lol) and how much profit do they make!? It's not out of your pocket though.
So does me using tappa right now affect the the dollars going to the forum?
Btw, I don't care about seeing ads on tappa, just mentioning that one of the big reasons stated for people to become a sponsor is to see no ads.
Yep I'm all for a forum app (cracks whip!)
Id use my laptop more but the internet is total cr@p here (until I get adsl2 soon).

Would my towball safety stickers have to be a paying vendor situation?




FanTapstic!

Dunno but its probably the mobs that pay for ads somehow know the stats of those using tappa so their ads dont get seen so why pay the forum for ads if people dont see them using tappa. More confused now? I am hahaha

[MEGOMONSTER]

I didn't become a sponser to get no ads I did it to support an awesome forum so ads would not bother me one bit.



I second this.

[Winnie]

AB does the forum get money just from people seeing advertisements, or by them clicking on them? I use an adblock on my browser so never see advertisements on any website. You can set websites to show ads and I'm more than happy to turn it off for this forum if it will make a tiny difference? Or will it make no difference anyway because I'm a sponsor?

[NissanGQ4.2]

Um, Ab. As I read the link you get a Sig and access to vendors thread for $50, but it seams you get a lot more for $30...
I assume its "$30 more" for the extended package.
Could this just be cleared up. Cheers

Also can we request to keep pm's capped at 200? I'd get friggin lost with 5000... :eek:

Kallen Westbrook
Owner of
Westy's Accessories (http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/showthread.php?15134-Westy-s-Accessories.-A-small-back-yard-builder.)

Yes you get more for $30 because that is a monthly fee unlike the $50 yearly fee


$50 per year compared to $30 per month? Big difference.

Not really, $360 a year for unlimited advertising is nothing really

[Winnie]

Not really, $360 a year for unlimited advertising is nothing really

Oh I completely agree, I was just saying that $360 is a big difference to $50. Of course there's more than $360 worth of value in that package though!

[AB]

AB does the forum get money just from people seeing advertisements, or by them clicking on them? I use an adblock on my browser so never see advertisements on any website. You can set websites to show ads and I'm more than happy to turn it off for this forum if it will make a tiny difference? Or will it make no difference anyway because I'm a sponsor?

No mate its all based on the user clicking them. But yeah you will not see the ads anyway as you are a sponsor...lol

[mudski]

And maybe its also time to move the manuals into a Forum Sponsorship only thread as well
Yay, finally!
I'm up for this. Is this going ahead as of now??? I am trying to become a Vendor, I have now 8 more items to list for sale. I wont be a big seller but it all counts.
Good work AB. You can't run the forum in the red.

[rusty_nail]

I'm sorry to hear its all costing too much AB. I don't have much to offer, but I'm always happy to contribute a little extra if the members fee does go up. One thing that I felt bad about was I paid for a members fee in about April last year, however everyone renewed their membership again in August I think, So theoretically I got an extra 5/6 months free. Can't you make some sort of timer on the memberships mate? There has to be some sort of forum plugin that manages that, I'm sure this wouldn't be the first forum that has something like that?

The vendors thread sounds good, but is their any other way to make it more visible/accessible? I don't normally visit it, it's tucked away neatly in that one button, so there is no encouragement for me to visit. Just a suggestion?


Tappin

[Woof]

Increase the Forum Sponsorship and move the manuals so that only Forum Sponsors have access to them................one of the main reasons that I have given up welcoming new members, is that some of them are only after the manuals and then never hear from them again.
As most of the Forum Sponsors here, I did not join for any reason other than to support you and this great forum.

[fracster]

Is would be worth $15 a year for me, just t laugh at and with some of the characters on here.

Just a thought, Paypal would be a damned site easier for people outside of AUS to contibute.

And yes, move the manuals to a different area.

[BigRAWesty]

Yes you get more for $30 because that is a monthly fee unlike the $50 yearly fee


Right.
Missed that monthly bit.. that changes it.
And does make scottys issues a bit more serious.
The other patrol site who is charging $350 a year for thread based advertising is loosing members all the time. It makes it unviable as a business when the monthly take from forum sales is only sub $50.. you can't tell the impact its having as the corporation now running it doesn't need vendors, its just a silver lining to there packets.
What we disscussed at around $150-200 was more acceptable as I don't care if that little bit doesn't cover its worth, its then a donation to help keep running a top site.
I know $100 sounds bum change to most, but that's 3/4 of your weekly shopping, my wife's montlhy fuel. It makes a bit when your a single income family of 4 on $55000 a year.
But enough winging, ill be joining up, just not gold yet untill we see some better figures.

Kallen Westbrook
Owner of
Westy's Accessories (http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/showthread.php?15134-Westy-s-Accessories.-A-small-back-yard-builder.)

[cgm]

They are scum of the earth mate and would rather throw them off a bridge!!!!!!!

I'm in a different time zone than most of you lot, so just having another bit of a think out loud before going to bed.

AB, I don't think that you need to be too down on Tapatalk. At the end of the day they are really still a big part of the "success" in terms of site visits. If over 50% are using it (don't know if that translates to 50% of all traffic comes from it), but in any case it's traffic, so it's still important. You can tell that most of the regulars are using it most of the time. It makes sense, people use it in between doing other things coz they have their phone with them. Five minutes here or there. All this interaction, including from Tapatalk, is what helps make the place a good place as well as proves the overall advertising value of the site with the total visitors per month.

So the challenge is how to still translate this traffic into money to make it worth the effort? Some rehash of some of the ideas so far:

- Most people would be willing to pay more Sponsorship from the comments so far. Could you tier this in some way - have two levels or something?? Maybe a base level that gets you to the manuals and more to remove the ads? Or something like that. Can you have internal ads vs external ads? Like one level would get rid of google Adsense, but still see the forum Vendor threads? Can you have separate banner or sidebar ads for the vendors? Some people would actually like to see Vendor/Member ads I reckon? (I'm sure a bunch of people are hanging out to see what Scotty's coming up with) But who wants the google crap? Many of us would be happy to pay more just to have the site still going strong, but I know some find it tough to get any money together for anything and don't want to lock them out.

- What about a "Donate" button? I don't want to make it seem like you are begging, but in the open source software industry lots of people survive by having a "pay what you feel like" approach. Have a what do you think it's worth button of some sort. I'd press it and put in extra. You could potentially put that near the manuals or something? Just having that around not too "in your face" with a small blurb on the front page talking about the cost and effort to run the site, maybe it would work? This would mean you'd need an online payment system though, at very least a Paypal link ready to use.

- Don't think anyone much cares if we have to have adds in Tapatalk. Maybe over time there will be better options with how you can manage those adds? A few people might dummy spit, but for the most people will cope I reckon.

- From my side the other thing that's important is that we can easily distinguish the vendor contributors adds from the pure external vendor advertisers. Need to see this in Tapatalk too somehow. On the web, we'd see the "Vendor Sponsor" logo beside their post, but that wouldn't show in Tapatalk. Most of us are much happier to think about stuff from the Vendors who in some strange way we now feel we know (even though they don't know us) because we've watched their build thread grow, or taken their advice, watched someone else benefit, etc. (We're about ready for a replacement for Roothy I reckon, so one of the guys here might step up to the task - ha ha) They'd have to have clear way to still show, at least with their posts, in Tapatalk. I assume that is through signatures somehow? That way they can prove they are getting their monies worth from the monthly vendor sponsorship. Maybe a bit of cultural push with a few posts, even a sticky on vendor thread, etc. to remind people that visit the vendor sites to say that came to them via the forum?

Now, that's all starting to become a big lot of dribble ... sorry, will go to bed.

Thanks,
Cameron.

[AB]

No mate thats a good reply...

Tappatalk is a great function and I also use it all the time as well. The issue I have is that they have locked out any modification to it unless you pay them $600 and a significant monthly fee for them to allow you to have ads on there. I don't understand why they wouldn't allow the forum owners to put ads on there when their primary business 100% relies on forum owners. Something back to the owners just would of been an obvious way of saying thank you I thought.

Matespace are the only company who have broken through and will hopefully be displaying related automotive ads so we'll give it a try for now.

I can always design a custom app to suit what we need but for now Matespace have been good to us here so I want to give them a try for now. We must have thousands of members who use Tappatalk so I thought it would of been rude to suddenly cancel that and no one can access the forum on their phones until they download a new app which is a huge inconvenience to thousands of people so we'll give it a crack and see what happens.

I had a donate button a while back but really didn't make any money. Unfortunately I got kicked off Paypal because I run this forum through a family trust and Paypal don't allow pty ltd companies for some god knows reason!!!!

I will have a good think about the vendors....I'm thinking of dedicating the forum sidebar for Gold Vendors so it can be seeing by all in a prime location with links to their own site or their own vendors forum.

[BigRAWesty]

I was going to bring up our discussion of banner or adds, as you mentioned loosing the eBay side of things who pay good money to be there.
Do you think if the vendors here take the gold up you would drop the eBay, to entice us more and make the gold more tempting.


Kallen Westbrook
Owner of
Westy's Accessories (http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/showthread.php?15134-Westy-s-Accessories.-A-small-back-yard-builder.)

[AB]

I was going to bring up our discussion of banner or adds, as you mentioned loosing the eBay side of things who pay good money to be there.
Do you think if the vendors here take the gold up you would drop the eBay, to entice us more and make the gold more tempting.


Kallen Westbrook
Owner of
Westy's Accessories (http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/showthread.php?15134-Westy-s-Accessories.-A-small-back-yard-builder.)

Yes mate I would be happy to have a square banner possibly 200px x 200px shown above the fold on the side bar and push the ebay ads below the gold sponsors as I don't think there would be a mammoth amount of gold members to fill up the entire column of the forum.

[Yendor]

I agree with Todd and Wayne.

If the manuals are putting a strain on the forum move them to a sponsors only section, remove them totally or put a higher post count on them (100-150 post ) to be able to download.

Increase the forum sponsorship. I think you will find most people will be more then happy to pay more. You can also have a hardship clause for members who might be finding it a bit hard financially, they can contact you and an arrangement can be made.

We are all aware of what happened to a certain mag that become too reliant on advertising and how this dictates content.

[taslucas]

I agree with Todd and Wayne.

If the manuals are putting a strain on the forum move them to a sponsors only section, remove them totally or put a higher post count on them (100-150 post ) to be able to download.

Increase the forum sponsorship. I think you will find most people will be more then happy to pay more. You can also have a hardship clause for members who might be finding it a bit hard financially, they can contact you and an arrangement can be made.

We are all aware of what happened to a certain mag that become too reliant on advertising and how this dictates content.

Good point there

[Bloodyaussie]

I cant stand some one on here posting old threads just to get there 25 posts up..... should be one of the perks for paid up members!!

[AB]

Thanks rod but honestly mate it's not the manuals causing issues. The forum activity (resources) itself was just too big for the shared server that's all.

[Bloodyaussie]

You smell, thats the problem!!!!!

[growler2058]

I cant stand some one on here posting old threads just to get there 25 posts up..... should be one of the perks for paid up members!!

Off topic (how strange) but I don't mind if someone posts something legit in an old thread. I hate it when someone justs post something along the lines of "hi mate..." In the intros 25 times I normally sneak in a coupla deletes on the just befor 25 when I see this ;)

[NissanGQ4.2]

Thanks rod but honestly mate it's not the manuals causing issues. The forum activity (resources) itself was just too big for the shared server that's all.

I know the manuals are not causing resource issues any more and not the reason why I suggested it

[rottodiver]

I agree... Move the manuals to a forum sponsor thread only!!!
How about a fundraiser to get an app up and running?
Scotty

[BigRAWesty]

Thanks rod but honestly mate it's not the manuals causing issues. The forum activity (resources) itself was just too big for the shared server that's all.

Not to sound tight but imo 200 pm's for just joining is huge.. on the rc site I'm part of if you didn't pay then you get 20... And that truly is enough.. paid took you to 200, then vendors and the like started pushing the 1g.
Also had a couple of different tiers of sponsorship.. ill try take a screen shot so you have a basis to work against. Imo I think your being very generous with the basics but a touch expensive with the top end. Try not to sound to tight here..
Ill get back to you

Kallen Westbrook
Owner of
Westy's Accessories (http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/showthread.php?15134-Westy-s-Accessories.-A-small-back-yard-builder.)