View Poll Results: How should SaabWorld be funded?
- Voters
- 39. You may not vote on this poll
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Donations from members and visitors
29 74.36% -
Advertising (Google) for visitors
10 25.64% -
Advertising (Google) for members and visitors
5 12.82% -
Advertising (sponsors)
12 30.77% -
Membership upgrades - offer additional features
7 17.95% -
No funding, this site should be free to use without advertising
1 2.56%
Multiple Choice Poll.
Results 11 to 20 of 85
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18 December 2010 #11
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19 December 2010 #12
same as above. Saab Enthusiast
- Join Date
- 18 Dec 2010
- Location
- Inglewood, CA, United States
- Posts
- 76
- Saab(s)
- Previous: 2003 9-5 Linear 2.3t | Want: Saab 9-3 Wagon
I wouldn't mind paying for a sticker, with some "school money"
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20 December 2010 #13
Frank Administrator
- Join Date
- 30 Jul 2010
- Location
- USA - Netherlands
- Posts
- 7,901
- Saab(s)
- previous: 2006 9-3, 2001-06 9-5, 2011 9-4X
Adsense would only work if we would put that in an obvious location like the banner. Btu that's still a possibility for non-registered users. I really wouldn't want to bother the regular members with that.
The site already has been declined by Harbor Freigth, AutoZone, 21st Century Insurance and Geico. I guess we're not big enough for them just yet.
Still waiting for approval from TireRack, AutohausAZ, Advance Auto Parts, Allstate and Esurance. I don't think small places like Elkparts or eEuroparts don't have an affiliate program.
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19 March 2011 #14
Frank Administrator
- Join Date
- 30 Jul 2010
- Location
- USA - Netherlands
- Posts
- 7,901
- Saab(s)
- previous: 2006 9-3, 2001-06 9-5, 2011 9-4X
With the recent changes in ownership of other Saab forums, I have learned some/many of us really dislike advertising and commercial ownership of these kind of forums. Others simply don't care.
Moderators already are "paying" with their time in making sure the forums run smoothly. Many of the members already are "paying" with their time in participating in discussion and sharing their knowledge and helping others. I am getting "paid" when I see members helping others, sharing their knowledge, participating in discussions and just having fun here. It just seems wrong trying to profit from that with advertising.
As long as this is a fairly small site, expenses are really not that much. It's a hobby for all of us and I don't mind doing my share to make this the best Saab community. So there will be no advertising like site sponsors or Google ads. There are some very successful forum sites which run on these principles and those are the best forums to hang out at.
At some point with an increase of traffic and members, expenses for hosting this site may become a bit too much for being just a hobby. At that point, it seems best to ask for donations from members, visitors and perhaps companies who care about a public forum. Public radio and TV in the US (NPR and PBS) are primarily supported like this and they have the best content by far compared to commercial TV and radio stations.
About NPR: Support and Sponsor
Welcome to SaabWorld. A community site without ads, spam, popups, in-text advertising, subscriptions, user behavior tracking or other commercial exploitation.
Hey, that could be our slogan!
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19 March 2011 #15
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19 March 2011 #16
Matt Saab-Blooded
- Join Date
- 30 Jul 2010
- Location
- Maine, United States
- Posts
- 187
- Saab(s)
- No Saabs :(... Just a Forester Turbo
So how much is it costing you? I've had sites reliably hosted at hostgator for $15 a month with 80,000 hits per month and no performance issues.
Not sure what the traffic is here, but it would be nice to just have you come out and say "This is what my hosting plan costs" and just try to cover it each month.
I wouldn't mind something like a "premium membership" that would cost something like $1.00 / month.. Bill once a year or something. But really just a status symbol to say "I support the community". It shouldn't lock non-paying members out of features.
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19 March 2011 #17
Mike Moderator
- Join Date
- 30 Jul 2010
- Location
- Rochester, New York, USA
- Posts
- 1,985
- Saab(s)
- Saab-less
Free SaabWorld Stickers
"Sometimes it is better to travel than it is to arrive." - Robert Pirsig
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19 March 2011 #18
Frank Administrator
- Join Date
- 30 Jul 2010
- Location
- USA - Netherlands
- Posts
- 7,901
- Saab(s)
- previous: 2006 9-3, 2001-06 9-5, 2011 9-4X
It isn't really costing me very much right now. I already had my own personal domain, mainly for email and hosting some personal stuff. But as you can see in this thread, we really should move the site to at least a VPS of some kind.
http://saabworld.net/f26/site-hosting-1506/
I am paying $7 a month so say SW is costing $3.50 a month. But besides site hosting, there also is the cost of software licenses. I think startup license fees was around $600 and you have to pay renewal fees to stay up-to-date with the latest fixes and features.
So no, I am not worried about paying $3.50 a month right now. It won't even mind covering the cost of a VPS for $30 to $50 a month. But I think members will also feel more involved if they can make a donation so it feels more like their site as well.
I am a bit surprised the site still keeps up pretty good with the traffic we have.
http://saabworld.net/f26/saabworld-site-statistics-741/
I need to check to see what the numbers are for February. January had about 75K unique visits.
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23 March 2011 #19
I have no problem paying "dues", for lack of a better, word to keep this site spam and ad free.
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23 March 2011 #20
Andy Graham modérateur
- Join Date
- 08 Aug 2010
- Location
- Oz
- Posts
- 235
- Saab(s)
- '88 vert, '88 Aero
Guess the 2 simple options are
1) make direct donations to Wulf
2) a more formal system of "shareholders" contributing regularly,
I will happily be part of either.
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