Advertising Updates and announcement

Mike Olbinski · January 19th, 2008, 12:22 PM

Hey guys,

Well, I've experimented for a few weeks now with the new form of advertising and it's not been that successful

In fact, the only money made has been a few bucks from some Amazon.com orders, which has always brought in a bit of money each month.

The banners are pretty and all, but they have to convert to sales for them to help and that's not happening.

I may be going back to Google ads because at least they were making the site around $100 a month.

But I may be adding something else that actually HAS been converting a bit this month and none of you have even seen it yet.

I've been running a test on our Archives portion of the site, that usually people only find through search engines.

http://www.arizonasportsfans.com/vb/archive/index.php

There is a plugin that actually looks at text on every thread and replaces some of the keywords on it with links to Ebay auctions.

Now, it seems a bit odd, but the thing is, in the last three weeks, it's gotten more clicks than anything else and actually has converted two things in the last two days.

Not only that, but the commissions on it are impressive: 50% and up of what Ebay makes on these auctions. That's pretty dang good.

The only thing I worry about is you guys of course. But what I think is that all you see is certain words linked and that's it. Nothing pops up or should be annoying.

You will just see a thread and might see the words "cardinals" or "football" linked. And it doesn't link every occurrence of the word, just once per page.

And I can also exclude stuff as well if we need to.

So that's it. I am going to run a test on it for a week and see what happens.

I think everyone loves Ebay, I know I buy stuff from it and obviously a few people from this site have also clicked on these links and won an auction or two.

It might actually be helpful to find things?

Anyways, your thoughts are appreciated and if you want to see the links in action, visit the Archive area of the site and look through some threads:

http://www.arizonasportsfans.com/vb/archive/index.php

Mike Olbinski · January 24th, 2008, 06:35 PM

Okay, the new Ebay text-link ads are up...

You can proceed with the bashing of me anytime you feel like it

I just want to add, that this isn't as bad as it might look (if you guys just can't stand miscellaneous links that is)...because some of them could lead to cool Ebay auctions.

We'll see how it goes...just let me know what you think.

Linderbee · January 24th, 2008, 06:37 PM

will do.

Linderbee · January 24th, 2008, 06:47 PM

wow...I have a feeling it's going to receive a lot of criticism. I saw a link in a post, and didn't realize that it was not done by the poster...got confused (and I KNOW what is going on, lol). Those that don't pay attention to this forum are going to be REALLY confused, wondering why posters are putting links to ebay stuff in their posts.

I imagine the regulars will become smart enough to make a note when putting a link in a post themselves to note somehow that it is a link they made, and not an ebay one. As it stands right now, I'm going to wind up ignoring most links in posts, assuming they are ebay links.

It's really not a HUGE deal, imo, I just think others are going to find it really annoying. Be prepared for threads in the other forums that have titles along the lines of, "WTF is going on with all the ebay links???"

YouJustGotSUNSD · January 24th, 2008, 07:48 PM

Heh, guess I wasn't seeing things.

It can be deceiving because of how often we use links for information, attribution, and source confirmation. Newcomers may also not know they are third party added. It may take a few clicks for someone to realize these are just ebay advertisements, and by that time theyre pissed and disinterested in the site.

To be honest I wasn't expecting it and thought my roomate had gotten one of those adware viruses on my computer. Not a fan of the intrusive ad systems.

Case in point

Much rather see banners on sides, top bottom, and not in the actual content of the website.

And it increases load time on crappy computers. Ive always admired the quickness of this site.

How much do we have to donate so we can stick to traditional advertising?

Dback Jon · January 24th, 2008, 07:51 PM

Linderbee · January 24th, 2008, 07:53 PM

Oh, and I so love being right.

YouJustGotSUNSD · January 24th, 2008, 07:53 PM

Third party adword plugins also have a knack for leaving websites "hanging" during the loading process, hindering them from ever fully loading.

Mike Olbinski · January 24th, 2008, 07:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by YouJustGotSUNSD

Heh, guess I wasn't seeing things.

It can be deceiving because of how often we use links for information, attribution, and source confirmation. Newcomers may also not know they are third party added. It may take a few clicks for someone to realize these are just ebay advertisements, and by that time theyre pissed and disinterested in the site.

To be honest I wasn't expecting it and thought my roomate had gotten one of those adware viruses on my computer. Not a fan of the intrusive ad systems.

Case in point

Much rather see banners on sides, top bottom, and not in the actual content of the website.

And it increases load time on crappy computers. Ive always admired the quickness of this site.

How much do we have to donate so we can stick to traditional advertising?

If I believed that would ever happen, I'd take all ads down...

But I have a Support ASFN link at the top of the page that I don't think anyone has ever clicked on or rarely uses. I am sure a ton of you use Amazon.com to buy stuff, but never use the site's link to do so...

Well, I can see this hasn't been a great option and has raised more hell than anything else we've done so far.

One thing I will say in response to someone saying we use links to post information and stuff....usually links posted are full URLs...rarely do people use a word and make it a text link.

Shane · January 24th, 2008, 08:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chandler Mike

But I have a Support ASFN link at the top of the page that I don't think anyone has ever clicked on or rarely uses.

I have been on here from day 1 Mike and I honestly never even knew it was there until I just read your post.

Brian in Mesa · January 24th, 2008, 08:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chandler Mike

I am sure a ton of you use Amazon.com to buy stuff, but never use the site's link to do so...

I don't know how it gets reported, but we've purchased between $80-90 in the last 2 months through Amazon using the ASFN store link.

Mike Olbinski · January 24th, 2008, 08:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shane H

I have been on here from day 1 Mike and I honestly never even knew it was there until I just read your post.

That's fine, I don't really want people to donate money, I'd rather them just good products on here to help themselves AND the site.

Clicking on these words can lead to cool Ebay auctions and I've had this on the Archives pages for awhile now and this month we had two sales in a row with every little pageviews.

Mike Olbinski · January 24th, 2008, 08:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian in Mesa

I don't know how it gets reported, but we've purchased between $80-90 in the last 2 months through Amazon using the ASFN store link.

Thanks Brian, I am not saying we don't see ANYTHING through it, but maybe 1-2 orders a month now...the first month we had 13 because this was all front and center for everyone.

I appreciate all that personally, it means a lot.

AZZenny · January 24th, 2008, 08:45 PM

HATE IT.

D-Dogg · January 25th, 2008, 01:00 AM

The worst kind of advertising, IMO. Just awful. I think someone is posting some link to something relevant, and it's an ebay junk link.

No thanks.

One gets hyperlinked? Here's one? Of course I think that might be legit.

I don't like them at all man...just being honest.