FerrariChat.com Official: Should we use IntelliTxt as additional revenue?

LOL, I was just looking at that thread, it's where I retrieved my images
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=60468&

 

AHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA!!!!

 

Personally, as a reader of the forums, it wouldn't bother me if you incorporated contextual advertising because I've been around the advertising industry and realize it's purpose. If anyone uses gmail, you're already participating in contextual advertising because it picks up the text in your email and serves up ads on the side. If you read online media content such as news articles, chances are you're already surrounded by it.

From a sponsor standpoint though, the only thing is increased competition like Jack Russell Racing mentioned. The intellitxt advertisers are sponsoring the site indirectly through those paid clicks. It then becomes a value proposition for the advertising real estate. How much incremental revenue is it worth to fchat in terms of opportunity cost if you raised current sponsor rates and kept intellitxt off. On the other hand, how much would the current sponsors be affected by it since most people on the board have their loyalties. So realistically, how much business would those sponsors have lost any way? Maybe a little, but that attrition would have happened naturally anyways when people use search engines to find other stuff.

Also, is there a way you can test it out on certain portions of the site where it wouldn't conflict with your current advertisters and then start expanding out to where it's a comfortable medium?

 

That's the problem with Google's Adsense program, or it was. Not sure if they've tweaked it to filter out the innappropriate ads. Yahoo Search Marketing's (formerly Overture) contextual advertising is better but not every publishder/site owner can get access to it since you need two million web searches or 20 million page views monthly.

Only from a contextual advertiser standpoint though, I'd be peeved that my targeting quality was being diluted by someone just clicking on it randomly because they didn't see or know that it was a sponsor ad but that element will always be there I guess.

 

if u just want this site to turn further into a get me rich $$$ site, then u should do it.

who cares about the users.
as long as u getting bank, thats all the matters....right?

 

Rob,

I know what your talking about only because I was on a board that had what you were talking about two days ago.

I'm all for you getting additional revenue streams, but I've got to say it was very distracting. It also always made you think of the commercialness of the board and not the community. Unless you could control it to limit it to your sponsors, I think it would have a negative impact. I find the small ads to the edge of some boards far less intrusive.

 

I also was approached by this floating advertising for my web site www.hisoparty.com . Sort of like pop up but with better graphic. I found it quite annoying. Plus it will upset my original fixed banner advertisers...
But I am with you if it will add revenue to support the forum.

 

PLEASE no. I can think of nothing more distracting.

Here is my take. When I see websites that do that, I try to "get in and get out". It's usually a google search on something technical that lands me in some forum. Where I would be tempted to become part of the community on a useful board, I as a new (and potentially future contributing member) see the statement made by the IntelliTxt and am immediately turned off. So I get in, get my info, get out, and don't look back. If the forum stakeholders are so focused on nickel and diming their communitry to death with underlining "Mobil 1" and telling me about a free Jiffy Lube oil change, then they're not going to have me.

The forces at play will gradually motivate entities that can make a profit, to make a profit. That's fine. But you don't have to succomb to every little piece of action thrown up on the table.

This is a unique, amazing place. Just think, our kids will read these archives one day. Don't ruin it.

--Mike

 

Here's an additional thought. After three years of FerrariChat, I'm a pretty "mature" user. I've got my 328 under control, know what I'm into, etc. FerrariChat more and more has shifted to (a) a local (Denver) community focus, (b) entertainment and occasionally insight in terms of reading OT and P&R threads, and (c) actually helping people out of the goodness of my heart and giving back to the community in general that's given a lot to me.

You start putting IntelliTxt all over the place, FerrariChat.com stops becoming a place of escape for me--it's just like all the other areas of life with ads thrown at you here and there, everyone wants a piece of my wallet. I guarantee that you will see me give back less to the community (why should I give back to it with it's "skim off the top" attitude?), and you will see the same from other people. In short, a core of users (many of whom are just the type of user your current ads are trying to target) will visit less, contribute less, and care less... Reducing overall quality, period. Ironically, you might even see a backlash in terms of fewer quality clicks on the current ads!

 

Go ahead but only if there is an "Opt Out" button I can click so I don't have to see it and it doesn't slow the site down.

 

I'm going to start an automotive related company that just calls itself "THE". Our first product will be called "IF" and shortly thereafter the second will be christened "AND". I hope it didn't dilute your message at all.

..and when did "Click" become synonomous with "Cha-Ching"?

 

rob - i think it's kinda silly to post a poll on the topic and then debate the results. it's your sandbox to do as you please with. if the revenue is attractive it's attractive. if it's not it's not. you've got a business to run.

my two cents is that it's invasive and annoying and the links/results will have low-relevance.

if you wanted to do this only for non-subscribers that'd be one thing. i think it's excessive to make subscribers look at it if they don't want to - but my guess is that filter isn't an option.

doody.

 

that's exactly the kind of thing that's counter-productive to your end goal. it's not rational to think everybody would plow over to the rx8 site and play with it for 10 minutes before posting their response. all polls - whether they're formally done via market reserach, or informally done like this - contain huge amounts of crap noise in the results. c'est la vie.

advertising is invasive. this is pretty much a truism, and people know it. they've been advertised to for years and decades. they've been annoyed with ads on web pages for years.

if you're really interested in this, you should implement a trial period (they'll be gleeful to do it) and see what happens. as you point out, 80% of the people did NOT want to switch software. your user base, which is, imo, strongly change-averse is not a wildly useful data sample for you when it comes to stuff like this.

doody.

 

This is a well-written, thoughtful post that reflects my views as well.

Caveat: I have not seen this tool in action and, to be fair, need to spend a little time with the RX8 site to fully judge, but the general comment Mike makes on this site being a place of escape for the constant bombardment of "buy this / try this" ads is right on the money, and a huge part of the appeal for me. It's the same reason why I love the fact that sponsor ads are linked to - so you can find stuff when you need it - rather than being bombarded down the side of the page and in your face, like other automotive forums do.

I vote "no," but do promise to check out the RX8 site.

The idea of Rob putting this poll out and soliciting opinions doesn't seem inconsistent to me - I wonder why it chides others? I haven't been there since the beginning, but in reviewing historical posts it seems Rob has always made it a point to solicit and, more often than not, heed user opinions at key crossroads in the evolution of FChat. I see this as being no different. At the end of the day, he may make a decision that conflicts with the majority view, but at least it will be an informed decision.

 

i spent some a few minutes on the RX8 site.

they seem to have very little inventory to sell. very few words were so highlighted.

generally speaking, it's pretty innocuous. but doing a test HERE i think will give the best feedback.

i was amused that it also tags text in signatures. so if your sig contains a relevant word, you become advertising fodder

if that is indicative of their presence on such a site, i can't imagine they make real money on this stuff (an thus neither would ferrarichat).

it's a cute concept though. it could be WAY more annoying and invasive - for sure. though for the avoidance of doubt, to the extent i have a choice, i vote no still.

doody.

 

This isn't directly related to the topic at hand but a thought on how to generate more revenue for the site. Why not make it a requirement to be a site supporter to post in the business section? Seems like it's a fairly active section and many of the questions are by newbies with under 50 posts. If they want to tap into the wealth of knowledge here then they should kick down a few bucks.

 

A few comments:

1. You'll be lumped into the automotive category and the ads will be for every item under the sun that's even remotely related to cars. Sure everyone here has cars besides Ferrari's and other exotics but we're not here for those cars.

2. The payments will be small. I looked at them a wile back so things might have changed but you only get paid if someone clicks on an ad link. With only 5 words per page what percentage of people will actually click the link? Not just hover their mouse over the word.

3. Asking people to subscribe and then turn their posts into an ad stream seems like double taxation to me. So An opt-out option should be available to subscribed members. This may even be a good reason for some to subscribe so they don't see the InteliText.

4. It will take time for people to get used to it and realize that a green link is a 3rd party ad not a link placed by the original poster.

Did you contact anyone at rx8club or other forums that are using this? They may be able to give you real world data on server performance hits, actual payments, etc.

 

Was just thinking that's a good middle ground if you can implement that.

 

Im glad you have another option to present, since your response to previous requests seemed alittle hardlined.

I think this is good if you need additional revenue streams...also, as a paying member I would not object to addtional yearly fee to the Rissa or Silver plan, Or all these non subs, to start an pay the fee. Whats wrong with that ?

 

i think that would be totally reasonable. a silver subscription is a very small price to pay to not look at those things if they really bother you. and if you'renot willing to subscribe, that's cool - you just have to put up with some revenue-generating mechanisms - it's reasonable.

suggestion: give your existing sponsors a way to get into the game within fchat, through you, and negotiate a much better cut on revenues generated by those advertisers (on fchat or elsewhere).

doody.

 

These guys are pushing hard. They have shown up on a bunch of different forums within the last month. I just put a java script blocker on and I can't see them, as it is kinda annoying having boxes pop up with descriptions of links.