What's going on with the Straight Dope business model?

[Metacom]

@Brainiac4

And how about an option for me to pay to eliminate ads? I’d happily pay extra for an ad-free version of the SDMB.

Seconded.

And a different title would be icing. Not necessary, but nice. Maybe “Double Plus Charter Member” or “Double Plus Member,” as appropriate.

[DrDeth]

@Brainiac4

How about Google Adwords, rather than banners? Unless you want to deal with the headaches of managing banners yourself, including rotation and the like, you’re probably going to be dealing with an advertising provider, which means that the content of the ads would be out of your control. Adwords are are far less intrusive and malware-laden.

Yes, I agree, and Adwords even some times generate some real humor, as the ads try and match themselves to a topic- which in the case of some threads here on the SDMB- is like watching a chameleon sitting on plaid fabric.

[paperbackwriter]

Super double plus ungood idea on unnormal titles.
-Ministry of Truth

[Phedre_no_Delaunay]

Are these ads going to be for paying customers or only for guests?

[DrDeth]

@Ed Zotti

I hear you. We’re all a little concerned about getting ads that will junk up the site. No way do we want (well, no way do I want) popups and popunders. I’m thinking simple ad banners as on the SD home page, which you can easily scroll off. However, we’ve just started looking into this and don’t know what’s out there, so we’ll have to defer discussion until we get some more information.

Thanks, my concerns are alleviated.

[Shalmanese]

I’ve been very happy with google adwords and have actually clicked and bought stuff several times. Also, amazon sponsered links and the like are a unobtrusive way to generate some revenue.

[Chronos]

Another vote to give Amazon sponsorship another look. I buy about $100 worth of books a year from Amazon, and I would imagine I’m not too far from typical. If the Straight Dope were to set up a sponsorship deal, I would not hesitate to buy all of my Amazon books through it. Last I heard, the sponsorship was 5%; if that’s still the case, then we’re looking at a sizeable fraction of the subscription price, for essentially no added burden to the members. In fact, we might expect a fair number of folks to buy this way even if they’re not buying a subscription. Something which might reasonably be expected to increase revenues by 30% should not be overlooked.

[Tabby_Cat]

@Ed Zotti

I hear you. We’re all a little concerned about getting ads that will junk up the site. No way do we want (well, no way do I want) popups and popunders. I’m thinking simple ad banners as on the SD home page, which you can easily scroll off. However, we’ve just started looking into this and don’t know what’s out there, so we’ll have to defer discussion until we get some more information.

I would second Amazon and simple banners on the SD homepage, and no where else. Certainly not google adwords in each thread.

imagines lycos-style adwords at the side of each thread

:eek: :mad:

[Algernon]

@Chronos

Another vote to give Amazon sponsorship another look.

Add my vote to this approach.

I’d immediately switch from buying direct from Amazon to buying via the Straight Dope.

[DrDeth]

I buy a lot of stuff from Amazon…

[Gaudere]

Amazon seems a good idea to me too. Heck, they’d have made at least $35 off of me that way last year.

[Jonathan_Chance]

Might tempt me. I just checked my Quicken records. We spent over $1200 at Amazon in the last 12 months.

There is simply no bookstore in this benighted town.

[picker]

Another vote for Amazon. I spend a lot of money there.

You might also look to Musician’s Friend. They’re the Amazon of the music world, and most every pro or semi-pro musician I know buys from them. I would happily click through from here, and the average order price there is a lot more than Amazon (at least for me…)

[gotpasswords]

Past events are not a guarantee of future possibilities, but I spent over $4000 at Amazon in the last year, and don’t forsee the pattern changing much.

Too bad we can’t assign retroactive referral benefits if SDMB hooks up with Amazon.

[silenus]

Only $4000? What are you, some kind of illiterate?

I fourth the Amazon idea, if, and only if necessary.

[ITR_champion]

@Chronos

Might I add, by the way, that this particular naysayer is very glad to have been wrong.

This one as well.

[SmackFu]

So things weren’t actually OK?

[TellMeI_mNotCrazy]

@SmackFu

So things weren’t actually OK?

He said things were “going OK” which is a pretty moderate response, and in the very same message he mentions that they’re looking into possible ad revenue and that the server was already maxed out.

[dropzone]

As the ads are currently for sites that are as unlikely as possible for our members to click are we getting any money at all from Google or is this suicidal, driving members away while not producing any revenue?

[Ed_Zotti]

@dropzone

As the ads are currently for sites that are as unlikely as possible for our members to click are we getting any money at all from Google or is this suicidal, driving members away while not producing any revenue?

Don’t get excited. It’ll take awhile for Google to index all our pages; till it does so, the ads in many threads will be generic. That said, we don’t really know how well things will work on a fast-moving site with dynamically generated pages and lots of new threads. We’ll just have to see.