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More changes...your input is requested

FmGrowit

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In the near future, banners will be included on the forum pages. Currently, the idea is to put whole leaf products that are associated with each forum. Cigarette tobaccos in the Cigarette Tobacco forum, Cigar tobaccos in the Cigar Tobacco forum etc. etc. Many times, there will be special offers for forum members/visitors that will not be available on the store home page.

My question is this...Would you (the member) prefer not to see the banners? The ability to exclude logged in members from viewing advertising banners exists. Visitors would then be the only people who see the banners.

There will also come a time when commercial advertising will be accepted on the forum. These ads will automatically be removed for registered members because they're just going to be a bunch of bullshit ads anyway...hell, I don't even want to see 'em, but I suppose I can create an option for members to see them if they want to.

Let me know your thoughts on the whole leaf banners though. If you'd rather not post your opinion, shoot me a PM.

Thanks,
Don
 

Chicken

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if it's benificial for the site. and promotes some revenue to keep the site going,

THEN DO IT.
 

johnlee1933

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For me banners are a PITA and I routinely block them. However the (pardon the bad word) Google "targeted one line" ads are quite acceptable. They don't annoy me so I read them. I think right now Yahoo is the epitome of poor taste with the amount of bandwidth jamming ads and stuff. I dropped them entirely
 

LeftyRighty

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got no real problem with banners or ads, but popups really irritate me.
although I understand the need for $$$ support, I can live with it.
But, it will be nice to have the option to exclude or block them.
go for it !
 

webmost

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I like capitalism.

It ain't perfect, but it beats the living crap out of every other alternative.

So, yeah, go for it.
 

Knucklehead

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WLT banners are fine. Will they be ads only, or links to the product? How will the specials and discounts appear?

Can I ask about the progress of the toasted Burley here, or would you rather I not do that?
 

holyRYO

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Got to pay the bills, go for it. I also hope you attract advertisers. No downside if members have an option. If not, OK too.
 

FmGrowit

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WLT banners are fine. Will they be ads only, or links to the product? How will the specials and discounts appear?

Can I ask about the progress of the toasted Burley here, or would you rather I not do that?

The WLT banners will be ads to promote the site to visitors to the forum. They will change frequently with new promotions, new product alerts, sales etc. The banners will be linked to a page with more details about the ad. Specials and discounts will be embedded in the banners. There will be NO pop-ups.

WLT Toasted Burley should be discussed in the private forum...not available....yet.
 

FmGrowit

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The banners could include items being made available by other forum members also. Larry can run a special or our resident pipe makers can do some kind of display ad.

I think banners are far more effective for this kind of thing than separate threads. Banners would appear at the top of each page and target specific markets/visitors.
 

leverhead

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The banners could include items being made available by other forum members also. Larry can run a special or our resident pipe makers can do some kind of display ad.

I think banners are far more effective for this kind of thing than separate threads. Banners would appear at the top of each page and target specific markets/visitors.

That sounds like a good idea!
 

deluxestogie

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Outside ads only pay (support the forum) if they are clicked. If they are hidden for a large segment of viewers, then their benefit will be limited. The most problematic ads in my experience are those that attempt to load a slide show of changing pictures. These often cause "script overload" for the browser. So I would suggest that all ads be static (a single display) for a single display instance.

Now, it may be that guest traffic is sufficient to make them pay, but the money is all about click-throughs.

If you can make a buck on advertising, then you'd be doing better than most of today's print media.

Bob
 

DGBAMA

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Don,

I like the banner idea, and I like a lot that you took time to ask all of us for our opinion and want to make any advertising minimally invasive on the forum.

YOUR forum SHOULD sponsor/advertise your BUSINESS. While all of us members enjoy this forum as a place to meet and share information and stories, that is just a side effect of all of us being brought together here, which you make possible by maintaining it. Your work to maintain the forum NEEDS to translate into increased sales for you.

That you will encourage our own membership to advertise here (creating competition for you at times) can only say one thing........you are a CLASS ACT. And this is a strong little community here.

It would be nice if you take other commercial advertising for registered members to have the option of going to their settings page and selecting "hide commercial advertisement" or something similar.
 

Michibacy

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I say put banners up for visitors (outside ads and internal ads) and internal banners for members (not insanely intrusive but a normal sized web banner see this link for banner sizes, from wikipedia.) I for one wouldn't mind paying some to have an ad on the forum for some of the growing products my personal business offers.

It's your website, let it bring you some money. Good luck Don :)
 
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