Text ads

[Marcus-SanDiego]

Testing some Google text ads on the site. Want to see if any of you guys are more compelled to use them.

You're my guinea pigs! :mwah

[az3579]

They look much cheaper than the pic ads. I always thought sites with text ads looked a little lame. If you have to have pics (I know you do lol), then rather the pictures; makes the site look more media rich. IMO.

[Kudos]

Any money that keeps the site up is great. I know we don't have a donation corner yet, and ads are the only revenue besides sponsor moneys. As a small community, we might need to have a yearly bake sale to keep the site running? How much does hosting usually cost anyways?

[kayger12]

I have to go on IE to even see them. Same with the affiliate advertiser list. Firefox blocks everything...

[az3579]

Any money that keeps the site up is great. I know we don't have a donation corner yet, and ads are the only revenue besides sponsor moneys. As a small community, we might need to have a yearly bake sale to keep the site running? How much does hosting usually cost anyways?

Sure we do. There's a donation button here somewhere...

[Marcus-SanDiego]

Any money that keeps the site up is great. I know we don't have a donation corner yet, and ads are the only revenue besides sponsor moneys. As a small community, we might need to have a yearly bake sale to keep the site running? How much does hosting usually cost anyways?

You can donate on the advertisers page. There is a link there.

The host is $50 a month. Internet connect is $50 a month. My iPad ISP is $25 a month. Definitely some real costs associated with the site. None of that factors in my time or favors I often call in to make this site work.

[Marcus-SanDiego]

The google ads are interesting, though. On the whole, you guys do not click the media-rich google ads. I was curious to see if you'd click text ads. What I'm trying to gauge is whether I should have google ads -- of any kind -- on the site. Media rich google ads are no more. You guys are not interested in them.

We'll see tomorrow how you did with the text ads. I'm also trying to see how much money is generated by the ads. On another site I own, they're lucrative, because I have a financial site. It attracts financial ads, which are worth more per click.

Tomorrow I will let you know how the text ads did here.

[az3579]

I personally don't see many people clicking on any kind of ads, to be honest...
I think most people respond best to ads that are actually posted by people on the forum, as people would more likely remember "hey, I remember BrakeYourself; Ray is a member on the forums!", or Khoalty's stuff being constantly mentioned in random posts. Nobody talks about the Google ads, and the ads have become so common and mundane that most people just ignore them altogether...

I personally can tell you that I have almost no idea what kind of ads are on the site because I never look at them. Even if you get a new one, I wouldn't notice it. I actually have to go check now...

[Marcus-SanDiego]

I personally don't see many people clicking on any kind of ads, to be honest...
I think most people respond best to ads that are actually posted by people on the forum, as people would more likely remember "hey, I remember BrakeYourself; Ray is a member on the forums!", or Khoalty's stuff being constantly mentioned in random posts. Nobody talks about the Google ads, and the ads have become so common and mundane that most people just ignore them altogether...

I personally can tell you that I have almost no idea what kind of ads are on the site because I never look at them. Even if you get a new one, I wouldn't notice it. I actually have to go check now...

You'd be surprised at how many people click all of the ads, BP. I monitor every click on this site. Advertising works when you're advertising stuff that people want. That's why the non google ads, that I handpicked for the site, get used. The google ads are not controlled by me; they are not of much interest to the membership here.

[az3579]

You'd be surprised at how many people click all of the ads, BP.

Really? This is news to me. Nobody I know clicks on ads whatsoever. Many of them don't even notice it's there.

[Marcus-SanDiego]

Really? This is news to me. Nobody I know clicks on ads whatsoever. Many of them don't even notice it's there.

This site may be different because you guys are actively using the links -- especially that amazon ad. Many of us shop there. It's reflected in my clicks. Ditto tire rack.