Forum running costs

[Jason]

Hey guys,

Just a reminder that if you want to help Dylan with the running costs of the forum he has set up a donation page, can be found here:

http://www.navara.asia/misc.php?do=donate

Cheers,

Jason.

 

[Rumpig]

Done.

 

[Malicious]

Hey Jason, sent Dylan a PM about costs how much is it costing a year to run? Dylan hasn't indicated yet. Working on some projects that should help nicely, so far temp sensors have returned $50 to the forum with more to follow soon, hoping it should raise enough to cover a year

 

[nathand22]

Just throwing up an idea,
maybe Dylan could have a members ship fee like the frontier forum has, its not compulsory, as far as i could work out there are four levels from the free to the so called "gold" membership level with bronze and silver in between. If you do pay for one of these memberships it entitles the member to certain things, like unique "smilies" and a little members badge to show the level of membership.
Maybe for the gold you can advertise your business and promote your items in threads.
IMO if companies like Monster Rides, Ironman even Zordo ect ect want to make money through the forum they should pay a membership fee all be it a relatively small, maybe $250 per year, as far as i can work out the forum gets more then 4000 visits per month so if people companies want a target audience then forums like this are a great start to spread the word, thats why we see such companies popping up on every forum. So why not chip in for the up keep of a site that will effectively earn them money.

I think more then a few members will happily pay a small fee if it gets them a sticker and maybe a fancy little feature for eg, maybe having more pics allowed in the garage or a gold member type logo on their user name, things like that anyway just to show the commitment and appreciation to the forum.

just throwing up some ideas, maybe a silly a suggestion.

 

[Cobez]

Im happy to sling a few bucks towards the forum, its saved me heaps of cash in the last 3 or so years.

And that membership idea sounds pretty good actually, id pay for a gold membership happily.

 

[Cobez]

Just donated. If the idea goes ahead for the memberships, im in

 

[Ben54b]

Hey guys, further to nathand22's thoughts, the two forums I spend most of my time on are both car audio oriented, both of these forums diyma and car audio Australia do not allow business's to advertise themselves in anyway even if they are just individual staff who are forum members. This stops companies from making build threads that are in reality only attemting to lure customers. However if they join as partner businesses or vendors they get special bannering, major linking and effectively ( especially in the case of car audio Australia) they end up being the forums go to people for advice . As I have not really been around here for a while ( busy with the navara sound system rather than it's off road abilities) I am not sure if things have changed but there were several companies that used to be heavily plugged by a lot of members. I am sure that if the right business plan was put to these guys they would come on board. The only concern I would have is that it then almost becomes a john laws situation if not handled correctly " cash for comments". I do apologise if I am out of line with my thoughts as I have not really been active lately these are just my observations. Ben

 

[Jason]

Thanks to those that have donated.

Some good idea's here, I'm sure Dylan will look through when he gets a chance.

 

[Cobez]

Get onboard and donate all you blokes! I only donated $20, but its a good deed to fund a top notch forum we all use. If it saves us minimum $100 a year, then $20 is a small donation out of that saving. Im going to start making a $20 donation every month.

This forum saves me big bucks!

 

[bazt]

Worth $20.00 for the info and laughs

 

[Cobez]

About to do another donation. Keep up the good work fellas!

 

[ST-R]

I threw a tenner in.

Regards

Greg

 

[ndr4]

Yep, same as Greg...

 

[Cobez]

Nice one fellas. Small price to pay for a site full of money saving info. Has saved me thousands so $20 a month is stuff all.

 

[auz1234]

Anyone ever looked into Membership stickers or decals?

Nothing really out there just the Navara Club and the website below, helps promote the forum and could help promote income for the forum as well. I used to be a part of another forum awhile back and they had decals printed up, $10 per sticker depending on the size and colour but actual cost to make the sticker when bought in bulk was like $1.

 

[auz1234]

Donated my $20, well worth it!

 

[Cobez]

Anyone ever looked into Membership stickers or decals? Nothing really out there just the Navara Club and the website below, helps promote the forum and could help promote income for the forum as well. I used to be a part of another forum awhile back and they had decals printed up, $10 per sticker depending on the size and colour but actual cost to make the sticker when bought in bulk was like $1.

Not a bad idea. Little bit of profit for the forum. Obviously have to factor in postage and the time used to get them organised etc.

 

[sparra04]

click on the occasional ad.....or 3

 

[nathand22]

click on the occasional ad.....or 3

I clicked on a few adverts that were in the middle and bottom of the page, bit now they have gone and its just empty space??

 

[ZORDO]

done my bit $100