The philosophy of allowing ads on a forum

Started by rcane, January 25, 2021, 11:37:48 AM

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rcane

Mornin'

I've never run ads berfore, and I was curious if anyone has a good primer on the subject.

Once up and running, the membergroup count could be around 15,000.   However, it's a private group (invite only) and having never worked with ads before:

1. are they by click or simply paid per run?
2. do ads collect information if they are not clicked on?
3. do ads collect information if they ARE clicked on?

Like I said, a primer would be a great foundation from which to proceed.

thank you for taking a moment to look at this.

Aleksi "Lex" Kilpinen

Short version:

1. They can be both, either or even neither. For example Google Adsense does both CPC (Cost per click) and CPM (Cost per mille).
2. Yes. Unless you host static ads yourself.
3. Yes. Unless you host static ads yourself.

For 2. and 3. the amount and scope of information will depend on a lot of variables, that are not really even touched upon here.
Slava
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shadav

a side note, if your forum is private, you won't be able to use most ad companies, like google, since they won't be able to access the forum.
In this case you'd need to set up your own ads or ad space for sell (then again most people won't buy a spot if they can't actually see it, so then only your own members would be possibly buying ad space)

if memory serves you charge people to be members on your site, correct? If so, to me that's just bad practice....if a site is making money from it's users, putting ads is kind of tacky

rcane

Shadav,

Yes, you're correct there's a subscription to join ($1) to cover things. 

I wasn't looking to skim with ads too, rather I just wanted to learn about the process if it ever came to pass.  Also, since this isn't really a for-profit endeavor I don't see myself taking on the kind of work needed to keep it private AND host ads of any kind.

vbgamer45

Adsense does not really like private forums. They want to see the content for the ads. Ads in general have low click though rate on forums since it is the same users.     
Now if you have sponsors for your forum you could make a decent amount from that.
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rcane

Is there a specific format for sponsors' ads / presence on the site?
Were I to spend any time educating myself on the two, that route would be more suitable I think.

vbgamer45

It is going to vary site to site as there are many places to display ads/sponsorships.  I have an ad management mod on the mod site which can be used to place ads.
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landyvlad

Quote from: rcane on January 25, 2021, 03:46:03 PM
Is there a specific format for sponsors' ads / presence on the site?
Were I to spend any time educating myself on the two, that route would be more suitable I think.

A forum I am on has:

Forum sponsors
A sponsor pays x dollars per year for which they get a business user name, and a sub-forum where they can post business news. specials, whatever they want.

Advertisers
An ad banner cycled through the header each page refresh.

It's a big forum, albeit in a specialist area (as are most forums, limiting somewhat the potential advertiser/sponsor pool). revenue from sponsors/advertising only just covers operating expenses - and sometimes not even that.


Just remember the main rules of forum success, which are especially true when considering advertising.

1. Don't annoy your forum members / users.
2. See rule 1 .
3. Most users will run an ad-blocker anyway.
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Quote from: landyvlad on January 26, 2021, 11:39:05 PMJust remember the main rules of forum success, which are especially true when considering advertising.

1. Don't annoy your forum members / users.
2. See rule 1 .

+1
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