Generating income for ... Cool stuff! EVERYONE PLEASE READ

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1

Hi all,

As I hope you all realise by now, this site has no ulterior motive other than to connect riders, so we can talk shit, organise stuff, hang out, and find the good bits on ebay before anybody else does!

That being said, I have noticed that this site is getting more and more traffic, and it things are only getting bigger. There have been a lot of organised rides, races, and get togethers over the past months, and I kind of feel sad that I’ve been missing out!

So, in light of all this, I would like to float a proposition with everyone:

Since this site is getting quite a bit of traffic, I think we could in a sense capitalise on it - Please note I used the word we, I don’t want anyone getting the wrong idea. My idea is this: I think we should start running unobtrusive ads on this site, and use all the proceeds to help sponsor events and races, having monthly prizes, and maybe getting some jerseys or other things off the ground. I suggest that the finances be publicly disclosed, both earnings and expenditure. I also suggest we as a group think about how to best use any funds we have.

Now, I have no idea how much we can actually generate… So if people are interested in the idea, and will not be put off by it, offended by it, or leave the site and stop hanging out because of it, then I think we should run a one month trial, and see how it goes.

What do you guys think? How do you feel about it? This site is as much yours as it is mine - I was simply the first person here :slight_smile:

So to be clear: I or any other member of the site would not be personally making a profit. All monies would be publicly disclosed, and we would as a group think about who and how to sponsor, and what to giveaway.

Lets talk!

nick

2

Sounds like a good idea. We’ll have to be very clear on who controls the finances though and how final decisions on expenditure is made.

Des

3

Unobtrusive sounds fine. Popups, smiley faces and university degrees can only lead to stabbing motions (ala Psycho) and avoidance.

re: finances
I thought we’d have to do some kind of fund-raiser at some stage, to cover site costs, so the idea of using this site to actually make money is quite a novelty. Keeping everything out in the open sounds very sensible.

4

I think we should look at this not in terms of making money, as such, but more about raising funds for the purpose of funding stuff for the members and events, like alleycats and BBQs and whatever else.

I’m a bit wary of ads because I like ads about as much as spammers, but I think Nick’s idea is good and it’s worth a trial run to see how it works out. If it does then great.

If it doesn’t then at least we won’t be left wondering whether it was a good idea or not.

5

Aye, I wasn’t thinking of a capitalist venture, more along the lines of being surprised that the site could possibly pay for itself.

6

Put some google adwords ads up and I will give everyone the grease monkey script (Firefox only) that I wrote a while back that clicks them in the background and then removes them from the page/DOM.

7

OK … there are members around the country. So what’s a good way to spread the $$$ around?

8

OK … there are members around the country. So what’s a good way to spread the $$$ around?[/quote]

I guess that’s something we’ll have to work out.

9

Do you actually get ANY money for Google adwords tristan? I had always assumed that they were a waste of time?

I s’pose if they work, they would be tollerable, esp. with that greasemonkey script! (can you please send me that one please, or direct to where you have it hosted, if applicable? Does it block google ads in gmail too - do they use the same process?)

10

I’ll leave this thread going for a few days or something to let other people bring anything else up - But it seems people are ok with giving it a try. I mean, i really hate ads also, but if Tristan has a script, that’s even better - Especially if it auto-clicks!

In terms of distribution across the country, we’ll need to think about it. It also depends on how much can actually be made…

n

11

I don’t mind ads, the only things that give me shits about them are:

  • their bandwidth. High animation gifs on every page are NOT cool.
  • their physical size on the screen. OK in some places, not all on the top.

Google text ads are perfect in so many ways, small, unobtrusive, text, contextually relevant. I’m not sure how much $ they actually contribute though.

I would prefer to know that the income from the ads went into paying for the hosting and bandwidth charges, and if there was any left over the Admin would feel a strong moral obligation to add some content or perform some maintenance to justify their pocketing it :slight_smile: .

  • Joel
12

Well, it would certainly be text ads - No animation or pop-under crap. I mean, in a perfect world maybe a bike store or two would give us a few hundred bucks a month to put their logo on the site or something, a bit like Farkin.net which I used to frequent. But more than likely it will be Google adsense textads unless a bike store jumps out of nowhere.

In terms of hosting, I and a friend do cheap hosting, and we write this website off. The whole idea of doing the hosting business was so that we could host our own sites for free :slight_smile:

n

13

All sounds good to me.

I do hate ads. Slow page loading down if they are gifs.

I also would prefer to see any income go back into the site.

Alternatively (depending on the amount earnt) you could rotate it around the states for events etc.

Or states could put an expression of interest in too the powers that be for funding for an event that they want to got too.

Just ideas.

Tristan, I love the idea of that script though.

Cheers

Lats

14

Give me a couple days to dig the grease monkey script up at home.

Edit…

Google have changed the way they inject their ads into the page/dom. Will do some homework on this one.

15

Good point. I have no dramas taking the lead for all the Brisbane lads up here. I think it is hard to split the money even, as there is an uneven spread of members. The 2 things that I would like to do for BNE, and they would be happening anyway…is a long ride with a BBQ/lunch halfway, and a mock track day for all (chandler velodrome). Even being conservative, my quess would be only max 10 members turning up.

The truth is, the above 2 events would happen regardless with/without assistance. I would firstly like the cost of the website to be covered, and the cost of the initial stickers made (and any financial loss on the t-shirts).

We also have alot of ‘lurkers’ on this forum, and it would be slightly unfair of these people who don’t contribute to benefit.

In the long term, and I am not sure how much $ is generated from the site, but maybe 2-5 racing jerseys could be made up for those who race on the track (with fixed.org.au) on then for promotion purposes…

One little goal is for a certain ‘pair’ on this forum to race the big madison down in Vic…

16

How about some custom made fixed.org.au Volleys?

17

Yep.
Rhino is right about QLD being a bit behind with the Fixed Gear love.
I have started preaching though and hopefully we will get some of the lurkers to embrace it.
I have only ridden mine once but am hooked.
I reckon we just need to concentrate on it being social and most of all about being fun on your bike with no political crap and we will be a lot of the way there.

18

Done. Give me a day to get the photos up…

19

Who else is planning on doing this one??

Rhino, are you back in melbourne over the christmas new years period - a group of us are planning on going to a couple of the chrissie carnivals! - I should start a new thread on this one.

I like the idea of the Jerseys. There are too many serious track heads out there who could use a bit of fixed fun in their faces.

20

We had 9 in our fixed group on the Bris-Goldie 100k yesterday. Rhino and TR were conspicuous by there absence. A few single speeders also that should see the light easily and many others commenting on the bikes and how it could be fun to try.

Rhino we see now it was the track gods not wanting you to ride fixed on the road. Social rides with food and beer are hard to argue with, I don’t think any of us there yesterday would argue (especially not In the Pink)