Blue
Well-known member
Out of the box, no addons needed. When they purchase an upgrade add a secondary usergroup and then do not display ads to that usergroup. That gives the people who do not like ads an option and helps support the site.
Do you show ads to members?
- Thread starter System0
- Start date
MattW
Well-known member
I've had no issues with it running on mine.
Blue
Well-known member
I've been using Viglink for close to a year with no problems.
System0
Active member
It was fine on chrome but IE users could not sign in properly. I only found out about the problem after a member emailed me about it. I came to XenForo and saw that many other people had the same problem. I recommend logging into your forum using IE 6, 7 or 8 to see if you have the same issue.
I've not used them. Have you used skimlinks as well? How do they compare for income generated via your forum?
steven s
Well-known member
I show ads in the header, footer and text ads for all. Guests get an extra add after the first message.
My members have no problem with the ads. They are realistic and understand that hosting costs money.
Some have ad blockers and others just ignore them.
Thankfully enough people click on them.
steven s
Well-known member
Calling targeted ads spam is a bit extreme. If someone is reading a section devoted to one topic, the ad normally relevant.
Adam Howard
Well-known member
Socially Uncensored has remained ad free for almost 2 years now, since it's original founding.
It would be pointless for us to add them anyways....
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/adblock-plus/?src=cb-dl-users
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/elemhidehelper/?src=cb-dl-users
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/adblock-plus-pop-up-addon/?src=cb-dl-users
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/flashblock/?src=cb-dl-users
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/noscript/?src=cb-dl-users
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/betterprivacy/?src=cb-dl-users
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/wot-safe-browsing-tool/?src=cb-dl-users
http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/collusion/
http://www.safer-networking.org
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html
http://www.abelhadigital.com/hostsman
www.kaspersky.com/kaspersky_internet_security
^^ The above is the minimum standard that I and my users use....
When was the last time you saw a text ad? Over 2 years ago
When was the last time you saw a flash ad? Over 1 year ago
When was the last time you saw a banner ad? Over 3 years ago
There is even an add-on that prevents and can skip over or block out those ads you see in arcade games. There is another add-on that wipes clean referral links.
SU community runs on donations only (and often out of pocket)
It would be pointless for us to add them anyways....
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/adblock-plus/?src=cb-dl-users
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/elemhidehelper/?src=cb-dl-users
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/adblock-plus-pop-up-addon/?src=cb-dl-users
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/flashblock/?src=cb-dl-users
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/noscript/?src=cb-dl-users
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/betterprivacy/?src=cb-dl-users
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/wot-safe-browsing-tool/?src=cb-dl-users
http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/collusion/
http://www.safer-networking.org
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html
http://www.abelhadigital.com/hostsman
www.kaspersky.com/kaspersky_internet_security
^^ The above is the minimum standard that I and my users use....
When was the last time you saw a text ad? Over 2 years ago
When was the last time you saw a flash ad? Over 1 year ago
When was the last time you saw a banner ad? Over 3 years ago
There is even an add-on that prevents and can skip over or block out those ads you see in arcade games. There is another add-on that wipes clean referral links.
SU community runs on donations only (and often out of pocket)
Blue
Well-known member
Never used Skimlinks so I can't say.
steven s
Well-known member
I don't always have enough donations and can't afford out of pocket.
For everyone who says they don't click ads or don't even see them, tell that to google and the people that visit my site.
Between site supporter donations, adsense, viglinks, vibrantmedia I'm able to cover my expenses and then some.
I don't know why people [not you] think ads are so horrible.
It also provides content to my members.
When sites plaster dozens of ads on a page, that is a different story.
CTXMedia
Well-known member
Adam Howard
Well-known member
On my site, not 1 of those would show up in their browser.... Maybe guest though
It is worth noting that I had a very busy site once where we had 5,000+ post per week (not an over statement) and a few hundred members online (daily). We added viglinks (or something along those lines) and ended up with 100 new post in 3 months and almost no one online. The site died almost over night.
steven s
Well-known member
Are you saying the site dies because of ads to registered users?
craigiri
Well-known member
I have never had a complaint about showing ads. If your forum content is valuable, chance are that the ads from vendors and adsense will be somewhat related, so they have some value in themselves.
We get very decent click through from our relevant ads from vendors - maybe .5 or .6%, which I consider high on a forum because there are so many impressions....
Not only do we not get complaints, but we are generally showered with praise for providing the resource. Our users - who are generally American and Canadian homeowner - are well versed in the idea that a good site may need revenue to sustain itself.
I would have done a lot of my site just as a labor of love anyway - but the income has probably made it last longer (17 years now)....I'd have probably gotten bored if no reward was given!
We get very decent click through from our relevant ads from vendors - maybe .5 or .6%, which I consider high on a forum because there are so many impressions....
Not only do we not get complaints, but we are generally showered with praise for providing the resource. Our users - who are generally American and Canadian homeowner - are well versed in the idea that a good site may need revenue to sustain itself.
I would have done a lot of my site just as a labor of love anyway - but the income has probably made it last longer (17 years now)....I'd have probably gotten bored if no reward was given!
Adam Howard
Well-known member
We added ads (simple text ads) and there was a huge uprising. Site was flooded with complaints that they wouldn't sit around and accept ads (they called it spam). We thought it would be the normal troll here or there and in time would play its self out, but it really did end up being the complete community.
steven s
Well-known member
That's amazing to hear. My members understand that it cost money to host a site. I've even asked the paid site supporters if they'd prefer me to block ads from them. They didn't care. They just ignore them anyway.
They have a pretty hard core definition of spam. I consider spam unsolicited. Nowadays ads are directly based on content, cookie trails and geoip.
Just wait for Facebook to pull all the stops when it comes to advertising. People haven't seen anything yet.
Adam Howard
Well-known member
I have the unwilling habit of attracting extreme individuals.
A lot of my members on my current site keep asking me to remove Facebook actually.... Out of all our members, only 24 have ever liked us on Facebook. I get most of them talking to me on Twitter and some on Google+ I think I could discontinue Facebook and no one would care except to say, thanks.
Of course my sites have never stuck to the universal norms. For example, Internet Explorer is ranked #8 on my site with Google Chrome and Firefox fighting for the #1 spot. And again, most of them hate social network sites and so Twitter & Google+ are used, but not often.
On XF my philosophy has been that registered users provide the content, with which the search engines send unregistered users our way. The payback for registered users is that they don have to see the adds, other than a single line of text plugging Amazon.
Unregistered users aren't so fortunate, but I do let them know up front that if they register, the ads disappear.
Unregistered users aren't so fortunate, but I do let them know up front that if they register, the ads disappear.
Adam Howard
Well-known member
^ I think I like this idea, but you would have to be careful not to overdue it. I would it could give a negative view and maybe discourage people from joining.
melbo
Well-known member
I think there is a distinction between a hobby site and a commercial site. My server and hosting fees don't allow me the option of of not monetizing the site anymore. Registered users are on a forum to hang out - they are technically savvy and mostly ad-blind. Googlers are searchers and rarely even see your home page or forum list. They enter into a thread on a search string and even if they receive some info from that thread, they are ripe to continue searching. If they can leave the site via an ad rather than hitting back or home, so much the better for me.
My 9 year old site was a hobby site for a few years and sometimes I long for those good old days... Over the years, we've gone from $5 a month shared hosting to VPS to better VPS to dedicated to better dedicated to better-better dedicated with master and slave config.
For my situation, it just doesn't make sense to show ads to members even if they do understnd that the site needs to be supported. We've grown well beyond the trickle of $5 - $10 donations although we still get a few hundred a month on recurring support.
Monetizing a site isn't like painting the outside of your house... Try different ad schemes, see what happens and always be tweaking. Ads can be changed on the fly dependent on your forum, it's niche and your userbase.
My 9 year old site was a hobby site for a few years and sometimes I long for those good old days... Over the years, we've gone from $5 a month shared hosting to VPS to better VPS to dedicated to better dedicated to better-better dedicated with master and slave config.
For my situation, it just doesn't make sense to show ads to members even if they do understnd that the site needs to be supported. We've grown well beyond the trickle of $5 - $10 donations although we still get a few hundred a month on recurring support.
Monetizing a site isn't like painting the outside of your house... Try different ad schemes, see what happens and always be tweaking. Ads can be changed on the fly dependent on your forum, it's niche and your userbase.
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