Seriously contemplating something...asking for feedback
 

I am contemplating adding advertising to Cougarguard.com in the form of google ads.

Here are the reasons:

1. The costs for running the site are essentially fixed (to a point). If we have 10 people here, or 200 people here, the cost is the same. However, I don't anticipate the donations of the past to match the donations of the near future, which leaves a small (in the scheme of things) deficit. The meager revenue that might be obtained from the meager traffic here would help sustain the financial operations of the site.

Having said that:

2. I didn't start CG as a money-making enterprise. I made choices that were actually counter to the financial interests of the site, because this was a labor of love. It still is not a business enterprise. Which makes it very different from sites such as Cougarboard.com. I have no problem with other sites being a business. In fact, some might argue that running it as a business is the best way, since you will tend to cater to the majority of posters by making them happy. I'm not here to make people happy, CG doesn't exist to make people happy. I don't care if CG is popular, I don't care if it makes money. Dare I say, I might not even be convinced that CG should exist. But that is a discussion for another day.

So........

3. If we run a surplus (which I doubt will happen, but let's be optimistic), we will do something that I have wanted to do for a long time. That money will go to charitable causes. I haven't decided what cause, or whether this will be me choosing a cause, or holding a vote on a number of causes I have selected, or giving to causes that are user-selected and user-voted. The cause might be secular, or it might be religious (i.e. Perpetual Education Fund). I intend the cause to fit with the overall mission of CG, which in moments of delusion of grandeur, is to make the world a slightly better place. Regardless of how a cause is selected, the information will be made public by me.

4. There are different levels of ads--lots of ads or few ads, text ads or image ads, etc. There would need to be some experimentation to see how obnoxious they are. Remember, that the ads are probably most targeted towards people that stumble here via search engines or are non-registered users. For example, there is a setting that will give registered users less ads than non-registered readers.

Now that is on the table, please give me your feedback, whether public or private.

I say do it, if only to keep the site going.

Of course, it's for a selfish reason. This is the site where I can keep in contact with you, Archaea and a few others.

I don't understand the dilemma. WHy not?

Don't see the problem at all.

I flipped the switch.

Kind of underwhelming, mostly because there is supposed to be an ad at the top of the page, which is not showing. Probably due to prior customization. I'm not going to worry about that for now.

Again, if you are a lurker, you are going see more ads than if you are registered and logged in.

and thus starts the era of "cougar" "cougar milf" and "credit guard" adds on cougarguard. Sheesh.

I don't see any ads at all. I agree with the others, no reason not to do it.

Right now ads are at the very bottom of the page, out of sight, out of mind.

If today's compensation rate holds steady, well, it will have hardly been worth adding them at all. :) My couch cushions are a veritable bounty compared to this.

This site however, with small numbers who are regulars and tend to have a lot of page-views are not really the right people for getting click-throughs. The ideal click-through site would be one where you are looking to buy something, a search engine sends you to the site for more information, and there you find an ad that is even more geared towards solving your problem. This is not that site.

But no worries, it is what it is. We won't need to hold our breath about selecting a charity.

When I am not at work, I will click on the MILF Cougar ad to help you out.

I saw ads yesterday, and they were in the box with the text of the lead message of the thread. It confused me at first until I realized what it was. LDS Singles On-line was the top ad, btw.