Posted by Lorraine on March 17, 2001, at 16:03:09
In reply to Re: advertising, posted by Dr. Bob on February 27, 2001, at 17:45:24
OK. I need to just start pulling out pieces of information and get started here...
Advertising. Although this sounds easy, I think it's not. For one thing, the bottom has fallen out of the market and a lot of dot.com, including those involved with advertising, have gone belly up. Ad rates that applied a year ago have dropped substantially and are still on the down slide. A lot of the companies that could service you are slow pay or no pay, with the lights barely on. On top of that a lot of the ad vendors exclude "chat rooms, message boards" etc. For example, item 13 on Ad-Ups application states: "13. Will the ads appear only on subject-focused, content pages of your website (ie, you understand that ads are NOT allowed on chat, email, forum, BBS, or message board pages)?" (http://www.ad-up.com/new/adup_ws_mail.html)
If you want a flavor of what's going on generally, look at Adbility, which reviews ad reps and so forth. http://www.adbility.com/show.asp?cat_id=168
Their reviews are riddled with words like "light are (barely) on" or "the CEO has left the building". Most of the companies noted on their list do not provide "requirement" information unless you fill out a form specifying the particulars. I suspect the "no message boards" rule may be wide spread, but there is no way to know without asking each company.I found a good article on Affilate Marketing for Non-Profits. http://www.clickz.com/article/cz.3061.html
This might be a viable approach. You could use igive and some of the other affilation programs. This does not seem out of line with what you are trying to do here in terms of tone. You could also sign up as a charity on some of the charitable giving organization like GuideStar. Are you incorporated as a nonprofit? Do you file tax returns on Psycho-Babble?An example of a nonprofit that has all of the donation angles wired is Make a Wish foundation. Check out their approach: http://www.wish.org/home/frame_give.htm
I am finding a lot of info on nonprofit fund raising on line and so forth. I guess I am leaning toward going the nonprofit route, but this could entail incorporating as a nonprofit and filing tax returns. I don't know how you feel about this. I could help (I'm a lawyer, but I've never filed for nonprofit incorporation...still I could figure it out. There would be cost involved though probably--incorporation fees charged by the state, filing fees by the agencies located near Sacramento.) We could also try to find a company that would host your site for free. (I think this might be promising). Either way we go, there is lots of work to be done. That is why I want to get a feel for your views before I go further. We are at the fork. Nonprofit or commercial approach? Let me know.
> > > I've felt uncomfortable about soliciting... Maybe it's something I just need to get over?
> >
> > Yes, I think "get over" would be good :-)
>
> OK, I'll try... :-)
>
> > Is the Amazon and other affiliates a viable alternative--could it be grown in terms of revenues to make it worth while? Also the Support thing, I would definately do. Maybe I can provide you some examples of both done "with restraint".
>
> I'd appreciate some restrained examples, thanks. The Amazon thing I did because it was such a neat idea, but I'm not sure it would make sense to try to be more of a store...
>
> > Also--did you look into web hosting reduced or free due to your "charitable" service? Is this worth pursuing? (Of the $300, what % of web hosting charges?)
>
> I asked the last time I upgraded, and they ignored the question. :-) 100% of the $300 is for web hosting, we just keep growing and growing...
>
> Bob
poster:Lorraine
thread:619
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20010315/msgs/836.html