Paying for the Site

[Zeph]

Jim - As the site grows, which I'm sure it will even in a very crowded field, you will be faced with paying the expenses for which there will be plenty.
All I ask is that you check with your members before selling any advertising, I find ads very distracting, I remember when FM turned to the dark side years ago and brought in banner ads, some called it a necessary evil, I feel it cheapens the site.
Maybe if you become the Chief Operating Critique (COO) and use your great experience to educate less enabled photogs, they will throw money at your feet...
Best of Luck,
Zeph

 

[JimFox]

Hey Zeph,

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this. I do remember when FM switched to Ads, it was visually bothersome at first for sure, though after a while it didn't bother me, especially since I knew it was helping to support the site.

Adding some sort of advertising is something I had planned on doing down the road, though my idea was just one or two simple ad placements. I definitely don't want it to look and feel like the forum is one huge advertisement!

I am in this for the long haul, and for now, expenses are more then the income, but that's to be expected when starting out. As more members join and pay for a Premium membership that definitely helps to offset that. The more current members invite other photographers to join, and they in turn upgrade their memberships, then maybe we won't need to go the route of adding some advertising? Perhaps different tiered memberships? Though I am not sure what else to offer a higher tier as the Premium membership now has access to everything here.

And for those who really want to support the community we have growing here, can currently still go in and pay for a Premium membership even if they are already Premium members, in fact a couple of people have already done in support of the work here.

So we will see down the road how it goes, and I appreciate your thoughts on everyone's thoughts. They are all valuable.

Thanks!

Jim

 

[Zeph]

Check sent...

 

[JimFox]

Thanks Zeph for sending that!

That is awesome, and I certainly appreciate the support for the forum.

Jim