I added some to the blog and bottom of the forum. In the event that these actually end up making money, I intend to use the cash to 1) rent a private server and buy a VB/IPB license and 2) buy advertising for HeadExplode via Yahoo or w/e and lastly 3) hire a real web designer/developer to redo the site.

You can help by clicking an ad the next time you plan on buying something through Amazon and then just buying whatever it is you were going to buy; you don't have to buy a product from an ad, just get referred to the site via the affiliate link.

If you find any of this exceptionally shitty, by all means speak up. I am open to other (less intrusive) ideas for raising funds. Holla.


Edit: getting rid of this invasive, obnoxious shit until it actually serves a purpose outside of driving away potential community members.

Oh yeah, if this works it will be the only ad on the forums since it is actually really cheap to get rid of the one overhead.

Why is it that the only ad I see is the one at the top? I see no Amazon ad at the bottom. I even have temporarily allowed that shit via NoScript. Actually, now that I look, all I see is "Amazon.com. Get widget" at the bottom right-hand side. It's super small and unnoticeable.

Dunno. I suppose you have to click "Allow all this page."

What version of Firefox are you using?

This is what I see.

Look closer imo.

Well, yeah I saw that. I just thought it would be more apparent. Honestly, no one is even going to notice that to click on it unless they read this thread. Maybe it's because you wanted to keep it less obnoxious, and if so, that's rad. But otherwise, it's really not even noticeable. Maybe I've grown accustomed to blocking out ads that I no longer notice these things like I should.

I'm all about making money for the site, though. I think with our powers combined, we could host something pretty kick-ass hawt dawg.

Lysser wrote:Maybe it's because you wanted to keep it less obnoxious

obv

Lysser wrote:I'm all about making money for the site, though. I think with our powers combined, we could host something pretty kick-ass hawt dawg.

party hard

If you get any action as an amazon affiliate, I'll be amazed, even though that widget is really covert.

Adsense might be a better bet, imo, for a forum. Even then, it's very small until you get boatloads of visitors. And even then...it's just hard to monetize forums in general. The reason why has to do with the kind of "type in traffic" that forums attract, as far as I understand it.

Blogs on the other hand are a different story. I know of people who make ridiculous amounts of money just from affiliate links and banners on their blog.

Yeah, I have 3 Amazon ads on the blog at blog.headexplode.net. And I created an AdSense account earlier today, actually. I'm just waiting for them to get back to me with a confirmation letter.

We only need like $600 to upgrade our server and software. Getting a pro designer to re-do the site would obv be a lot more expensive but possibly doable long term.

You know, I decided a while back it is probably best to just focus 100% of my efforts on the blog/youtube channel and let the forums take care of themselves. When you've got the content, the forum traffic will be there. The more I think about it, the more sure of this position I become.