[vox] Advertising on LUGOD.org

[Bill Kendrick]

On Tue, May 19, 2009 at 07:16:03AM -0700, Gandalf  Parker wrote:
> A) do we need the money? I know its nice but Im asking if there are outgoing expenses we need to keep up with

I don't know, because I've been waiting for months to find out what LUGOD's
bank balance is. :(  We do have outgoing expenses, such as:

* food and supplies for anniversary meetings
* paying for meeting room (after hours or on library-is-closed days)
* large runs of flyer photocopies

Plus I want to make sure we have enough $$ around for when/if the projector
ever kicks the bucket.  (Or, at the least, the bulb finally dying.)


> B) Im a dying breed but still abit of a stickler about .org vs .com and its too bad that lugod.com is harvested. Maybe another variation for a cheap .com name we could run from the same directory even and avoid most questions that come to mind.

This is a matter of outgoing link vs content at the site, and purpose of
the organization as a whole, so this doesn't worry me too much.


> C) have we ever claimed non-profit?

You discovered that.  Yes.  501(c)7.   (Sorry, not tax-deductable.
We applied for a 501(c)3, but were given the 7.)


> D) does someone want to check each site to see if we want to link to it? People still look on links as a form of recommendation. Its getting important to check sites and banners to make sure they arent dangerous links

Well, of course.  I'm not going to link willy-nilly. :)
See below.


> E) once you accept one, can you turn down one? On what basis? Can we say "that just isnt something we would link to"

This is something we'd want to discuss with them.  But, see below. :)


> Personally, based on my background, if we wanted to trickle in some pennies to help defray costs and benefit from our traffic rating Id rather see us open affiliate acounts. We could use our expertise to do reviews and recommends to books with links to Amazon.com or linux geek items on CafePress.

For this to really be meaningful, I think a lot more work needs to go into it.
Work that I don't particularly want to waste my time doing, since I think
there's not much bang for the buck.  (Or, rather, buck for the time...?)

I don't want LUGOD's purpose (or LUGOD.org's webmaster's job) to become
an affiliate marketer. :)


<smip> 
> Side comments: whicher direction you decide to go...
> the integral worth of our site along these lines and SEO can be greatly increased by adding a blog to cache articles, a dynamic news link to display API articles about linux and open source, a forum, and make more use of the facebook group.

Facebook group could be used more... maybe.  I mean, we only have about
20 people in that group.  There were more people than that at last night's
meeting, alone!

Again... LUGOD.org is the central and definitive place for info about LUGOD.
LinkedIn and Facebook are just gravy.  I don't have much time, personally,
to make those "super awesome."  (In fact, I'm not sure they even COULD be
"super awesome", compared to the amount of archived data, club info, etc.
that we already have at the main website.)


So anyway, here's a snippet of the response I got when I asked these folks
"what exactly is it you want from us?" ;)

   CareerAds by EnticeLabs is a publisher-friendly service that allows sites
   like www.lugod.org to advertise job opportunities that are both
   geographically and professionally relevant to their readers.  For sites
   that have a professional-centric readership there is no better way to
   maximize the value of your site than CareerAds.

   Here are some quick facts:

     o Make as much as $5 or more per click
     o Never make less than $.75 per click
     o Most ads reduce your site's perceived value.  Our ads boost it, and
       offer some of the highest payouts in the industry
     o It's really simple to set up and maintain
     o You will have access to a first rate support team and dedicated
       account manager

   The nice thing about CareerAds is that there is no obligation and so you
   can test it over a couple of months to see if it makes sense for a long
   term partnership.


So sounds good to me.  We already linked to a variety of other job-related
sites without having any kind of relationship with those sites (let alone
receiving any kind of monetary benefit for doing so), simply as a service
to our own membership.


Further comments?

-bill!