MyADSL Issues

[gljackson]

I'm for the google adsense idea.

Low maintenace - not too distracting.

 

[DFantom]

Little logo not needed here IMO, as that opens up another can of worms.

Didn't say it was needed here, just commented on seeing a similar implementation of a donation system. Why would it open a can of worms though?

 

[fergus]

I'm cool with having Telkom advertise here. Why not let them pay for the site, its their fault it exists!

I think you should try placing some Google adsense ads as they can be quite profitable if you have lots of visitors. You earn money as users click the links so the more visitors (that click) the better your earnings. And they're about as unintrusive as you get. I can also show you a style of doing it that uses up very little page space.

I still think the main url should be www.myadsl.co.za. Everywhere we're mentioned its 'myadsl' but if you go to www.myadsl.co.za it redirects you to www.mybroadband.co.za. How confusing is that? I think it should be the other way around so that www.myadsl.co.za is the main site.

 

[rpm]

Hi guys

Donations are not needed and I do not think we should go down this route. Advertisers get great exposure on this site and while they can cover our running costs I think we should use this avenue.

Regards,

RPM

 

[Luke7777]

Didn't say it was needed here, just commented on seeing a similar implementation of a donation system. Why would it open a can of worms though?

I've got a donor logo, you haven't. So I'm thinking: "Geez, DF is such a cheapskate, can even donate a few cents to the cause" Current reputation system comes to mind where ppl can be "labeled" by others.

RPM, I read you loud and clear and respect your views on this, but for some it's the only way to contribute to the cause AND feel part of the fight

 

[daevor]

IMHO I don't think it's a good idea to have the top and bottom advert spaces with the top being constant (always on the page). When I want to read posts I want the whole display area for that. Fine if there's an advert at the the top of the page (as it is currently), but I want to be able to scroll down and not have to see the advert anymore, and just read posts. Seeing it once on a page is enough.

Regards,
D

 

[lukev]

I personally like that idea as well, but how long after an advertiser has stopped advertising on the site, should they be allowed to stay on the advertiser's page? - considering that it would be used by visitors & forumites to find a product/service they saw in one of the adverts whilst it was still live & paid for?I don't think the revenue will be sufficient to cover costs...

I'd say it should only show active advertisers on the site. Otherwise it becomes like a yellow pages of internet-related companies which can become messy.

 

[arf9999]

Hi rpm,

I think that you should *consider* the following:
1. Google adsense: The ads are not intrusive and will probably generate more income than additional static ads.
2. Joining the OPA. Yes, it is ridiculously expensive (R40K I think), but it does then allow you to have independent verification of visitors, and will allow you to set the correct advertising rates for the volume of myADSL visitors (I'm damn sure that you are undercharging!). In addition it can give you additional leverage when negotiating with government/Telkom/ICASA etc..
3. Ensure that you have approval rights on any advertising (i.e. if it's ugly, flashing or intrusive - you have the right to bin it)

I think that you should *not* consider:

1. Any Flash, iFrame, or java advertising
2. Raising donations - It's just going to cause problems
3. giving Telkom a discount

 

[ettubrute]

2. Our CC registration is now completed and we will open a dedicated bank account and whatever else is needed soon. For MyADSL to act as a company will obviously incur some additional costs, but I think most members agree that it is better that MyADSL acts as a company and not in the name of an individual. We will also be able to give more accurate feedback regarding finances and other ‘company’ related matters. This will certainly not change anything about MyADSL and we will continue to be run by its members. You guys will therefore dictate the direction that we must take.

Your feedback will be of great value as usual.

Question: who are the members of the CC? And, to immediately add a piece of feedback: could you allow (online) members to become (legal) members of the CC? This can be done for, say, a membership "share" of as little as R100,- per member. Thus you raise some funds in the process as well...

 

[rpm]

Hi rpm,

I think that you should *consider* the following:
1. Google adsense: The ads are not intrusive and will probably generate more income than additional static ads.
2. Joining the OPA. Yes, it is ridiculously expensive (R40K I think), but it does then allow you to have independent verification of visitors, and will allow you to set the correct advertising rates for the volume of myADSL visitors (I'm damn sure that you are undercharging!). In addition it can give you additional leverage when negotiating with government/Telkom/ICASA etc..
3. Ensure that you have approval rights on any advertising (i.e. if it's ugly, flashing or intrusive - you have the right to bin it)

I think that you should *not* consider:

1. Any Flash, iFrame, or java advertising
2. Raising donations - It's just going to cause problems
3. giving Telkom a discount

Hi Arf9999

Thanks for the feedback.

As mentioned previously we do not allow any intrusive ads or Flash, iFrame etc. It will look very similar to what it does now...only one or two more slots. We are also not considering donations for various reasons. Regarding Adsense: We do not want to have any foreign content that has to be loaded from international servers. This will influence the site speed etc. In future we might consider it, but for now I think we will be able to survive on local advertising

Regards,

RPM

 

[pookfuzz]

Question: who are the members of the CC? And, to immediately add a piece of feedback: could you allow (online) members to become (legal) members of the CC? This can be done for, say, a membership "share" of as little as R100,- per member. Thus you raise some funds in the process as well...

As far as I can remember a CC is allowed a max of 20 members before it has to upgrade to something else.

Additionally being a member of a CC has an impact on your tax returns and the type of tax returns you need to complete.

 

[rpm]

Question: who are the members of the CC? And, to immediately add a piece of feedback: could you allow (online) members to become (legal) members of the CC? This can be done for, say, a membership "share" of as little as R100,- per member. Thus you raise some funds in the process as well...

Hi Ettubrute

This was discussed but will cause too many problems. We wanted to keep the whole thing as simple as possible, hence only 1 member. To put things in perspective most of our decisions were based on keeping the admin work, accounts and running of the site/business as easy as possible. We might move over to a section 21 company in future, but must first establish if it will provide us with any benefits for the extra costs and administration.

Regards,

RPM

 

[ettubrute]

Additionally being a member of a CC has an impact on your tax returns and the type of tax returns you need to complete.

No problem with that! Am a member of a couple of CC's already, so another won't hurt! Just get a good bookkeeper...

Edit: Thanks for the reply RPM. Costs can be minimal. If you need any advice/help, please PM.

 

[rpm]

I agree with everything there - except your point #2, R40000 is simply not justifiable as an expense, furthermore the aim is not to charge market-related rates for adverts - IMO the aim is to break-even and cover all expenses...

<added>Ooops sorry rpm didn't see your reply there </added>

Well said IC. I wish we had R 40k extra per year, but if we did it will most likely not mean an OPA membership but rather a big party to all MyADSL members

 

[TheRoDent]

It's going to be so funny to see Telkom pay for advertising on a site that has to make money from advertising in order to cover it's bandwidth bill... If Telkom's bandwidth and connectivity wasn't so expensive, a site like this could be run on a few hundred rand per month.

I find that incredibly ironic

Telkom getting their own back at them

 

[rpm]

It's going to be so funny to see Telkom pay for advertising on a site that has to make money from advertising in order to cover it's bandwidth bill... If Telkom's bandwidth and connectivity wasn't so expensive, a site like this could be run on a few hundred rand per month.

Indeed! The new international server's sole purpose is to ensure that we can offer bandwidth intensive downloads to our visitors. We can simply not afford to host them on the local server. Strange that it is much cheaper to pay for an additional international server than hosting the content on our existing local server.

 

[MaD]

Hi Mad

Currently we are able to cover our costs, which make donations unnecessary.

But what if someone *wants* to donate as a sign of appreciation? There are lots of people out there like that..

 

[rsd]

Just a quick thing - will the Telkom adverts be screened at all to ensure their advertising isn't misleading?

They have a habit of omitting costs and claiming adsl is "perfect for gaming and streaming whatever blah blah" then labelling those same activities as "abuse" the second a user has signed on the dotted line...

 

[martin]

1. I think that makes a lot of sense
2. I'm really hoping MyADSL generates enough income to employ RPM fulltime somewhere in the future
3. No problem
4. Telkom is willing to finance their sworn enemies? I think that's great!

 

[fergus]

Regarding Adsense: We do not want to have any foreign content that has to be loaded from international servers. This will influence the site speed etc. In future we might consider it, but for now I think we will be able to survive on local advertising

Adsense is javascript based so AFAIK if a user is capped the local content would load at the same speed but just the ads wouldn't be able to load. You could even get really advanced and detect if he's coming from the capped ip range and not serve international ads to her.

As for myadsl merchandise check out www.cafepress.com for some nice merchandise ideas. I bought a shirt from the ubuntu shop and the quality is really excellent. It would be cool if myadsl could have something along those lines but locally based so its cheaper.