Miscellaneous Cafe income from ads

[Targa]

Pro'ly less musicians per capita. It's our edcuation sytsem. 😉

Ah, I see what you did there 😉

Yes, terrible grammar.
It should of course be 'fewer musicians'.

 

[mizmar]

SOTW is more 'American'

It's also run by a company focused, I'd guess, on maximizing add revenue from discussion boards.

 

[Ghr9204]

SOTW is more 'American'

Canadian owned, eh? 😉

 

[Ghr9204]

It should of course be 'fewer musicians'.

Er no, I'm one of the lesser. 😉

 

[PigSquealer]

You WILL buy one of his pesky mouthpieces!

I just looked at the products available. No C Melody 🙁

 

[PigSquealer]

it does seem (to me at least) that SOTW is more 'American'

Harri the founder is from Finland. Vertical Scope Holdings (Fora, Toronto Canada) bought the site in 2020. I have met members from almost every continent. The Café too welcomes people from all walks of life from around the globe.

It's also run by a company focused, I'd guess, on maximizing add revenue from discussion boards.

V.S. Owns 1200+ sites and has publically traded stock. The company doesn’t care about members. Just the Advertising dollars.

Canadian owned, eh? 😉

Not for long. The company stock has tanked. The CEO bet the farm on AI bot saving the company. YTD -63% mostly after the March 7th launch of AI.

 

[PigSquealer]

@Pete Thomas what is the best source of revenue to support the Café ? How do you keep this place alive ?
It costs money to run a site. Maybe a general expense report would help members understand what it takes ?

 

[Ghr9204]

Canadian owned, eh? 😉

Not for long. The company stock has tanked. The CEO bet the farm on AI bot saving the company. YTD -63% mostly after the March 7th launch of AI.

IMHO, AI is not the panacea that it claims to be, it's a good servant but a poor master. There has been a big push for it, but I'm seeing some of the wind leaving its sails. I am dumping one medical equipment company because I find it hard to find someone to talk to. The software is only as good as its programming, and has made its share of errors.

 

[mizmar]

V.S. Owns 1200+ sites and has publically traded stock. The company doesn’t care about members. Just the Advertising dollars.

Indeed. And the, other, competition for space at the top of the search results is FB and reddit - all, presumably, with teams focused on SEO, advertising revenue etc.
Quite though!

 

[Pete Thomas]

@Pete Thomas what is the best source of revenue to support the Café ?

Subscriptions. But that's only part of it. Support outside of revenue is crucial, ie people just using the site, posting new topics and replying is hugely important.

How do you keep this place alive ?

That's a very complicated question. Ad revenue is minimal as I don't want to have anything beyond very unobtrusive ads. SEO is done by myself and from time to time with consultants I trust. But it is getting harder and harder all the time. The complications that we now face with things like the Online Safety Act and competition from AI, large corporations like meta, Google, Reddit and all the others makes me think very carefully about continuing or not.

The main reason to keep it going is that it is something I think I, and all the contributing members can be proud of, as a useful internet resource as well as a social platform. There may of course be a point when it is too much work and expense for me to continue - for years I have been subsidising it financially and spending a lot of time making it work as a site. But while people re using and supporting it will remain.

 

[skeller047]

The main reason to keep it going is that it is something I think I, and all the contributing members can be proud of, as a useful internet resource as well as a social platform. There may of course be a point when it is too much work and expense for me to continue - for years I have been subsidising it financially and spending a lot of time making it work as a site. But while people re using and supporting it will remain.

The Cafe is a beacon of humanity and civility in a swamp infested by trolls and bots. With a large number of “deplorables”.

Thank you Pete for all your efforts, I admire you greatly.

 

[Pete Thomas]

The only thing that might be skewing the USA figures, is bots trawling the site, although I don't know if that would draw an add impression?

The figures are from Google, I presume they have excluded bots, but I’m not sure.

Vertical Scope Holdings (Fora, Toronto Canada) bought the site in 2020.

It was earlier, mid 2017. I think 2020 is when they changed to the forum software they now have

 

[PigSquealer]

It was earlier, mid 2017. I think 2020 is when they changed to the forum software they now have

I joined SOTW December 2017. I thought Harri still owned it? I joined here November 4, 2020 when the SOTW site software mess happened and VS had a crummy support team. I remember now.

 

[Pete Thomas]

I joined SOTW December 2017. I thought Harri still owned it?

Nope:

 

[PigSquealer]

That's a very complicated question. Ad revenue is minimal as I don't want to have anything beyond very unobtrusive ads. SEO is done by myself and from time to time with consultants I trust. But it is getting harder and harder all the time. The complications that we now face with things like the Online Safety Act and competition from AI, large corporations like meta, Google, Reddit and all the others makes me think very carefully about continuing or not.

The main reason to keep it going is that it is something I think I, and all the contributing members can be proud of, as a useful internet resource as well as a social platform. There may of course be a point when it is too much work and expense for me to continue - for years I have been subsidising it financially and spending a lot of time making it work as a site. But while people re using and supporting it will remain.

How about having commercial sponsors ? I wouldn’t mind direct advertising from saxophone manufacturers. They could have their threads for maker direct information. Like product releases.

I appreciate all the time, effort and financial support you invest in this high quality site.
My annual contribution renewal is next month. I’ll be increasing the amount.

 

[PigSquealer]

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[Pete Thomas]

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[Ghr9204]

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[Tuppertn]

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[Ghr9204]

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