Forum announcement - Advertising on Sareptiles

[froot]

This announcement applies mainly to owners of businesses that are currently advertising on our site who will also be receiving this via email, as well as new prospective traders/service providers.

Firstly I'l like to thank those who have supported our site by advertising on here and maintaining their accounts timeously, the income we have received has helped tremendously with hosting and running costs. On the same token we have accounts that are long overdue but in order to service the community we decided not to pull their ads and rather chase them for settlement. This exercise has been costly in terms of paying for hosting out of my own pocket and time spent by my accounts lady to expedite payments, who incidentally seems to have her email blocked by a number of debtors.
We as founding members of Sareptiles see the need to move onto a dedicated hosting server in the near future considering website access issues we've experienced recently. This will not be possible under the cash flow circumstances we currently find ourselves in. We have decided to sign up with Google advertising to help cover our costs which means:

1) There will be visible changes to the site in the form of Google ads placed strategically to maximise ad exposure as well as minimise distraction from the website content.
2) We will be phasing out private advertising over the next while, how long has not been decided on yet, but will continue promoting local herpetology associations and events.
3) People who wish to advertise on Sareptiles will need to sign up with Google Adwords where they can specify where they want their ads placed.
4) We will no longer have control over what advertising will cost which will be dependent on the amount of traffic on the site and determined by Google themselves.

Sareptiles.co.za has grown from strength to strength and has become a major force in the online reptile realm. We are indebted to the people that spend time with us contributing and learning, the people that help maintain the content on our website, as well as the techies in the shadows that keep this big machine ticking over. As our website grows so do our needs and this decision has not been an easy one but ultimately one of survival and one in consideration of future growth.

If you have any questions/suggestions please feel free to post in the suggestions forum in this section, pm me or contact me on admin@sareptiles.co.za. - edit: I think you can reply to this announcement too, not sure on the permissions.

Thanks.

[kfc223]

This won't affect the classifieds?

I think its a great way to generate a stable income to pay for the hosting and other expenses.

[AinslieZA]

This won't affect the classifieds?

I think its a great way to generate a stable income to pay for the hosting and other expenses.

Agreed kfc223

Just want to compliment the mods and admin on a well rum and well organized site. Its not often that you get such committed people on a forum, you are well engaged with your communities and this shows us, the forum users, a great deal of pride.

Don't know if this might be of help or not but what we did was to still acquire private advertisements and listings that we run on our newsletters for a steady income apart from the google adwords advertising on our page. (feels like this had to go to the "Suggestion" forum)

[froot]

No classifieds will run normally as they were, there will be Google ads on the pages though but as I said they will be positioned omptimally with the users and advertisers in mind.
Ainslie we will consider that option too, we will let the needs of the community guide us. Thank you.

[Sico]

I dunno about you guys but I have found these ads to be really useful.
I've seen an ad for golf clubs, perfect for making new hook sticks, An ad for cheap international calls to SA, which means that dodgy Central Africans can call us up when we place those bulk orders for tame ball pythons, an Ad for sending money off to Africa to pay for our new purchases, and lastly a Vietnamese dating service, so we can hook up with a Lass that will be able to turn whatever didn't survive the import into a tasy dish for the whole family.
Personally I find this targeted advertising highly appropriate.

[froot]

As of 1 May we will be moving our advertising portfolio onto the Google system. All private advertising will now be run by Bushbaby and will still be available but on this date it will be 'reset' and ads will be removed. If you do not want your ad removed then please contact Bushbaby urgently via email on advertising@sareptiles.co.za.

To help you enlist with Google I've provided links to the procedure below:

http://www.google.com/intl/en/adwords/select/steps.html
http://adwords.blogspot.com/2005/12/advertising-on-specific-sites-just-got.html

Through Google adwords you'll be able to show your ads in positions on the site that's not available to privately controlled advertising. IMO it's a good clean cut system and worth considering.