Acorn monetisation

[martin-s]

I've been thinking a bit on how many ads are intruding into Acorn these days - and there must be a better way for Acorn to make money.

If the UI was decluttered, it must be possible to make more money than it does at the moment, even if some adverts were ditched. Looking at the UI, I only ever click on the new posts page really. Half of the other stuff I've never really explored at all.

Anyone have any ideas?

* Monthly newsletter with member offers (affiliate)?
* Resources pages (affiliate links to SEO tools, etc.)
* A domain investment course delivered through Lynda?

And better content too?

* Domain investor interviews
* Monthly sales stats (like DNJournal)
* Competitions (win a domain?)

 

[KarlM]

I agree something actually aimed at the domain market would work munch better than random ads.

 

[Murray]

In hindsight, wouldn't it of made sense for the community to of bought acorn and it just been run from us all donating a tiny bit per month.

^ No idea how much running a forum costs, but I'm sure enough people would of been willing to chip in so that each contribution would be relatively insignificant

Then monetization, adverts and all that isn't an issue because it's just being run for the good of the community rather than for profit.

 

[Adam H]

Id have probably done the same as what Stephen has to test the waters , throw up some banners, see how many members REALLY want to support the community with the "premium membership" and then play it by here.

Lets face it, alot of noise about supporting a "loved" forum but not many people signed up to premium membership for a tenner a month....which reduces those ad's.

Id be surprised if this place had enough backbone currently to make any extra work put into an affiliate promo worth the time and effort with the current traffic and activity levels.

 

[DomainM]

I would be happy to use affiliated services but tbh wouldn't pay a membership fee, I would find it difficult to justify the expense. I only casually purchase domains and sell very infrequently and have never been able to make any money from "domaining". My interest in this forum lies in my love for developing brands and wish to keep updated with changes in the UK domain.

 

[philipp]

I've been an exclusive member in the past. Ultimately I didn't find any value in it, and never bothered renewing. Actually the recent changes here have inspired me to install ABP which massively improves the whole web browsing experience.

P.

 

[markb]

I think if the ads bother you that much, then pay to subscribe. I can't see any issue with them personally. If they pay for hosting and make a bit of a profit, then that's fair enough.

 

[Skinner]

Worth noting most ad blockers happily block affiliate cookies and tracking, so if you use anything like quidco or click friends aff links before buying, none of these work.

Also if you use affiliate marketing or any other type of tracking, you probably don't want people using these

I've been an exclusive member in the past. Ultimately I didn't find any value in it, and never bothered renewing. Actually the recent changes here have inspired me to install ABP which massively improves the whole web browsing experience.

P.

 

[philipp]

I'll usually switch it off if I feel it's worth an affiliate making some commission from a purchase. But I'm happy to make that judgment myself instead of seeing all the ads.

P.