Makin' money - advertising / sponsorships

[Febi Guibo]

Hey, couple of things:

- Thanks for everybody's help, esp to bmwman91 and sheepdog;
- also, thanks to everybody who signed up and posted, big ups to bmwman91, and esp Zoso for linking to your write-ups;
- continued thanks for letting your M42 enabled friends know about us...

(thumper, did that little friend of yours sign up yet?? so help me!!! ...kidding)

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ok... we need to figure out a way to get some loot to at least partially offset our hosting expense...

is the paypal account that was setup initially still active?

re: potential advertising or sponsorship ideas, we might as well get the ball rolling, at least to discuss it....

obviously we're not going to be a gigantic group...
(most stylin', smartest, best singing voices --naturally!)

I think the 318is might actually be the rarest of all North American E30s... so since we don't match the gigantic audience of a general car, BMW, or even E30 forum, we're maybe look at some different stuff...

General advertising will be a tough sell for a small audience, so we need to brainstorm about ways to generate some revenue...

I'm thinking out loud here, some may be good ideas, some, um, maybe not so good

...some, as they say, are probably pure cheddar:


- directory of independent shops

most of us are allergic to repair shops, but if we did a simple directory and billed a small monthly $ to be listed, or reached out to that independent group of shops (runs ads in roundel) we could maybe offset the monthly hosting by a little... even have a shop profiles topic area, similar to our members profiles area (do both, charge extra for a full profile)

- directory of parts suppliers

I think they would pay a little something, even if they took it back against a bigger discount on group buys or individual orders

- other service providers

car stereo, tire rack, places like eastwood

- ads/notices for services we offer...

sheepdog does hosting computer consulting, I do web design... it's not completely far out to imagine someone we know or work for might want to sponsor a topic area...

- affiliate links (to amazon, etc)

I think users would use the links to support the board; obvious items like the repair manuals, Going Faster (great book, btw)... good car movies on DVD (hello steve mcqueen!!) I think you can get a percentage on magazine subscriptions too; other places have affiliate programs too...

- voluntary donations on for sale listings or posts on your own ebay items

maybe throw in like, a dollar or two if you get a good deal or make a good deal through the forum... at least throw the option out there...

- contact higher volume ebay sellers

publicizing auctions isn't a best-case scenario, but the bigger sellers are basically retailers anyway (eg, we're not driving up the aution of a set of alpina rims)

- contests or raffles

remember, just brainstorming here...

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anyway, everybody chime in with your ideas... also, herbalife franchises are still available in your area... kidding.

as our membership, usage, and post count grows, we can put together a simple media kit and advertising package on .pdf to send out as opportunities arise...

[kowalski]

i like the raffle idea, like maybe every couple months a few things could be bought, and then sell off some raffle tickets. i know e30 tech does that..

also i like the volentary gifting as well, i'm sure there will be a decent few good deals floating arround so to be greatful for the hook up. you could put a paypal adress at the top of the FS forum with a little blurb about it.

[sheepdog]

Based on my other website.

Raffles suck. I had a shop put up $300 in parts, and we only got $100 worth of raffle tickets sold.


Advertising, is like pulling teeth.
Very hard to convice people to advertise online. Not sure why, as it is direct to the crowd you want, and is cheaper, but for some reason, people do not like to do it.



I am not saying do not try, but especially with our low membership count, it will not work. Do not expect miracles. Put it this way, my other site, has more onthly readers than most of the industry magazines. I still have trouble getting money.


On the good side, The server is taken care of regardless of this place. I actually expect to lose money on my server every month, though that is starting to change. So far this year, the server has managed to just about break even every month so far, which is better than it has ever done in the past.


Untill we hit a few thousand people, I do not expect much from this place monetarily.


Besides right now, this place uses so little in the way of resources, it is not really a drain.