Need some input about advertising......

OK, I admit this has been bothering me quite a bit.

Traffic has been increasing on this site steadily and it has now reached the point with the number of advertisers present that 100,000 impressions will last between 33 and 35 days. I believe that it has reached the point where it is now just too expensive for most people to be paying that much for advertising.

Currently this boils down to new advertisers having to pay $75 per month, and current advertisers paying $50 per month. When traffic was lower, it was not all that bad when 100,000 impressions was lasting for a good two months. I would pretty much need to double the number of advertisers to bring this back into a bimonthly billing for everyone.

The whole intent of me selling advertising was for help from those inclined to give a hand supporting this site. I have no illusions of making a living off of this site, and I honestly want this to be as trouble free and worry free as possible, as long as I have the money coming in from advertisers/supporters that I don't have to take money for the bills I need to pay out of my own pocket.

I am now working on getting a new server that will have roughly 6 times the bandwidth available of my current server, and should take the problem extra charges off my shoulders for quite a while. So I think at this point I need to completely change how I charge for advertising.

What I am thinking about doing is hopefully very simple. I will determine what it COSTS me monthly to maintain this site, plus pad a little bit to help pay back the expenses I have taken out of my pocket in the past. I will then divide this expense by the number of advertisers and will charge PER MONTH (or could I charge QUARTERLY?) for advertising fees. With the number of advertisers I have now, I believe that $25 PER MONTH will be fair and will be MUCH cheaper than the current charge per 100,000 impressions.

I kind of liked the idea of the impressions, since advertisers were actually paying for the number of times their ad was actually viewed, but it's too volatile of a way to predict how long their ad will last. And most people seem more inclined to have a fixed TIME their ad will be displayed.

Anyway, help me figure this out. What is best for you all? I'm just darn tired of worrying about this since it is quickly getting to the point where people will be dropping out of advertising here because the money they are spending on ads just doesn't go long enough for them.

Thanks.

(I hope this all makes sense. I got a migraine today and I'm certain I'm not firing on all cylinders right now)

I think per month is better than per number of impressions.
Because if you think about it... This website can get big enough to where I will have to buy 100,000 impressions every two weeks.
Now if I was some Rich big named breeder, that would be fine. But I am Ritchie nobody who can only afford a certain dollar amount each month.

hope I made sense

Ritchie.... That's what worries me!!.... You NEVER make much sense.... but, I ALWAYS know what you mean???.... lmao

Rich.... I would much rather pay $25 per month and ot have to worry about when my impressions are going to run out, like they are about to.... I'm going to be sending you another PayPal shortly....

....Neil

Well, to be honest about it, I suspect that I'll have to keep tabs on everyone just as much if I go monthly as I am while doing the ads per impressions. So I'm not expecting it to cut down my workload much.

But here's another thing that I may go with if I implement the monthly charge. The banner ad software I'm using allows me to set a weighted value for the frequency that the ad will appear in the rotation. So what do you think about if I charge a flat fee for inclusion of an ad into the rotation, but then add a surcharge to have the weighted value bumped up? For instance, charge the following monthly fee:

Basic Banner Rotation set at the 10 percent value = $25

Each additional 10 percent increase will be $3 per month.

i.e.:

20 percent weighting = $28
30 percent weighting = $31
40 percent weighting = $34
etc., etc.

That would put the max weighting (100 percent) costing $49 per month.

That makes it optional in the cost and the number of times an advertiser would want to have the ad displayed.

Of course, if EVERYONE only opts for the 10 percent weighting, then everyone will basically get the same number of impressions per month.

Does this sound fair?

Rich.... can you translate "weightings" to "impressions", and give me an example in that format?.... I have no clue what a weighting is??

....Neil

I am confused about the percentage.

If I buy 50% wieghting
Then
Neil buys 50% weighting
Wouldn't that mean that 50% of the time my add will be shown...the other fifty Neil's would be shown?
What would happen to everyone else who buys?

I guess I also need the weighting esplained lucy

KIS
Keep It Simple

Ritchie.... I like your reasoning.... so, if each of us put in about $60 per month.... WE COULD HAVE OUR OWN LITTLE MONOPOLY!!! Nobody else will be able to post a banner??? HAHA HOHO HAHA HOHO....

I do have a feeling, though, that we're A LITTLE off base???

Rich.... I know about grams and ounces and pounds?? Don't know weightings, though!

Teach us, oh great one!

OTAY SPANKY???

....Neil

Holy Mackerel!

Now look at what I have started.

Weighting is a method to apply relative percentages to the chances that YOUR ad will show up in the rotation. It is basically random, but by increasing the 'weighting factor' you tilt the odds more in your favor of your ad showing up in the rotation. The higher the number, the higher the chances. But the numbers are a bit misleading. If you get 100 weighting does not mean that your ad will show up 100 percent of the time. It just means that you get 100 percent of the weighting influence applied to your banner ad.

If everyone is set to the same weight, then it will have no effect at all. If 2 or more people have the same higher weighting, then they both will show up more often than then rest of them set at a lower rating, but they will STILL show up in the rotation.

Since people would now be paying by the month, rather than by the impression count, this might be attractive as an option for them.

I actually use it NOW, in that I can keep someone's ad running longer by reducing the number of times it will show up each day by setting it to a lower weight. And in some instances, I just set a maximum cap on impressions so the ad would positively run a minimum number of days. This was easy. Just take 100,000 impressions and divide it by the number of days you want it to run. Set the cap to that number.

Does that make more sense? I tried to find out this info on the software's website, but they have nothing at all about it, so I had to wing this explanation.

Not meaning to be rude or anything, but what does it cost to maintain the site?