Jeremy Goodrich's Blog

Funny thing, on our site, we have the highest number of ads (and the most ads above the fold) of any site in our category. It's true. We monitor these things very closely. So what does that tell the first time visitor?
1) We're a business.
2) We make money from advertising and we'd like you to help.
3) Expect more ads, if you continue to use our site in the future.

If you are able to ignore the ads, you get a reward, as when you login, the ads go away (some). Then after a month, you get even less ads in your face. The story? If you are hanging out, then clearly, you're not an "ad clicker"...you're a contributor. Now suddenly, we've made it past the first few dates and we're going steady. This means on our end, we're willing to give you things, for free. Presents if you will. Take the time to listen more, act more quickly, as we can, on your input.

However, if you just visit and don't actually come inside for a cup of coffee (or tea) you won't ever know that our site is *different* logged in members get the special treatment, where logged out members get the full commercial reel.

Long term, I think our approach is a good one. The trouble is growth...as we don't have the freedom to push anything (we need to make money) and we can't give the whole experience over to "product" as some of it, has to be worth the $$$. So this short term cycle is hard.

On the other side, though, what's the process?
1) Raise a ton of money (you get pwnd, right?)
2) Build a huge, crazy large audience...and they come to expect no ads from you.
3) Once the audience has hit "critical mass" you turn on revenue, and your members finally realize it was all a bait and switch strategy.

It's harder to do things the right way...but, that doesn't make it any less right.