Please Support Car-Seat.Org: Advertising, Sponsorships and Subscriptions

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ketchupqueen

CPST and ketchup snob
Staff member
Re: Please Support Car-Seat.Org

I just wanted to let everyone know (and this may not be new, I haven't shopped Amazon for a while) I forgot to go to Amazon through the link until I was about to check out; I remembered but wasn't sure if it would apply if I just closed the window, went back, and checked out with what's in my cart. You can now "save for later," then go back, and when you click on "view cart" underneath what's "in" your cart you'll see all the things you "saved for later" and be able to put them back in your cart. (I wanted to make sure c-s.org got full credit for my purchases.)
 
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SafeDad

CPSDarren - Admin
Staff member
Re: Please Support Car-Seat.Org

I think once you click the link to Amazon.com, Car-Seat.Org gets credit for purchases made within a certain number of hours, maybe 12 or 24. I believe it applies to items already in your cart or saved for later, as long as you complete checkout within the time period the cookie is active for our associate link.
 

ketchupqueen

CPST and ketchup snob
Staff member
Re: Please Support Car-Seat.Org

Good to know! I really like teh "save for later" feature, though. :) It was new to me!
 

SafeDad

CPSDarren - Admin
Staff member
Re: Please Support Car-Seat.Org

Some additional changes to the fine print were made, especially considering how payments from corporate/business sponsors are treated.

I have reviewed subscription costs for the new year. There will be no increases for any level effective January 1st, 2009. I will evaluate them again later in the year.


A few minor edits and additions have been made. Most importantly, the cost for benefactor subscriptions was lowered recently. Members with current benefactor subscriptions were given a free month to offset this decrease and should have received an email notification.

Also, the types of advertising sponsorships were made more clear and a new type of sponsorship was added that includes a text link "Sponsored By" banner at the top of an individual sub forum and a sticky thread about the sponsor of that forum.

In the future, I anticipate the costs for Supporter and Benefactor subscriptions to remain the same or drop slightly, with current subscribers being extended with a free month from time to time. This is the result of increased Sponsor and advertising revenue that makes forum subscriptions less important to pay for related expenses.
 

Admin

Admin - Webmaster
Re: Please Support Car-Seat.Org

As of January 1st, the cost of supporter and benefactor subscriptions will be dropping yet again. I anticipate that this will be the last drop for some time. I anticipate that new subcription levels will be $5.99 for a 2 month Benefactor subscription, $11.99 for a 6 month Benefactor subscription, $3.99 for a 2 month Supporter subscription and $8.99 for a 6 month Supporter subscription. I estimate that these amounts will not be sufficient to pay for ongoing website and CPS related costs in the future, but that advertising revenue will pay for the balance of these costs. In that regard, sponsor subscription costs will be going up somewhat at the same time.

All current supporters and benefactors will likely be granted a 1 month extension to their current subscription as of Jan 1st, when the price changes go into effect. Thank you again for your support! The first post in this thread will reflect current prices.
 

Admin

Admin - Webmaster
Re: Please Support Car-Seat.Org

New subscription rates are now in effect for supporters and benefactors. Current subscribers (supporters and benefactors) were awarded a one month free extension. Sponsor rates will increase on Jan 1st. There is also a new type of subscription for personal, home-based businesses. Please see the original post in this thread for details and revisions.
 

Admin

Admin - Webmaster
Re: Please Support Car-Seat.Org

Various recent changes to the text, including the addition of Target.com and a plea for members not to use ad-blockers, as visiting and shopping at the websites of our sponsors and advertisers helps support the forum.

Individual subscription rates should not increase for 2011, though they may not decrease again, either. Sponsor rates decreased slightly as of September and should remain level for 2011 also.

Thank you to all those who have subscribed! As Car-seat.org now generates most of its revenue from sponsors and advertisers, subscriptions are welcomed and appreciated, but are not currently essential for maintaining the website (provided ad revenues remain steady).
 

Admin

Admin - Webmaster
Re: Please Support Car-Seat.Org

Updated original post to include a link to our disclosure for sponsorships, advertising and affiliate marketing that appears after our Terms of Service. Car-Seat.Org and CarseatBlog websites are supported by these arrangements and we greatly appreciate the support of our members who view, click and/or purchase through the links and banner advertisements that appear throughout our websites. This has allowed us to significantly reduce subscription costs. We have not accepted donations for some time, so in lieu of donations, we ask only that you support our sponsors and advertisers!

Also, the text was updated to reflect current subscription prices that had been lowered since the last update. It was also adjusted to reflect that Supporter donations require Community Member status as per recent changes. The 2-month Benefactor subscription was changed to a 3-month subscription for a slightly higher cost. These changes were made to discourage new member subscriptions for the sole purpose of gaining Carseat Swap access.
 

Admin

Admin - Webmaster
I learned a little while ago that the top advertising placement size is being phased out by Google, other networks and many advertisers. This probably explains some of the recent ad performance issues that I had attributed to mobile traffic this year.

As such, these placements will likely increase in size to one of the larger, popular formats.

There will be no changes to the number of advertising placements or types of advertisements used. The only change will be an increase in size for the very top placements to a current format.

Also, the introduction in the first post in this thread has been updated:

Unlike many popular online community forums and websites, Car-Seat.Org is privately owned. It is operated by a core group of moderators who are parents and child passenger safety advocates themselves! Many forums are owned by large companies, have been purchased by "vertical forum integrators" or were sold long ago by the original founder to another party who simply monetized it for profit. These entities often care little about the topic or community beyond its potential for financial gain. We mention this because Car-Seat.Org is now big enough to be very expensive and time consuming to maintain. We rely on our visitors and members to help us continue with our mission, so we can avoid selling out like many other online communities.

The forum and related websites are now primarily supported by advertising. We do not directly sell any products or services. The easiest and best way to support Car-Seat.Org is to use our links to sponsors and advertisers, including Amazon, when you make a purchase. It doesn't cost you anything but a few extra seconds to use our links or to bookmark our links below!

Also, I ask that you please consider NOT using advertisement-blocking software/settings here, or at the very least put www.car-seat.org into your whitelist. While many of us don't like ads, the reality is that our sponsors and advertisers track who visits their websites from our forum and that affects if they will continue to advertise and how much they are willing to pay. You will see fewer advertisements over time if you register and become an active member, and no ads appear for subscribers. I continue to avoid any type of pop-up or mandatory "intro" ad placements that many other websites use. If you must use an ad blocker here, please consider supporting us in other ways listed below.

As many of you know, our websites continue to grow and require increasingly expensive hosting services. As of January, 2012, just the forum alone generates well over 1 million page views a month from up to 250,000 unique visitors, transferring 5GB of data for over 10,000 visitors on a typical day. That does not even include traffic from Carseatblog or Car-Safety.Org. Our forums have surpassed 15,000 registered members, of which well over 700 visit each day and nearly 2000 visit monthly. Well over 1000 members and visitors are browsing the forums during peak hours. The growth in the last few years has put the server resources used by our websites beyond the limit of most standard hosting packages. The 2GB database of over 1.5 million posts alone puts our forums beyond many e-commerce hosting service capabilities, let alone the 400+ concurrent visitors that visit the forums at any instant during peak times. Combined with the cost of the software and chat room, the additional costs of a very high end dedicated server needed to host our database quickly and reliably has increased the cost to operate the forums to a very significant amount. Until mid-2007, the costs had been much lower, so it was not necessary to accept subscriptions, sponsors or advertising of any kind. Unfortunately, this is no longer the case.
 

Admin

Admin - Webmaster
Update:

I have also made some adjustments on which specific ad placements are removed for various usergroups.

For example, unregistered visitors see all advertising placements.

Fully registered and approved members no longer see the leaderboard wide banner under the forum listings on the homepage. They also do not see the wide leaderboard banner that is in the space between the second and third post of each thread.

Community Members no longer see the leaderboard under the thread listings in each forum.

Senior Community Members no longer see the leaderboard above the Quick Reply box in each thread.

CPS Gurus and moderators no longer see the two square banners at the very top of the forum.

Subscribers see almost no advertisements except the premier forum sponsor logos at the bottom of each page.

I am currently experimenting with leaderboard advertisements located in the banner above the quick reply box and the the two square banners within the second post of each thread. Some members may be seeing these ads who had not seen them before and this may change again depending on their performance.

There may be additional changes in the future, but there will probably not be any new placements or new types of ads at this time (pop ups, pop unders, scrolling, etc)

I apologize for these changes and further testing. As you may know, our server costs nearly doubled last month, but as a result, we have a far faster and more reliable server with better backup systems and I have also been able to increase most member's attachment and message storage limits by nearly double the previous limits.
 

Admin

Admin - Webmaster
Effective Immediately:

  • The price of a 3-month Benefactor subscription is reduced from $6.99 to $6.49
  • Benefactors may choose to make a recurring 6-month Paypal subscription
  • The price of a 6-month Supporter subscription is reduced from $7.99 to $7.49
  • Supporters may choose to make a recurring 6-month Paypal subscription
  • The 2-month Supporter subscription will no longer be available. A 3-month supporter subscription will cost $4.99.

Effective January 1st:
  • Supporter subscriptions will now see a single advertisement banner at the top of the page.
  • Supporter subscriptions will be available to members again, as are Benefactor subscriptions now (on a trial basis)
  • Supporter subscriptions will have access to the Community Member forums, as do Benefactor subscription now.
  • Active supporter subscriptions will have one month added.

CPS Guru members (2500 reputation, 1500 days registered, 5000 posts, subject to change), will also see a single advertisement banner at the top of the page.
 

SafeDad

CPSDarren - Admin
Staff member
Effective January 1st:
  • Supporter subscriptions will now see a single advertisement banner at the top of the page.
  • Supporter subscriptions will be available to members again, as are Benefactor subscriptions now (on a trial basis)
  • Supporter subscriptions will have access to the Community Member forums, as do Benefactor subscription now.
  • Active supporter subscriptions will have one month added.

These changes are now in effect.
 

Admin

Admin - Webmaster
Previously removed a couple minor advertising link bars for registered members.

Some subscription costs were lowered slightly, with some sponsors and subscribers having their terms extended one month.
 

SafeDad

CPSDarren - Admin
Staff member
The subscription system is no longer available. If you are interested in a sponsorship, please contact me directly via conversations or contact form!
 
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