Tanigumi Posted October 24, 2000 Report Share Posted October 24, 2000 What is Maestronet? How do they pay to keep the lights on in our playground? How much does this board cost to operate? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mu0n Posted October 24, 2000 Report Share Posted October 24, 2000 The ads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theresa Posted October 24, 2000 Report Share Posted October 24, 2000 What ads? Have I missed the ads? Theresa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Fine Posted October 24, 2000 Report Share Posted October 24, 2000 Look at the top of your screen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwig Posted October 24, 2000 Report Share Posted October 24, 2000 Companies pay ALOT to advertise on this board (the banner ads at the top of the page). The board attracts members.... the more members there are, the wider the reach of those ads, the more the board can charge for those ads.... the more money they make. Isn't capitalism wonderful? [This message has been edited by Ludwig (edited 10-24-2000).] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Stanley Posted October 25, 2000 Report Share Posted October 25, 2000 Theresa, if you don't see banner adds at the top as the thread is loading, you may have software such as Norton Internet Security. That kind of software can be configured to block the ads. (In addition to some "firewall" protection from prying into the contents of your hard disk and virs protection.) I wonder if the host software is able to discriminate between counting hits for folks who see the ads versus those who block them??? Capitalism is truly great. If you don't like the ads, buy something to block 'em. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john Posted October 25, 2000 Report Share Posted October 25, 2000 A little history is in order for some newcomers. My brother Mark Wells(the violinist and violin enthusiast) and I started Maestronet as a part time business in July 1995. The key features are still here: Instrument listings, dealer and maker listings, sheet music sales, string instrument information and a discussion section. We have run our own machines since day one and have been through lots of hardware and software updates as our traffic grew. For example it took 4 years for the fingerboard to surpass 40,000 messages yet in the last 10 or so months since we launched the new format board, we have already exceeded 41,000 messages. For the technically inclined, the fingerboard is now running on a 800 MHZ AMD Thunderbird server with 256 MB of memory, and a raid array. Overall, the site currently has about 750,000 page views per month, making it, we believe, the busiest string site on the net. Financing comes from our own pockets, dealer membership fees, ads and sheet music sales. While we have not been able to expand the site as much as we would have liked over the years a number of key upgrades and expansions are coming in the next month or so. Thanks for your interest and stay tuned. John [This message has been edited by mark (edited 10-25-2000).] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orendacats Posted October 25, 2000 Report Share Posted October 25, 2000 John, Thanks for the information! What a great undertaking. I'm willing to bet some people would donate a little time to help if it's needed. Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desert Rat Posted October 25, 2000 Report Share Posted October 25, 2000 ...in other words, if you want Maestronet to survive (or even prosper), you should try to patronize those businesses that advertise here. Also, it wouldn't hurt to tell them where you saw their ad when you place your order. As one who used to be responsible for buying ad space/time, I can tell you that those kinds of comments carry a lot of weight when it comes time to decide where to put your advertising dollars. Rat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vobsession Posted October 25, 2000 Report Share Posted October 25, 2000 John & Mark, Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwig Posted October 25, 2000 Report Share Posted October 25, 2000 John..... Thank you for an incredibly valuable resource... AND a great community. The plentiful ads are a sign of this board's success.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BackPorch Posted October 26, 2000 Report Share Posted October 26, 2000 John, Many thanks. I have learned a lot, and reading the posts may have saved some poor violin from a poor repair job. ** Keep up the great work, BP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theresa Posted October 26, 2000 Report Share Posted October 26, 2000 Clarion Musical Instrument Insurance? Is that the "ads" you're writing about here? I don't know of any firewall I've got--I am pretty much computer ignorant and can just barely word process. Maestronet, from my computer's point of view, is a really pretty page of blue and yellow messages with Maestronet at the top and Clarion Insurance hovering above it. But I sure as heck haven't seen any ads--and I sure as heck don't know a thing about firewalls--and I don't think my computer does either. Am I missing some great ads? I mean this is full respect to Meastronet--this is the best musical board I know of and if I'm supposed to be reading ads, I'd at least like to be honestly receiving them. Best regards, Theresa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
new2violin Posted October 26, 2000 Report Share Posted October 26, 2000 Banner ads' success is measured predominantly by click-thru ratio (% of people who actually clicks on a banner - currently industry standard is .2 - .4%, less than half of a percent.) Hence, we should click on a banner here and there to keep the advertisers happy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldbear Posted October 26, 2000 Report Share Posted October 26, 2000 Theresa, scroll to the very bottom of your page and click on "Dealers", "Makers", "News" etc. These are probably the ads they're talking about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lydia Leong Posted October 26, 2000 Report Share Posted October 26, 2000 Very few people measure the success of banner ads through click-thru rates any more, though this remains an interesting and important metric. It's just as important to gain the things out of banner ads that one gains out of traditional print, TV, radio, etc. advertising, like brand awareness -- things that are not so readily tangibly measured, unfortunately. (wearing my industry analyst hat for a moment) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theresa Posted October 26, 2000 Report Share Posted October 26, 2000 Thanks, Old Bear. I clicked through and saw a lot of names I did recognize and some I didn't--so, at least those are some references. How costly is a board like this to run? Does anyone know? T. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheila Posted October 26, 2000 Report Share Posted October 26, 2000 The only add on the Violin Corner Bulletin Board http://www.pa-roots.com/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/pa...e/sheila.cgi?#9 is the one of the violin that I drew because I thought it would be nice to give more credit to PA-Roots and Nate Ziphel for hosting the violin Corner Bulletin board on their server and a tiny link one to PA-Roots http://www.pa-roots.com/ It depends upon how much traffic a board has, and therefore how much space and GB it will take on a server. And you have to own the software to run the board. Some service providers will not allow board scripts, as in the case of bright.net who Sheila's Corner http://www.bright.net/~hhelser/ is on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Stanley Posted October 27, 2000 Report Share Posted October 27, 2000 For what its worth for measuring advertising effectiveness: I purchased my instrument insurance package based on advertisements I reviewed here. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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