Posted by Red | September 12, 2009, 15:11 (EST) | 16 Comments
Category: Website

Update: We’d like to say a big thank you to the people who donated money to put towards running costs today. Between the money Vee and I have put together and the money you guys have donated, we’ve all ensured that the running costs of the site are covered for the next month. Huge amounts of love to you all, and to the people who re-tweeted the plea for help on twitter. We appreciate it so much. You guys are all fantastic.

Today we’ve had a reality check. We’d like to be all idealistic and remain ad-free, but in order to cover the costs, the only sane solution is to get some revenue from adverts on the site. So, for the sake of the site, we’re biting the bullet and we’re going to be looking at getting some ads in place as soon as possible.

Now, it will likely be at least a month before we see any kind of payment for any advertising, so if you can spare a couple of dollars to help us cover our bases for another month, we would be eternally grateful. After this, we hope we never have to make a plea like this again.

So to sum up, you all rock, and we have a plan of action. :)

THANK YOU!



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  • http://mama-drama.org Mamadrama

    I agree that you need to get advertising. It’s amazing the money you could make, more than enough to help cover the costs. But I also understand if you might be against it, because I know someone people are, which I respect that, because I know some feel that it may affect the integrity of the blog.

    But since you guys are looking at having to purchase your own server, I’m sure your readers would understand. And trust me, there are plenty of sites our there that are reaping the benefits of The Vampire Diaries phenomenon, you deserve your piece of the pie!!….I’m just sayin. ;) Good luck, and you guys are doing an awesome job with your site!

  • http://www.vampire-diaries.net/ Vee

    It’s funny because, for the most part, I personally don’t mind ads on sites (unless they’re pop-ups or interactive ones, bleh), but I think Red and I both have been so hesitant because we didn’t want to seem like that was the goal. Now that we’ve been around for a bit, we *hope* that people know what we’re about. So we’re looking into (non-intrusive, non-ugly) ads in earnest right now.

    The truth of the matter is that while we expected traffic to pick up once the show aired, we completely underestimated the numbers. We didn’t even come close. And what was to be something to figure out in the long run literally became an overnight concern. And as I’m sure you know, there are other expenses besides server costs to worry about, too. Even if the numbers taper off, we still have to move to a dedicated server. There’s no getting around it. Reality check n’ all that.

    Sorry for the unnecessary explanation in reply to you, by the way, but I figure we might as well be honest and have some background in the comments here in case people are wondering what’s up.

    Thanks for the encouragement and kind words. They are very much appreciated.

  • http://mama-drama.org Mamadrama

    Don’t apologize at all! I completely get where you are coming from. And again, good luck with everything! :)

  • Tara

    I wish I could help monetarily, but I can say that if anyone thinks you two are in this for the money, then they don’t know you. This site has grown to be something so incredibly awesome, I can barely remember fandom life w/o it. <3

  • rena

    but I thought Red was wanting the monies to expand his army of vampiric gerbils?

    feel free to pester me if you ever need help with anything money or otherwise. I have “money pants” they work monetary miracles!

  • http://www.vampire-diaries.net/ Red

    SHHHH! No one’s supposed to know about the gerbils! It won’t be a shock world takeover if people are expecting the gerbils! Dammit! O_O

    And that’s very much appreciated, m’dear. Thank you. :)

  • http://www.vampire-diaries.net/ Red

    We <3 you. Just so you know. :D

  • rena

    but I’m not telling all the secrets XD …

  • http://www.vampire-diaries.net/ Vee

    MAJOR SPOILERS!!!!1! I heard the vampiric gerbils are part of Damon’s plan to take over Mystic Falls. Shhh!

  • http://heroinetv.wordpress.com heroine_tv

    I don’t even know what a dedicated server is … but I support your need for one! Your site is worth going without a few lattes ;)

    As for the ads, sometimes I even find them helpful, if they’re for Amazon, relevant t-shirts, or geek merch, etc. Best of luck.

  • rena

    Matt’s hiding them in his closet. SHHH! Don’t tell!

  • http://golden-roses.net Lynn

    You have been busting your butts with this site, I think the least any regular visitor can do is donate a little something :) I don’t mind advertising either, and I really hope you guys find some that suits you!

  • http://www.vampire-diaries.net/ Vee

    Thank you! We really appreciate that. :)

  • http://www.salishna.net/damon Adia

    Thought I might pop in here, I can’t donate as I’m poor but over at TFL we are hosted by Pugmarks who have been really good with us and our huge requirements with MySQL and all that. We’ve recently shifted to a $115 a month server, which I am not sure is do-able for you guys or not? But it is HUGE, so you could potentially move all your sites onto it. …I can’t remember what your previously mentioned costs were. But then again, this site is likely smaller, and less resources-heavy than TFL?

    Other suggestion is to register with http://www.text-link-ads.com/ if you are looking for revenue. They aren’t that intrusive, and usually are related to the main site (you can see them on TFL if you need to), we used to get about $100 a month from them, but that has dropped down to about $50 at present.

    Another idea that we have recently done is a banner rotation funded by visitors. So, instead of just donating and getting nothing, they give us a little donation and we have a banner rotation for their sites. Thought it was a way of encouraging donations and getting revenue without ads.

    Hopefully something there helps :)

  • http://www.salishna.net/damon Adia

    Oh, and if you DO register with Text Link Ads, click and sign up via TFL. And if they ask who referred you, say us! …might get us a little boost XD

  • http://www.vampire-diaries.net/ Vee

    Thank you! :) We really appreciate it.