Latest site update problem

[sunsally]

Originally Posted by Kathe

Just curious 2 things:

Why is the site running so slow to load and why do some banners show up a lot and some don't show up very often at all?

Thanks, Kathe

I got my call on the banners. Now, to have one that will ever be seen more than about 1x/month by the average user, you have to pay as much for one MONTH of advertising as we previously paid for one YEAR.

Apparently Satori Sol and Supre, as new advertisers, didn't know any better? Those of us who have been loyal to the site and paid for a year contract will be "allowed" to remain as sponsors until our contracts expire at the rate we agreed to - but as we've all noticed, nobody will ever see our banners again unless they LIVE here and constantly refresh!!

I'm pretty stunned to be honest.

[sunsally]

And VERY slow!!!

That above reply took 33 seconds to post and get me back to a usable screen! I sat there and counted! The other day I got frustrated and opened up two different versions so I could post and then still read!

[solarmeter®]

Ann: I refreshed 11 times and found your banner on the right hand side. *(^_*)*

I got the same call.... but I can't (won't) afford the new super-rates. Apparently my banner expired 2 months ago, but I never got a renewal notice at the old (negotiated or full) rate.

I had a semi-informal agreement (of sorts) with Alan to extend it, but no idea where that stands....

Yes - site was slow again this morning.

[Kathe]

Originally Posted by sunsally

I got my call on the banners. Now, to have one that will ever be seen more than about 1x/month by the average user, you have to pay as much for one MONTH of advertising as we previously paid for one YEAR.

Apparently Satori Sol and Supre, as new advertisers, didn't know any better? Those of us who have been loyal to the site and paid for a year contract will be "allowed" to remain as sponsors until our contracts expire at the rate we agreed to - but as we've all noticed, nobody will ever see our banners again unless they LIVE here and constantly refresh!!

I'm pretty stunned to be honest.

Me, too. I got my call as well. Seems like they are in for big ad money now. When is this industry going to change? Disappointing at the very least. And I just started in late January just before the move. Doesn't leave a very good taste in the mouth does it?

And yes, even on a Sunday morning the site is extremely slow loading.

Kathe

[SandiGirl]

WE DON'T LIKE CHANGE!!!!!

You'll have a board with banners and no members to read them.

[Wicked1]

I had been trying to upload a couple of pics and it always tells me upload failed... I wondered if it was just my pc or the site..

[looking_fit]

The site is running slow at times. We have a vBulletin consultant helping us optimize the site. It should be completed this week.

SunSally, Solormeter, Kathe - sorry to hear your disappointment about the new advertising program. While the prices are higher so are the guaranteed impressions. Previously the site was sold with no predefined inventory so banner ads were in competition for impressions. The more that were sold that month the less impressions each advertiser received. Long term this would have created a serious problem for the advertisers. If you compare the new rates based on a CPM (cost per thousand) you’ll find that we’ve actually reduced the cost per thousand. The difference is, instead of having 30 (or more at times) banners in one rotation we only have 5. Solarmeter, sorry you didn’t receive a call earlier. The transfer process took us longer than expected. Since you had a different situation with Alan we’re looking into a solution.

For the advertiser that purchased previous to the acquisition we setup a conversion process to provide them with a greater amount of impressions. We did that as a sign of goodwill since we know change isn’t always easy. Right now the rotation is less than 18 ads instead of 30 or more. Please feel free to contact me directly and I’ll explain the process and calculations. mikes@vpico.com or 480-675-8177

The good news is our member base has jump significantly during the last month. We have an aggressive marketing plan for TanToday.com and its working.

[Alan @ TanToday]

All former advertisers, you are actually getting more banner views then you were before Virgo took over. The only difference is when you are up for renewal, there will be new rates obviously as the site will be a lot busier, with more traffic and more potential buyers for your goods and services.

Until your banner expires, enjoy the bonus of extra views and clicks you are getting as a result of Looking Fit's agressive marketing campaign to bring in new visitors and members to TanToday.

SunSally, you arent fighting for 1 view a month, you actually are getting more views and clicks now than you did under my watch. Dont beat that gift horse down.

Steve, they will be contacting you, if they havent already, about our "deal". I thought this was cleared up before they bought the site but I guess you didnt get the "your guy didnt contact me" email that was sent.

Kathe, enjoy the next 9-10 months because you will see alot more BANG for your buck given you were one of the last to commit before for board transfered ownership. Enjoy it and take advantage of it.

[sunsally]

Originally Posted by Alan @ TanToday

All former advertisers, you are actually getting more banner views then you were before Virgo took over.

SunSally, you arent fighting for 1 view a month, you actually are getting more views and clicks now than you did under my watch. Dont beat that gift horse down.

With all due respect, I am pretty confident I am actually actively on the site more hours in a week than either you or anyone from Virgo. As a result, I can tell you from my own personal experience - I see my banner a LOT less than I used to!! So while anyone can talk "impressions" and "clicks" all you want - I am perfectly able to note which ones I AM seeing, and which ones I am not. There is a noticeable difference - to the detriment.

Therefore I respectfully disagree that this is not a "gift horse", this is a change of a contract mid-stream. I am entitled to express that I don't like it. I do not. It is, currently, a negative change in service.

And, the site has been very slow and goobered up.

As for aggressive marketing to get many new users - sounds great! Hope that happens!

[looking_fit]

Ann,

I agree the site is slow. We're working on it. It will be fixed soon.

All of the ads are now being tracked via 3rd party software called 24/7 Real Media. The stats we use come for 24/7 not an internal system.

You're entitled to express your opinon. Hopefully you'll give us a chance to better explain the new process.

Mike

[EliteMike]

I have to side with the advertisers on this one, some seem to ALWAYS pop up.

[looking_fit]

Elite,

You're 100% right! Some "pop up" more than others solely based on how they were sold. The new advertisers only rotate with 5 ads. If we don't have 5 ads sold in that position we use house ads as fillers so advertiser get exactly what they pay for and it doesn't change month-to-month. The advertiser's that purchased previous to the change in ownership rotate with 18 ads which are down from 30. That's a 40% decrease in advertiser competition.

Mike

[Kathe]

Still very slow and everytime I hit "View First Unread" it takes me to the first post in the thread. That's quite annoying. And I agree with Ann I am on here a lot and don't see my banner nearly as much as I used to. I don't really know much about clicks but maybe you could educate us a bit more on how that works.

Kathe

[SandiGirl]

NTTI and Looking Fit are showing up more than Kathe's.

I just clicked through about ten pages. Kathe's came up the 3rd time just once, but NTTI came up at least 3...

[SandiGirl]

Clicked a bunch more times and only got Kathe's once more. Looking Fit, Insurtec, ProSun and NTTI come up the most.

[Alan @ TanToday]

The top huge banner rotates between 5 sponsors. Obviously you will see those more. The left banner and right banner have nothing to do with one another as far as being equal in impressions.

I believe, Mike correct me if I am wrong, but the right banners are all the inherited sponsors from before the buyout. All of those banners are rotated in order. A bunch of my own pet projects have been deleted as have some that moved up their ad package or did not renew so they are no longer in the right banner side rotation.

I am sorry to those who feel things changed in the middle of your campaign. They did change but not in an adverse way like some have suggested COUGH SunSally COUGH. Your banners are now seen by more people, more times. How? Because you are not fighting with 30 other banners for ad space. Instead you are sharing time with 13 other banners. On top of that, there are over 600-700 new members here now, if memory serves me right, so not only are you in less competition with the other pre-Virgo banners but you have a greater audience for no additional price. I dont see the downside.

Make sense? If you need scientific proof, contact Mike and he can let you login to the 3rd party tracking system so you can see a before and after and see that you are not lessor off.

[Brian Oshman]

Science or not, some of the banners don't pop up with a dozen or more refreshes. It is totally random and some seem way more favored. With almost 5000 posts I spend enough time here to see that.

Also, the smaller banners went from four at a time per page to two at a time. The ones at the bottom are gone now so that reduced the views by 50%. The super banners don't count in this since they are sold at the different rate.

Also, why not just have a sponsor page that shows all of the banners at once at any time, not just the six now that don't revolve. This would give all viewers the opportunity to access all of the sponsors without the hassle of refreshing the page many times (and bypassing it with the one click too many) to find the ad they are looking for but still have the revolving banners. Could also bring back the four per page too. All that flash content is what slows the site down though.

On another note, all of the "buttons" or "skins" are crashed right now too. No avitars, sigs saved on this site, or function buttons. All dead. And the site is super slow too.

I know that you are working on it but just giving feedback so you know that it still ain't right yet.

[SandiGirl]

Seriously, please don't insult people's intelligence on whether they can see something or not.

[SandiGirl]

Originally Posted by Alan @ TanToday

I am sorry to those who feel things changed in the middle of your campaign. They did change but not in an adverse way like some have suggested COUGH SunSally COUGH.

Why do you always single her out? She wasn't the only person who said that.

[Alan @ TanToday]

I singled her out because she was the one who made the most sarcastic remark. Kathe merely asked how we figure out that she is better off.

The bottom line is that after we, meaning my boy Kolby, gets the site speeding up like it was before, advertisers and how much they pay on the site should not be a concern of the average member.

I had the most affordable ad rates out of all the forums even though we have been the most active for years. Some took advantage of it, others did not and are now paying more. For being the #1 visited and participated forum related to indoor tanning, you get what you pay for and their new packages, while more expensive as compared to my old rates, are on par or more lucrative for the advertisee then anywhere else they could chose to spend their hard earned advertising budget.