New site live - please report any questions/issues here

[shadowvale]

@Dr_Evil - join date has been added

 

[Singlemode Laser]

Having this ads on the bottom of my phone all the time (telling me how to clean a bathtub ) is really annoying. I donated to the lpf multiple times in the past, but to have to, just to ged rid of the ads is a no go for me.

Singlemode

 

[shadowvale]

The site upgrade took many weeks of time/planning and cost over $1000. Need a way to account for some costs with the project. Also the cost of hosting has increased and laser ads are not making as much as they used to (probably due to legal issues with lasers and less laser companies in general). Past donations appreciated greatly but the site needs a way of maintaining steady revenue. Also more and more people are just blocking ads so sites have harder time surviving. Past donations are certainly appreciated.

What do you recommend as alternative solution for site to account for issues? What features aside from a chat, removing ads, and LPF Paid Subscriber status would make it worth subscribing?

Account manager was contacted to optimize the Media.net ads to be laser specific. They should be optimized soon hopefully.

 

[BowtieGuy]

Good to have the join dates back again!

 

[Coonie]

Can I ask what your expenses were? Because 1000 dollars is extremely high. Sounds like you got ripped off somewhere.

 

[shadowvale]

Did not get ripped off.
Xenforo $200
litespeed webserver for best possible site performance $349
Consulting to migrate system (very complex process and have IT background) $1090
Chat system: $36
Layout: $45

Site also has hosting costs, legal expenses,etc.

 

[CurtisOliver]

I did think of an idea a while back, but wasn't sure if it was a good idea to mention it. What about an LPF Lottery?
Members buy tickets at $1 each, and however much money is made at the end of the month, the winner takes a percentage as winnings.
It may encourage more people to donate each month, if they had a chance of making money themselves. It's only an idea, but if managed well it could generate some income. If you think its a good idea, then I can show you a simple way of generating a truly random winner through excel.

 

[Ears and Eggs]

I did think of an idea a while back, but wasn't sure if it was a good idea to mention it. What about an LPF Lottery?
Members buy tickets at $1 each, and however much money is made at the end of the month, the winner takes a percentage as winnings.
It may encourage more people to donate each month, if they had a chance of making money themselves. It's only an idea, but if managed well it could generate some income. If you think its a good idea, then I can show you a simple way of generating a truly random winner through excel.

Could do something like that where the prize is a really epic laser, like a big frame whitelight ArKr. Some of the revenue from ticket sales would go towards buying the laser and the rest goes to the forum. Could be a new laser item every month. First the ArKr, then maybe something from Sanwu. Would really get people excited and donating every month.

 

[CurtisOliver]

Cool, but what if you haven’t got the room for a big Ar/Kr?

 

[diachi]

I did think of an idea a while back, but wasn't sure if it was a good idea to mention it. What about an LPF Lottery?
Members buy tickets at $1 each, and however much money is made at the end of the month, the winner takes a percentage as winnings.
It may encourage more people to donate each month, if they had a chance of making money themselves. It's only an idea, but if managed well it could generate some income. If you think its a good idea, then I can show you a simple way of generating a truly random winner through excel.

A sort of 50/50 draw?

 

[CurtisOliver]

That’s what I was originally thinking, but the percentage can be set by Avery.

 

[shadowvale]

Not sure what the current legality is with online raffles and ironically it would cost more $ to talk to lawyer about it lol. I appreciate offers to help but it may be best in short term to have subscription. If the price is too high, or better features are needed for membership please advise.

 

[NightExplorer96]

Not sure what the current legality is with online raffles and ironically it would cost more $ to talk to lawyer about it lol. I appreciate offers to help but it may be best in short term to have subscription. If the price is too high, or better features are needed for membership please advise.

I think a $5/month donation is just fine.

-Alex

 

[Benm]

What do you recommend as alternative solution for site to account for issues? What features aside from a chat, removing ads, and LPF Paid Subscriber status would make it worth subscribing?

Removing the ads would be a decent incentive, though i must i admit i probably see very few of them since i've adblock plus enabled - not specifically for lpf, but it indicates it's blocking 3 ads on here, though i can see plenty of others (it blocks ads from big networks, not the pretty specific ones on lpf).

I'm sure that the re-design should cost upwards of $1000, it's a realistic figure to me working in the web development business.

One way to monetize would be to use affiliate programs, perhaps making a price comparison for a given laser leading users to the best value and also collecting some commission on every sale. This model is -very- effective for products that are identical between vendors (for example, a website where you review computer monitors and then link to vendors giving you some affiliate cash back).

With lasers it might be a bit difficult though since there are not that many sites selling the -exact same- product.

 

[paul1598419]

I think a $5/month donation is just fine.

-Alex

This is sold as a subscription, not a donation. Not sure what the legal differences might be, but sales tax could be one of them. I have had to pay a 10% sales tax on items I purchase in other states since there was a court battle over this last year. Not much I can do about it except maybe buy from out of the country.

 

[NightExplorer96]

This is sold as a subscription, not a donation.

Sorry paul, my mistake.

-Alex