Let's start a fresh list of ways of keeping the site rolling.

I had shared some ideas later on yesterday evening but I can't find that thread..

 

But here's a summary-

 

A gofundme wouldn't be a bad idea I don't think in general if somebody has the social media pull to get enough attention.

 

Or I was fond of having a pop up upon first entry to the site with the option to donate, become a member, or do nothing. Because forcing money out of people will deter then from the site but a simple popup can be closed and shouldn't do much harm.

 

And building on the paid member idea some had mentioned making the tunes a paid section but I was thinking along the lines of paying x amount of dollars a month and you have the chance to win something in a raffle.

 

Something along the lines of a tiered member system with a little more to it. Like 1 dollar a month you can upload pictures. 2 dollars you get custom tunes. And so on. Obviously the prices and specifics are up in the air I'm kinda just using examples that were already said just trying to go a bit more in depth. 

 

Another thing to consider as far as the tunes section goes and I've never visited it as I don't have a quadzilla but with the way technology is going on these newer truck everyone is using efi live tuning. I've got 2 co workers both talking about efi live but they'd never heard of the quadzilla before. Just some food for thought.. maybe broaden the spectrum to attract more attention to that section and make it more worth someone's time.

 

I'm just throwing ideas out there and hoping to help or hoping that someone else can take it and build into something to keep the site up.

 

Another thing that came to mind.. what about this since your in a tough spot your probably thinking that raffles are the last thing you wanna worry about but say you need "200" paying members before you can hold the raffle and urge people to tell there Cummins buddies and get more members to the site.

 

And a side note is I've actually been referring people here for there Cummins problems because they see I work at the dealer and immediately ask questions about how to fix there truck. I've told a few customers and a few strangers to check this site out for help.

Edited May 7, 20195 yr by 2000Ram2500

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Edited May 8, 20195 yr by Timd32
Keeping the list shorter...

Basically we have silver, gold, and platinum. The 3 tier levels. Now its a matter of setting permissions per group. Then what permissions does free or unpaid member get which should be the same as a guest so to speak.

 

Now look at the site and figure out what the 3 level will have and free / unpaid members. I can work through each function and its setting with you all.

 

Everything can be configured for amounts, limits, etc.

Edited May 7, 20195 yr by Mopar1973Man

I guess at that point you kinda have ti consider the ones who post a single question and never return. I guess some way to allow them to get what they want because otherwise they'll use another forum but keep them coming back again would be a "pay to play" type of situation but then you've gotta worry about getting them to pay up. 

 

Off the top of my head one way to make that work would be to enhance the search feature in such a way that it encourages them to search the site for answers before they sign up as a paid member to post there question. Not sure how that would impact traffic though to be honest

Already running an enhanced search engine called ElasticSearch. That is the best I can use.

This is a great site, and I think the best one around for accurate technical answers to Cummins/ Dodge/ Ram questions.  Which means the site has value, and I don't think it is unrealistic to expect someone to pay to access it.

An important first consideration with charging for use is how do you not discourage new users from using the site enough times that they become convinced it is a site they want to keep returning to?

Perhaps a structure wherein anyone could access the site for free up to a limited times per month- say two times?  After that, they would be blocked and a prompt requiring either a fee for the remaining 30 days, or a flat fee for the year (next 365 days).  Personally, I think $25 per year is reasonable.

Some folks read this nearly daily, as you can tell from the posts.  I think others check in a least a couple of times per month. There's another group that seem to use it to solve a particular problem or get an answer to a specific question, and maybe use it frequently for a couple of weeks.  Would $10 for a month be too much?  I don't think so, and that would drive the average person to consider that $25 for the year is the real bargain.

Keeping with the "tiered" system, and even though I don't have a Quadzilla (yet), you could add a tier to the annual membership that also allows unlimited tune downloads.  

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Edited May 8, 20195 yr by Timd32
Keeping the list shorter...

  On 5/7/2019 at 11:13 PM, Timd32 said:

Mine was a paid app for the phone or tablet.

 

Why would we need an app? Already does both platforms. Not to mention if we change anything on the site the Ap will have to rewrite every single time. We already meet HTML5 and CSS3 requirements of today without the need of an app for both iPhone and Android.

 

  On 5/7/2019 at 6:06 PM, Cowboy Doc said:

Perhaps a structure wherein anyone could access the site for free up to a limited times per month- say two times? 

 

That can't be done. The software does not do such at this time. When someone registers to the site the automatic is making them a registered member. Then you would have to figure out a trigger and a means of switch to NO ACCESS. This would have to done all manually. 

 

  On 5/7/2019 at 6:06 PM, Cowboy Doc said:

Keeping with the "tiered" system, and even though I don't have a Quadzilla (yet), you could add a tier to the annual membership that also allows unlimited tune downloads. 

 

We can do something like this. But remember we are running both gold and platinum donors as one year now. Only the silver donor is a 6 month span.

 

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Edited May 8, 20195 yr by Timd32
Keeping the list shorter...

  On 5/8/2019 at 12:58 AM, Mopar1973Man said:

That can't be done. The software does not do such at this time. When someone registers to the site the automatic is making them a registered member. Then you would have to figure out a trigger and a means of switch to NO ACCESS. This would have to done all manually. 

 

I was thinking of the model that all the big print media outfits use now.  If you start reading their article, even if you got there from a link in Google News, and try to move on to another story, a blocker comes up that tells you how many "free" articles you have left before you will be forced to subscribe.  

I realize your software doesn't do that, but if we are at the crisis point for having to generate some kind of revenue for your time and efforts, maybe having the software redesigned to make this a "you get what you pay for" site will keep it afloat.

  On 5/8/2019 at 1:29 AM, Timd32 said:

You could static the info for this part easily. Even a quick look up guide for common issues and reference info

Here we are back to the original problem? Who is going to do all this work? (Most likely me...) Then what is my time worth in getting this information converted into articles? (Most likely nothing) Like right now I've got all the 4th Gen stuff I could be writing into articles but frustrates the hell out me to put in all the hours and then find out there isn't anything there for my efforts.

 

I'll admit when sales were good during the winter I was cutting a fair paycheck. Now with the website producing nothing for income I'm rather shy about cutting that check being I know this coming winter is not going to be like last winter, being we are not producing the High Idle Kits any longer. Once in a blue moon sale of Timbo or alternator diodes isn't going to work. If I start just cutting paychecks every month I can drain the bank account in a short time. Even though my time and efforts are worth much more I only paid myself $500 so I can get through the month and my upcoming surgery.

 

It's wonderful in all, but it would be a different story if others were to jump in and start writing articles too. 

 

 

Edited May 8, 20195 yr by Mopar1973Man

Record your time and pay yourself according to what the BOD agreed to for writing articles.

  On 5/8/2019 at 1:45 AM, Me78569 said:

Record your time and pay yourself according to what the BOD agreed to for writing articles.

 

That's just a band-aid. Still doesn't fix the entire problem. If I would have stayed quiet and not posted anything the income would of continue to be low and I would be drain the funds out quicker than income.

Articles generate traffic, traffic generates long term monthly income via ads.

 

Its a bandaid for now, but it does put money in your pocket and help the site.

 

 

We can work on other stuff to bump funds at the same time, but you need to pay yourself with the money we have.

Edited May 8, 20195 yr by Me78569

@Mopar1973Man what kind of commitment would you need for help running the site? Just curious, I run my own company and I have some down time that is just currently just wasted trying to figure out quickbooks and this stupid vortec 5.7L swap into a 454 truck...... 

Yea, what can we do site wise? 

 

What about some of us having some product to distribute in our area? Aka distributor lol. Maybe me or someone else could sell product in their respective area? 

 

I still never got an answer/reply on making some meet and greets or one big event for us and the world...?

You can go ahead and plan an event/meet and greet 

Like a big one for m73m? Locations? 

I would vote for a paid tiered membership like silver, gold, platinum ect.. maybe keep it free to access the site and ask a few questions and reply’s to keep the traffic up but require a paid membership to upgrade Like posting pics, accessing articles and tunes and such, make it more appealing the more you donate.  

 

I frequent other forums a lot, not Cummins related, but they are free with all access but they do have a lot of advertising which makes it a PIA to navigate through. I really don’t know if you want to go down that road or not.

  On 5/8/2019 at 1:31 PM, 01cummins4ever said:

maybe keep it free to access the site and ask a few questions and reply’s to keep the traffic up but require a paid membership to upgrade Like posting pics, accessing articles and tunes and such, make it more appealing the more you donate.

 

This is why I stripped off everything currently on the free side. No uploads allowed, very small PM box, Can look and see most stuff but can't reach. Hopefully as a teaser.

 

  On 5/8/2019 at 1:31 PM, 01cummins4ever said:

I frequent other forums a lot, not Cummins related, but they are free with all access but they do have a lot of advertising

 

That is one thing I don't want to do. I could add in even more advertising. But that just makes a mess of the site. Actually, most of the advertising is so slow to respond it adding huge amounts of time to painting pages. The actual site can render in mere 2 to 3 seconds easy but the advertisers are beyond my reach adding another 5 seconds to the render time. Google Adsense is trying to push for adding more ads on the mobile side but it just trashes the experience for mobile users. Like Cummins forum has a paid spot for a lifetime membership with no-ads. (Dead end one-time payment then never see income again - which I've done years ago.)

 

Currently, the platinum members (one year) 50.00 - 100.00 above donations are ad-free. 

 

Gold has few ads but fairly light. (one year) 20.00 - 49.99

 

Silver is nearly the same as free. (6-month) span for 10.00 - 19.99.

Edited May 8, 20195 yr by Mopar1973Man