Potential Big Board - Advertizing Question
 

I have been working on my site for a while and the growth is steadly increasing.

My hope is that within the next year my site will reach "big board" status.

As of today, I own my own dedicated server and it handles the load fine, but eventually Im sure I will need a more robust infrastructure, and thus, the finances to support it.

My plan is to eventually support it using suttle advertizing, google ads, banners, whatever, who knows maybe I can even make a profit.

Should I start advertizing while the board is young, so the users are used to seeing the ads? Im afraid that if a year from now I suddenly ad a bunch of ads my users might get upset or label me as greedy...I dont plan on using any subscription based things, or asking for donations...

I already have a usergroup hierarchy in place such that certain groups will never be subject to the ads...I just dont want to disrupt or upset my userbase in any way.

So the question is, do I wait until I need help financially to start advertizing or do I start advertizing sooner so the users are used to it?

Have you guys had your users ever react negatively to advertizing?

What are some good mods/hacks you guys can recommend to help manage an ad campaign (what groups, see what ads, where, and when)?

My guess is that I should allow my forum to grow a bit more, as to not deterr potential users who immediately see ads before registering and wait until the forum is more mature to introduce the ads, but I'm not sure.

Thanks in advance.

113 members... you'll be a BB in no time. :rolleyes: i wouldn't even worry about ads until you can't pay the cost yourself. also, the best place to ask how your forums members would feel about ads is in your own forum.

IMO, start it immediately....you WILL get negative feedback if you suddenly add them later...and if you are thinking at all of paid subscriptions, implement them immediately as well...even a small token donation that brings a few enhancements to the users AND gives them a little recognition (username color, etc) will help soften your needs down the line.

Many of my users actually appreciate some of the ads, since they can be pertinant to the chitchat discussions.