Advertising on TAY: your ideas wanted

I like your idea of getting the local/smaller businesses onboard first. Personally, I (being in Tacoma) use Backpacker's Supply over REI whenever possible. Same with Feathered Friends if I'm up in Seattle.

If you went with an ad page that "paid per hit/click" I personally would dedicate some time every night just to click a ton of ads for you.

However, I also will not buy things online unless it's something I've previously had or tried out. I may be in the minority, but when it comes to actually going through with a purchase, I much prefer doing it in person...just my 2 cents.

Charles,

Thanks for all that you have done with the TAY website.  I owe the fact that I'm snowboarding year-round partially to this site, so this was a good reminder to visit the donation page again  

Personally, advertisements don't bother me too much as long as they aren't excessive.  The other site I frequent is splitboard.com, which has advertisements.  I've found that I have clicked on some advertisements and have even used that site to purchase a few things (specifically from Voile).  I haven't found that it's really taken away from the site - I use the site in a similar manner to TAY.  If I'm not interested, then I just read the trip reports or the talk forum and ignore advertisements.

To answer your other question, if advertisements were added which ones would I be most likely to respond to:  REI, Backcountrygear.com & Amazon.com - these are where I do most of my online shopping.  The rest is at local stores around the Eugene area.

I wouldn't be opposed to getting an email a couple times of year requesting a donation either (a reminder email is always good because I know occasionally I take this site for granted).  However you choose to go, you've got my support.

Charles, thanks so much for your work. It sounds like your heart is in the right place, in my opinion. I have to say that most advertising is pretty bothersome to me (especially, the one Enzolola provided as an example, no offense). It is very refreshing that this site doesn't advertise. I strongly urge you, and all other members, to not go down this path. I think the members, Jason H., for example, who suggested group activities are on the right track because those tactics support what I see as the mission of TAY - bringing people together to experience the natural and vertical bounties of our area. I think having benefit concerts, dinners, bbq's, are great ideas. an auction could be part of that, but at least people would be getting together. i would rather see our community strengthened than our businesses, even local (the stronger the community, the more skiing, the more gear...). NPR and KAOS radio also offer incentives for donations, such as t-shirts, stickers, gear... which could also be explicitly donated by local businesses.

Advertising on TAY would spoil a little bit of what glisse means to me. Like someone had sideslipped TAY. Like if your favorite ski area bumped top 40 hits on every lift pole. Like if there were a lift to Camp Muir, or a road across the Olympics (planned in the 30's, by the way). Let's take our vision back from this wicked-ass system.

off to donate and buy a TAY shirt.

Having owned a business, I wish I had so many interested and concerned "customers" as TAY. It certainly is a validation of the value of the site. The hard costs as Charles related are very reasonable. If Charles applied an hourly rate to the amount of time he spends on the site then the true cost would be a multiple. I frequent Telemarktips and Snowforecast and their ads are not offensive to me. But then I was a marketing guy when I was responsible.

Fund raising events require significant effort to organize and implement. Seeing most folks have a real job or commitments, I think organized events may not be practical.

I like the idea of a donation container at the upcoming Crystal event as "an indicator" of how much can be generated at a loosely organized event. With gas approaching $4 a gallon, it seems hard to believe that a site as popular and useful as TAY is having a difficult time in generating $2-2500 in donations a year to cover only hard operating costs.

Would I stop visiting TAY if there were ads ? No

Would I post my TR at Telemarktips or TGR if TAY had ads ? No

Would I start my own site if TAY had ads ? No

Hmmmm !

5k or less per page, and loaded last. If ads slow things down, I'll go off my own bookmarks.

Charles, you have done a great service in creating TAY.
I think it is time to accept advertising and I know that with you in charge it will be tasteful and relevant.

Chris