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How intrusive are the ads?

Forums: General Discussion
Created on: 01/24/15 06:04 PM Views: 1834 Replies: 17
Saturday, January 24, 2015 at 6:04 PM

Hello,

Our reunion was in June 2013. Traffic has slowed to a crawl, and I'm trying to decide if I should pony up $97 for year #3 or go with the ads.

Is there an example I could look at so I could tell what a page looks like with ads?

Thanks,

Bruce Margetson
Magee'63

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Saturday, January 24, 2015 at 6:21 PM - Response #1

This is a great question - thanks for asking it. I'd like to answer this two ways, because your question itself raises a very important topic about how sites are run.

Essentially, today sites can be "social" or "non social" so to speak. On non social sites classmates typically gather before reunions, buy their reunion tickets, and then after the reunion the site dies down until the time of the next reunion, where the process repeats itself. Class Creator ran for several years this way. There is no right or wrong, and if this is what you want, no problem.

However, if you don't want your site to die down between reunions, and instead be a place of a perpetual class reunion, we have all the tools in place to make that the case today. It's just a matter of changing three Preferences settings you currently have set. Please see this screen still: http://screencast.com/t/3Q8nYfIs

You would also need to turn on your What's New page, which you currently have deactivated.

If you change these three radio buttons and turn on your What's New page, then invite your classmates back to the site, before you know it you'll likely having a thriving What's New page full of daily activity and lots of classmate participation. You can also opt to turn on the Class Connection Facebook app which will drive even more engagement and daily activity.

There are numerous newer sites here full of constant activity now, which we think is great for the people looking for that. Again no right or wrong, but if you want a site that drives classmate activity and engagement all the time you need to change these settings so people have new and entertaining content to participate in every day.

Let me answer your posted question now: Here is an example site with advertising: http://www.franklinco74.com

It should be noted that ads are provided by Google and are solely content driven. Thus sites can display very different advertising based on the content of the site. As one would expect, Google almost always shows reputable, high-quality ads. Every now and then I've seen something sneak in that's a little iffy but it doesn't happen very often. If you see a questionable ad and you contact us, we're able to block it so it won't display again. Currently we're getting a small handful of block requests per month.


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Saturday, January 24, 2015 at 7:35 PM - Response #2

Class Creator is the only ad on my site.. I started my class website in 2008. We had our 50th reunion in 2010 and are getting ready to plan the 55th for this summer.

I changed the What's New page to Messages to Classmates. That page is visited by several every day.. Usually, there's an average of 10 people who log on daily.

My Home Page is all about our class and school, which remains mostly unchanged.. Monthly, I put on new pictures, that month's birthday's celebrations, different cartoons or jokes, pictures from our yearbook or class newspapers and pictures taken at get-togethers (luncheons, class breakfast) on the announcement page. Classmates have to log on to see any new content on that page.

My classmates have been great in donating pictures, etc. for the website. When cleaning or moving, instead of pitching the box full of stuff from their high school days, they send or give it to me.

It takes a little work each month to come up with new ideas for the site, but, it's fun and classmates can't wait until the first of the month to see what's new.

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Saturday, January 24, 2015 at 8:11 PM - Response #3

Brad, your answers to this question and the "new event planner" today have really been enlightening to me. Thank you.
Barbara

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Edited 01/24/15 8:12 PM
Saturday, January 24, 2015 at 8:39 PM - Response #4

I agree with Lynda. Our 50th was October 2013 and I still try to keep our website exciting and still get positive comments on it. I update the background often. We have almost 200 classmates on the website and average about 20 a day on the site and 100 a month. Right after the first of the year I sent a class email with a Review of 2014 - those who past away, new members to the website, new grandkids, review of 51st luncheon, update on classmates with health issues, etc. I didn't expect, but got, lots of great comments on it. It will be an annual thing now. Two classmates have already let me know that they will have a new grandchild this year - they want their names mentioned in next years review! My sister is the web administrator for her class and does a weekly newsletter for her site. (I'm not the writer that she it.)For February I am working on a slideshow of vintage Valentine cards. That will bring back some memories. It takes time and some creativity to keep interest up on the website but it can be done and it's rewarding. My sister and I share ideas but I can admit to stealing ideas from other websites. I have even seen a few of my original ideas on other's websites!

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Saturday, January 24, 2015 at 11:32 PM - Response #5

Regarding Response #2 above and ads that are seen:

Class Creator ran in the early years as a free system with no ads. In later years we moved to a paid model to support volume.

At that time we grandfathered all of the early sites as permanently free. We were happy to do this (and had to do this) as this was our initial promise.

Today's Free (ads) plan will display a couple Google ads per page. Most ads are at the top and bottom of the page. What's New displays inline ads every 20 entries or so.

Bottom line: "Grandfathered Free" sites have no ads, and "Free (ads)" sites (today's plan) display a couple ads on most of the site pages (if there's enough content on the pages for Google to display them).


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Edited 01/25/15 1:26 AM
Monday, February 16, 2015 at 7:16 PM - Response #6

I am very disturbed by an ad which is appearing on the Condo website I recently created. We only have 12 units, so I could not justify a paid subscription (plus this is the third site I have set up on classcreator - the other two are paid sites.)
The ad is one which I have encountered on FB before, and I think it is a very questionable one. I have attached a snapshot of it. It is one of those ads which says that you can see who viewed your profile. I have found those to be VERY bad for spam, adware, unwelcome programs installed when you click on the link, etc. Can you do anything about it?

Since I manage 3 sites, here is the one I am referring to:

clubcabanacondo.com

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Tuesday, February 17, 2015 at 11:19 AM - Response #7

I need you to click on the ad and then copy and paste the associated link for the site the that the ad takes you to. I can use that to ban the ad from the system. If you do not want to click the ad, you should be able to right click on the ad and copy the link location. Paste that link back into this thread and we can take it from there.


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Saturday, February 21, 2015 at 10:26 PM - Response #8

Sorry, I didn't see that you had replied until now.

It's not showing anymore. The ad said, "Who viewed your profile?" then it had the link "trackmyprofile.com" followed by "Discover who searched for you, went to your profile, and how many times."

Of course, since our site is password protected, that shouldn't be of concern, but several of the registered users are not really internet savvy.

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Thursday, July 2, 2015 at 9:31 AM - Response #9

Brad Switzer wrote:

Regarding Response #2 above and ads that are seen:

At that time we grandfathered all of the early sites as permanently free. We were happy to do this (and had to do this) as this was our initial promise....

(snip)

... Bottom line: "Grandfathered Free" sites have no ads, and "Free (ads)" sites (today's plan) display a couple ads on most of the site pages (if there's enough content on the pages for Google to display them).

Hi Brad,

So if I understand you correctly, early "grandfathered" sites will still always be free without ads? And if so, how do we know if we have a grandfathered site? I believe it was free when I started our site back on 10/24/2008.

Just curious... I don't have the time to spend here like I used to and I can't seem to find anyone interested in becoming a co-admin, so I have considered dropping our paid subscription from time to time.

Thanks!
Bill

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Thursday, July 2, 2015 at 2:48 PM - Response #10

Hi Bill,

Your site from 2008 was part of the original grandfathered group.

Jessica
Class Creator Support


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Thursday, July 2, 2015 at 5:11 PM - Response #11

Jessica wrote:

Hi Bill,

Your site from 2008 was part of the original grandfathered group.

Jessica
Class Creator Support

Very good! Thanks Jessica!

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Monday, August 10, 2015 at 10:39 PM - Response #12

I have several classmates that own a business and some that want to sell their homes. What is the best way to add these to our web site?

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Tuesday, August 11, 2015 at 4:59 PM - Response #13

We typically recommend creating a custom page under Edit Site Pages for highlighting classmate business or other unique items like selling homes.

Jessica
Class Creator Support


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Wednesday, December 9, 2015 at 1:18 PM - Response #14

I took your advice (very belatedly) and went with the What's New option. Looks great except for all the birthday announcements, which far outnumber the postings. Too much clutter! Is there a way to drop the birthdays?
Thanks,
Bruce

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Wednesday, December 9, 2015 at 1:44 PM - Response #15

Not currently. However, we find that they really spur more interactions between members.


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Tuesday, May 31, 2016 at 8:14 AM - Response #16

Are birthday announcements still going out as one classmate indicates she has receive one for sometime. What triggers the announcement meaning is there a selection to turn them off or on.

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Tuesday, May 31, 2016 at 10:28 AM - Response #17

Each classmate has their own Notify Me option under Member Functions. If they are following another classmate in their notify list they will be reminded of their birthday as long as the classmate they are following has shared their birthday information. Each classmate can choose whether or not to share their birthday info under their Profile settings.

Jessica
Class Creator Support


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