What’s Next? That’s up to you.
Hi Everyone-
Well, we’ve been up and running for about three months now and things are really turning out great for this website. I am so happy and excited that so many of you have joined and contributed to this site in so many ways. Thank you ~ You are the reason why I created this website.
My post today is in regards to the question: What can we do to make this website even better?
The sub-text to the name of this site is “a creative community e-zine”. I’d like to stress the word community. Which means this website can be whatever we want it to be as a community. Please provide your thoughts.
My ideas:
• I am working on getting more content up in the fields of writing, art, painting, sculpture, photography and videography. As they all fall under the realm of the content I would like to see on the site. The idea of this site is to have content under the entire “creative umbrella” of fields. (not just graphic design and web related fields).
• I am curious if we should allow a place on the site to allow employers to post job opportunities or freelance opportunities locally. (this would help me revamp some of the money that goes into the costs of this site)
• I am curious if we should allow a place on the site for advertising - would this bother you? I would like to keep any advertising local, not just all the “crap” design advertising that plagues every blog on the internet. 
(this would also help me revamp some of the money that goes into the costs of this site)
• I am now opening up the opportunity for students and all others to register and comment/discuss on articles. In my first opening post I stated that this site was geared towards “creative professionals only”. Which might have been slightly confusing. – So, if “anyone” from the area locally is interested in just joining discussions through the comment areas, please register to get started.
*Only creative professionals will be allowed to actually write and submit an article.
Again, please join in and discuss what we as community can do to make NWI Creative a better experience for all.
Thank you,
AG
Author Info: Atom Groom
I founded NWICreative.org to spark interest in the hearts of artists, creatives and the like in our region online. I want nothing more than to see our creative community grow and flourish.
I have two thoughts on Advertising on this site(both of which you can take it or leave it).
First the negative one, the reason why I like this site and what you are doing is because it’s pure, from your heart and sincere. I feel like I can contribute to a site like this because its not taking advantage of “user created content” and making money off of it(me). Example would be all these inspiration sites, that post your work or website on it but then turns around and sells ads, hence making money of of the users/contributors.
The flip side would be, I know you put a shit load of work into making this site, maintaining it, promoting it, and hosting it – so in that respect you should be able to compensate something for your time, no questions asked.
We both know our time is one of the most valuable thing we both provide these days and that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Then comes in the issue with the INsight event and if we are going to have banners on the site (advertisements), then what I first stated makes me a flaming hypocrite.
So I’m torn. Ultimately it’s your decision. Like I said in the beginning, I’m just stating my opinion and want to be open with you and the community.
It would be nice to hear what others think.
J-
Good points, …
1) I personally hate advertising on sites like this and the reality of it is that most people won’t be interested in advertising, nor will I have the time to actually resource it.
2) While I wouldn’t mind to get back some of the dollars that go into my time for this site, I honestly get more gratification off people interacting and the community. So much so that money really doesn’t matter to me.
I wouldn’t mind charging people to make job posts though, that way all parties benefit (myself, job poster, and users).
I will never turn this site into any type of “spammy” advertising, google ad words – crap.
Thanks for the input.
AG
I think it would be hard to charge for advertising on the site, because basically you have a very small audience and not sure that any local advertiser has much to offer. The only thing I can think of are things like local conferences but not sure if it wouldn’t be of value to just put that up and not charge for it.
The job posting I think would be a better idea. Not sure what you can get for that but that to me sounds like something that someone would get value for having out there.
I don’t mind advertising if it’s relevant to something I care about. I dislike and avoid AdWords like an STD.
The job posting thing would be a groovy idea. Finding local creative jobs is a pain.
Also, getting other creative kinds of things up here would be neat. I have Medium format film that I don’t know what to do with (developing and processing, I mean), and I sure do love printing and the whole process (I have screen print equipment at home).
Atom,
I know this is a community site as you call it… and I can understand all points stated above. But as Joe stated, you do put a lot of effort and time into this site, I would love to see you gain a little financial compensation for your time. After all, if you were not spending time here, you would hopefully be billing someone for the time spend on their project right? So, whatever you decide is the best avenue to do that, I think it would be great. The job board does not necessarily sound like a bad thing, imo, companies are probably only going to post jobs that they are serious about filling with a professional.
I also think a small advertising space would be cool, but not how you think. Maybe having a small ad space for events such as INsite, local gallery openings, meeeting (tweetup?) etc would be a great space for that. But only for events that you would deem as relevant to this community.
Little goes a long way, and since you said yourself your not selfish about how much $$$$ this site brings in. I would say go with the Advertising and Profits that you would like to see.
Ideas: Just that…
1.)Sell NWICreative t-shirts, mugs or something.
2.)Offer ad-space to only local events and promotions at a low cost, and make sure its content related.
3.)Simple Donate Button????
As far as the site goes, I think it has drawn and will draw in the audience that needs it. Sure, like many things in life it is not as it was originally intended to be. However it is fitting a need, not just for professionals but for students alike. To be taught and to teach. We are all students in this aspect, learning not just from those that have been around forever, but letting the new and evolving bring us more to learn. Plus giving back selflessly.
Ideas: Just that…
Resource Page (Community Contributed) – Links to some of the webs finer Stumbles…
Profile Link (Clicking an Avatar)- Learn more about the people your talking to. Not just the bios in theirs posts. Contact Info?
Hi Everyone!
Thanks so much for the feedback. I am hoping to get some more in here as well.
For now, I’ve opened up the comment area to those that are not registered on the website. This will allow students, the like and all others to comment and participate.
All comments must be approved before going live though, to filter spam.
Thanks Again,
AG
I’m not sure if this is a custom install of WordPress, but they have solutions for spam out there. Such as Defensio. I like Defensio.
It doesn’t use captchas, instead is has an algorithm for determining whether something is spam or not. And you can teach it to become more accurate.
The default Akismet plugin has worked fine for me.