Classifieds Section

[GLF]

Great Lakes Fisherman has been open for almost 2 years. Since it has opened, there have been 100's of ads posted in the classifieds section. To date, there have been 2 members who have offered to donate something to the site after they have sold their items. We have a lot of members who sign up on the site, and the only post they have made is in the classifieds.

You have to pay to sell something in the news paper, or list an item on ebay. After an item is sold on ebay, you also have to pay a percentage of what the item sold for. I debated on making it a pay per item to sell something in the classifieds, but opted to do it another way.

I have made the following changes:

• Regular members are no longer able to create a new thread in the classifieds section. You can still reply to posts in the classifieds section.
  

• In order to post something for sale in the classfied ads section, you have to be a supporting member. You can find out more information about the supporting member usergroup here. There are no limits to the amount of items you post.
  

The no dealers rule still applies!

[GLF]

I had a pm about this change. I am going to share my response to the pm with everyone, so everyone has an understanding on why I made the change.

Websites do not run for free. You probably pay less than $10 per month for your hosting. I pay $30 per month, for a resellers account. Why do I pay so much? I have over 15 domain names($10 each) registered and pointed here. Most of them I have a static web page up on. Here are some examples.

www.lakeontario-fishingreport.com

www.lakesuperiorfishingreport.com

www.lakemichigan-fishingreport.com

The domain names and the hosting chew up all of the money I receive from advertising.

Promoting the site. I had over 5,000 buisness cards made up for the site. I believe you got one in the book you got for Christmas last year. The cards I had made up were expensive. I spend a lot of my time and gas visiting boat ramps to put cards on vehicles with trailers.

This year I want to run an ad in GLA magazine. It is not cheap to run an ad there. I also want to have a booth at one of the spring sporting shows. Unlike tackle shops and guide services, I am not selling merchandise and making money at the show. This money all has to come out of my pocket.

As this site grows, my operating expenses grow. I hope I can get by one more year without having to get a dedicated server. Dedicated servers cost over $100 per month.

The one thing I do not want to do, is to plaster the board with advertising. I DISPISE going to websites that are plastered with advertising!