I have always been open to banners on the board and main site, the problem is that no one wants to advertise when they can post for free. I have offered to businesses that I would open a forum that they could moderate and answer questions about their products. They would get a banner on the main board and also a space on a new sponsors page. I have offerred to put companies on the pics and vids page but once again why pay when you can get it for free. If you have something in particular I would be more than happy to work with you. In the past I have had several companies inquire about putting a banner on the site, but most just want a free spot. I think that there is a lot of advertising opportunity for some lucky company that is willing to start the trend.
Captain
Just my .02 here. I have been saying that there are cretive ways to make something like this work. Here is an idea:
Create a banner area that changes everytime one comes to the site...sort of like the photos. Additionally, set up a vendor section with profiles and links to vendors who support the site. What I mean by profiles is an opportunity for them to list/describe/picture the products they have for the Hayabusa. Picture a select group of banners and when you click on one, it expands to more. It is these banners that would rotate and be displayed when people come to the site.
Now, how will this benefit the site...well whenever a member links to the vendor's web and orders, or mentions the site when he orders over the phone, the vendor gives a 15% discount...7.5% goes as a credit to the purchaser and 7.5% gets paid to the site (Captain). The vendor gets an order, the member gets a discount, and the site gets a kickback.
So will this work? Why would it work? Well it is called consumer awareness. All of us would need to remind each other to support the vendors who support the site. When new members are seeking products, we answer honestly, as we always do, but when at all possible, we direct people to the supportive vendors to buy the product in question. For example, when we discuss windscreens...people might say something like "if you are tall, you will want to go with a Double Bubble. I have the Zero Gravity and love it. Get a discount on it from the .org preferred Vendor, Thinker Products. Check them out in vendor section _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ The vendor wins because he doesn't pay anything out unless someone buys something.
Everyone wins.
I am sure that I underestimate the effort to set up something like that, but I believe it would work once in place.
Thinker
