new feature: easy peasy thread boost stuff

We are trying to pay for our site and Devaka came up with an idea that I think is a good one!  

In certain forums, when you create a post, you will see three thread boost options.  So if you post something and you would like to get it more views, you can throw in a few bucks.  

We are starting with select forums:

  singles
  real estate
  crowdfunding
  flea market
  intentional community
  ecovillage
  pdc
  workshops
  conferences
  online learning
  instructors
  products
  books
  movies
  web sites
  resources
  blatant advertising
  permaculture sites

everything in the categories

  experiences
  digital market

Of course, my evil brain would like a thousand people to try it out and see if they get the results they desire.  :)

Does it look okay?  

Took it for a test-drive.

It looks awesome!  I think it will help - especially with folks used to forking over money to promote stuff.

However, I do think a lot of normies will balk at the $20 entry point.  

What about a smaller bit below those four options called "testing the waters" or something, where people get a lower dollar options, maybe with some training wheels to point them toward assessing impact?  Maybe even a bit of a discount for first-timers.

Suppose somebody is trying to advertise that their permaculture paradise is for sale.  I would think that the $20 thing is pretty excellent, and cheap.  ??

paul wheaton wrote:Suppose somebody is trying to advertise that their permaculture paradise is for sale.  I would think that the $20 thing is pretty excellent, and cheap.  ??

I agree!  That person is a good fit for this pricing structure.  Also, folks like to kick the tires of a new feature to know how it works and build trust.  Also, lots of people might throw a fiver at a singles ad with less friction than a 20.

You could even call it a "test drive" and call it a trust-building feature.

I guess the big question is, who is this feature for?

If it's for only people running businesses or selling property, then it's built right.  But the fact that it's shown to every person who posts about anything (on these forums) means the audience is quite a bit broader than that. normal folks posting about normal stuff.

And considering the forums you've put this on so far - maybe it's perfect.

I would think if you roll it out to the less adsy forums, you would have 98% of posts being normies posting normy stuff, and we might wanna tweak it for that audience.  

I like the idea of a test drive.  Not only for the feature, but also for the person trying it out.  

Fiddling ...

I added a $5 "quickie test"  --- how does it look?

Yeah, I like that a lot.  

It would be cool to have some automated hand-holding.  Maybe that could be kind of baked into the "your thread boost stuff is about to expire!" email, optimizing for directing the test-driver to their results, highlighting impressions, clicks, cost-per click in very clear visuals.

something i don't love about the way things work in the economic-political system that most of us are trying to survive is that people who have more money to spend have more power, more voice, more reach. this reinforces their position as the people in power. the forums where they speak are happy to make a quick buck. it helps make sure the people who have less get heard less and therefore their pesky ideas don't ever become too much of a threat to the overculture.

thats what this makes me think of

I did the thread boost thing (which I thought was very easy to do), and then it brought up the "add-ons" page. For a moment I thought that the purchase hadn't gone through, that I wasn't charged, etc. until I had opened an additional browser window and saw that the thread was posted, and I received both confirmation emails from PayPal and from permies stating that the boost was complete.

Is there some way to post the thread without automatically opening this add-ons page?

Related question: Is there a way to choose to add-on the thread features at a later date, or are these available only when you first post the thread?

Stephen B. Thomas wrote:Related question: Is there a way to choose to add-on the thread features at a later date, or are these available only when you first post the thread?

Like maybe an option in the normal "thread boost" area to see basic or advanced options - where the basic options show you the new quickie stuff?

This might be more of a slow-and-steady thing.  

After stephen's test, there have been two other people that put up some coin for this.  Not a lot of coin, but maybe if there can be two a week, it will add up to something.