Libervis Network got screwed (but it's not so bad)
libervisco | Okay, on a less dramatic | Mon, 2007-10-29 17:56
Okay, on a less dramatic note, there may yet be some alternative opportunities to compensate the almost assured (though possibly not total) loss caused by this shift. Libervis Network grew beyond what is seen on Nuxified.org and Libervis.com. VPS has been a nice incubator for a while for some interesting project. This will have to be sped up. Also, statistics on freedomware-gamefest.com are quite interesting considering that it's the top referrer for Nuxified.org this month (quite surprisingly). In other words, by pooling in on everything we have and will have from the VPS enough traffic could be generated to sell advertising based on traffic and actual search engine rankings in addition to page rank.
But this is going to be tough. Even though it may seem otherwise to some, we are not a high traffic web sites. There are overall almost 2000 visits daily, but not all are on visible top pages and not all of these are unique so this does not count as 60 000 visits a month. Rather, the number of hits we can actually sell is 25 000 a month. Considering that a rate per 10 000 hits is quite low; less than $10, this basically amounts to $25 a month per one banner ad, and we don't want to put too many. $50 a month for both sites is $100 a month which wont compensate enough. That's just enough for bills, without rent, hosting etc.
I think I'll have to get into additional services, but in any case this is, just like getting an extra job, taking away from time I could spend on Nuxified/Libervis projects. That much seems rather unavoidable.
tbuitenh | That is pretty bad. I've | Mon, 2007-10-29 20:42
That is pretty bad. I've said before we should find a different source than ads, but that was just because I don't like the idea of them.
But what services do we have for hire? Community building and strong ethics? Somehow I don't think there is much demand for that. Of course, fake community and fake ethics can make an advertising company a lot of money, but the real deal - no. Who wants to be made less profitable on the short term?
I would strongly suggest you try web design as a second job, because you're really good at it. But how much does that pay nowadays?
libervisco | Web design is definitely | Mon, 2007-10-29 20:53
Web design is definitely among the services I could consider doing. I just need to polish my skills a bit better and maybe give it a try. Other things I thought of is doing custom deployments of Drupal for people who don't have time or will to mess with it. Similarly, I could do blog/site hosting for some people on VPS with maintenance and hosting charges..
libervisco | OK, here is roughly what I'm | Tue, 2007-10-30 00:02
OK, here is roughly what I'm going to do.
I will set up OpenAds on Libervis.net for all of the sites we have and try to sell a couple of banner spots (with the size of one 468x60 banner or a vertical equivalent) per site, Nuxified.org and Libervis.com on a pay-per-10K impressions basis according to a fee I'm yet to set. The advertiser can advertise anything, although preferably technology or Free Software related, that doesn't break our advertising policy. Since it's just two image links, google shouldn't care any more it cares for the pool of text link ads I already have.
I'll try to keep these running. If one advertiser drops out, another should be found to replace it. Then the goal is simply going to be to generate as much traffic as possible because the more traffic - more impressions and faster I get to charge for 10K. 
Meanwhile I'll try to keep as much of the current text link ads business as possible. I may also try Google Adsense or even experiment with something else of the kind.. I may also experiment with something like page sponsorships (one page dedicatedly sponsored by one website/firm) and that's as far as advertising goes.
Second thing to do is to just try out some services options. Not sure yet in what order, but I can try logo/banner design and/or simple web design, Drupal custom deployments / consulting, custom blog (or small web) hosting (any blog software, any domain, full maintenance). In addition to this I will consider applying for a part time job of administering a server for someone or perhaps working as a moderator. This may or may not include taking a payed (it's about $100) educational sys admin course prior to that.
All that is just to try to fill in the voids so to speak, but I really am not sure any of this will be of much success. Most areas there I only have half-way qualifications so to speak. I am neither a professional web designer (I can imagine and SVG a web design, but I still sometimes use online help to put it into CSS and often use existing template as a basis - not to mention I'm weak when it comes to implementing advanced design-related features in something like JavaScript or PHP). I am also not a professional graphic designer. I suppose these all require just some practice and polishing to do, but that requires time and focus, which I might not have.
Still I CAN and therefore should consider trying it all.
And now the last and best thing. I am going to start a website experiment, not necessarily related to Free Software/Culture, but not contradicting to it either, with the aim of achieving as much traffic as possible as quickly as possible due to word of mouth (viral marketing), traffic which I can then quickly monetize with banners and maybe a few relevant text link ads (ONLY FEW) and then if I don't manage to achieve great success with it, sell it to the highest bidder and start over with another project with same purpose.. with the money I get for it. Then repeat this process until I hit the gold mine.
If I ever hit the home run the money will obviously be used to fund Libervis.com, Nuxified.org and related envisioned projects (like bumpatune.com) so it will all be for a good cause.
Now I have what may be a slightly controversial idea.. To start this cycle I'm considering selling mobiliberty.com rather than just redirecting it to Nuxified.org.. It doesn't have so much traffic to really impact Nuxified.org in a big way and otherwise it is quite useless to us in its current form. Yet even after the latest google boom it remains on PR4 and has a domain name some may like, even a bit of content and one page in stumbleupon.. I could perhaps get a couple of hundred dollars off it.. (I may be way off though)..
So there... there are some options.
libervisco | And here is something more | Tue, 2007-10-30 00:28
And here is something more on these cool web site ideas..
One is to start a web site around an existing popular service or product, to ride on its coat tail, but in a fair way; by offering additional value around that product or service. This could be as simple as a fan site or something more complex, like perhaps something based around stumbleupon or similar social networking services... I'm just vaguely brainstorming..
Another idea is to make a site called [edit: hid the domain from cybersquatters] which would be a community of science fiction fans that like to take the fiction to the next level, mixing the virtuality and reality in various ways. It would be a "fan site" for both scifi movies, series and stories and the culture that springs up around them, including online virtual worlds (like the upcoming Star Trek Online). It could also be about science fiction cultures not started with any TV-related content. For example Tabula Rasa might be quite popular.
This will be general enough not to come into real conflict with Free Software. Just because a Star Trek fan plays a proprietary Star Trek Legacy game doesn't mean I should refrain to talk to him about the *content* of the Star Trek universe itself. This wouldn't be a software or tech support forum or anything like that. It is rather a forum of cultural exchange between scifi subcultures, but skewed towards people who are more of thinkers than just joy riders. Not sure if that makes much sense, but the bottom line is that the site would not be a "yet another scifi fan site". It would have an unique and deeper premise to it that would almost romantically attract people charmed by the imagined worlds of future. That, I guess, could be what might attract some viral following.
Another really crazy idea is a site with a funny character (I imagined a bean with mustaches and big glasses) offering to answer all your questions! The site would only contain a character (perhaps animated) and a nice text input box where people can ask ANY question they can think of in hope of getting a funny, interesting, insightful answer.. The anticipation of the answer and its final arrival is what could be fun. The only problem with this idea is that if a lot of people start asking questions it might become too much for me to come up with cool answers.. One thing that comes to mind here is to employ a bot that would give a random answer that can apply to any question asked. You know, like that "it depends" answer which fits to so many, perhaps, all questions. 
We could alternatively even employ an AI of some sort.. I believe there are Free Software ones, to help me answer the questions..
But yeah.. it's a crazy idea, but it can be built on..
So again, bottom line is to create something that will generate a lot of traffic by being simply so attractive and compelling and not be tied to the general cause of promoting Free Software, Free Culture in such a way all prior Libervis projects were. The goal is to found something that money can be made on which can then be invested into our real cause - Libervis Network as it currently stands.
democrates | I think you're right, if | Tue, 2007-10-30 18:49
I think you're right, if making a living from the freedom advocates movement etc. isn't paying the bills another source of revenue is needed, and that could be anything.
Take mark Shuttleworth. The reason he's able to popularise free software so much is that he made his money first using proprietary software in the mix.
From an uncompromising ethics standpoint that strategy gets a fail. But on net effects surely it's a success. If you subtract ubuntu from the picture today and consider the MS x-licensing deals, what would the free OS terrain look like?
I've said it before, there's a specialist zero tolerance role in free software, the castle keep if you will. Lots of free software apps are arising in addition to the os's. It's great work and long may it continue. But therein lies a weakness, look how long it's taking. See how fast MS counter-attacks, how easily the businesses who seemed to have joined the movement are swayed by appeals to the same old profit motive.
"2. When you engage in actual fighting, if victory
is long in coming, then men's weapons will grow dull and
their ardor will be damped. If you lay siege to a town,
you will exhaust your strength.
3. Again, if the campaign is protracted, the resources
of the State will not be equal to the strain.
4. Now, when your weapons are dulled, your ardor damped,
your strength exhausted and your treasure spent,
other chieftains will spring up to take advantage
of your extremity. Then no man, however wise,
will be able to avert the consequences that must ensue.
5. Thus, though we have heard of stupid haste in war,
cleverness has never been seen associated with long delays.
6. There is no instance of a country having benefited
from prolonged warfare."
Sun Tzu - The Art Of War
So while I agree fully with the ethics of free software, I have wider freedoms in mind as discussed on other threads here and elsewhere, and believe I will compromise a bit on software freedom in order to pursue the greatest overall advance. For me it comes down to sacrificing some wants a bit in the medium term in order to secure needs as fast as possible.
"15. Hence a wise general makes a point of foraging
on the enemy. One cartload of the enemy's provisions
is equivalent to twenty of one's own, and likewise
a single picul of his provender is equivalent to twenty
from one's own store."
Sun Tzu - The Art Of War
It's a personal choice, how much will I compromise in order to divert resources from the enemy to the causes I believe in? What means are justified in pursuit of these ends?
libervisco | Interesting quotes. The | Tue, 2007-10-30 19:14
Interesting quotes.
The thing is I don't actually intend to make some compromises to Free Software. It is and still will be promoted by Libervis and Nuxified. These additional projects may simply be "agnostic" to them, at worst, although I would gladly link them to these sites and also as their founder would influence whatever readership or community it would have in a way favoring Free Software..
In a way it would feel like expanding outside of the world of Free Software/Culture activism into the world in which this usually doesn't appear to be much of a concern and by, perhaps, making it big there start influencing even such realms with Free Software ideas. 
I mean, just imagine.. a site totally unrelated to Free Software, yet created by using Free Software, that got popular and is owned by someone who cares about Free Software.. Imagine the leverage I have with something like that under my fingertips. And that's the idea, to build a base below, a leverage both financial and promotional. The success of anything I do on the web will eventually end up benefiting the core where it all started: Libervis.com and Nuxified.org.
All this said, I may have blown the pending crisis above out of proportion a bit. This does not necessarily mean we're losing ground all of a sudden. It is just a wake up call shouting at me that I need to put my eggs in some other baskets too.. because.. you never know what could happen to the current one.
That said, lower Google Page Rank or higher.. it's just a number. What really matters is real traffic, real search engine positions and saturation, real link popularity and real reputation and community. If all an advertiser cares about is that little number, then by all means, go away. We'll find someone who sees the bigger picture.
Cheers
libervisco | Alright, I've evaluated | Wed, 2007-10-31 01:11
Alright, I've evaluated current traffic statistics and how good/bad it is. Let's just say it could be a lot better than this and that it absolutely MUST be a lot better than this!
Bottom line I'm hitting screams: we need to change some things around here. We need at least 5 times more traffic on both sites ASAP and the only way to achieve this is through RAPID quality content creation and viral marketing!
And this is the challenge that is facing me. Drupal consulting, blog hosting, design work are all good add ons, but where I have most real experience is with updating these sites, making them work. I think my focus should be on them.
Of course, this is not at all to say I wont start new extra projects as said above. I will, but they will without much doubt take more time than I may have, so I should start with something that I can start with immediately and make these sites skyrocket.
And if traffic gets us down, we'll move servers! Yay! Let's explode!
democrates | Would "digg this" and the | Wed, 2007-10-31 01:55
libervisco | Nope, but when we actually | Wed, 2007-10-31 03:28
Nope, but when we actually get dugg it's usually just barely keeping from crashing, if I implement the caching feature (which I would be doing for each article that does get dugg). So in any case, it's not out of the question. In a contrary, just need to be prepared each time.
Btw, note that while this is largely motivated by the sudden need for backup source of funding (should TLA get busted), it should positively affect the sites as well. More traffic may get us more people to discuss serious issues we usually discuss.. and perhaps do even more than that, not to mention more people exposed to the ideas we're promoting. So it wont be just writing to get traffic no matter what the content is.. It must be relevant and respectable.
I just got a notice of terrible news from one of my link exchange partners [EDIT: It's not SO terrible. This was a knee jerk reaction.] Apparently, due to text link ads and link exchanges Google severely dropped both his and Libervis.com's page ranks.
And indeed, I just checked and Libervis.com dropped from 6 to 4, Nuxified.org dropped from 6 to 5 and Libervis.net dropped from 6 to 5. The only site that wasn't affected was mobiliberty.com which remains at 4, though there was absolutely no advertising there.
It appears that the main culprit here might have been link exchanges.. but not necessarily.. I am still to research the exact details on web master forums (of which one I am regularly going to is down at the moment).
Why does this means we're screwed? Well, the math is very simple. All the money that so far supported me and Libervis Network was coming from un-intrusive text link advertising sales whose price was largely dependent on Page Rank values. Lower page ranks, especially this drastically, mean a lot lower prices and a lot less likelihood of sales. And considering that it may exactly be text link ads which caused this drop, such sales are even further discouraged.
In essence, the only way Libervis Network could financially sustain itself so far has just been severely shafted. What else is there? Flashy banner ads? Yeah... I'm not sure that would ever be able compensate considering our traffic isn't exactly lucid AND lower page rank also means lower search engine traffic, at least from Google.
If this means what I think it may mean I may need to find a different way to support myself and this network, which may include getting an extra job leaving less time for work on LN. Why do I feel the urge to say "it was good while it lasted"...
"How fortunate for leaders that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler