Ok, so we've briefly talked about this in the past, but I want to start flushing the idea out. The idea of Golf Rewards. This is where everyone that is registered in the forums, will have a little account set up. For each forum post and review (or other contribution - not sure details yet) they contribute to the site, they will receive $x. Their account will build up over time and they will have the ability to debit their account and receive a gift card. Perhaps there would be a minimum limit to do this, say $100. I'm thinking that forum posts (which would be the easiest to abuse) should only be like $.10 a piece, but reviews would be approximately $1. I could periodically adjust the price on the reviews to suit my taste if I wanted to build a certain section up.

The whole goal here, of course, is to further develop the community, draw more members, and build a bigger and better resource of review content.

So let's discuss. First off, what do you guys think of the plan I've laid out so far. What do you like, and not like. What do you think some of the challenges will be? Is it fair? What about monthly contests. Would we still want to do giveaways? Perhaps only with review equipment received and no longer gift cards?

Another thing I'd like to figure out how to add, are credits for site members promoting GGR elsewhere. What I mean by this is if you somehow get our link out there on another site, pointing back, or make reference, you would get a credit as well, but much larger, say $5. Inbound links are very important as well, just not sure how I would manage that.

Thoughts?

Chris, I have something I get via email that is a similar concept for consumer studies. They send links to a survey, and depending on how long/complex the survey is, you get more or less credits. They set it up as credits to an online catalogue rather than any cash-like payout. It's kind of a PIA.
Variable credit amounts for categories is a good idea.
Regarding the giveaways for the contests, gift cards are probably still best, since you're not getting equipment samples that everyone can make good use of (like a stiff flex driver).
Inbound links...you could ask the person who posted to send you a PM showing you the link.

Well, I don't know of any other site that gives credit for contributors as you are suggesting. It sounds like a great idea.

Chris,
.It sounds great for members but may be difficult to control on the expense side. You will never know what your financial out put will be per period. If this idea is to be manageable, you may need to restrict 'credits' to only those things that bring back money to the site or assist in any promo's you may have going or are more complex, such as equipment, gear and course reviews. At the other extreme,Posting jokes in the humor forum should not be considered for credit. Credit should be given for substantiable contributions. If there is a scale applied to diffrent types of contributions, this may also make it overall more manageable.
Again sounds great, but to minimize financial risk and make this equitable, it could get very complex and time consuming.

Well, I'll be the old stick in the mud on this one. I post here because i like the site, the content, the people and love golf. Yeah the chance to win stuff is cool too but that just makes me do reviews. I am going to post into the forums whether I get paid or not. So I would say if you want to build up the community, paying people, ehh, maybe isn't the way to go. I mean take SelfTaught...he came, liked what he saw and stayed. That's what we need. If fact, asking Self WHY he stayed and what he liked might be more useful than paying people who contribute. I'm not saying it's a bad idea (we all like money, well Don likes drivers but he can get those with money), just I think the people who come and make one post, probably won't stay just because you pay them a dime or a quarter. Maybe they will or maybe I'm missing the point here.

Scott, you make an excellent point. I think if there is a lack of interest, a few pennies won't make people come back.
Chris, no other site "pays for play" (as we say in NJ) and you may open up a huge can of worms with people posting gibberish just to rack up points.

Scott,
I agree with your sentiment. I pop in when I get the chance just because I like the discussion and comraderie. I actually found the site while looking for reviews last year when I was comparing sticks. I do not continue to stay based upon a return. There are a couple different things to look at here, my previous post was written from a business standpoint, but my continued return is based upon a social aspect. This is also a great place to compare opinion and find people of similar interest. Isn't that what forums really promote? There is a good core group of people here maybe a good dozen or so and love of the game is central. I think the core group will remain whether or not they get rewarded. In that respect the pool remains fairly small.

Hmmmm... great feedback. I think there are probably a myriad of reasons why people come here, but sometimes it takes something new and exciting to attract new folks, especially when you don't have a huge marketing budget. I was reading an article on viral marketing the other day and you've all seen how quickly something stupid can make it's way around the internet via email, social networking sites, etc. I want to do something that has similar effect. That will bring a steady stream of folks in. Another idea I'm toying around with is here:

http://www.golfgearreview.com/golf-slot-machine.php

Imagine what we could do with a customized version of that...


Also, there are a lot of things I can do to improve the site, but that take money. It's sort of a catch 22. So I need to sort of get them in here adding content, clicking, or buying and then re-invest those dollars that eventually come from the additional traffic. This is why I (to a fault sometimes) am always driving for content.. reviews.. articles.. posts... etc.

Chief - there are pretty consistent numbers I'm looking at for revenue per visitor (RPV), and revenue per page on an annualized basis. So while you are right that this theoretically could create an out of control expense situation, the fact of the matter is, that indexible unique content brings more visitors from the search engines because of long tail keyword combinations. Those visitors on average have an RPV. So whatever I would offer, of course, would have to be less than the revenue generated by the visitors that each review or article brings from the search engines. But to

Thinking out loud mostly. Aimee, I certainly don't want this to be so cumbersome it becomes a PITA, so good call out. Would have to be extremely easy to use and integrated with the forums. Also, whatever is developed would have to have quality guidelines.. which I have started to work into the code behind the review submissions.. but I have plenty of more work to do.. so good point..

Scott, while I think this isn't going to be the be all / end all solution, I think it's a strategy that *can* work, if done properly.

I will write more as I have a chance, but this is great dialogue. Thanks guys.

This could be a good idea, but I would recommend you set a minimum level that needs to be reached before anyone can get a gift card. If not, you'll be sending out gift cards for 3 dollars to someone. As for what that minimum should be, you might want to look at the total post count for the members we have now. Look at Chief for example. He's been a member for 14 months, and has 339 posts. If you go with the 10 censt per post idea, that would give Chief $40 in rewards. Chief is number 16 on the top posts list, and # 11 if you only count active memebers. You might want to look at the top posts list and see what you can gain from the data in it.

I will seoond what Scott stated. I don't post here for the money, but for the enjoyment of picking on Bill and the rest of this crazy group. BUT, if paying members for each post would in fact increase the number of posts in the forums, and in turn increase YOUR income, then I can see it as a good thing. I don't think anyone would argue that the site could use more members, and a lot more posts. Maybe you could mail out a sleeve of those golf balls you are ordering to all new members when they reach 100 posts?

Chris,

I think it may have been said, but I would consider not paying people for posting in the forums. Too me, that would be like buying your friends.

Now, as for reviews, that could be something that could be looked into, but, I would say that you would have to be a member of the Forums, and their would be a minimum 'price' that you would have to at least obtain, to be able to cash in on the Gift card or what have you.

This is just my opinion though.

- Definitely want to go with a minimum level before redeeming
- Since people that are going to participate, will most likely be active in the forums anyway, we can probably remove the idea for forum posting credits. It would have to be too small to be meaningful anyway. The forums don't really bring in much traffic from the search engines anyway. For some reason, most of it comes from the reviews.
- Did anyone look at the slot machine idea? Similar to the pools we've been running, this would be designed to get people to register in the forums. Once registered, we would then attempt to draw them in to be more active. My thought was that all registered members would be permitted 72 credits per day to play. It would be very golf themed, with scattered prizes on the reels. Just something fun to draw people in, get them registered, and then we take them from there.

Too all....
The most important thing about this Forum,it is trying to get better (relevant)...I believe that one of the most important thing that we can do is "be welcoming with follow-up" to new
"posters"...We must not be "cavalier" or con-desending(sic) with our answers...We must be "warmer" and bring out what the "new poster" is really looking for...Some times the site topics (answers) appear very "cliqueish" (sic) when you read who are the responders(same). We must "guard" against the regulars dialogue overpowering the original post. Answering is fine, but, you will see if you look back, that many times the regulars end up having a conversation. Beware of chasing "new" members away...Most people are a "little uncomfortable" when they first join in...
Thank you Scott... you are "spot on"...I do enjoy the forum and
try to contribute...But, I am a "strong" personality... Regulars could contribute a signicant amount if they would start posts 1 or 2 times a week that would induce
discussion...Then give more "atta boys & atta girls" to the new members that provide a response...
Chris if you want to reward...Why not members that submit guests that they think would be interested
Scott, Thank you for the "kind comments"....It is "tough" for a "new" member to join your "inner circle"...After 56 posts...I still feel that I am an "outsider"...
All, please take this "post" as an observation, not to tear down all your "hard work"

Selftaughtman

I agree with credits for review and not forum posts.

Don't care about the slot machine, but that's probably my personality.

Selftaught, thanks for that thoughtful post! I have been a member before of forums in which I didn't post much, but I enjoyed the banter of the regulars. As I think about it, you're right, it takes a strong personality to jump in here. I think we have all been trying to be more inclusive and welcoming, but it's great to have your perspective.

Much as I agree with what you say, I also think that we have our strong points. There is hardly any unkindness here, and, while it takes some time to join the inner circle, friendships on and offline are formed by reaching out over a period of time. This is not a closed group, in my opinion, but a genuine community of friends. I think anyone who wants to make the effort can work their way in.

Still, I want to say again, that was a brave and helpful post, and I will take it to heart, thank you.

I have been fairly consumed by life offline for quite awhile, and I haven't been as involved here... Speaking of which, I am off to the office before the day with the family officially begins.

Selftaught, if you are comfortable, I would love to know your real name and something more about you...

Chris, some forums have a thread where new members introduce themselves. I don't remember if we have one or not, but it's something to consider.

Thanks for your thoughts Laney. I'm on board with no credit for posts at this point I think.

Will consider a thread for new members to introduce themselves as well. If we are out there driving new folks to register through tournament pools, social networking, and viral marketing efforts (i.e. "gift card slot machines"), then we're going to need a way to then take those new members and get them active.

I think what we have here is pretty fantastic, but think there's a lot of opportunity for growth. Here's to the next couple of years at the GGR.. let's see how far we can go!

Cheers!

Self, fantastic post. Thanks for being frank and open with your thoughts. I would think as a new poster, I might be a little skittish about jumping in to some of these posts where the regulars are basically going off on a conversation of their own. I don't want to discourage this, because this is one of those things I think really drives the community feel, but agree with you that the key to getting new people involved might be to somehow open it up or "dangle the carrot." If we could figure that out, we would probably have a top 100 posters, instead of only top 30, or top 10 as it were..

I REALLY like your idea of rewarding members who bring in people who stay a while. This may be one of those things that is more important than most of my schemes (self jab there, haha), but that I've been overlooking. Do you have (and anyone else chime in) ideas on how we could do that? As you guys know, I'm very open to new ideas...

Also, I apologize if you've already stated at some point, but how did YOU find us? Did you do a search for a review? Do you remember how you first wandered into the forums? Do you remember what first caught your eye? What triggered you to register and make your first post? Without sounding like I'm trying to analyze you, I think you probably represent the best case scenario we are trying to create..

Thank you Laney and Chris B. for your comments....
I owe you both a response regarding your personal request information....
Guide me through the way too respond and I will make it happen.
As I said the "Forum Format" is "super"...My comments were only meant too improve from my own (1) person observation. Ther are no "but's" meant to be contrary. This is the time of year that all Forum reader's and poster's can actually try to implement our thoughts.
Again, thank you for reading and more importantly responding to my post....

Selftaughtman