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Amram Hakohen wrote:
> I find notification of a conference and knowledge of its contents to be
> valuable information.
> Do you charge the STC for notification of their conferences?
Gang,
There seems to be some confusion about ads on TECHWR-L. Here's
an attempt to clarify:
* All ads posted to list subscribers (via the Premium
Announcement daily posting) cost $50 per week, and they must
be submitted to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com or posted through http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/postad.html
* Revenue from ads subsidizes this list. Phrased differently,
if there are no ads, there is no revenue, and then no list.
Frankly, we agree with Amram: many of the paid announcements are
quite valuable, and having the announcements posted is a great
service to interested parties on the list. That said, if the
announcements were free (even to STC), there would be
no revenue from the ads, and therefore no list. Seen in this light,
I'm sure that you can agree that the requirement that ads be
purchased is really quite reasonable, given the alternatives.
We periodically get questions about the ad policies, including
requests for free announcements, free job ads, or other "public
service" announcements. We do not provide free announcements on
the Premium Announcement posting for four reasons:
* See above for information about revenue
* Employment Central (http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/employment)
and the Calendar (http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/calendar),
coupled with the Daily Announcement list that sends new jobs and
upcoming calendar events to subscribers provides a free way to
distribute information about events and jobs.
* Providing free postings takes an inordinate amount of time
with relatively little value for most free announcements
and most subscribers (e.g., a Tech Writer's Luncheon in
Peoria affects very few of the subscribers).
* Bluntly, we've found that a $50 ad is considered a reasonable
and legitimate business expense by most potential advertisers.
If the service/product/whatever does not merit $50 to distribute
the announcement to approximately 5000 subscribers (in other words,
if the promoter doesn't think that it's worth $.01 per reader to
distribute), it's probably not of general interest.
Similarly, we also get occasional questions from people who want
to support the list but have no need to buy an ad on the list
or the site. We are putting together a partnership program by which
interested people or companies can provide visible support to
the community (kind of like the visible support that companies
get for trash removal along highways, but without the need for
gloves or showers). Contact ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com for more information
about this.
While we're at it, please note and profusely thank
the regular advertisers and sponsors at: http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/advertisersponsor.html
They are the ones who make the list possible for you, so please
do consider giving them the first shot at your business.
Please contact me offline with any questions or for more information,
Eric
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Eric J. Ray TECHWR-L Listowner
ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com http://www.raycomm.com/
Visit TECHWR-L for the latest in technical writing discussions,
job postings, announcements, events, and substantive articles: http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/
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