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Money makes the site stay up
I thought I'd explain more about how we hope the revenue model will work.The first thing to say is it wont be turned on until we've reached critical mass. What critical mass is is yet to be decided, but it's not something we'll get for a good year or two. The idea is to have enough content so the site has intrinsic value and people aren't turned off if they see ads.
Not that they should be of course, even though advertising is a bit of a dirty word on the internet right now. Many budding entrepreneurs (myself included) want their site to be funded by it. But many internet users hate seeing it. So how to resolve the two?
One way seems to be with targeted ads. People don't seem to mind Google Adwords (http://tinyurl.com/5j6zwq). That's certainly true for me, if I'm looking to buy something I often prefer Google's ads to its natural search.
But there are least two key differences between what people do on Debatewise and Google. Firstly, people on search engines are on a different kind of quest to our visitors. Secondly, on Google you voluntarily declare your interest in something, many other types of targeted ads depend upon spying on you.
So we have a challenge. Perhaps we'll put Google ads on the site (though its ads on other sites aren't as good as the ads you see when searching). Perhaps we'll find a way of including targeted ads that don't make you feel intruded upon. Perhaps a whole new form of advertising will emerge.
If you think this sounds like typical woolly thinking from someone more interested in building a good site than earning money off it, you'd be right. I am of the firm belief that if we create something people love we'll find a way of keeping it alive.
I also believe we're a little bit different to most other sites. As a not-for-profit we can rely upon other sources of funding – ie from foundations, philanthropists and government or European money. Secondly, because all our profits go to good causes we hope people wont be as resistant to ads as they are on other sites.
More on how that works in my next post…