SITE NEWS The Fragtank.ca Updates And Moving Forward

Neopimp

Neopimp

Website Doctor
Staff member
Website Admin
Joined
Jun 9, 2014
Location
Sarnia
Behind the scenes workings of thefragtank.ca:
- Purchased Media Gallery - 60USD
- Due for a license renewal - 60USD
- Couple Technical crashes due to things at the site host.
- One issue requiring a restore backwards 12 hours.... :) no one noticed:)
- An on going error that involves "headers alredy sent" - Im pretty lost on that one but it doesnt seem to impact much except for some people getting an error message that disappears with a refresh.
- Hitting our max connections limit for the database a few times a week, again doesnt really concern me too much.
OVERALL VERY HAPPY WITH THIS NEW PLATFORM OVER THE PAST YEAR.

Moving Forward
I am looking for suggestions on things we as a site can do to increase our web presence and build our user base. I kind of figure that the idea applies that if you arent moving forward then you are falling behind.

- Cool Addon
- Ideas seen implemented on other forums
- a Library of information on the reef hobby( more info on the site the more google likes us:)
- Theme changes or colors
- Etc

Post them up.. no ideas are stupid, unless I say so ;)

There is room for advancment in the administration of this website too ;)

Just looking for some feedback on the site lately. I realize we are in slow season on the site so this post is not happening due to the normal slowdown.

Thanks for being a part of the best forum around:) Appreciate the support everyone
 
EricTMah

EricTMah

Aquariums by Design
Joined
Mar 2, 2014
Location
Kitchener, Ontario
Website
www.aquariumsbydesign.ca
Have you thought about asking stores to post a promotional poster at their stores?
I don't work in our retail store, but I know the boss man and employees always direct them to this site.
Maybe either a poster saying "local reef club" or business cards for store staff to hand out to direct them here. I know most new hobbyists are usually too excited when visiting a retail store and often forget half the info provided. Let alone a forum the store recommended

Sony Xperia Z3
 
Neopimp

Neopimp

Website Doctor
Staff member
Website Admin
Joined
Jun 9, 2014
Location
Sarnia
EricTMah said:
Have you thought about asking stores to post a promotional poster at their stores?
I don't work in our retail store, but I know the boss man and employees always direct them to this site.
Maybe either a poster saying "local reef club" or business cards for store staff to hand out to direct them here. I know most new hobbyists are usually too excited when visiting a retail store and often forget half the info provided. Let alone a forum the store recommended

Sony Xperia Z3
Click to expand...

I like it, have discussed in the past but I think it needs to be revisisted due to our longevity so far. @Salty Cracker is a master poster designer, or anyone else that wants that challenge, we have hi res files etc if needed. Business cards as well are great, will look into that
 
EricTMah

EricTMah

Aquariums by Design
Joined
Mar 2, 2014
Location
Kitchener, Ontario
Website
www.aquariumsbydesign.ca
Something smaller. I know some store owners may not want to promote the site due to our used FS section here.
But some might due to the fact that customers can come here for advice and knowledge before going back to the retail store with a million questions.
I can't speak for store owners. But maybe an incentive plan. 10% off their first purchase after their first 50 posts on here? just throwing ideas out there.

Sony Xperia Z3
 
Neopimp

Neopimp

Website Doctor
Staff member
Website Admin
Joined
Jun 9, 2014
Location
Sarnia
Let the ideas flow :)

We try and keep sponsorship type agreements to a minimum to keep all the politics out of it. I do not mind one bit putting a small advert banner on the main page somewhere that can rotate local business sites etc in exchange for posters in stores etc but as far as getting into financials, it gets messy :)
I have to mention that this is not a dictatorship and anythign I post is my opinion, has to go to the house then the senate (Site Staff) before anythign changes... I hate politics. ;)


EricTMah said:
Something smaller. I know some store owners may not want to promote the site due to our used FS section here.
But some might due to the fact that customers can come here for advice and knowledge before going back to the retail store with a million questions.
I can't speak for store owners. But maybe an incentive plan. 10% off their first purchase after their first 50 posts on here? just throwing ideas out there.

Sony Xperia Z3
Click to expand...
 
Salty Cracker

Salty Cracker

Administrator
Staff member
Website Admin
Joined
Mar 10, 2012
Location
Rocky Mountains BC
I can donate the full costs of the site upkeep after the next fragfest. This is also personal opinion, but any involvement with cash-for-store-promotion here very likely will lead to the bickering and BS that plagues other sites. It's awesome that we can turf even a "big" name off of here if they are being a jackass. Once they have their money in, you are stuck with them and they know it. So I would rather take a tithing out of the fragfest money (it goes to charity anyway, and this qualifies I think), and keep this going, than even discuss slutting out the main page with banners.

That said I don't make any decisions either, and generally I like most of the stores we deal with, and am happy to have them posting on the site, but once money changes hands the relationship changes... I love the idea of TFT making an income but I can't see a way to keep it from becoming just another AP (and then where would all the AP rejects go?!!) ;)

However a compromise could be giveaways. If a person/store wants to give away an awesome thingy, we can have that on the front page for the life of the promotion, and push that on other sites (the winner would have to be a FT member with at least 100 non-spam posts or something like that). If we did that with some regularity we could definitely garner interest. If the sponsor is a member of good standing of other forums they could advertise it there, well not AP as I'm sure that breaks about 20 of their rules, but you get the idea. Even kijiji can work for stuff like that. Gets us subscribers, and good promotion for the donating party. Just a thought :)
 
Neopimp

Neopimp

Website Doctor
Staff member
Website Admin
Joined
Jun 9, 2014
Location
Sarnia
Salty Cracker said:
I can donate the full costs of the site upkeep after the next fragfest. This is also personal opinion, but any involvement with cash-for-store-promotion here very likely will lead to the bickering and BS that plagues other sites. It's awesome that we can turf even a "big" name off of here if they are being a jackass. Once they have their money in, you are stuck with them and they know it. So I would rather take a tithing out of the fragfest money (it goes to charity anyway, and this qualifies I think), and keep this going, than even discuss slutting out the main page with banners.

That said I don't make any decisions either, and generally I like most of the stores we deal with, and am happy to have them posting on the site, but once money changes hands the relationship changes... I love the idea of TFT making an income but I can't see a way to keep it from becoming just another AP (and then where would all the AP rejects go?!!) ;)

However a compromise could be giveaways. If a person/store wants to give away an awesome thingy, we can have that on the front page for the life of the promotion, and push that on other sites (the winner would have to be a FT member with at least 100 non-spam posts or something like that). If we did that with some regularity we could definitely garner interest. If the sponsor is a member of good standing of other forums they could advertise it there, well not AP as I'm sure that breaks about 20 of their rules, but you get the idea. Even kijiji can work for stuff like that. Gets us subscribers, and good promotion for the donating party. Just a thought :)
Click to expand...


Oh yes no money exchanged between the site and business.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
pulpfiction1

pulpfiction1

Reef Scavenger
Joined
Nov 16, 2010
Location
42.418807, -82.174073
Salty Cracker said:
I'm just going to add in that mr saltwatertank is a goof.

God I love the freedom of fragtank.
Click to expand...
and here i thought you guys were such great buddies

lol (2).gif
 
heath

heath

Distinguished Member
Joined
Oct 2, 2012
Location
Woodstock, Ontario
if it is a matter of money/funds IMHO I think that more of the active members should get off their butts and donate to the site.. just think of the revenue if every member donated $5.00 per mth..we all use it for great advise and getting good deals on equipment...
 
Neopimp

Neopimp

Website Doctor
Staff member
Website Admin
Joined
Jun 9, 2014
Location
Sarnia
Oh no.... Funds are not a problem.... At all lol.


Everyone here is very generous with the monthly donations and if something major comes up we have a healthy nest egg.


It's more just getting our presence felt by more people which is where the store discussion came in.

This site will never take money from a store in return for something.

Now an in store poster for a small advert on site is something I would consider. Again subject to discussion :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
TORX

TORX

Administrator
Staff member
Website Admin
Joined
Nov 27, 2010
Location
Blenheim, Ontario
Website
www.thefragtank.ca
SEO possible? We rarely show up in Google if someone types in reef forum for ontario. Our images are all over Google image, but as a search engine, we barely show in the results unless it is a specific search.
 
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