[Klaus]

In order to test the water, how about you create a poll asking users how much they would be willing to pay per year (by listing a few price ranges)?

It would really suck to see PZ going away... 

 

Sure, we'll do so ... next year.

 

There's so much going on around this topic - the dust has to settle first.

[chrismiller]

I think some sort of subscription would be your best bet. You could provide free access to the forums and the first page of reviews, but require a subscription to see test data, conclusions and sample pictures. Many websites already have this model (I subscribe to windguru.cz for instance to get better wether forcasts). You could call it photozone Pro, because everybody wants to think of themselves as pro right  . I think their pricing is £20 for i year £30 for 3.

 

Chris

[JJ_SO]

Sure, we'll do so ... next year.

 

There's so much going on around this topic - the dust has to settle first.

Dust in the lens? It was about a lens, this topic, wasn't it? 

[Klaus]

I think some sort of subscription would be your best bet. You could provide free access to the forums and the first page of reviews, but require a subscription to see test data, conclusions and sample pictures. Many websites already have this model (I subscribe to windguru.cz for instance to get better wether forcasts). You could call it photozone Pro, because everybody wants to think of themselves as pro right  . I think their pricing is £20 for i year £30 for 3.

 

Chris

 

Yes, I was thinking along those lines. I think 20 GBP would be a bit excessive.

[Klaus]

Dust in the lens? It was about a lens, this topic, wasn't it? 

 

Tomorrow ...  B)

[borisbg]

Luminous Landscapes offers $1 per month at the moment.

[toni-a]

Is google monopolising the internet advertising ? are there no alternatives ?

I am sure there are.

Remember for paid reviews there's always the risk of finding your content mirrored on another website.

One last point, photozone.de is an excellent name, I like it, dunno how much buying photozone.com and redirecting it to photozone.de is benefical unless the price is affordable

[Klaus]

Luminous Landscapes offers $1 per month at the moment.

 

Yes, this is more like it. I hesitate to go for a monthly model though. As you may have noticed there are 2 periods per year (about 1 month) where no reviews are posted - vacation time. Paying for nothing feels wrong to me. Thus a low annual fee feels more appropriate.

 

Is google monopolising the internet advertising ? are there no alternatives ?

I am sure there are.

Remember for paid reviews there's always the risk of finding your content mirrored on another website.

One last point, photozone.de is an excellent name, I like it, dunno how much buying photozone.com and redirecting it to photozone.de is benefical unless the price is affordable

 

No, Google is not a monopoly. There are a gazillion players out there. Most come and go, some stay. However, they are all worse than Google - that is unless you self-manage your ads (which consumes time that I don't have). eBay used to be superb but they reduced their payouts by something like 75% in early 2015. The good thing about Google is that their ads are comparatively sane (no audio, limited animations, no crazy overlays).

 

We'll not go for photozone.com thus it'll be a new domain. Of course, the site will still be accessible via photozone.de.

The problem with photozone.de is, obviously, the .de portion. Other than being odd for advertisers, it also imposes a region priority in ad engines. We considered to buy photozone.com but the pricing was just gaga - I think it was 10.000$ or so. I refuse to pay that to a leech who is merely piggybacking on photozone.de.