Itinerant Air-Cooled

Hi.

THIS year, we have a pickle. Photobucket has extorted the internet by breaking links to the "billions" of photographs on its servers from all of their hapless subscribers who either utilized the free hosting, or who paid the $29.95 then $39.99, then $59.99 each year over the past decade to avoid being overwhelmed by a thick swarm of painfully unbelievable ads and pop-ups. Not good enough, says Photobucket.

Now I HAVE to cough up $399.99 in five days to keep my photographs linked to this site. Then we have the hosting fee coming up.

Should you like to contribute, you may post it here and we will offer public accolades to your generosity, or you can send "Amskeptic" a PM.
Either way, it will be the usual Itinerant Air Cooled PayPal address:

<78vw2000@earthlink.net>

It IS a gift to a friend so I don't get dinged by PayPal fees,

Thanks, friends,
Colin and Randy and Peter

Has anyone here considered Amazon affiliate linking for Itinerant-Air-Cooled? I know my roommate spends a few grand on Amazon each year, and a small percentage of those sales could be redirected to a fund setup for IAC hosting and photo fees.

Robbie

Good idea, Robbie! Ben at Hasta Alaska also does that.

We are at $366.00 as of January 16th 9:24AM CST.

Thank-you to those who have contributed thus far! You want your names listed, you know,
Patrons of Itinerant Air-Cooled
??

Colin
(Robbie, I am a troglodyte, I don't even know what you are talking about . . . )

Amskeptic wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 16, 2018 8:26 am

(Robbie, I am a troglodyte, I don't even know what you are talking about . . . )

Fair enough!

Amazon allows anyone to sign up to become an “affiliate,” and no it’s not a pyramid you’ve created an affiliate account, you can make a link to any product on Amazon to share on your website or in messages. When someone uses that link to purchase the product, 1% to 10% of the sale price gets kicked back to you.

For example, I have a word document stored on my computer of links to every tool listed in the John Muir book’s “Phase I and II Tool Kits.” When I meet and help out travelers that want to learn to fix their cars, and they learn to check points or adjust their carburetor, they ask me where to buy tools. I send them the email and I get a few bucks the next month. It’s totally passive income and most people find it convenient that I’ve vetted these tools and they can all be purchased with a few clicks. It required about twenty minutes effort on my part to set up, and it pays my $5 web hosting bills each month.

Somewhere between a Luddite and a Millenial...
Robbie

Is there any advantage in creating a charitable organization? It would give people even more reason to contribute.

tommu wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 16, 2018 2:18 pm

Is there any advantage in creating a charitable organization? It would give people even more reason to contribute.

I was imagining crowd-sourced funding for Itinerary Adventures, IF people like the writing and photographs THAT much.
Yes? No? Pinterest or something? Add art? Little annual subscription thing? Yes? No?
Colin

I help support Ben over at Hasta Alaska through Patreon. Everytime he produces a video, I contribute a set amount to him. You might take a look at Patreon. Some of the projects that we have gotten into, would have made great video subject matter. I also have wondered if you could do some sort of deal with Everett over at the Samba. Perhaps an Itinerant section. I believe that there are many air cooled folks out there who don’t know of this site, or your existence. I’d love to see, and even help with, instructional videos such as, say, valve adjustments for different air cooled engines. Years back, I bought Jake Raby’s CD on type 4 rebuilds. Although I think he could have offered a more detailed instructional, I learned quite a bit from watching it.

Jivermo wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 17, 2018 4:57 am

I also have wondered if you could do some sort of deal with Everett over at the Samba. Perhaps an Itinerant section. I believe that there are many air cooled folks out there who don’t know of this site, or your existence. I’d love to see, and even help with, instructional videos such as, say, valve adjustments for different air cooled engines.

This might be a valid idea. There is more than a little history/baggage between Colin and Ev over the nonstop bashing that EB allowed a few (many) years back.
However, there is a thread on TS pointing out that daily traffic over there is down. Working a deal for an Itinerant Section might serve both masters. Colin avoiding the "running the website" problems, EB getting some income from some sort of a fee (since Colin would be a commercial posting), and more people becoming aware of the IAC operation. (Understand that the days of 5000 miles summer expeditions might be over, but with more coverage you might be able to do regional concentrations on alternating years.)

These are all good ideas. The Amazon Affiliate Program is a tried and true method to monetize your traffic in a very helpful way to the end user that isn't intrusive. The process for signing up is straight forward, and there are lots of online tutorials. https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/

Additionally, doing a crowd funding campaign (gofundme for instance) is another viable option, but you get out what you put in. It takes some time and effort.

Another good strategy is cost-cutting. Depending on your total utilization, something like Amazon S3 could be considerably cheaper. There are some good resources for looking at costs from different providers -- an example of estimating costs through Amazon S3 vs Photobucket is here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-how- ... lewski-jr-

Generating a strong social media following is a good cornerstone for the different monetization strategies. Given the large community of VW enthusiasts on Instagram, that should be a very low-friction way of building some audience while at the same time generating great content since photos are both easy to take and fun to consume.

xyzzy wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 11, 2018 11:12 am

These are all good ideas. The Amazon Affiliate Program is a tried and true method to monetize your traffic in a very helpful way to the end user that isn't intrusive. The process for signing up is straight forward, and there are lots of online tutorials. https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/

That banner flitting past on the Amazon page makes me gnash my teeth, all that trash whizzing by. Bunch of beige and pink high heels, good lord.

I might be so cranky that I cannot work with these large corporate behemoths. A little crowd-sourced something or other?
Colin
(yes, I paid the hosting fee yesterday and any assistance to the $115.00 would be appreciated)

Amskeptic wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 11, 2018 12:21 pm

xyzzy wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 11, 2018 11:12 am

These are all good ideas. The Amazon Affiliate Program is a tried and true method to monetize your traffic in a very helpful way to the end user that isn't intrusive. The process for signing up is straight forward, and there are lots of online tutorials. https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/

That banner flitting past on the Amazon page makes me gnash my teeth, all that trash whizzing by. Bunch of beige and pink high heels, good lord.

I might be so cranky that I cannot work with these large corporate behemoths. A little crowd-sourced something or other?
Colin
(yes, I paid the hosting fee yesterday and any assistance to the $115.00 would be appreciated)

Hahah! Agreed. https://www.gofundme.com/ may be less-friction, and certainly easier on the eyes.


Paypal contribution sent!

The last three "crowd-sourced" VW adventures on TheSamba ended with locks and maybe a few bans… Be careful using that system on TheSamba. Patreon is a MUCH more viable alternative, as folks are paying for regular goods or services, instead of financing an idea. Patreon would also require relatively regular content to be created, though.

I can attest that the social media 'game' is not a lackadaisical afterthought; it requires near full-time ministering if one is to gain anything financial. I'm neck-deep in the trenches right now.

Annual IAC subscription PayPal sent. :)
Robbie

Don't know how I missed this earlier, PayPal sent. Can't move forward without checking into IAC daily, need my VW fix.

Amskeptic wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 11, 2018 12:21 pm

(yes, I paid the hosting fee yesterday and any assistance to the $115.00 would be appreciated)

I just sent you $25.00 via PayPal. I would have sent more, but:

1. Just finished paying for two root canals that were not entirely covered by insurance, and

2. I wanted to give all the other IAC buddies a chance to chip in. So chip in, already.