In just a few days, all advertisement from Project Wonderful will cease on this site and we will be moving with ads from more adult networks (you may have already seen a couple of test ads running…). Let’s face it, while there’s no intercourse and blatant pornography on Bloomin’ Faeries!, we aren’t exactly your average family comic. We should swim in the deep end of the pool, not the kid’s pool.
So starting this weekend, all ads will move to Black Label Ads. And with this, we expect a change in the flavor of the site. We’re going to filter the ads to remove those that we feel are a bit too vulgar for the site. Please let us know if an ad TRULY doesn’t belong on this site (bearing in mind that we do need some kind of revenue stream to keep the site going).
At the same time, we’re working on a solution where anyone who WANTS to get rid of the advertisement may do so at a minimal cost. We’re thinking that for $10 a year, you could get a limited membership that would ONLY remove the advertisement from the site, but not give you access to the Members’ Area. Would you pay for that? Or would you prefer to “live with the ads”?
Either way, we hope you’ll bear with us while we manage this change and make the best of the situation. It was, after all, only a matter of time… 🙂
–Jaycee
14 thoughts on “Farewell to Project Wonderful”
chad
thats ok jaycee but plez no hardcore ads and i like the 10 doller thing but will that matter to the members ?
Sathor
a shame, I enjoyed using PW to advertise here (Bottles of Fire hotsauce)
Jaycee
Hmm… A bit of a blatant plug, but y’know what, I’ll let it slide. Just this once. Happy New Year Sathor. 😉
–Jaycee
Mike
$10/yr sounds incredibly reasonable, but i think most would prefer to live with the ads. I mean, that only gives others more incentive to visit the website, amirite?
However, only as a suggestion, keep the “similar webcomics” add, because I’ve found a few in this genre that I like through bloomin’ fairies. Also, you may consider putting the black label adds in a location that could be window-resized out (such as beside the comic not above), or even below, just in case people would like to occasionally check / read the comic from work don’t have to display the adds to the world.
Jaycee
I’m glad you think $10 is reasonable. I don’t think it’s too big an amount either. Now, I just need to figure out the HTML and PHP to make this happen…
As for the “similar webcomics” thing, I’d love to do that, but it’s totally out of my control. This all came from PW advertisement, not something I did deliberately. They just liked advertising here, I’m afraid. With me gone from PW, they’ll have to contact me individually to get some advertisement space. Which is welcome.
Hear me, fellow webcomicers? I WELCOME YOU! 🙂
With regards to displaying the BLA ads in window-resizable areas, the sneaky bastard in me likes the idea, but truth be told, I have a vested interest in making them as visible as possible, since this is what leads to clicking, and clicking leads to the meager pittance that allows me to produce these strips. So that’s probably not going to happen. But keep the ideas coming, you never know…
–Jaycee
Mike
oh what the hey, I’ll click on your adds for every comic I read, and Heck, I just might have to re-read the comic from its beginning =]
Jaycee
Honestly, I’d much prefer you take the no-ads subscription. 🙂
–Jaycee
Temp
Truth be told, I’m not very fond of the new direction that the advertising section has taken, especially with the topless pubescent girls and facebook sluts ads and at the rate it’s escalating, I might soon have to say good bye to blooming faeries – it just makes the blog and the comics unreadable. As an aside, I was very comfortable with the pw ads and regularly used to click a few since from what I’m aware, that is supposed to generate some revenue too.
Have you tried looking into other opportunities of earning off the site? There is always the merchandising and comissions models beside the obvious donating medium, I’m sure those are going to be as feasible – if not more – as the advertising avenue.
The out right in my face graphic ads about facebook of sex and focebook sluts is, frankly speaking, a blatant turn off – this coming from one of your oldest readers who picked the comic up not long after the first couple of strips.
Regards
Jaycee
To be honest, I’m not fond of it either. It isn’t exactly my first choice to put more adult ads, and I’m hoping this is something I can get rid of at some point. I never liked advertising in the first place, but I’m hoping at some point that Bloomin’ Faeries! breaks even. In its current state, my projections indicate that it’s going to represent a deficit of around USD $5,000 at the end of the first year of operations.
As you may know, there’s a subscription system in place, which gives access to exclusive content to (so far) about a hundred members. The PW ads were going to potentially bring in a good chunk of cash that would have offset the loss, but those are no longer an option. And sure, merchandising might be an idea, but BF! just doesn’t have the readership (yet) to support that kind of investment. Not sure people would actually BUY a BF! t-shirt, or a mug. I tried the Cafe Press thing for a while, and didn’t sell a single item (it’s still there, if you’re interested: http://www.cafepress.com/bloomingfaeries).
I’m also not a big fan of donations. I don’t think I should ask for charity. My goal is to see if I can make this work by offering a quality product to an audience, and I’m extremely uncomfortable with asking for something without giving something else in return. That’s why I’m offering the $9.99 Bronze (no ads!) subscription — think of it as a donation, but with a little something in return (no ads). Besides, there IS a Donate button on the site. It’s very discreet (I think) and only one person has made a $10 donation so far (and it’s been there for 3-4 months, I think).
No worries: I’ve just BEGUN finding revenue streams for the strip. In the meantime, if there are specific ads that bother you (such as the facebook of sex you mention), let me know and I’ll remove them from the list of approved ads. The LAST thing I want to do is offend my readers with inappropriate advertisement. Sadly, Bloomin’ Faeries! has been categorized as an adult comic, so I can no longer participate in the PW network.
–Jaycee
Sathor
it might have been a blatant plug, but I’ve spent about 8 bucks advertising here. (and it was more to let you know which of the advertisers I was, in case you cared. I do like the new background btw)
Jaycee
No worries, it really didn’t bother me. And considering you invested in advertising here, I’d be a pretty ungrateful idiot to complain. (Plus, I’m a sucker for hot sauces! ;).
Thanks about the new backgrounds. I really like them too — they give more personality to the site… 😛
–Jaycee
sathor
dang…. i looked at the new ad service you are using, the demand I allocate a min of 5 bucks a day, and fund using 100 bucks or so. 🙁 I just got the offical PW cancel notices about the ads for this page, but adbirght wants too much for my pockets
Pixel City
A few adult webcomics out there use Juicy Ads. Ads also mostly link to porn, but you can set rules for what ads you don’t want.
When I asked PW about the grandfathered adult comics that keep their privileges, they hinted that they would accept new adult webcomics if they find a better payment processor than Paypal.
I wouldn’t hold my breath, all others are just as hypocritical. That sucks, because your comic isn’t exactly hardcore.
Jaycee
Hey, no dissing of Project Wonderful, they’re a great bunch of people. I believe they are genuine in their answers (what you say is consistent with what they’ve told me). They’re a fairly small group and must rely on systems that accept automation, which is something Paypal does very well. They were extremely polite and helpful in their interactions with me and I wish them all the best. I don’t know how feasible it’ll be to do business together again in the future, but I’d be glad to do so if it could happen.
(Note: they’re a Canadian company, which makes it all the more difficult because there are a lot of US companies — like banks? — that don’t want to deal with the hassle of working with non-US companies. Bummer, that.)