Today I changed over are advertising program to Amazon Affiliates. First and foremost let me say that I'm a person that believes in transparency. This forum runs on a dedicated server that I lease through Inmotionhosting. The server fees amount to roughly $2500 per year. Sure, I could get something for cheaper, but I wanted a dedicated server so that I have the ability to scale this forum as it grows. This server will handle a huge amount of traffic, and therefore should be able to handle all the load this site generates as it grows.
Anyways, you might wonder how I pay for those server costs. Well, I actually pay for it out of my own pocket, $2500 per year. However, I do manage to offset the cost a bit by using advertising programs. We used to use google adsense. And now we use Amazon affiliate links. If you notice any Amazon.com link on this site, you'll see that it typically ends with a ?tag=nitromater-20 on the end of the URL. This forum software automatically applies that tag to the end of any Amazon URL posted on this site. By visiting one of those Amazon URLs and making a purchase I receive a small (trust me, it's very small) commission off the sale due to it counting as a 'referral link'. If you append that tag to the end of any Amazon URL (whether it's on this forum or not), this site will receive a small commission (the commissions apply to anything purchased on Amazon).
That being said, feel free to bookmark https://www.amazon.com?tag=nitromater-20 (notice the tag after the URL?) and anytime you visit Amazon, you'll be contributing to the forum! I have also setup a marketplace for people to browse and find products that they like. You can find that link here: Marketplace or in the navigation links in the header of this site.
I'm putting this out there because I want people to know that running this forum isn't Free. It was never my intention to try to make money off of this forum. I am just merely trying to recoup some of the money I am out each year.
However, if you do feel like helping the cause I encourage you to visit Amazon through links on this site when you do decide to make a purchase. Sure, the amount of commission I get is usually very, very small (typically around 3%), but every penny of that goes towards the operating costs of this site.
Just thought I would let you guys and gals know!
Thanks for being valued members of Nitromater.
Shannon
Anyways, you might wonder how I pay for those server costs. Well, I actually pay for it out of my own pocket, $2500 per year. However, I do manage to offset the cost a bit by using advertising programs. We used to use google adsense. And now we use Amazon affiliate links. If you notice any Amazon.com link on this site, you'll see that it typically ends with a ?tag=nitromater-20 on the end of the URL. This forum software automatically applies that tag to the end of any Amazon URL posted on this site. By visiting one of those Amazon URLs and making a purchase I receive a small (trust me, it's very small) commission off the sale due to it counting as a 'referral link'. If you append that tag to the end of any Amazon URL (whether it's on this forum or not), this site will receive a small commission (the commissions apply to anything purchased on Amazon).
That being said, feel free to bookmark https://www.amazon.com?tag=nitromater-20 (notice the tag after the URL?) and anytime you visit Amazon, you'll be contributing to the forum! I have also setup a marketplace for people to browse and find products that they like. You can find that link here: Marketplace or in the navigation links in the header of this site.
I'm putting this out there because I want people to know that running this forum isn't Free. It was never my intention to try to make money off of this forum. I am just merely trying to recoup some of the money I am out each year.
However, if you do feel like helping the cause I encourage you to visit Amazon through links on this site when you do decide to make a purchase. Sure, the amount of commission I get is usually very, very small (typically around 3%), but every penny of that goes towards the operating costs of this site.
Just thought I would let you guys and gals know!
Thanks for being valued members of Nitromater.
Shannon