revenue in a non intrusive manner?

Why not give multiple options? I am fine with research as long as it isn't going towards spyware, malware, etc. Others are fine with tiny text ads at the bottom of the window, some like the installer, or during the login/auto update screen you could add an ad or company logo example being Digsby, brought to you by company a, company b, company c. That way people will only see it when they boot up digsby or autoupdate. You could give everyone a choice between these so they could have lets say radio buttons on which to have enabled. Some will choose none, some may choose them all. This will most likely level out your lack of revenue due to the ones who don't put any on. I find it to be the easiest and smartest of all these options.

Something we have definitely considered... let you choose how to contribute to Digsby by choosing between text ads, research, paying a fee, etc.

That sounds like a good idea to me.  Require that everyone contribute in some manner, but let them choose whichever method they personally find least intrusive.

You have to be careful what you end up with though as there are still going to be those programs out there that are free, until they get enough of a following to warrant charging something for, like Trillian ended up doing. And look what happened to them.

I agree with letting people choose.

I would gladly pay a fee, as long as it wasn't more than a one-time $20 (or so) registration fee. A smaller annual fee wouldn't be totally out of the question, either, though.

As for the installer ads, maybe put a check mark at the beginning of the installer that doesn't show any other installers?

As for text ads, maybe put them in AIM profile windows or something similar? Take a random word out of the selected user's profile, and show a Google ad for it.

I think most people would agree they don't actually want to spend money out of pocket for instant messengers. A fee in any sense is a bit ridiculous, especially when most other messengers won't ask you for money.

An adware infested installer may also not really give much profit while turning people away, there are an excessive amount of toolbars out there be they for yahoo, or some junk mail service and they usually aren't used or installed except on a less savvy person's computer.

text ads if they are appropriate and I would hope checked before adding to the rolladex of ads. Example would be an ad to get a lawyer when in no way do I need one or was it in any conversation I have ever had. useless ad while possibly annoying the user.

something akin to a single click search of an online retailer/retailers newegg, amazon, bestbuy etc. Not an actual search bar but maybe a right click function to search a word that was typed there. can add a bracket or brace variable to search all within them.

research in the essence of folding at home or such, as long as no information is taken from the user, or sold to third parties it should be fine.

login screen brand naming. 3 to 5 seconds of the normal digsby screen you see when logging in but with a few brands, kfc, gillete, near the digsby icon guy.

a news feed that updates everyone on the latest "item, thing, software" from whatever company you are hooked into the user would have to subscribe, if you have multiple companies then you could set up categories for the news, software, hardware, watches.

These are a few ideas and as I mentioned in my previous post give a radio button to allow the user to choose none, which of them, or all. Some may be keen to give you some cash for a bit of annoyance, others want it free and pure, and then you always will get the middle ground. Biggest part to keep people from jumping ship is of course making a better messenger and including while keeping light and fast/stable as many of the asked for additions you can, Xfire, new social networking, email sites, etc.

heres what the users want though, a clean and respectable app, if ads are needed? ads to respectable sites, txt based ads from google

and no weird installer files from freeze.com on the main site, why has this not been taken down yet? its marked as spyware, the TOS are as such.

come on now guys...

artfuldodga wrote:

its marked as spyware, the TOS are as such.

the freeze.com software is what's marked as spyware, and what their TOS refers to. not digsby or the digsby installer.

"http://download.freeze.com/lm/affiliate_downloads/digsby.exe"

alright heres a question =] how do i download digsby? i'm not going to a site that may, according to about a dozen security products say distributes spyware.

i could unblock it, manually but why would i?

Last edited by artfuldodga (2008-12-03 09:57:55)

Why not test text ads (in the "status bar" like some of the screenshots) that you can disable if you want and see what kind of revenue that generates? If it can be easily disabled, you won't annoy people that don't want it and people that want to support further development of digsby can have them there in case something interesting pops up?

this url has been posted in several threads already: http://update.digsby.com/install/digsby_setup.exe

it's the old installer that's generated every release just like it always was. it's just not linked off the front page because every download costs money rather than makes money like the zomgadware one.

WTF?!?!?
I can't see any Ads and I'd like to help Digsby by showing them.

How I can do it?

Mind if I ask what would be the problem with putting text ads in the program but simply giving people the option too turn them off? On or off you are still making money from selling the ad-space right? Perhaps offer a donation option as well?

What ever happens your current solution of offering to install up to 4 adware programs on installation is definitely the wrong way to go. As I said in another thread It creates entirely the wrong first impression.

I have digsby installed on my netbook but my primary system is an imac and as I'm sure you are already aware you are going to have serious issues competing with Adium when you finally port the program to OS X. No mac user is going to download a program which offers to install adware or has embedded adverts especially when the vast majority of them have a completely free and well integrated solution already installed on their system.

overhaze wrote:

On or off you are still making money from selling the ad-space right?

no, ads like that pay on a per-click basis.

mike wrote:

overhaze wrote:

On or off you are still making money from selling the ad-space right?

no, ads like that pay on a per-click basis.

Well there goes that suggestion. Working out a way of making money on freeware that does not annoy the costumer is no easy thing, I don't envy you the task.

@overhaze: Definitely.  We're doing our best to come up with ways that don't annoy the user.  While most IM clients just take the easy route and plaster their product with banners, we're trying to come up with something better.

wow im glad my suggestion has gotten so much attention.

as an initial test how about as one or 2 others have suggested put the google adwords text only ads in the format bar (or a new strip down the bottom if you insist on bloating the message window) with a [X] beside it to close / stop displaying ads (and an option in pref's to turn them back on).

at the very least this will give you information on who is happy enough with ads being there, and gives a clear option always visible when the ads are shown of how to turn it off.

also the oportunity if ads like this become _needed_ in future you can give the option of like a $1per month fee to remove ads that is stored in your profile info on digsby server / accnt.

novex wrote:

google adwords...

last I knew, not allowed in software, only webpages(?).

FYI: we've had this idea, and have been looking for similar alternatives.

Edit:

novex wrote:

also the oportunity if ads like this become _needed_ in future you can give the option of like a $1per month fee to remove ads that is stored in your profile info on digsby server / accnt.

yup, had that idea ($ amount unclear) also.  As has been stated before, we'd rather find a way to make a profit without negatively affecting the user's experience when using digsby (or at all).  The new installer is a bit in-your-face, but hopefully, it's a one time thing (auto-updater).  The plura module is only active during idle time.

Last edited by chris (2008-12-06 15:26:39)

could the adwords, be in our twitter feeds? , facebook... myspace, etc? could be considered a webpage, sorta.

Last edited by artfuldodga (2008-12-06 15:21:40)

artfuldodga wrote:

could the adwords, be in our twitter feeds? , facebook... myspace, etc? could be considered a webpage, sorta.

AFAIK (which might be wrong), adwords uses the site to verify/determine ads.  Since the twitter feed, etc. are generated on-the-fly, I don't think this would work.  Same issue with the IM window*.  This is why we've looked for alternatives.

*IM window currently uses webkit as a base which is the most complete web browser we have w/o embedding IE (which we do for the Facebook login, and video chat, I believe).  The facebook/twitter/myspace feeds use a less complete engine.  Specifically, these feeds don't have support for javascript or CSS, and have limited support for even HTML.  None of the above (other than facebook login/video chat) show content from a webpage that google adwords can check**.

Edit:

**We can't put ads on the Facebook page, and the video chat is designed to be minimalistic.

Last edited by chris (2008-12-06 15:39:46)