[aprssig] findU server move time yet again

Scott Miller scott at opentrac.org
Mon Aug 4 18:29:10 EDT 2008


 > findU needs a real data center (security, generator power, multiple
 > bandwidth providers, etc.), home internet connections are not an
 > option. Here are the specs:

The provider I use hosts their servers in the Savvis tier-1 data center 
in Fort Worth... however, I don't think they offer hosting for 
customer-provided equipment.  I'm sure some other reseller there does. 
What I'm paying for a 10 Mb uplink (including server rental) and 1 
TB/month traffic seems pretty reasonable.  100 Mb uplinks get a little 
more expensive.

> thousand more from the year before. My plan to make findU self- 
> supporting isn't going so well, but at least the hardware is in good  
> shape (knock on wood) so no new expenses there this year. If you want  
> to get an early jump on the fundraising use the donate button on most  
> findU pages.

Well, I tried to help.  I was paying around $100/month for Google 
AdSense ads on FindU, but when I stopped, my sales actually went UP as 
the budget was redistributed elsewhere.  My ads were buried in in a pile 
of other ads for shady 'track your cheating spouse' type devices, 'make 
3k-5k/week from home' scams, and so forth, and they usually showed up 
'below the fold', where a visitor would have to scroll way down past the 
map content to even see them.

I'm not sure what you're bringing in from Google advertising, but I'm 
sure your advertisers would get more out of it if you restricted the 
type of products advertised and placed the ads more carefully. 
Personally, I will never again make the mistake of paying per impression 
(and not per click-through) on a site that uses auto-refresh or 
encourages users to hit refresh.

QRZ.com charges around $75/month for a banner ad rotation slot, and I 
get significantly more business from that than I ever did from the 
Google advertising on your site.

Again, without knowing what you're making now, I can't say if it would 
be a better deal for YOU to change things, but things could most 
certainly be better for your advertisers.

Scott
N1VG





More information about the aprssig mailing list