Newsletter #1 – April 17 2008

[Jennifer, Admin.]

Hello to all the answers-now members!
It has been just over 2 weeks now since our launch of our social support community and we have over 40 members!
My sincere thank you goes out to everyone who has joined.

I want to thank all the experts who have uploaded a photo, and provided the community with their services and experiences.

I also wish to thank the handful of members who have posted their questions to the experts using the forum. Please let us know if you need our help! By posting a question on the forum, you allow us to answer you directly, OR you can browse our profiles and see if you connect with anyone specifically.

A special thank you to STACIE, who is my business partner for a year now, and together we own Mystic-Connections. I wish to thank her for helping me with administration of Answers-Now, and for her ongoing support! And for putting up with the long hours of putting up with me, brainstorming and working hard! *thank you Stacie!*

The array of information and abilities that we as a community can offer is astounding and wonderful! It is great to read the blog posts and to read the articles and information threads that are being created in our various groups. Please utilize your blogging features! You can post articles there, information about your own services and schedules, events and social things happening OFF the internet and in your community. Every piece of information that is uploaded with your name attached to it or your services gets picked up by the search engines and puts you OUT THERE to be seen by others.

Answers-now is here to help you show yourself to the world!

I look forward to seeing all of us working together to help others in need.
----------------------------------------------------
As you all know we have google ads on the right side of the site, on all pages. It has taken me a few weeks and twittering with codes to finally have the content of those ads more exclusive to the context of the site, at least on the main pages. Each time you click one of those ads, answers-now gets a few cents that can be used towards advertising. As of April 16th, we have had the following revenue generated:
Impressions - 7,032 (how many times the “ads” where seen)
Clicks – 25 (actual clicks to the ads)
Page Click Thru Rate - 0.36%
Earnings - $5.79
When we reach $100, then google will issue a payment. So it could be some time yet before we receive this revenue that we can reinvest into getting the word out about answers-now, especially at the rate we are going now. So I ask that if you see something that interests you, advertised on the side bar by Google to please click on it. Every click will get us a few cents closer to telling others about our support network. Just don’t get to click happy – we do not want to get “red flagged” for too many clicks per day by the same IP addresses –smiles- this is just a small way that you as a member can help the longevity of our community, at no cost to you.
-------------------------------------------
Just wanting to share our current traffic stats with you all….
We have 41 active members here at answers-now.
As of April 16th we have had
Page views – 7480
Visits specific - 938
Unique visitors – 109
Unique views - 4005
The top 3 page views are….
Tristin has had his page viewed 188 times
The Forum has been opened 174 times
Stacie has had her page viewed 155 times
-------------------------------------------

I will be opening up the site to private party advertising options very soon. If you have an off site business, book, product, service, or even your profile at another site, that you wish to advertise, and been seen – there will be 2 options made available. Main page only ads and Every page right side ads (like the googles). The cost for advertising will be very affordable, and ads will not have any impression limits on them. Keep in mind that our site is non profit, and again any revenue received will go directly into advertising and promoting. Advertising will not only help your business/services directly, but it will also help with indexing on search engines for you (and yours) specifically! Currently my other site, Mystic-Connections, is being advertised because I have made an investment from that company into Answers-Now. There are monthly costs to keep answers-now open, and mystic connections, myself and Stacie, my partner, have agreed to cover those fees, in exchange for a banner advertisement. So if you wish to advertise your business/services, it will not only help YOU but answers-now in the same effort!
Please contact Jennifer for more information about private party advertising on answers-now. The information will be posted on site ASAP.
------------------------------------------
Another option to promoting yourself and your services, we are now implementing becoming a “featured member” where as you and your services can be seen from the main home page, and when clicked will be directed right to your answers-now profile page. A box or banner type display will be created, and approved by you, and then you will also be seen at the TOP of the members page within a rotation of 5 at a time. This will be renewed on a monthly basis (for now) and again at a very reasonable fee. This once again will help promote you, and your services as an expert, and will allow answers-now some much needed advertising dollars, so that we can let other people know that we are here to help them with finding their answers! I have placed myself as a “featured member” as for an example. This does not have to be how your featured spot needs to look, anything can be created or put there. If text/words become too much then JUST a photo and name will be used. Also please click on the members tab up top, and see how your featured profile will be seen and made available.
-------------------------------------------
For anyone concerned about the costs or fees associated with advertising or being featured, please note that any money paid out in this manner can be used as an advertising expense for your income tax, and that unfortunately we have to spend money to make money, and that advertising is critical to do, in order to succeed, and be seen. These methods are totally optional for you as an expert to participate in, but as mentioned, in order to promote and bring more traffic, more members and ultimately business, I do need to start an advertising campaign.
So please if you are interested let me know. I’m here to help you, help others.
-----------------------------------------
Banners are available!
I have created 2 banners that can be copied and pasted onto your own private websites, other social networks or in your emails. They are uploaded into a file in the FAQ section of the site, and please direct the traffic to http://www.answers-now.com
FYI - The other url directive to us is answersnow.ning.com
We also have “badges” where you can copy the code and place on your pages and profiles elsewhere to show your affiliation with us.

And I wish to thank everyone who has sent out invitations to their friends and co-workers in order to help by word of mouth telling others about answers-now! I have started using the free advertising systems online, and have placed the banners on Mystic-Connections, and on a facebook group as well. As I surf daily, I find places to spread the word, and I ask that you all help me, in doing so. Rome wasn’t built in a day, so this is definitely a work in progress!

That’s it for now folks, I will continue to work on uploading information onto the FAQ page, so please check the site often. New blog posts are happening daily and the groups are starting to see some action as well.
Thank you all for your support in the launch of our new social support network www.answers-now.com

BLESSINGS!
Jennifer

[Stacie]

I think we are doing great too and Jennifer is doing a fabulous job with setting it all up and making everyone feel welcome :)