Making Jeff Some Money Pt 2

[Jeffro]

First, I want to try the idea of creating merchandise to either give away at wordcamps or sell.

Secondly, I want to focus on the goal of making this a vibrant and great community filled with active users. It's that way now but it could be even better. I want to know if you folks wouldn't mind placing a link to either WPTavern.com or to the forum on your website as a go-to resource for WordPress discussion. I'm going to start a new thread to see if we can generate a WPTavern media pack filled with images you can place on your site, signatures, or wherever you feel you can place the image. The original goal was not to be a secondary WordPress.org Support forum. It's geared towards discussion although technical help will not be shunned away.

I'm 6 months into the Tavern project and while I'm doing great with the site side of things, I'm lacking here in the forum. This is why I'm asking for all of your help in trying to get more people not only to register with the forum but participated in the ongoing discussions here.

I will be doing my part at all of the WordCamps I attend by talking to individuals, passing out business cards with the Tavern all over them and providing what coverage I can of the events whether it be video, tweets, or recorded interviews.

With regards to advertising on the forum, I'm going to just keep the display banner spots on the forum just in case someone wants to buy a spot but I'm also going to add Sticky Thread ad buys where a forum post can be purchased that will be stuck to the top across the entire forum for 31 days. The forum post will be labeled as sponsored so no worries there.

I'm slowly but surely going to join more affiliate programs throughout the WordPress community. I'm amazed that out of nowhere, I've recently made $50 through the GravityForms affiliate program meaning people are buying through me. I gotta admit, it's an awesome feeling everytime I get an affiliate payment because of that. So eventually, I'll end up producing more content that has affiliate links in it but not to the point where every post has one in it, that wouldn't make any sense.

So what I'm trying to say here is that I have a number of things I can work on to generate income but the website side of things is what I'm going to be concentrating on. The goal for the forum for the next six months is to tell as many people as possible about this wonderful little place where beginners and veterans can come together to talk about WordPress and some of the associated projects such as bbPress and BuddyPress. I'm only one person which is why if you're not doing so already, I'd appreciate you helping to spread the word.

To start off the campaign, I thought it might be a good idea if all of us if capable would write a blog post telling people why you decided to join the tavern forum and what you've been able to get out of it thus far. It could be as simple as someone graciously providing an answer to a problem you couldn't solve or just joining for the fun and festivities that take place throughout a tavern. The reasons and explanations are up to you. If you write this blog post, please post a link to it within this thread. I would like to compile a list of these blog posts into a post for the WPTavern website.

I am very humbled by the fact that you all want to have me and the Tavern succeed and to do that, it's not only going to take a monumental effort from myself but it's going to take the community as whole working towards the same goals.

[PaulCunningham]

I suspect the merch will do okay at Wordcamps. The trick will be managing production costs and making sure you don't have too few (missing out on sales) or too many (end up with heaps left over) of any given item.

Affiliate programs are a good idea. I think some people think affiliate programs are all abouts scammy diets and ringtones but so many high quality products on the web have great affiliate programs (eg StudioPress, WooThemes, Problogger's 31DBBB ebook...). You deliver so many non-promotional blog posts each week that putting affiliate links into a product review post (provided you write honest reviews) should not hurt your visitor trust at all.

[foress]

Jeff,

I think you are already there. WP Tavern, hands down, is the best WordPress community I've seen. If you have a banner or something for the fans of taverns, I will gladly put it on my own site.

Secondly, on making money. Put up a post of your recommended WordPress web hosts (like the one in WordPress.org) and you will surely make tons of money in no time.

Thirdly, is about including WP Tavern in the WordPress Planet blog aggregation. I simply do not understand why tavern isn't there yet and there are tons other blog that haven't update in decades still remain there. Have Matt said anything about this?

[andrea_r]

I definitely think we need a "I hang out at the Tavern" Badge.

[chipbennett]

If you put together some images/logos, I'll gladly promote the Tavern from my lonely, dusty corner of the interwebs.

I'll also work on a "Why I'm a Tavern Regular" type of post.

Speaking of images, is there any way to make a badge that would (dynamically) show our Tavern Forum user title and/or number of posts? I'd use that!

[Len]

I definitely think we need a "I hang out at the Tavern" Badge.

I like that.