www.talkcyprus.org

andytandreou · Joined: 09 Oct 2005 Posts: 239 Location: Larnaka

Hello everyone,
I'm honestly tired of seeing CF at the top! I'm sure they are on a downward slope at the moment but we have a moral and ethical obligation to let people know that THIS forum is the fairest forum. We have to tell people that we won't delete their flags. That bad language will not be tolerated by ANYONE!!! We have to tell the world that the admins on this site won't just ban you and your IP if you say something they don't agree with!!!

There are two ways to achieving your goals!
Firstly you must set a strategy and then set your tactics.

A strategy is the general direction we should be heading in.... A good strategy for this site would be to become the number 1 forum in Cyprus (North and South) by next summer. Both in number of subscriptions and topics.

Tactics are the EXACT steps to follow in order to accomplish your strategic plans. A good tactical plan would be:

- To introduce Google Ads for extra revenue (money used for more Google ads for this site)
- I great one-time advert in Cyprus-Mail would help us greatly!!!
- Viral advertising is free and totally legal and practised by companies like Sony all the time. A good viral would be an article in newspapers and magazines. Viral advertising can include ads in recruitment newspapers asking for "special members" in a site called talkcyprus.org!!!
- Introducing a "Mission Statement" which states our purpose for being and the values enshrined in our site. Something like Google's Mission Statement.

Does anyone agree or disagree? Let's have a good discussion on how to become #1. Personally I'm willing to give £20 as a one-off donation as long as we state clearly what they money will be used for (e.g. Cyprus mail Ad for 1 month). I am also perfectly willing to write an article and send it to my connections at Prima-Skala (the Larnaka Magazine which gets sent to 65,000 people for free)!!!

erolz · Joined: 11 Aug 2005 Posts: 4195 Location: Kyrenia / Girne

andytandreou wrote: Hello everyone,
I'm honestly tired of seeing CF at the top! I'm sure they are on a downward slope at the moment but we have a moral and ethical obligation to let people know that THIS forum is the fairest forum. We have to tell people that we won't delete their flags. That bad language will not be tolerated by ANYONE!!! We have to tell the world that the admins on this site won't just ban you and your IP if you say something they don't agree with!!!

Thanks for starting this thread.

andytandreou wrote:
A strategy is a the general direction we should be heading in.... A good strategy would be to become the number 1 forum in Cyprus (North and South) by next summer. Both in number of subscriptions and topics.

It is not just quantity but quality that is important. I would be happy for the site to have less members and less posts than alternative sites, if the quality of the discussion here were 'no 1'. Quantity is pretty easy to achieve. Quality is harder.

andytandreou wrote:
- To introduce Google Ads for extra revenue (money used for more Google ads for this site)

There are some problems with having ads on the site. The first problem is that the people who provide our site's hosting for free do so on the condition that it does not carry advertisments. We could of course pay for hosting and carry advertisments, but we would have to know we would make more from the ads than we would have to spend on hosting.

The second problem is that I am personally totaly against having advertisments on this forum. To me it distracts from the forum, it's purpose and ideals and creates a doubt as to why those running the site do so. As ever I would stress that this is our site not my site, so that ultimately if the majority of members wanted the site to carry ads then that would be respected but I would personaly resist such a move.

andytandreou wrote:
- I great one-time advert in Cyprus-Mail would help us greatly!!!

I have been trying to get a 'quote' from the Cyprus Mail about how much this would cost to see if it is feasable to do. Unfortunately to date I have not been able to get any response from Cyprus Mail's online ad people. I have also asked others to try for me, again with no result to date.

andytandreou wrote:
- Viral advertising is free and totally legal and practised by companies like Sony all the time. A good viral would be an article in newspapers and magazines. Viral advertising can include ads in recruitment newspapers asking for "special members" in a site called talkcyprus.org!!!

Could you explain this a bit more? I am all for promoting the site as well as it can be but I am not really sure what you mean here, how it would work or what it might cost.

andytandreou wrote:
- Introducing a "Mission Statement" which states our purpose for being and the values enshrined in our site. Something like Google's Mission Statement.

We do have this
http://www.talkcyprus.org/forum/faq.php?mode=sitefaq#0

Quote: What is the purpose of this forum ?
The forum seeks to be a neutral space where Cypriots and non Cypriots can come to discuss and argue about issues relating to Cyprus. In addition to this it seeks to build and be both an online community and an information resource. Neutrality is achieved by maintaining a balance of Turkish Cypriots, Greek Cypriots and non Cypriots as Admins, Moderators and members.

Though I would be first to admin it could be better. All suggestions are welcome.

andytandreou wrote:
Does anyone agree or disagree? Let's have a good discussion on how to become #1. Personally I'm willing to give £20 as a one-off donation as long as we state clearly what they money will be used for (e.g. Cyprus mail Ad for 1 month). I am also perfectly willing to write an article and send it to my connections at Prima-Skala (the Larnaka Magazine which gets sent to 65,000 people for free)!!!

I am totaly for as much promotion of the site as possible. I have some reservations about asking for or accepting money from members but if handled i the right way this could be overcome no doubt. Please do promote the forum (in approriate ways) as much as you wish to and thanks for the offers and enthusiasm.

city · Joined: 15 Aug 2005 Posts: 3370 Location: Larnaca area

andytandreou wrote:
Tactics are the EXACT steps to follow in order to accomplish your strategic plans. A good tactical plan would be:
- To introduce Google Ads for extra revenue (money used for more Google ads for this site)
Do you mean Google advertising on this site? No, I wouldn't like that at all. Because first it would distract people, second we would have no influence on the adverts (see problems in CF) and third we would have the problem that Erol mentioned with our generous hosts at Positive Internet.

I think Erol did the other way round for a period of time. Having the forum advertised in Google. I don't remember though what the statistics brought re. the success of these ads.
andytandreou wrote: - I great one-time advert in Cyprus-Mail would help us greatly!!!
Sounds like a good idea to me, but I guess it will depend on the costs.

andytandreou wrote: - Viral advertising is free and totally legal and practised by companies like Sony all the time. A good viral would be an article in newspapers and magazines. Viral advertising can include ads in recruitment newspapers asking for "special members" in a site called talkcyprus.org!!!
Andy could you please expand on what viral advertising means. The term is new to me.
andytandreou wrote: Does anyone agree or disagree? Let's have a good discussion on how to become #1. Personally I'm willing to give £20 as a one-off donation as long as we state clearly what they money will be used for (e.g. Cyprus mail Ad for 1 month).
I know that Erol doesn't like that money-giving idea :-), but I would join in with the said amount as well.
andytandreou wrote: I am also perfectly willing to write an article and send it to my connections at Prima-Skala (the Larnaka Magazine which gets sent to 65,000 people for free)!!!
Whatever connections you have Andy, I'm all for it to use them to promote our forum. Nice offer from you!

Xenos 2Fan · Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2005 7:01 pm Post subject:

I'm in!

brother · Joined: 15 Aug 2005 Posts: 8920 Location: London/Cyprus

Count me in on this of course. :wink:

andytandreou · Joined: 09 Oct 2005 Posts: 239 Location: Larnaka

Viral Advertising is becoming very popular because it's advertising which is free!

Nintendo wanted to promote a game which it was releasing but instead of going the traditional way they employed some very clever viral-advertising techniques. For example, they posted an "employment opportunity" in Monster.co.uk (job finder site) asking for a "Fighter warlord who is excellent in sword-ship and slaying the undead" :P :D :) !!!!!!!!! The funny thing is that 6 people applied for the job :D :D :D!!!! That small ad in monster.co.uk made the news in CNN, BBC and SKY yet it cost Nintendo NOTHING !!!

The purpose of Viral advertising is to exploit existing "networks" like the Yellow-Pages, classified ads, newsgroups, forums, email and most importantly articles in print media!!!

I have with me a classified newspaper called "Golden Opportunity", it's the most popular classified paper in Cyprus and I can put a classified ad in there for free. Can someone give me any ideas as to how I can word the ad? I found one in here saying "If you want to become rich and travel the world visit www.dreamLife-cy.com". Any ideas?

Dhavlos · Joined: 13 Aug 2005 Posts: 4697 Location: Birmingham

What about

'cyprus life, cyprus politics, cyprus people....visit www.talkcyprus.org'

'Do you love cyprus as much as us? ... visit www.talkcyprus.org'

If all you can think about is cyprus...visit www.talkcyprus.org to let it out!'

Crash Test Dummy · Joined: 25 Sep 2005 Posts: 4911 Location: London(ish)

Talk Cyprus - Just Talk

andytandreou · Joined: 09 Oct 2005 Posts: 239 Location: Larnaka

UPDATE 1: Classified ad attempt

I called the "Golden Opportunity" classified newspaper and they told me that advertising a service is not free and therefore I would need to pay. I told them that we are a group of people who've started a forum which unites Greek Cypriots with Turkish Cypriots and our website doesn't sell any service nor carry and advertising!! I kindly asked if they could carry the ad for free and the lady on the phone said she would get back at me after she checks with the Nicosia office! Even if i get told "NO" i will still try again.

cannedmoose · Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2005 1:32 pm Post subject:

andytandreou wrote: UPDATE 1: Classified ad attempt

I called the "Golden Opportunity" classified newspaper and they told me that advertising a service is not free and therefore I would need to pay. I told them that we are a group of people who've started a forum which unites Greek Cypriots with Turkish Cypriots and our website doesn't sell any service nor carry and advertising!! I kindly asked if they could carry the ad for free and the lady on the phone said she would get back at me after she checks with the Nicosia office! Even if i get told "NO" i will still try again.

Good work re Andy...

brother · Joined: 15 Aug 2005 Posts: 8920 Location: London/Cyprus

andytandreou wrote: UPDATE 1: Classified ad attempt

I called the "Golden Opportunity" classified newspaper and they told me that advertising a service is not free and therefore I would need to pay. I told them that we are a group of people who've started a forum which unites Greek Cypriots with Turkish Cypriots and our website doesn't sell any service nor carry and advertising!! I kindly asked if they could carry the ad for free and the lady on the phone said she would get back at me after she checks with the Nicosia office! Even if i get told "NO" i will still try again.

Well done andy. :wink: :D

Dhavlos · Joined: 13 Aug 2005 Posts: 4697 Location: Birmingham

good work andy....heres hoping *fingers crossed*!!

andytandreou · Joined: 09 Oct 2005 Posts: 239 Location: Larnaka

UPDATE 1: Classified ad attempt
We where rejected for the free ad. The guy who I spoke to was a middle manager and could not give us the service for free. He was very helpful and he passed my request to upper management who unfortunately rejected our request without any excuse given. This middle manager said that they had an issue, not with the finances but with the politics! He didn't make it very clear but he did say that they give free advertising space to many people and companies each year but they wouldn't give us any as the whole concept of talkcyprus.org appeared quite controversial!!!!

I always hate doing things over the phone. I am preparing to write the management a letter and send it directly to them by recorded delivery so they won't deny receiving it!

Once I get them to read my letter I have no doubt that they will accept. Even if they don't accept I will just buy the damn ad (which is only £27)!!!

cannedmoose · Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2005 5:01 pm Post subject:

andytandreou wrote: This middle manager said that they had an issue, not with the finances but with the politics! He didn't make it very clear but he did say that they give free advertising space to many people and companies each year but they wouldn't give us any as the whole concept of talkcyprus.org appeared quite controversial!!!!

Nice to see that things in the koumbarokratia don't change... :roll:

brother · Joined: 15 Aug 2005 Posts: 8920 Location: London/Cyprus

Quote: as the whole concept of talkcyprus.org appeared quite controversial!!!!

I wonder what they meant by that. :shock: