I use the term "customers" lightly. Mostly because I know that people who come onto AG don't exactly buy anything (though if I had the money on hand, I'm sure I'd buy a thing or two from the shop). By "customers" I mean new people (or old people who stay around longer than usual).
Now then, I notice that there are massive amounts of ads on the site (DON'T WORRY, I'm not going to complain about how "OMIGAWD SO MANY ADS". From these large amounts of ads, I can assume that for every ad clicked, or seen, or every hit from the site that the advertiser gets, AG gets some bit of money. Unless it's an advertisement agreement for "we rent out X amount of space for X amount of money". But my point being: more people have to come to AG in order to get more money through the ads, correct? At the very least, if the AG execs say to the advertisers, "We have so many people coming in to our site, your web site would get a lot of hits. Therefore, you should fork over a bit more for our advertising space."
I have a few different suggestions in order for that to happen. Of course, the standard AG3 upgrades that have been planned out will make tons of new fans flock to the internet gates of AG. But even with that, I have a few suggestions that I think would really help the AG website. I'll throw them out in number order.
1. Make the community button bigger.
Since I am a long-time member of AG (and an avid lurker), I notice that for every 10 people that pop into the AG community (excluding the newcomers forum), about 3 of them stay for an extended amount of time. Therefore bringing in potential "hey guys, join this site!" hits. I notice that every 10 people that pop into the AG community found the AG community the exact same way I did. Which is: "Community? What could that be? MY CURIOSITY MUSCLE IS TINGLING" after the 10th or so time that they've been here.
Point being: most people who come onto the AG community had no idea there was a community (despite being long-time members), or simply hadn't seen it. I suggest that you do one of many options:
A) Just make the community button more noticeable, or larger. I assume that it can't be all too hard. You could put it next to the AG logo, or simply in a more noticeable place. Put a slightly different logo saying "forums", which seems to be a more known version of "community".
B) Mention the community (or the preferred term, "forums" in the in-game advertisements. At the beginning of most AG-sponsored games, there is the AG logo and a link to the site, yes? Why not (when the game is on AG, or just in the ad itself) put a mentioning of the AG forums. After the logo pops through, show a brief (2-3 second) ad saying "With a thriving community!" or something of that manner.
C) Mention it in blog posts. A simple prospect, yes? It would be incredibly effective as compared to the time and effort needed to do the previous 2 options, and it would get a minor (but still helpful) amount of people to come into the community (and therefore stay for longer).
2. Art, Music, and Writing wants to write books for you.
And I know from experience that we really don't even care if we're paid. I know that myself would be happy to work on an AG-iverse (Read: AG fiction that the AMW has worked on and off with for a long time [members include: Thoadthetoad, Strop, Cenere, Freakenstein, and countless others]. Though the books wouldn't exactly be masterpieces of publication, it would be worth a shot to put a 4 dollar download for a PDF file in the shop. It would be convienent for the consumer, a tremendous feat of flatter towards the AMW member, and a win-win situation (given that the AMW member is happy with getting little-no pay, or a small compensation, or whatever payment is desired).
3. Strengthen the unheard community by letting them talk
Though this is lightly addressed in the "make the community button bigger" suggestion, this is a bit different. I was thinking of a corner (much like the "web games" corner) of the site where it would show a snapshot of a person's face (or an AMW member's rendition of you) speaking- via text of course- to the members of the gaming community. Think of it as an enhanced "new blog entry!" part of the AG homepage. It could include a link to the discussion (much like our regular blog entry box), links to what you're talking about, etc.
Thank you dearly for spending your valuable time reading my suggestions. I sincerely do hope that I have opened some brains into turning ArmorGames into an even more respectable and admirable site! I enjoy every second I'm here, and I only wish to make it better. If you see anything in my suggestions that should (or could) be improved upon, I'll be thinking of it in my spare time.
I'm one of the minority that knew what a community meant before joining AG, so I didn't really have much trouble. That's not to be said for the rest of the members though.
1. Make the community button bigger.
Definitely, the community link needs to be given more attention, but I don't think there has been any discussion on whether the actual layout of the site interface is going to be the same or different. You might be suggesting things the AG developers are already tinkering!
2. Art, Music, and Writing wants to write books for you.
I'm confused about this. Make a payable pdf download for a full story that was submitted in the community, publicly might I add? And something about AG getting money for something I did with no less than recognition just doesn't sound right. I mean, if I wanted to type out a full book about a story I'm still working on and I wanted to be compensated for it, it would be me and not AG, unless they had some official part in helping. Granted, there should be "recognition" for various works that AG users create.
Was this discussed before a while back? I think so...
3. Strengthen the unheard community by letting them talk
I mean, if I wanted to type out a full book about a story I'm still working on and I wanted to be compensated for it, it would be me and not AG, unless they had some official part in helping.
Considering you would not be able to publish the kind Thoad is thinking about without getting sued... He is referring to stuff like your Beta story (I think it lacks some updating), his own Mod wars and the WoM. Stories that revolve around the community, the fictional world inspired by it and its various user characters. Stuff that already belongs in the community, but, perhaps with a little compensation, could be published with the official stamp of approval for AG to sell. This also means it would not be full novels, but most likely short stories, or chapters of 2-3 pages in size.
I notice that for every 10 people that pop into the AG community (excluding the newcomers forum), about 3 of them stay for an extended amount of time.
Fact: only about 3.5% of our registered users have been active in the forums. Would making the link bigger or more pronounced draw in more people? That's debatable. Not everyone likes forums. And as Frank mentioned, AG3's activity stream setup should provide plenty of opportunity to speak your mind and share it with the masses.
Haha your right i was here for 3 weeks B4 finding out there was a Community Button lol. As for the bigger community button, if you place it RIGHT NEXT to the Armorgames logo (you know, the one that you click and you go to the home page)I think i might click there instead!
@Cen: Lol, no, I wasn't talking about any story. That's full on plagiarism right there! Nonononono.... Stuff like the WoM by Strop Y Cen and Beta by me can be applicable though. Wasn't there something about an idea of showcasing our works? Or was that axed and was noted to just use FurAffinity et al?
@Ian: Associating forum posts with a "Forums" link might help incrementally though :P
Frank, I agree, "Community" and "Forums" give me two very different reactions.
Sadly, AG3 will probably launch without forums at first, but we'll get them added as a high priority shortly after launch. Users will have access to the AG2 forums up until a day or so before AG3 launches.
I think he was referring to actual ghost accounts, accounts with 0AP.
Anyways, I'll be greatly saddened to see there won't be forums at launch. I was hoping they would be in beta so I could leave my mark on them before all the rest of the people show up.
Fact: only about 3.5% of our registered users have been active in the forums.
Is that 3.5% of the active users or the total users, because when I first started going on AG, before I even got any AP, I was ranked like 250,000 out of 700,000 users, are you counting those other 450,000 users who have very little AP, like my old account that I forgot the password to http://armorgames.com/user/checkerdog shouldn't that profile be ranked 700,000 out of 700,000 users?
