Jumpseatnews.com - United Airlines flight attendant resources
Advertising on JSN
After eight years of being online and serving up web pages 24/7, we’ve made the decision, to begin, on a very limited basis, to display advertising on the JSN home page.
Why is this being done?
First, we recently examined our web statistic logs. They indicate almost 11,000 page views each day for just the single JSN home page. It’s clear that this web site is receiving a lot of traffic. In fact, it ridiculous. Go to Google and search for ‘flight attendant resources’. We are #1 on that search engine and either #1 or #2 in most of the others for whatever reason.
Second: Increased traffic means increased costs. Example: the Shoutbox area (one of the most popular features) has expanded to the point that we need to upgrade our databases to SQL server because the crappy database we currently use cannot handle the number of posts and freezes out when it gets above a certain limit. We’ve also outgrown our bandwidth and disk space allocations with our web host.
Third: after eight straight nonstop years of publishing this site with zero ads, compensation, etc, we feel that it’s finally time to balance our costs—both in time and in maintenance of this web site—with a bit of compensation for the work in keeping in running. There’s also an ever increasing amount of time we spend dealing with email questions, forgotten passwords (write them down, please), ongoing Unimatic confusion questions, etc. It’s difficult to keep up with everything and it consumes a lot of time. We’re not looking to add another yacht to our Monte Carlo slip dock, or book ourselves an executive suite at the Four Seasons, but to simply to keep the costs of this web site in check.
Where will the ads be placed?
They will only be placed on the JSN public home page. They will be located right in the area on top of the right side menu where you see the big graphics like ’10 Tips’ or ‘Go Unimatic’. If this proves successful, we may advertise in the Crew Lounge as well – but we’ll see how this goes first. We will have no more than four ads, and they will be rotated so that you only see one (and one only) when the page loads each time.
What about donations? Can’t you just encourage those more often?
The donations received have carried this site though some tough times and have been very helpful and appreciated. So, pretty please, thank these kind supporters if you see them on your next flight. However, we do not want to rely on fellow flight attendants having to donate their hard-earned money on a regular basis and do we not want to have to remind/encourage/promote donations. It just feels wrong to ask. Rather, we would like to step up and offer a professional advertising model that will benefit both parties.
What kind of Ads will you accept?
We are choosing our advertising content very carefully. The product or service advertised must be relevant to our audience, as well as maintain the standards our visitors have come to expect from the web site. We reserve the right to refuse any ad request, at any time, for any reason.
How do I place an ad? How much does it cost? What type of graphic source files do you accept?
Please see our Advertising on JSN document (.pdf) for the details.
WTF? Your ad space is expensive!
Yes, it is. Based on the number of page views, unique visitor stats, and other information generated by Google Analytics and our web logs, the cost to place an ad on the JSN home page is extremely reasonable given the number of visitors. Most web sites with traffic numbers like this would charge more. Additionally, we have a very specific audience: flight attendants and interested airline employees. This makes it a very unique advertising opportunity.
I’m a Crew Lounge Member and have been visiting JSN for years. I want to advertise my business but can’t/won’t pay those rates!
Then advertise for free. We’ve had the JSN discounts section for years. It allows any flight attendant to publish information about their business absolutely free of charge and reach thousands of other people.
What will you do if nobody advertises?
Same as always; post photos of Bailey here. It’s really not that big a deal. We’re not concerned if we don’t display ads or whatever. If so, great! If not, that’s fine too. If you haven’t figured it out by now, we don’t do this web site for the money.
That said, as of October 19, 2008, we do have our first advertiser: Crew Companion. Since they are the very first to step up the plate, we figured we’d mention them here. They offer scheduling tools for flight attendants and pilots to “improve your schedule by maximizing your trip trading opportunities.” Their software is extremely comprehensive, and packs a lot of trading and scheduling features of which a version has now been released for flight attendants.
Will all of this change how you run Jumpseatnews?
No. Now that I’m taking my prescribed meds on a regular basis to treat my U.S. Election paranoia, this site is running better than ever.
Christopher and Bailey
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