True Believers -

As you all may have already noticed, the Geeks With Issues website has undergone a dramatic design change.  On both the right hand side bar, and at the bottom of the page, there are now slots for advertising for our page.  The price of running GeeksWithIssues.com, depending on the month the bill comes in, can be a tricky afar – after all, every website payment comes out of the pockets of your Geeks.  This is not a liability, as the Geeks love doing the show, and would sacrifice a lot before we saw the site go down.  However, every little bit help keep the site running, and allows us to continue providing you with the discussion that you’ve come to expect from you Geeks.

Therefore, we are experimenting with several ways for True Believers to help the site obtain some revenue, and keep GwI.com prospering for many years to come. And please note a very important detail – every cent of the money recieved will be used to maintain both this website, and any paid services (Flickr, Blip.tv, etc.) that help the site operate efficiently.  None of this income is used to directly benefit any member of the Geeks – it all goes back to you.

The first change is obvious – on the right-hand sidebar, as well as the footer of this page, there are now slots in which anyone may purchase ads for display on the Geeks With Issues website.  This ad space has been provided through a partnership with ProjectWonderful.com, who use a unique, transparent sales structure to sell ads.  The ad prices are extremely low, with the sidebar ad slot starting at $0.20 per day, and the footer ads at an even better price – free until outbid!  For more information on how to post an ad on the site, please click on the ProjectWonderful link underneath each ad slot, or click on the “Buy An Ad Today!” image.

The second revenue source is via an old online favorite – donations.  If you travel to our “Help Us!” page, you’ll notice that we’ve added a new option for helping out the Geeks: “Make a Donation!”  If you click on the link, or scroll down, you’ll discover two special donation options that we’re testing.  Option one is a simple, one-shot donation.  You click, you pick the donation amount, you log out.  Nice and simple.  Option two is a little more sophisticated – a monthy donation process.  Every month, PayPal would take a subscription donation of $2 – the equivilent of $1 per episode of Geeks With Issues.  This provides us with a continual source of income, and allows you the ability to, without maintaining the thought, continue to donate to the show.
The course of action you take is up to you…and both techniques are quite experimental.  However, we’ll watch the activity on both services.

And speaking of the “Help Us!” page, you’ll also notice that we’ve provided a very important tool to members of the future GwI Street Team.  Thanks to a partnership with ReverbNation, the Geeks have installed a Street Team tool that will allow us to make contact with our fans, and get them on the road.  To join the Street Team is simple – just enter your E-Mail address in the widget under the “Street Team” header, and you’re on the fast track to getting the Geeks word out.  We highly recommend everyone who considers themselves a stalwart fan of the Geeks to sign up for the Street Team!

And, in this post about experiments, I’d like to address the new toolbar that you’ll find at the bottom of your GwI screen.  This toolbar is a Google Friend Connect bar – it allows us to synchronise our social services with those of Google, and do some pretty cool things.  What exactly can it do?  Only one way to find out…click on the bar and log in!
And take note – the bar is experimental, so please make comments here on what you think about how well it works, and if it’s worth our monitor real estate.

Additionally, don’t be surprised if some things work a little differently as you wander the site – there have been lots of structural modifications made to the way things work to make them more efficient and enjoyable for your the viewer.

In conclusion, it is good to be back in control of standard website function.  Existing without battery power was…distressing.  However, normalcy is restored.  Geeks With Issues will resume.