Quote:
Originally Posted by zcaveman
Maybe because they dropped their ad from TOTV? Or never applied for one?
I went to the site and am sure I saw it before from a link on TOTV.
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If the asterisks were added by admin because the vendor is not an advertiser, then a valuable advertising sales tool is being trashed. Referrals bring business and it is an easy "sell" to demonstrate that relatively cheap advertising can "feed" off of our referrals.
If forum admin is afraid of complaints from current advertisers, it might be an opportune time to evaluate that negative feedback. The only current advertisers that are likely to complain about our referrals are those that are not getting our referrals, for which there is likely to be a good (bad) reason. One could make a case that under-performing advertisers do not belong on a community forum of this type because members often perceive the advertiser to be "pre-endorsed" by the forum. This could result in expensive mistakes for our members. In fact a higher advertising fee can be charged if the advertisers have earned a TOTV seal of approval.
Granted, I don't run a forum, but I do have 40 years of marketing experience. Our members have repeatedly demonstrated that they enjoy recommending good vendors and I firmly believe that this practice can be as good for the forum as it is for those getting the recommendations.