I'm in the process of taking a look at the forum and how we can improve things for our members. I'd be very interested to hear from anyone who has any thoughts/suggestions etc. on this.
A quick brainstorm came up with this as a starter:
The forum 'look' - I feel the forum has a good, known look about it and it works fine. That said, it never hurts to have a makeover. I'm looking at a new logo to go alongside the DSF initials, maybe a colour change? Not sure about that.
Does the forum well well? - We don't appear to have any major issues with the day to day performance of the forum having invested more in server speed/space etc. the last couple of years. Would be good to get some feedback on this from members.
Premium Membership - Continue to get great deals for Premium Members with suppliers on products that they already buy, regular discounts, one off offers etc. I have toyed with the idea of creating a voucher booklet where members immediately get for example, £100 vouchers with suppliers, perhaps £10 off any order over a set amount. I appreciate £10 a year is nothing for the benefits of this scheme but I would like to have an immediate payback of some sort like this.
It's been mentioned that this is excellent value, perhaps too good! lol. We could increase the membership cost if more value could be added to it.
Are there any suppliers/products you would like to see introduced into the scheme?
The Premium Membership base is very small but constant, what would make you want to join?
Advertising - It's become more important in recent years to sell advertising space. Don't get me wrong, the intention was always to remain independent with no bias towards any one supplier. I feel we maintain this and get some good discounts in return for the advertising banners. I've tried to keep the banners as non intrusive as possible but obviously advertisers need to have their banners seen. I introduced the right side vertical banners to keep everything away from the main forum areas and again feel this works well.
I don't want to get into a debate over this but again appreciate members input. It was suggested that we do away with advertisers in return for all members paying an annual subscription but I would still like to offer the free membership alongside the premium membership.
I'll add to this thread as ideas/thoughts pop into my head. I'm not looking to open any cans of worms or let myself in for abuse, the idea is to move the forum forward for everyone's benefit so any suggestions will be taken onboard.
If anyone would prefer to send me private messages, my inbox is always open :-)
Many thanks,
Justin
DSF Admin