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Haif Has Slowed Down?


tierwestah

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musicman, don't act like you are over Facebook. nothing wrong with facebook.

no acting. i didn't say there was anything wrong with facebook. the typical facebook user and the typical haif user are not the same. one is definitely a higher echelon.

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you'd be surprised who uses facebook. It's far from just jr. high and high school students. There's a vast amount of networks people join for companies.

In my limited experience, I've noticed that college stoners like it. That could be an interesting audience. :rolleyes:

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that's actually not a bad advertising spend--- local radio. Pick the right show and you can match the HAIF demo better than Facebook, or whatever, at a pretty reasonable cost.

Concur. Use a 10AM timeslot. By that time, most people listening to the radio are at work, often in front of a computer, and this is also frequently before their bosses show up at the office, so there's less oversight. Ads will also probably be cheaper because it isn't during rush hour.

Walton & Johnson may be slipping in ratings, but talk radio listeners will probably be relatively more receptive to HAIFing than would be the listeners of a station with a Top 40 format, and we probably don't want the age range or partisan nature of Joe Paglioni, Sean Hannity, or Rush Limbaugh. Michael Berry's program would probably be a different story, especially since it has a local focus and tends to be more a more thoughtful and less aggressive discussion, but he's in the wrong time slot.

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I meant overall. With the exception of about two or three people, we don't have jr and sr. high students here like facebook. There's a market there. There's plenty of profs and professionals on facebook. FWIW, har advertises there.

I joined at age 28.

I would generalize this:

MySpace is mostly high school, 100% social and entertainment

Facebook is mostly college, 50% social and entertainment, 50% networking

Linkedin is mostly professional, 100% networking.

Facebook is a nice blend of the best of both.

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Michael Berry's program would probably be a different story, especially since it has a local focus and tends to be more a more thoughtful and less aggressive discussion, but he's in the wrong time slot.

Seriously, this needs to be fixed.

flipper

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I agree. Facebook is targeted at a younger audience than the one that HAIF attracts. I would think a younger audience would not be as interested in discussing issues relating to Houston's built environment. However, we might get some really entertaining posts of the "Plastic" persuasion...

ACK !!!! I thought we weren't allowed to mention the "NAME" of the one that should never be mentioned AGAIN ?!?

Oh, how about JELL-O* instead of Mud ? I am sure Sevfiv is in on that also, and Ricco, put your thong BACK in the drawer, you cannot participate in the melee`.

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editor might want to consider advertising on websites specific to other cities. city-data seems to get a lot of out of towners curious about moving here and other stuff. I'd think HAIF would be a better source than city data. just a thought.

maybe we could create a forum just for curious out of towners/people moving here?

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I am not sure how you could do anything else, that would give enough of a significant gain in traffic to justify the cost of the advertisement. Haif gets a pretty broad hit thru Google, which is the most used search engine on the planet. If you are searching for "Homes in Houston", "Houston Information", "Houston Info", "Houston Architecture", "Houston Sports Stadiums", "Historic Houston", Houston History", "Houston Photos", etc. etc. etc....... You get a link to Haif, It would be hard pressed to justify a couple points more exposure versus the expense accrued. Perhaps just beefing up the html meta tags, to pick up a few more hits, will do just the same without the expense. I think the amount of traffic here is well above average, that's for certain. The little engine that could, has grown up into the Bullet Train. I say job well done. The only thing I'd like to see in the software, would be the ability to review a brief synopsis of the threads, by simply holding the cursor over the post title in the main index, without having to open the actual post or thread. Another forum I am a member of has that feature, and it is really nice. I know Wayne is bound by software constraints, so I just leave that on my list of wishes. Haif has been amazing to watch it grow and evolve. A big attaboy to Wayne and his crew for a major success.

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I think there are a lot of good ideas in here. I'm going to sort through them today and see what's possible.

Don't feel strange for thinking big. I think HAIF would benefit from a billboard along 59. I wrote to a billboard company yesterday, but haven't heard back. Does anyone know what that would cost?

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I think there are a lot of good ideas in here. I'm going to sort through them today and see what's possible.

Don't feel strange for thinking big. I think HAIF would benefit from a billboard along 59. I wrote to a billboard company yesterday, but haven't heard back. Does anyone know what that would cost?

Billboards are SUPER crazy. I do know someone in the business that works for CBS outdoors. At least I used to, I don't know if she'd take my call or not though, but business is business and shouldn't be personal.................right ???

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I am not sure how you could do anything else, that would give enough of a significant gain in traffic to justify the cost of the advertisement. Haif gets a pretty broad hit thru Google, which is the most used search engine on the planet. If you are searching for "Homes in Houston", "Houston Information", "Houston Info", "Houston Architecture", "Houston Sports Stadiums", "Historic Houston", Houston History", "Houston Photos", etc. etc. etc....... You get a link to Haif, It would be hard pressed to justify a couple points more exposure versus the expense accrued. Perhaps just beefing up the html meta tags, to pick up a few more hits, will do just the same without the expense. I think the amount of traffic here is well above average, that's for certain. The little engine that could, has grown up into the Bullet Train. I say job well done. The only thing I'd like to see in the software, would be the ability to review a brief synopsis of the threads, by simply holding the cursor over the post title in the main index, without having to open the actual post or thread. Another forum I am a member of has that feature, and it is really nice. I know Wayne is bound by software constraints, so I just leave that on my list of wishes. Haif has been amazing to watch it grow and evolve. A big attaboy to Wayne and his crew for a major success.

This is why I made the comment earlier (Are you High?) when it came to the IPOD giveaway, etc. It don't think the cost/benefit would be enough to justify it.

The thing is to attract readers HERE and the only thing I can think of is to simply try to maximize the search potential within google and other search engines. Giveaways only help in the short term with relatively few established users who stick around long enough to be AWARE of the contest.

I literally meet hundreds of people over a period of a week, and I can't possibly find a way to sneak in "Houston Architecture" or "HAIF" at every opportunity, but the conversation DOES come up occasionally and point them here.

There has to be a way to be able for people to be AWARE of HAIF. Advertising in local media might not help, (cost/benefit) but a grass roots effort as well as a websearch to bring people in. Once people are exposed to HAIF and GET what we're about, they'll stick around.

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This is why I made the comment earlier (Are you High?) when it came to the IPOD giveaway, etc. It don't think the cost/benefit would be enough to justify it.

The thing is to attract readers HERE and the only thing I can think of is to simply try to maximize the search potential within google and other search engines. Giveaways only help in the short term with relatively few established users who stick around long enough to be AWARE of the contest.

I literally meet hundreds of people over a period of a week, and I can't possibly find a way to sneak in "Houston Architecture" or "HAIF" at every opportunity, but the conversation DOES come up occasionally and point them here.

There has to be a way to be able for people to be AWARE of HAIF. Advertising in local media might not help, (cost/benefit) but a grass roots effort as well as a websearch to bring people in. Once people are exposed to HAIF and GET what we're about, they'll stick around.

Well, let's go out downtown and pass out fliers then !?!

You have to create a "BUZZ" for people to talk about. I agree with an increase of Google search tabs would help, but imagine if people searching for "iPod", or "iPhone", freakin' "iAnything" had our site pop up first everytime and they see FREE in the description ? BUT, it does cost a little something, to insure that you come up first on Google or Yahoo.

BTW, 1/4 page ad in The Houston Barnacle costs about $1600 to $1700. I am not for sure if it depends on what section you are advertising in though, but if you put it in the Homes section, or the Tech section, it might decrease in cost ?

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Here's an IDEA:

I usually give a copy of ENVY and 002 for people that I know are going to be here for extended stays (over 3 days). Maybe convince them to write a review and/or maybe work out a trade deal for ENVY/002 to share space here for a modest ad on the respective magazines.

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HAIF on myspace or facebook sounds odd to me, but I know of so many organizations, venues, and so forth that have them to recruit new customers and keep members up to date on current events and the like.

Problem is, if we joined, we'd know too much (or whatever members reveal on profiles) about everyone here!

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HAIF on myspace or facebook sounds odd to me, but I know of so many organizations, venues, and so forth that have them to recruit new customers and keep members up to date on current events and the like.

Problem is, if we joined, we'd know too much (or whatever members reveal on profiles) about everyone here!

Personally, I wouldn't go the myspace route at all. But current HAIF members wouldn't really have to join. I'd think if editor decided to go the facebook route, it'd be to bring in new people not retain people like us. Then we could continue in our anonymity.

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but what if HAIF had a Facebook/Myspace presence? Ed (or someone) can simply update and say "This week we discussed..."

It couldn't hurt. The only bad thing about myspace is that it has many limitations compared to facebook.

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I got some prices on billboards last week from ClearChannel Outdoor.

a 6x12 was $500 for 28 days and a 12x24 was $1000 for 28 days. This was on a residential style street at a RR Xing.

The production cost was between $75 and $200 depending on paper or plastic.

flipper

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I don't know diddly about the social sites. I think that if a capable user(s) can access it and put something up every few days about what was discussed and where the conversation is up to that date, that might be able to get some more interest.

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