Think Foreward

Facts & Figures help

Thanks Rosie,

The tag line (the largest online Iranian…) would help position the site. But the key to any decent size advertiser is to sell them on your visitors and their profiles. In a similar instance, I helped a client in LA by creating a one page intro letter and typing the company name in Farsi (a bank). Then just below it, we wrote, “Can you read this?, over 500,000 people in Southern California do, are you reaching out to them?”  Guess what?  They got the account.  Of course that letter just created the Banks’ manager’s attention; We still had to show them many facts & figures on Iranian-American community which is hard to get.

Houssein,

with a little bit of adjusting  of the layout spacing, there is plenty of space (I've measured) to fit in "Welcome to the largest online Iranian community in the world.' (I've measured it) In the upper right hand corner.

The problem is, if you just write "the largest online community in the world", it sounds too much like part of a logo, it takes away from the power of the "Nothing is sacred". But..

if you put it in the URC, and you make it into a full sentence, then it's not a logo, its just information, completely separate from the logo.

And that would do TONS to attract advertisers. i have a background in pr/advertising/fundraising. Houssein,, try it out yourself and you'll see what I mean.

Big Advertisers

Thanks everyone for your suggestions.  It appears that JJ’s goal is to increase the ad revenue and do fund raising.  In terms of ad revenue, I think the best way is to create a business/marketing plan where the site is marketed to non-Iranian businesses as well.  The key is to get a few corporate sponsors/advertisers:

1. Tell your friends and associates who work in Corp. America about the site.
2. The ad $’s are shifting from traditional media to online even at these tough economic times. Social media, which Iranian.com is one is getting a big share of those $’s. 
3. If not already, we should have a 2-5 page fact sheet highlighting key stats about the site, visits, visitors, consumer profile, etc.  Advertisers do want that kind of information.  Let’s face it, a Company like BOA or MBZ does have a huge target among Iranian.com visitors, we should convince them to advertise.
4. I like the classified ad idea.  Don’t know how much headache it is but it can be started as an experiment for bartering among Iranians (like craigslist of Iranian-Americans).

If You Were JJ!

well if i WERE JohnJohn i would do every thing just as he DOES. and every body else would do the same if She/He were JohnJohn.
The reason why it is so is very simple, very clear.
One has to differentiate several cases:
1. Hier and now a third person takes over the affaires of "IRANIAN". So is JohnJohn replaced. The question is not appleid.
2. All the advisers have either critisized Mr. JohnJohn`s work or have advised him how he could do things better. so none of the ladies & gentlemen are JohnJohn but only his consultants. again the question is not appleid.
3##The real & true case is when the third person WERE borned as JohnJohn. alone in this sense can the question be interpreted in correct linguistic and logical manner. And the answere is allready given above: Me and every body else who were borned as Mr. JohnJohn, as son of his parents, were gone to school in Iran, have had worked for IRNA a while, were immigrated to the united States of Amerika would manage the "IRANIN" as mr. JohnJohn does. practically nothing else would have been possible. Greeting

More organized events around the Globe

iranian.com could expand its arms into communities every where.

In Europe Iranian events are based on Calender events, some are based on various charities. There could be a similar sort of thing organized.

Its good that you have your fun and get together in SF but we need to also party in Europe.

A spell checker on the comments section would be good too.

It could be a masked balls for those who want to maintain their

anonymity!

Dunno. Is this a valid idea?

How about streaming the first iranian.com music concert for an online fee? (Wouldn't this also create attendance interest for the next one?)

JJ, Koonmissionamo vali bede!

(Btw business analysts, unless they've been there right at the start, remind me very much of stereo-typical psychoanalysts: by the time one's explained to them what's cooking, one's worked everything out by oneself and paid someone else for it!)

I'm not JJ, but if I were

in his position, I'd have several nervous breakdowns per day, just trying to deal with all of us.

Following a very nasty gratuitous comment to MPD

by a hit and run goldfish, I'd begun drafting a blog with three suggestions to improve the moderation system, after a LOT of thought. But right now I'm kinda down on posting blogs so I'll just delineate the three suggestions here.

1) Goldfish should be subject to FAR more stringent moderation standards than reg users. So there are things I can say to MPD because I, like him, work for and accept responsibilty for this site. A goldfish does not.  Such as the breezy two-line post (the one that triggered me) with: "nonesense" (didn't even take thirty seconds to check spelling), and "not funny at all". I can say that. But a fish cannot. MPD worked hours on that blog. Hit and run fish.

Anonymous posts, as I understand it, are a privilege intended to HELP two legitimate groups which enhance the website: 1) people in Iran who get beyond the filters but CANNOT post registered; and 2) the general reader who maybe doesn't even read regularly but likes to post here and there conveniently and who provides us with invaluable feedback.

Anonymous posts are not a privilege intended for sadists. And you Jahanshah have no obligation whatsoever to permit such posts, they have NOTHING to do with civil liberties. 

2) Since there actually are quite a few reg users who post as goldfish when they want to hurt people OR when they are too cowardly to say something they perceive as even mildly objectionable to you, Jahahnshah...sorry but it's true, this ain't no Girl Scout Troop,...computeres with reg users should not be allowed to post as goldfish. Anything a reg user cannot say as themselves simply should not be said.

Anonymous posts not ONLY do not exist for sadists, they do not  exist for cowards.

Such abstruse arguments as, what if my grandmother visits from Iran and wants to post once, just once, to say how FABULOUS the site is should be discarded. Register your grandmother for this once just once..

3) By extension, Number Two  brings up the question of multiple reg identities. There are compelling arguments both for and against.the allowance of this practice; however in my view there is one single compellnig argument which makes it IMPOSSIBLE to forbid multiple identities from one computer. That is, that families share computers. There are other arguments against it such as people who post both as individuals and as organizations but the first reason clinches things.

However surely there must be a LIMIT. And just to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, I humbly suggest that FIVE registered identities per computer would be a reasonable limit: one for you, one for your wife, one for each of your two kids, and one for your dog.

If you have two dogs, BUY A SECOND COMPUTER--used.

Jahanshah this will make life a lot easier for you and your team in the long run. U'll C.

And ps I don't care if MPD comes along and swears that he loved that nasty post and it changed his life permanently for the better. I stick to my guns.

Shatranj

The site can sponser a shatranj tournament with a grand prize, etc. Most Iranians get to play Shatranj early on and are pretty good at amateur level. So the participants would pay a fee to play. The fees will of course go to the site as contribution. One can classify oneself as, say, intermediate, advanced, master level; groups would have a fair representation of all levels so that intermediate player get to play with those at their level and thus won't get eliminated early by being grouped with advance palyers.

Voting Yes to Majid's business plan..

only if it's implemented justly. Thank you.

Now Majid

What about a discount for the ladies?

Chatroom!....that's where the revenue is!

OK......this is how it works:

1) you have to be registered to participate, if you're already registered, you're good to go, but if your avatar says otherwise(chicken or somethin fishie) you have to pay a one time fee of $9.99 to register.

2) you need to leave a credit card # in order to enter the chatroom for the following reasons:

There would be an automatic and instant charge applied to your card with no refund option!

A)  Finger pointing, name calling, accusations of being such and such supporter......$1.85

B)  Use of Chomaagh... $0.50...Ghameh... $0.85...Zanjeer, Paashne kesh, Chaaghoo and use of any Finger 10 for only $9.99 (Arzoon kardim moshtari beshin.

C) Fohsh khaar maadar...$1.99 (buy three get one free)!

D) Saying something totally irrelevant to the subject at hand...$0.85.

E)  Promoting or attacking ANY religion.............$99.99 + Tax + CRV + shipping and handling + luxury tax + local, state and federal  taxes to a maximum permissible by law (JJ's law that is)!

F)  Multiple user name...$5.99 each up to 2, after that it's assumed that there's someting fishie about you (go back to #1)

SEE? that's the best way to generate a great revenue for IC!

Please vote.

bus2bus idea sounds Smart

but I don't see how creation of chatrooms would be a good business plan. My impression is that the chatrooms would attract people who are already here, I don't see much incentive for New hits. 

ladies

you're right.  what was i thinking!  :-)

JJ, already......

JJ already posts plenty of the sex sells types of posts for the men.

I must say that MiNeum71 is right on chat rooms. If the men are at each others throats on the threads, I would hate to see what they would do to each other on the chat rooms. Yikes! Now, the ladies would probably do well.

JJ does have a business manager but I have never heard of him getting a business consultant to analyze profitability improvements for the web site.

I noticed that he finally put into place the ability to make a donation by using a credit card. It was a recommendation that was made several times long ago. So, he is obviously reading the recommendations and implementing some of them.

Dear "anonymous fish",

NO chat room :))) , I´m sure you know what would happen after two minutes: Typically Iranian Fohsh Dadan. I´d have something to laugh, but this should not be the intention of a chat room.

Money is not all ;)

I think that a game section, where users could play Chess, Takhteh, ... (as //games.yahoo.com/board-games) would make Iranian.com even more attractive.

SEX SELLS

Sara Lime---need I say more???

Live streaming radio; IranianRadio.com

Start with a couple hours of programming and expand; created content as well as a call-in type talk show.

My Thought

My Suggestion is that the site creates enough mirror sites on a continuous basis that it can easily be viewed in Iran too despite the government blocks and also have means to market the site to the readers within Iran and to also encourage their involvement and contribution.

Best way to do this is to advertise and participate in sites that are frequently visited by those in Iran and another way is to have more Persian language friendly look. 

If Iranian.com wants to become a site for all Iranians it must penetrate Iran with its large population of bloggers and internet viewers. 

and yes the site defintely needs to take the next business step and have bigger and richer advertisers for additional funding. 

Create a usiness section

It would be great if the site  include also a business section which has always been mentioned in the past.

As Khaleh moshe advised,  business section may provide a community service and therefore revenue for the site.

People can put their ads for a modest fee ....something like that! I don't know well the modalities, but I think it is a very good idea and beneficial for both, the site and the its users.

i agree with hossein

maybe JJ does have some kind of marketing advisor but if not, he needs one.  this site has grown and has incredible potential for even more growth.

there was a similar blog a couple of months ago.  many useful suggestions.  the problem with most of them is that they dealt with behavior modification.  and JJ simply is not capable of making people behave in a certain way.  or at least not and be able to claim "nothing is sacred". 

moderators were grieviously unfair when it came to language.  one would get chastized for using a "bad" word.  yet the most vile and disgusting anti-whatever sentiments would pass the bar without a comment.  i'm not talking about someone saying "f you".  that IS offensive.  but i'm talking about general conversation.  who here is so sensitive that they can't hear the word shit for example?  or it was deleted in one place and not in another. 

that of course is a moot point in that JJ does all the monitoring himself now and we all know he's not above a little salty language.  :-)

a chat room was suggested one time but never materialized.  i think that would be fun!

2 suggestions

This has probably been considered and rejected already- but I wondered if Iranian.com can form a startegic alliance with a small but ambitious travel group with specialist interest in Iran. A portal can be created such as Iran Travel in the main the page, where the services can be offered.

Secondly creating a business to business section-may provide a community service and therefore revenue for the site- where Iranian busineses can place an advert regarding their requirement to reach an audience that may hold an answer to their problem/requirement.