Confidential for now: Mumm-Ra pics by Pop Culture Shock

Chris here...

"blackiecats, post: 37613" said:

I think they used to be, but since the site is now accessed via WordPress, those details are within WordPress interface ;) That's what MannyF said to me I'm sure, when he was viewing the stats while we were chatting on Skype.

and yes I do have Cpanel access. Manny and I have dual access :)

Having a hunt round, I can find the controls for adjusting the Google Analyticator plugin that would provide the hits info, but I'm drawing a blank on how you actually access the info that plugin generates? :confused:

Here's the link, accessible via the WordPress interface: http://www.thundercatslair.org/wp-admin/options-general.php?page=google-analyticator.php :)

Take care... :)

I can't find where the stats are? :(

I've found Akismet Stats, but they seem to be about comments posted etc..

Chris here...

Think I've figured out the Google Analytics concept - you sign in to this website and check your stats over there: http://www.google.com/intl/en/analytics/index.html

...However, it's asking me for an e-mail address and password, which I assuming would need to be MannyF's - apparently through our WordPress interface I can also adjust the Google Analytics settings for his ThunderCatsNOW website as well?? :confused:

"MannysCollectibles, post: 37614" said:

Me thinks that Jordan gave pics to Wayne first because he was interested in purchasing some of the pieces. Im sure Jordan had a good feeling that if there was anyone who was going to pay crazy money it was Wayne. You cant sell anything unless you show the product right?

Yeah, you're probably right, and I understand his thinking, but still, bit of a snub to us IMO! :(

"MannysCollectibles, post: 37614" said:

As far as affiliate programs my though was to contact some of the online toy stores to perhaps set up some sort of advertising packages. While afililiate programs are good, very little funds come from then. Matter of fact we have only received funds from Amazon affiliates program about two or three times

The advert funds will come mainly from putting advertising packages together for online stores. For example an online store can pay x amount of money for an advert of certain size and certain placement on the page. Obviously a bigger advert will cost more and if it is placed near the top of the page the price of advertising would be higher.

Truthfully if we can get a steady amount of funds from an advert package I would even be inclined to eliminate the 6-7 inch Amazon advert on the side of the page. It covers too much space and we barely get any revenue from it

Yes, I like what you're thinking here and I agree in principle - I recall that Mark was talking about setting up something similar with the statue companies, although I guess that idea never got off the ground. I'd like to see us explore this concept with the companies that would be likely to bite, as well as look into affiliate links with companies (such as Argos in the UK, or Amazon) who IMO would be unlikely to do so. :)

Does anybody have any ideas what He-Man.Org does as regards advertising vs. affiliate links? Obviously their site is bandwidth-hungry and so they have to try and raise funds. I know their forums are now plastered with adverts which is something I'd prefer us to avoid unless it got that we had no choice, but still, I wonder what setup they have and how it works? :)

Take care... :)

Yeah, both sites (TCL and TCN) are linked to my google account. I'll have to use another email address and password for TCL to distinguish the two sites. The stats are separate for each site -- I just registered one email address for both. I'll fix that soon and give you guys the email address and password for it.

EDIT:

Also just to give you guys a heads up -- because the site is using WordPress, the Google Analytics plugin for WP tracks the hits/visitors on the pages within WordPress. The forums, which garner probably 50% of our traffic is NOT being tracked by the plugin. Neil does have access to the stats for the entire site including the forums if he accesses cpanel. Hope that makes sense.

Chris here...

"Manny, post: 37618" said:

Yeah, both sites (TCL and TCN) are linked to my google account. I'll have to use another email address and password for TCL to distinguish the two sites. The stats are separate for each site -- I just registered one email address for both. I'll fix that soon and give you guys the email address and password for it.

That's cool, thanks Manny! :)

In the meantime, would you be able to take a look and let us know the stats that Neil's trying to access, i.e. how many unique monthly visitors we've had, say for the last couple of months? That would be awesome if so - again, thanks so much, my friend! :)

Take care... :)

"He-Fan, post: 37619" said:

Chris here...

That's cool, thanks Manny! :)

In the meantime, would you be able to take a look and let us know the stats that Neil's trying to access, i.e. how many unique monthly visitors we've had, say for the last couple of months? That would be awesome if so - again, thanks so much, my friend! :)

Take care... :)

It's ok as I know how to view stats in Cpanel and got them :) We are averaging around 50,000 visits per month.

Jan 2011: 44,441
Feb 2011: 56,248
Mar 2011: 41,865 (month to date)

and we need to contact BBTS for affiliates via this email I think:

[email]joelboblit@bigbadtoystore.com[/email]

Chris here...

"blackiecats, post: 37620" said:

It's ok as I know how to view stats in Cpanel and got them :) We are averaging around 50,000 visits per month.

Jan 2011: 44,441
Feb 2011: 56,248
Mar 2011: 41,865 (month to date)

and we need to contact BBTS for affiliates via this email I think:

[email]joelboblit@bigbadtoystore.com[/email]

Cool, thanks for that info - I've got to say, that's damn good going, and #2 on a Google search for "thundercats", behind only Wikipedia? We're a top class outfit, gang!! :D

Re: BBTS, who wants to contact them re: affiliating? Personally I think you'd be the best person to do it, Neil, but I don't have a problem doing it myself if you'd prefer - just LMK what you'd like to do, I'm happy to help in any way! :)

Take care... :)

Hey guys,

Chris linked me to this thread again and I am pretty zonked after a pretty full on day so I skimmed most of the thread and haven't given it the proper read it deserved.

Just a quick catch up on my current status with the guys at Hard Hero, Pop Culture and Icon Heroes:

They are more than open to giving us more exclusive leaks and reveals, they do try to spread this around a bit so I completely expect to see them send some reveals to other sites ahead of us. My relationship with them is good enough that if we wanted to request a particular news release, one that would be important to us, we could get that as an exclusive.

The Mumm-Ra colour finished release wasn't that huge in my opinion given that we ran the prototype pics ahead of others and we had the full Lion-O exclusive. We can do another mini-interview anytime we like with any of these guys, just a matter of me finding the time which is a challenge at the moment.

It looked like there's been discussions on how/why we'll support others on our front page and I would like us to do a skype chat on that ... what do you guys think?

Lots of good ideas came up here for alternatives. I think if we went to the community at large like BBTS and others and said we are looking to roll out something comprehensive so everyone can have a crack at our front page I think that would go over well and could fund some of our loftier dreams for the site. Worth a team chat IMO.

I'm hoping to be able to spend more time on the site again soon.

As an exclusive, I have the Tygra Hard Hero prototype coming and Rob will agree to me doing a video review of it before they hit stores. I'm aiming to do that within the next two weeks. WOuld love it if someone on the team could help me edit the footage?

Cheers,
Mark

Cheers for letting us know your feelings on this! Hopefully your back on board again soon!

Chris here...

Hey Mark, great to hear from you buddy! :thumbsup:

"grizzlor, post: 37692" said:

Just a quick catch up on my current status with the guys at Hard Hero, Pop Culture and Icon Heroes:

They are more than open to giving us more exclusive leaks and reveals, they do try to spread this around a bit so I completely expect to see them send some reveals to other sites ahead of us. My relationship with them is good enough that if we wanted to request a particular news release, one that would be important to us, we could get that as an exclusive.

The Mumm-Ra colour finished release wasn't that huge in my opinion given that we ran the prototype pics ahead of others and we had the full Lion-O exclusive. We can do another mini-interview anytime we like with any of these guys, just a matter of me finding the time which is a challenge at the moment.

To be honest, this all sounds fair enough to me and if I was to vote based on this, I think there's no reason for us to change our relationship with the statue companies. :)

"grizzlor, post: 37692" said:

It looked like there's been discussions on how/why we'll support others on our front page and I would like us to do a skype chat on that ... what do you guys think?

Lots of good ideas came up here for alternatives. I think if we went to the community at large like BBTS and others and said we are looking to roll out something comprehensive so everyone can have a crack at our front page I think that would go over well and could fund some of our loftier dreams for the site. Worth a team chat IMO.

I completely agree, and would definitely enjoy a team chat about this - plus, it would just be awesome to catch up with everyone! :D

"grizzlor, post: 37692" said:

I'm hoping to be able to spend more time on the site again soon.

Great news, Mark - I always appreciate your input, insight, and the great work you do! :thumbsup:

"grizzlor, post: 37692" said:

As an exclusive, I have the Tygra Hard Hero prototype coming and Rob will agree to me doing a video review of it before they hit stores. I'm aiming to do that within the next two weeks. WOuld love it if someone on the team could help me edit the footage?

I've just switched over to Apple Mac and this thing comes fitted with an awesome editing suite called iMovie - it doesn't do everything but it's definitely the most sophisticated editing suite I've ever worked with. I should also be getting my hands shortly on a piece of software called Final Cut Pro, which is the industry standard video editing software, although it may take me some time to learn how to use all the many features it will have, LOL! ;)

But yeah, please feel free to fire the raw footage over to me and I'll do what I can - something like that would make a GREAT addition to our YouTube channel, and then we could embed the video into a page here on the site! :)

Take care... :)

Chris here...

Just a quick revival of this thread, as I'd like to ask if there's any status update on our relationship with the statue companies - and this seemed like a good thread to bump to ask about this, LOL! :)

I realise that right now the biggest swear word in my vocabulary is "ThunderCatsNOW"! ;) However, it looks as though Manny's been sent a press release by Icon Heroes that we haven't posted up yet: http://www.thundercatsnow.com/2011/06/icon-heroes-sdcc-exclusive-mumm-ra-ma-mutt-set/ ... :)

I know Mark's schedule and offline life right now is pretty full on - I'm totally cool with this, as I know what it's like when life just explodes, I had a year like that where this site got very little of my time, so I'm 100% NOT pointing the finger. But, I am concerned that we may possibly be getting sent press releases and info from the statue companies that Mark doesn't have the time or resources to pass over. I may, of course, be wrong on this point - but, knowing what a great relationship Mark forged with the companies, I find it hard to believe that Icon Heroes would ignore us with a press release like this. :(

I really don't want to tread on anyone's toes, and again, I promise I'm not pointing fingers - but, I was just wondering whether Mark would be able to pop over to this thread and just give us a status update on how things are going in this department? :)

If it was helpful I'd be very happy to take over as the statue companies' point-of-contact on a temporary basis and then hand this back over to Mark when his life is a little easier - but again, I categorically don't want to step on anyone's toes. :)

Anyway, Mark, if you read this, I'd love to hear from you, my friend - hope to catch up again soon! :)

Take care... :)

With how Mark's schedule seems to be, you might be best contacting him directly...

Chris here...

"blackiecats, post: 43510" said:

With how Mark's schedule seems to be, you might be best contacting him directly...

I did, a couple of weeks ago, not heard back yet. :) I was wondering whether he might be subscribed to this thread and it give him another heads-up to his inbox?? :)

And yeah, Mark seems to be having a year like I did in 2008/9 - just crazy, crazy busy! :eek:

Take care... :)

Well maybe give it a few days and if you get no reply then might be best to contact the statue companies explaining the situation and assume contact that way...

Otherwise we are gonna miss out on reporting the news everytime something breaks in regard to the statues :(

Chris here...

"blackiecats, post: 43520" said:

Well maybe give it a few days and if you get no reply then might be best to contact the statue companies explaining the situation and assume contact that way...

Otherwise we are gonna miss out on reporting the news everytime something breaks in regard to the statues :(

This is my concern! :(

Hopefully Mark will get back to me as soon as he's able, as I really don't want to tread on his toes with the statue companies, but at the same time we've forged a superb relationship with those companies and I really want to keep that alive and kicking. I'll keep on top of things! :)

Take care... :)

"He-Fan, post: 43523" said:

Chris here...



This is my concern! :(

Hopefully Mark will get back to me as soon as he's able, as I really don't want to tread on his toes with the statue companies, but at the same time we've forged a superb relationship with those companies and I really want to keep that alive and kicking. I'll keep on top of things! :)

Take care... :)

Well if we are getting the press releases and they are no going up, it makes the site look bad. That is worse that hurting Mark's feelings (infact I don't think he's the kinda person to take offence and be upset anyway)

and if we haven't been getting the press releases sent to Mark fullstop, then again this need sorting out asap! Afraid it isn't something we can snooze on and worry over hurt feelings. I know Mark would say the same.