Here is a list of the type of advertising options I would like in Discourse. Perhaps others can add to this list. I'm not a software engineer so I don't know how difficult these are - but perhaps they could be implemented via a Plugin.
Banner Ads Options
- Horizonal Banner ads placed between messages at the "list" view (Admin can specify how frequently ads show up)
- Horizonal Banner ads placed between messages in the Message view when there are multiple postings (Admin can specify how frequently ads show up)
- Horizonal Banner ad placed below the horizontal line (and above the "Invite Friends to Reply" button, when in Message view
- Vertical banner ads on right of screen when in Message view. Some people have expressed the desire to have a floating 300 by 250 ad. Another approach might be periodically placed ads down the right side (repeats of the same or different ads every second or third message or so). It would be nice to be able to vary the frequency of the ads on the pages from 100% of pages to 1% of pages (see research below).
- Support for Amazon affiliate ads - I'm thinking specifically of books, in the small text or small image type of ads. These could go either on the right side of the messages, or between messages and topics as per above specifications.
Email Ads
- Banner or Text / adwords ads at the top and/or bottom of outgoing emails to users (digest or notification emails)
- Bulk email ad send to mailing list/subscriber list - with field to paste HTML into, to send. Periodically it would be nice to be able to send out special notifications and/or advertisements to users - directly from Discourse. With reporting on "opens", etc. similar to mailchimp, etc.
If Discourse does get some standard integration of advertising options (i.e. banner or text ads) - it would be very nice if it reflected the current research in this area:
http://www.bps-research-digest.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/are-we-really-blind-to-internet-banners.html10
The lessons for web advertisers are clear: don't advertise on every page, vary ad location, and make sure the ad topic is congruent with the web-site content.
ResearchBlogging.orgHervet, G., Guérard, K., Tremblay, S., & Chtourou, M. (2011). Is banner blindness genuine? Eye tracking internet text advertising. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 25 (5), 708-716 DOI: 10.1002/acp.1742