SwiftVets.com

[Son Of The Godfather]

[LeastofThese]

I'm not arguing with your statistics, Mike, and certainly don't claim to be an expert on anything, but... I do know what motivates me personally to give, and it wasn't solely the commercial. Hearing about the commercial brought me to this site. Seeing the commercial made me curious as to who was behind the message and why. Only after several days of reading through all of the information posted on the site, as well as things posted in the forum, did I decide that this was a cause I was willing to back financially.

The ad itself doesn't ask for donations or tell how donations can be made. In fact, until reading the forum, I had no idea what a small grass-roots effort SBVFT was initially. I had no idea my little $10 gift could make a difference!

I agree, stats are important and can be a great research and marketing tool, but they are only a reflection of the individuals that come to read, learn and (hopefully) support this cause. The ad (which I've watched twice) made me want to look more carefully at John Kerry; it was the cause behind the ad that made me want to give.

Rachel

P.S. I'm not a vet, I'm a married, working mom of 4 in the suburbs of Atlanta, and I love this discussion board! I host my own forum of 800+ Osmond fans and have to say... I'm here much more than I'm there these days!

[Jack Mclaughlin]

Guys, we have collected nearly $2,000,000.00 in the last 16 days. This is more than we ever anticipated. There were many events that came together last Thursday which invigorated our members including Chris Matthews unfair and vicious attack on Larry Thurlow and Michelle Malkin. Now John O`Neill is under attack so we will respond in the next couple of weeks and we will support him with our pens and our dollars. IN fact, I intend to make another contribution in the next 10 minutes.

[Son Of The Godfather]

And I just contributed again to make a point... this thread made me contribute!

SOTG
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"Which candidate would enemies of the United States prefer to see in the White House?"

[mikeFlynn]

There is an easy way to find out.

Put the site back the way it was for few days.

It won't hurt anything except a few egos.

On the other hand it could help alot.

Swiftvets.com has nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Note the huge increase in traffic came after the 20th. I was checking it every day because I was sending the site 20,000 hits a day starting on the 18th. Why the traffic increased after the 20th is not at issue. The fact is it did. With a 10 fold increase in traffic one would expect an increase in donations.

On the 21st of August swiftvets changed the site so that you have to click to load the commercial.

There are no other variables other then the commercial loading automatically.

Your $2,000,000 could have been $4,000,000



I

[Son Of The Godfather]

Or the $2,000,000 could have been $0.
This is too important to base unsubstantiated opinion on.
The correlation between the ad playing automatically or not and actual donations is, in my opinion, weak.

SOTG
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"Which candidate would enemies of the United States prefer to see in the White House?"

[SooZQ]

MikeFlynn...Yeah, that increase big surge in donations was related to the Chris Mathews meltdown. I'm sure he had no idea that screaming his guest into the carpet would actually be an assist to the swiftees. And please count me among the non-vets who are fervently behind this site/the book/and the truth!



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Really support the troops, send them a letter and care package! Visit:http://www.anysoldier.com

[LongKnife56]

I can understand how the automatic playing of the ad could be a problem for a dial-up connection as I have to use one on occaision. However, couldn't it be setup so a cookie is given on the first viewing and a check for the cookie made on subsequent visits so it is not automatically replayed?
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1/9th Air Cav
Phuoc Vinh, RVN '69-70

[Steve Z]

I think it's probably better that the ad does NOT play automatically. For people who have not seen the ad, they can download it and watch it. However, for SBVT supporters like myself who want to read the message boards, and has a slow dial-up connection, having to wait several minutes to see the ad (which I have already seen) would be frustrating.

I'm wondering if the slowing down in donations is due to the fact that Fox News (except Hannity) seems to want to bury this issue, the Kerry campaign has tried to counteract SBVT's claims about various incidents in the book with "Navy records", and news people becoming more interested in the upcoming Republican convention.

John O'Neill has done an excellent job defending the Swiftvets' version of events in Vietnam, but there seems to be a lot of media nitpicking over disagreements over what Kerry and others did during Kerry's time in Vietnam. Kerry's self-glorification and chasing after medals for mediocre service might rankle VETERANS against him, but might not influence many non-veteran voters.

It seems like SBVT should be focusing NOW on Kerry's 1971 "war-crimes" accusations before the Senate, which are in the public record and cannot be disputed by the Kerry camp., and the effects that had on soldiers remaining in Vietnam after 1971, POW's, and on the South Vietnamese people, which can then be tied to a CURRENT issue--what would Kerry do in Iraq if he became President, given his track record on issues of war and peace?

I wonder what PO2 has up his sleeve concerning a possible third ad, but I can't wait to see it! But if it doesn't run soon, the SBVT issue might get lost in media interest about the Republican convention (which will probably help Bush and hurt Kerry anyway). IMHO, either run a third ad very soon, or else wait several days after the end of the Republican convention, when Bush's "bounce" might start to wear off.
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The traitor will crater!

[notavet]

As a seasoned pro at marketing on the net (since 1994), I can say that Mike may have a point. However, there are just too many outside variables going on here.

You have TV people all over the planet saying both negative and positive things. As the world tries to make sense of the conflicting stories from various media outlets you are going to have a ton of "tire kickers" visiting.

Also, it's not necessarily the $ amount given it's how many have given when comparing traffic vs donations. I could dump $25,000 into the Vets cause today twist the daily donation amount.

Additionally, alexa is somewhat skewed in that your ranking can be manipulated by advertising in specific "portals". Alexa relies on a toolbar for it's numbers and does not count 12 million AOL users or Netscape/Opera browsers.

Bottomline, Mike is correct that stuff like this should be looked at but.... in a different manner than he described. Numerically speaking, if the physical number of donors has dropped as compared to the amount of visitors increasing, then the source of the additional traffic should be looked at and not the actual $ amount left by these donors. A good point is that CNN or ABC may be dumping tons of liberals into this website. Many of whom wouldn't read the book if it was given to them let alone give money.

In other words it's the quality of traffic not the quantity.

The only way to really see which way the donations vs traffic is going is to setup a tracking software that records where the visitor came from and if he/she left money here (Very Simple Stuff). Once you have figured out where your quality traffic is coming from, then you test the auto ad play vs click to download scenario on that set of traffic. If it goes up, then Mike is right with quality traffic. You would also need to test the poor traffic in the same manner. Once you have the averges then you could redirect individual trafic streams to either see the ad or not depending on what these people are more likely to do. All this while being mindful of the volume of visitors being sent into the site.

Even then you wouldn't have a good view in that the media maybe saying the swifties are truthful today and lying tomorrow. Which throws another variable into the problem. Lets not forget the "Kerry" equation where he concedes certain falsehoods and rejects other allegations on a daily basis.

[NavyBrat]

As an internet marketer myself, I THINK I know what Mike is TRYING To say. It is the marketing science when one sees the same "ad" repeatedly, one will be "sold" on the product. If someone is usually interested in a product, It usually takes up to 6 or 9 times of viewing (I can't remember which) an ad before someone then commits to buying it. I think Mike is applying that Marketing principle of viewing the Swiftboat ad in reaching fence straddlers.

Did I get it right, Mike?

I do wish the ad would come on automatically as it did before. People are reached through all avenues, a cogent letter, fact filled website, forums or a gut wrenching TV ad. I'm not a statistics person, I'm just glad people are giving!
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Laura~

[gregrohlik]

Some posts have already pointed out that the commercial opened very slowly for dial-up visitors. Please consider that many of us here in the heartland, where dial-up is still the norm, are the SVFT group's natural supporters. The kind of person who would support this effort are the kind of people who don't need the medium to sell the message. I recommend leaving it as it is now.

[Navy_Navy_Navy]

All of this is speculation on our parts.

The founders have a plan and the plan is working well for their goals. Not too shabby for a bunch of political newbies.

We had a lot of complaints about the ad when it was loading automatically. A 4MB file takes a long time for someone on dialup to access.

Now, people have the choice to view it or to go on to the rest of the site and the complaints have stopped.

First rule of internet page design: don't chase off your visitors.

Fundraising is only part of the reason this site exists, though it sure has succeeded in that regard.

Information dissemination is most important - and that, it appears to be doing exceptionally well.
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~ Echo Juliet ~
Altering course to starboard - On Fire, Keep Clear
Navy woman, Navy wife, Navy mother

[jwb7605]

[Billman]

Mike, you appear to be an expert on Internet but not English. Please answer the question: where did you find hard data that donations have dropped?

I've heard the opposite, but only anecdotally.
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-- Bill in Seattle