More Updates on the Tapastic Support Program

[SnowWulf]

Yes, I did. I wouldn't have done it any other way.

[elixiadragmire]

The banner links.

I'm not saying you need to do this right away, but I do need to stress that eventually you need to bring in a spiritual successor of sorts to the Support button, one that only appears when they have a link that would appear in the banner to bring you to another site to support them.

Hey @michaelson!

I've quote the response above because I just encountered this! A reader and fellow creator was un- aware of the clickable banner and didn't know they could use and found them too obscure to use despite the fact my comic header banner has it written on it thats its now clickable, they still tried the 'support button'

Now I spoke to my boss about how to adjust it my end visually to make it MORE noticeable but I think we either need to a/ get rid of the support button (which i assume is already on your super long to do list!) OR let us setup a redirect link for it our patreon! Like hobbes said above this would offer a consist user experience and limit the transfer confusion for the user base!

also, thanks for the help so far with other stuff your pointed me in the direction of. this is just some user feedback and such on the support issue

[michaelson]

Now I spoke to my boss about how to adjust it my end visually to make it MORE noticeable but I think we either need to a/ get rid of the support button (which i assume is already on your super long to do list!) OR let us setup a redirect link for it our patreon! Like hobbes said above this would offer a consist user experience and limit the transfer confusion for the user base!

Yeah, it's something that we still need to tackle some time this year.

Originally the series banner was meant to be clicked on and be modular - we tested this out late in 2013 with Golf Star (which now no longer showcases the custom series banner). But it had two distinct buttons that you could click on to download their app. It became somewhat problematic at a certain point to hardcode these so we decided against going with that type of banner display for everyone.

Due to the popular demand for the series banner (or personal customization of the series page in general), we released the series banner for every series (without the hardcoded clickable buttons).

When Support ended we had to brainstorm various ways to best showcase alternatives to the support program. The two ways we could think of and create initially were to rework the custom ad banner that appears next to the comments section and also making the entire series banner clickable.

We weren't entirely sure if it would work, we are only tracking a few outbound links with a handful of creators at the moment, but we encourage every creator to try out different banner treatments to find out what works for them while the Tapastic team works on improving the current Support button.

After the launch of the apps, we'll definitely work on it. Until then, I really appreciate everyone's feedback.

[elixiadragmire]

but we encourage every creator to try out different banner treatments to find out what works for them while the Tapastic team works on improving the current Support button.

This I think is the job of the community, in order to get more outbound clicks and get people aware of the banner and how it work. I'm currently trying to pin down the 'live space' when they can see my faux button, since it changes resolution depending on the size of screen.

[michaelson]

The best I can provide right now is this: http://forums.tapastic.com/t/app-screenshot-requested-to-improve-banners/2013/3

[PotooGryphon]

Yep, I like to refer back to that post when creating new banners.

@elixiadragmire I like what you currently have for your banner. I find that it really pops as a clickable link. Especially, with the cursor instance right over the Patreon "button". It's a strong call to action. I think it's just Patreon, in general, has a low conversion rate. People may click through and view your patreon page however a low percentage might actually donate to it.

And super cute banner X3

[elixiadragmire]

@michaelson I actually lost that thread post so I'm thankful for the link!

@CyndiFoster the idea for that banner is thanks for my new friend int eh studio at work, my boss, senior designer and branding lady all suggested it! I might do the same for the store (still need to finish that up and promote it)

[michaelson]

I'd also recommend using a bit.ly links to track conversion rates

[Juchili]

After implementing and testing the new backend infrastructure, by any chance would the support program be back again?

[karinlovesyou29]

You said that all the stories that used to be under the support program should all now be considered as public. But I have recently found something that I would like to read but it's locked. What is up with this???

[Emyy]

Hello, I heard that in november after stopping the support program, we will be refunded of our wallet. but that's still not done, I used PayPal and I have also send an email on january. but I've got no reply.

Can someone explain how to do the refund please ?
Thanks!.

[michaelson]

It passed 6 days after my revenue solicitation and nothing. Is there something wrong with the Ad program?

We looked into your account and saw that you were using bot traffic to game the ad revenue program.

[AnnaLandin]

We looked into your account and saw that you were using bot traffic to game the ad revenue program.

Speaking of bot-accounts - I've been noticing that every now and then I get a new subscriber with a username that is just a meaningless string of letters and numbers. Like, ub0bf3658d60f406 - which doesn't look like it's something anyone would choose as a username.

While some of them certainly seem to be bots - subscribing to hundreds of comics and leaving no comments or likes - others seem to be legitimate users, who DO comment on and like pages. And I might be misremembering, but I seem to recall at least one of them expressing surprise that their username was now different than what they'd signed up as.

What's going on there?

[Marvin]

Good question. I've seen a lot of those too...

I'm still trying to figure out what bots are (I'm a noob but I have a better grasp of it thanks to @CyndiFoster's explanations) but I don't get why they would sub to hundreds of comics ? Does it means bots might have been boosting my views and adrev without my consent (and knowledge) ? Why would they do that ? I'm definitely missing something here...

[eschaefges]

all of my friends who signed up via facebook have those usernames - they are real people, but somewhere they missed the prompt to make a username so it made a random generated one for them. i've wondered about that too.

[KarolinaJones]

Is there any chance that someday Tapastic will allow for multi-media projects? Like being able to incorporate our live action videos and animations within our comic? It's kind of sad for us who have stories that move between media.

[jonufele]

This post was flagged by the community and is temporarily hidden.

[gnekomikero]

b0bf3658d60f406 are accounts that sign up through facebook. I have friend that I invited to read my comic but his name was messed up but his profile picture went through.

[michaelson]