From 5360e67f5808c397a1e931405d47c2f031a95a11 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Yorhel Date: Tue, 8 Feb 2011 11:46:38 +0100 Subject: Uploaded some design/implementation notes I had lying around Used to be private, with the sole purpose of getting a good overview of things for myself, but I guess these may also be useful to others. --- data/notes/sponsored-links | 108 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 108 insertions(+) create mode 100644 data/notes/sponsored-links (limited to 'data/notes/sponsored-links') diff --git a/data/notes/sponsored-links b/data/notes/sponsored-links new file mode 100644 index 00000000..c31001d2 --- /dev/null +++ b/data/notes/sponsored-links @@ -0,0 +1,108 @@ +Advertisements + +Last modified: 2011-01 +Status: Long-term plans / nothing implemented yet + + +Idea: (semi-)large "Buy now" / "Download now" button on VN pages, linking +either to the product on a webshop or displaying a dropdown list with +available releases with links to webshops. + +A link to a webshop only appears if it has at least one release of the VN on +their site, and the link always points directly to the product page, not to +the search function or the homepage. + +A webshop link is internally linked to a release in the database, so we have +all kinds of information including whether it's a download or package, and in +what language it is. + +Preferably, the link also indicates the price and whether it is in stock. + + +Possible parties interested in advertising: +- J-List + Has an affiliate system that includes direct links + doesn't store JAN/UPC/catalog numbers +- Play-asia + Has an affiliate system that includes direct links + stores JAN, UPC, and catalog numbers +- Himeyashop / Erogeshop + Has no affiliate system but has shown interest in link exchanges in the past + Does not store JAN/UPC/catalog numbers + "Temporarily" closed, so probably not a good time to ask for ads? +- DLSite English + Seems to have an affiliate system, haven't really looked at it yet + Most releases don't even have a JAN code or catalog number +- MangaGamer + Rather specific "shop", but could count as one. + Has no affiliate system, but is planning to add one, as announced in + http://mangagamer.wordpress.com/2010/12/31/holidays-passing/ + Releases don't have catalog numbers or EAN codes +- Eroge-Europe.com + Seems to have an affiliate system, haven't really looked at it yet + Does not store JAN/UPC/catalog numbers +- PaletWeb + Has no affiliate system + Does have JAN codes for a few titles, but inconsistent +- CDJapan + Doesn't have that many VNs from what I've browsed, but still several + Has an affiliate system (seems to include direct links) + Has catalog numbers for most (all?) releases +- Hendane! + Does not seem to have many VNs (3 or 4?) + Has no affiliate system + Does not have JAN or catalog numbers + + +So who is going to update all those links? +Three possibilities: + +1. Automatically + By matching JAN/EAN/UPC or catalog numbers from our database with the + information on the webshop, and fetching the information necessary for the + links. + Since Play-asia is the only one storing that kind of information, this + will be rather specific. We can't really expect all other parties to + update their system, and for DLSite and MangaGamer it would involve + creating (official) catalog numbers for each entry - which would be easy + for MG, but certainly not for DLSite. + Even if a shop stores it, we'd need fast and up-to-date access to it. We + have several thousand JAN codes in the database. If we want to make sure + our information is accurate and up-to-date we'd have to check for the + availability of each release each day. Doing this will most likely require + the other party to update their site with an API providing this + information. I somehow doubt they would... + +2. Let the advertiser add and update the info + Add an admin interface to the site allowing advertisers to add links to + their shop to release entries - also allowing them to indicate the price + and stock availability. + Since advertisers benefit from these links, we can assume that, if they + agree to do this, they will keep the info up-to-date. + However, for some reason I don't think many advertisers would want to + invest that much time in advertising on a single site. + Instead of the advertiser itself, it would also be possible to look for a + dedicated user to do this for them. Though somehow I doubt we'd find + someone like that, and I don't feel like doing that myself. + +3. Let our users add and update the info + Add webshop links to release entries. Since the price and stock + availability tend to change over time and our dear users are either pretty + slow on the uptake or too lazy to update VNDB, we can forget about any + other information besides the links. :-( + It might, however, be possible to automatically fetch the price and stock + information anyway since we have the URLs, but in that case the webshop + should either allow us to crawl quite a lot or provide an alternative + method. + Since the list of webshops we link to is not a static one - shops can be + added or removed after a while - we can expect these links to be edited + quite often, which could make a mess with the edit histories. + Alternatively, we could do it VGMdb-like: allow users to simply manage + links where the release is sold, regardless of whether they are + advertising on VNDB or not. This would still make it possible to + special-case advertisers and give them special treatment or fetch + additional information. + +I would greatly prefer option #1, but since that's not very practical option +#3 (the VGMdb-like solution) is probably the best. + -- cgit v1.2.3