Ron Paul Audio | Fundraising Update

[me3]

Ron Paul Audio now has a ChipIn, for funds to better the current hosting situation.

http://ronpaulaudio.chipin.com/ron-paul-audio-hosting

goldenequity (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/member.php?u=704) has run Ron Paul Audio without any financing and was my first introduction to the message of Ron Paul.

When he recently had some trouble providing reliable service during peak usage, specifically the Dr. Mercola 1.2 million subscriber email (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showpost.php?p=320667&postcount=12), indicating Ron Paul Audio as the best place to learn about Dr. Paul's message, I volunteered to help goldenequity and campaign on his behalf to raise the funds necessary to improve the hosting of this valuable resource.

Please support Ron Paul Audio. As the campaign grows, we'll need to make sure this resource is available to new supporters and those who seek a better understanding of Dr. Paul's consistent message.

[me3]

Bump!

[me3]

Bump

[walt]

I'll chipin once the campaign properly puts this as a link above justin.tv and youtube on the main site. (which should have happened ages ago)


also the site doesn't rank for the term ron paul on Google - the title tag is brutal....

It should be "Ron Paul Presidential Candidate 2008 Interview and Speech Resource" Just the relevant facts

[kylejack]

I'll chipin once the campaign properly puts this as a link above justin.tv and youtube on the main site. (which should have happened ages ago)


also the site doesn't rank for the term ron paul on Google - the title tag is brutal....

It should be "Ron Paul Presidential Candidate 2008 Interview and Speech Resource" Just the relevant facts

You seem to be punishing the wrong entity? Would make more sense to withhold funds from the official campaign.

[walt]

it's intertwined - the campaign is obsessed with worthless video resources that don't work (justin-tv) - high quality audio resources is what will work with any age group.

We should push the campaign to feature this and ronaullibrary on the main site.

If you want to set Ron up to fail - it's fine don't do anything.

I'm tapped out, I'm not giving anymore resources until the main campaign gets it's head out of it's backside.

[goldenequity]

This article endorsing Ron Paul went out to 1.2 million readers of 'Dr. Mercola' is found here:
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2007/10/27/ron-paul-is-no-longer-on-the-fringe-here-s-why.aspx
(http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2007/10/27/ron-paul-is-no-longer-on-the-fringe-here-s-why.aspx)

ronpaulaudio.com has literally been "under water" for 2 days..... they are ALL coming from this single article. His readership is alternative medicine folks who have evidently not heard of Ron Paul but obviously respect Mercola's endorsement. They are tenacious because even tho they are getting buffered trying to open and stream the MP3 files and videos..... they leave and then try again later. I checked this morning (Monday) and STILL, they are all coming from that single article.

Here is a sample of some emails I'm getting from the site:


Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2007 2:20 PM
Subject: PROBLEMS WITH AUDIO


We would really enjoy listening to RP, BUT, the site evidently doesn't have enough bandwidth.. We have two sites of our own and understand the issues..Please have someone work on this so we can ALL listen.. Yes, we have broadband, highspeed yada- the site isn't up to snuff!

Regards,'

Phill Remick


REPLY
yup....I got swamped today....I'm working on it.... thanks for the visit!
randy
www.ronpaulaudio.com


Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2007 8:23 AM
Subject: problem with your site


Hi,
Just to let you know, it took around two minutes for your site to open and the first video would continually stop and go. I have high speed so the 'hourglass' is not at this end. Hopefully someone or some 'entity' is not screwing around with your site. As an alternative physician I DO want to know more about Ron Paul. I will try again later...
thanks,
Dr. Haskell


REPLY
Dear Dr. Haskell....
Yes.
I know the problem is on my end. I work the site from my home.
Never knew it would grow into the #3 Ron Paul site.... just started doing what I loved and it grew!
I need to move the web hosting. The campaign is going to explode in the coming months.
It comes down to dollars to buy bandwidth. Simple as that... so I am considering how to raise funds to pay for an Amazon S-3 host account. I am far from a web developer.... just a Ron Paul lover at heart so this is all new territory for me.
The surge will die back.... so please come back and visit www.ronpaulaudio.com soon.... it's a treasure of knowledge and hope.
best regards,
randy
www.ronpaulaudio.com

ANSWER
I want to stream the files from an Amazon S-3 account that offers almost unlimited bandwidth so the site will function optimally no matter how many visitors are trying to stream simultaneously. As you can imagine, it takes much more bandwidth to stream something then it takes to just present something static like an article or a picture.
The potential monthly bills for this scare me because the Amazon is a "pay for what you use" program..... and who the hell knows how popular our candidate is GOING to become as this phenomenon grows.
Exciting.... but scary if I'm alone with the bills. :o:o:o
Thanks for any help in this..... and btw I have my $100 ready to go on the 5th!!!!
Donate to the Campaign FIRST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[kylejack]

Goldenequity, thanks for all your hard work! I've used the site several times.

[me3]

Bump, folks please support Ron Paul Audio. Right now, it is an important venue for potential new supporters driven by Dr. Mercola.

http://ronpaulaudio.chipin.com/ron-paul-audio-hosting

vaio vgn (http://www.laptopbuyer.info/buy/vaio+vgn)
VGN-TZ240N/B (http://www.laptopbuyer.info/buy/VGN+TZ240N)
~

[me3]

Bump

http://ronpaulaudio.chipin.com/ron-paul-audio-hosting

I cannot stress enough how important it is that we support Ron Paul Audio right now. Addressing the hosting problems allows the site to cater to hundreds of new supporters, people participating in one of the much desired groups to gain support from, the alternative health industry.

[goldenequity]

This is amazing to me.
I keep waiting for it to die down but they keep probing the site.
Here is a screen shot moments ago showing where they are coming from
They're all Mercola referrals....this has been going on for three days solid.

I also want to thank the people responding to
the Chip-in....6 people already this morning..... THANKS SO MUCH (I'm weeping!) You guys are AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


http://www.ronpaulaudio.com/mercola.jpg

[PaulineDisciple]

Randy,

You da man! I just gave you $25.

Thanks for hosting that Ron Paul Audio CD that I resampled for you at a lower bit-rate so that it would fit on one CD.

I hope that I helped a lot of meet-up groups with a cheap resource that they can hand out at events and such, I have personally burned about 200 of these so far and handed out over 150 of these.

Thanks,
David

http://presupposetheism.blogspot.com

[kylejack]

Goldenequity, how many uniques are you getting?

[goldenequity]

Randy,

You da man! I just gave you $25.

Thanks for hosting that Ron Paul Audio CD that I resampled for you at a lower bit-rate so that it would fit on one CD.

I hope that I helped a lot of meet-up groups with a cheap resource that they can hand out at events and such, I have personally burned about 200 of these so far and handed out over 150 of these.

Thanks,
David

http://presupposetheism.blogspot.com

No...You da man!!!!!!!!! :)

[goldenequity]

Goldenequity, how many uniques are you getting?

Hard to figure.... usually, I regard them as 'unique' visitors when they come from a simple google or yahoo search. I see one or two on what I posted below.
If a person googles "ron paul mp3" or "ron paul audio" or speech ....
I am at the top of the google search.... the google bots do a good job of profiling the site for newbie searches.

Other than that.... the "unknowns" are folks that have the site favorited on their desktop...... and we are cross-linked with the other RP sites for surfers. :)

[me3]

I've got goldenequity's stat dumps at home, I forgot what he pushes through as far as uniques, but I will look at it again.

The major reason for the hosting issues, is the number of concurrent connections streaming audio and video. The hosting plan it is on right now is not geared towards providing rich media streaming. We're working to rectify that with some support from the community, past and present user base.

[me3]

Bump for support!

[American]

I'll do what I can...

how can I email the admin at freeme.tv about a video they have posted.

There is a huge anti Ron Paul message right in the middle of the video, I cant believe they posted that on the web site.

Ron Paul on Brian and the Judge discusses Iraq, Al Qaeda etc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9I1O13hRFLo
at 3:11 in the video.....=\

[Energy]

For the video at the top, you can replace it with a youtube embed to pass off some bandwidth to youtube's vast resources.

I would add more video embeds near the top. Can that be done? I realize it's Ron Paul Audio but I feel you may be losing a ton of visitors from promoting primarily audio links at the top. I would mix it up... offer both video embeds and "mp3" links. A huge list of mp3 links is a bit overwhelming - you're making visitors work way too much wading through the sea of links.

People love video and SEEING him will increase face recognition - help newcomers firmly associate his face to his words.

And I'm surprised the mercola article didn't even link to ronpaul2008.com.

[me3]

We've talked about a few options, but goldenequity is pretty confident that improving the service will actually increase demand because the site stalls for many users right now.

So the first thing we need, to correct the infrastructure shortcomings is some support from the community and Ron Paul fan base.

Please ChipIn. Any amount will help us reach the goal of making sure this site provides the meaningful promotion and highest level of service for potential Ron Paul supporters.

http://ronpaulaudio.chipin.com/ron-paul-audio-hosting

[PaulineDisciple]

Bump!

I have given out over 150 CD of all of the audio files on this website to people that said they would give Ron Paul a listen. I always carry a few with me, and some times I run out before I get home to replenish my supply.

Please give to THE BEST resource on the web for Ron Paul in his own words.

[goldenequity]

I want to thank these supporters of RonPaulAudio for
helping me on the very first day of raising funds. It's very encouraging
to have the community support to improve the site.

Jeff Moe
David Morrow
Robert Kuhn
William Masur
Bruce Morton
Marc Gallagher
chite chen

Even tho it's intended to be an audio/mp3 site....the videos are what's getting
the attention and interest. People are attracted to them and they are the most
powerful tools in cementing a "converted/converting" voter.
These videos are the "cream" imo of Youtube... presented with .jpg "covers" that
just simply attract the visitors' curiosity. They really work!
(except when they don't stream....hahahahahahhh)

I will gladly continue to donate my time to keep the site as close to "breaking" news as possible as well as a thorough and exhaustive archive of RP speeches and interviews.

Maybe a dozen more donations will provide the cushion I need to bank against the monthly bill increase for streaming bandwidth hosting. This ONE push should (hopefully) see the site bills paid through FEBRUARY 2008, (so I won't have to do this again soon :o )

Will you help and support this effort... I want to get this done and out of the way.
thx! :)

[LibertyEagle]

You seem to be punishing the wrong entity? Would make more sense to withhold funds from the official campaign.

Oh, smart move there Kyle. Suggest people withhold funds from the official campaign. Real smooth move! :mad:

[goldenequity]

Agreed Liberty!
Like I said below:


Thanks for any help in this..... and btw I have my $100 ready to go on the 5th!!!!
Donate to the Campaign FIRST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

randy