I wrote a 1,000+ word post but then trimmed it down to this:
- Revamp site to reduce load time. Site is currently bloated with secondary files.
- Make it super-easy for users to submit games. Let the users do as much of the work as possible in discovering and curating new games. The current submission form link is hard to find, and has a note saying the site is no longer publishing as of April 2016. Fix that! Put the link right at the top of the home page
- Set up a jayisgames subreddit on reddit. Use that as a place for users to post new games. That will attract potentially millions of users who are not familiar with JiG, and the voting system will help you decide which new game to profile.
- Exploit archive. So many great older games (Chasm and Tork remain among my favorites) but are too hard to find. Include old classics on home page. Could do a '10 years ago on JiG' kind of thing.
- Add descriptions in category pages. e.g. https://jayisgames.com/games/category/adventure is not useful if all I see is a thumbnail, title, and rating.
- Focus more on mobile. All pro devs I know are only making mobile games now because that's where their revenue is from.
- Post every day. The only way to get users coming back
- Site sponsorships. The ads currently on JiG are probably not making much money. Put some effort into contacting the marketing departments at EA, Milton Bradley, Adobe, etc. offer them a month of exclusive branding on every page for $1,000. That is a small amount for them, but would pay more than Google ads.
- Subscriptions. I'm surprised and impressed that you're getting as much as you are from Patreon, but most patrons see their contribution as a one-time payment, not an ongoing one, and that revenue will only continue going down unless you start giving something special to those who give. Set up subscriptions and offer:
- Ability to post in this forum and in the comments
- Ability to enter sweepstakes to win copies of games
- Sneak peaks of games from developers such as Bart Bonte or Amanita Design
- Access to walkthroughs
- other?
Hello Matchstick ,
Thank you so much for taking the time to write a detailed post like this one.
Your ideas are very good and for sure we are gonna try to make them.
Update