Coming Soon - New DVD Talk Tool Bar w/ a Pop Up Blocker

[GeoffK]

We've had a lot of feedback on the various ads in the forum as well as our outdated toolbar, so we're working on a new DVD Talk Search/Toolbar for DVD Talk Members.

We're planning on ameding the forum rules to permit the use of the pop-up blocker installed on the DVD Talk Toolbar (as an incentive for you all to download it :) )


Right now the toolbar features:

- The Ability to search DVD Talk:
o DVD Reviews
o Theatrical Reviews
o Adult DVD Reviews
o Easter Egg Database
o Video Game Reviews
o DVD Talk Price Search

- Search The Following Online DVD Stores
o DeepDiscountDVD
o Amazon
o DVD Empire
o Adult DVD Empire
o HKFlix
o Ebay

- Book Stores
o BookCloseouts
o Amazon Books
o B&N

- Move info & Review Sites
o IMBD
o Rotten Tomatoes
o Yahoo Movies

- All Google Search Features

Also it will have quick links to:
o DVD Talk w/ a Drop down to all our columns
o DVD Talk Reviews
o DVD Talk Forum w/ a Drop Down to all Forum Areas

Since it's still being worked on, I'd love to hear your feedback on things you'd like to see added or stores we've missed that you'd like to search often.

Thanks!

[Todd B.]

Whoa, cool! This will be an IE toolbar add-on thingy, like Google Toolbar or Yahoo! Toolbar, I assume?

[GeoffK]

Yeah... It's IE based

[abintra]

No spyware obviously right?

A complete and thorough uninstall option?

[GeoffK]

No spyware.

It does come up Under Ad Aware (as Alexa Does) as it calls out to see if there's an update. But that's all she wrote in terms of behind the scenes stuff.

1 Click uninstall from XP in about 2 seconds

Anything we missed?

Here's a peek at it installed on my beta system:

<img src="http://www.dvdtalk.com/images/toolbar2.jpg">

[Blade]

"All Google Features"

Does that mean the AutoFill feature too? I'm starting to like having that option.

Very cool though Geoff. I'll use it when it becomes available. Thanks! :up:

[GeoffK]

Ah. No don't think it'll have autofill or page rank. I meant it'll search all the google areas - News/Site/Images/ ETC

[Blade]

I see. That's fine, not a deal breaker for me. :)

[Wizdar]

By "addon" does that mean it can be added w/o admin rights (XP/NT)?

[garolo]

Will I be able to use this toolbar along with Google's or Yahoo's or will it replace those when installed? Will it work with Opera? I'm don't exactly know how these toolbar thingies work.

[twikoff]

by the sounds of it.. I will be replacing google's toolbar with it :up:

[twikoff]

btw.. Geoff.. you know what would be really an outstanding feature for it..

not sure if its even possible to get it worked out.. but if it was able to incorporate a spellcheck (such as that iespell that you suggested awhile back).. this is a feature that I think most toolbars are missing, and in my opinion would be great!

[Josh H]

One thought, won't this (if you allow people to block ads here with it) kill a lot of your premium membership revenue.

I mean, I'm sure a lot of people were considering getting a membership just to get rid of the ads (I know that was my only reason for considering it).

[twikoff]

nawww.. he can just bring in alot of pop unders ;)

[twikoff]

btw.. the big question i have is...

why?
whats in it for dvdtalk?
this could potentially hurt the ability to bring in advertisers, right?
what are the benefits of this, from the point of the site?

can you make the toolbar only block pop ups from sites other than dvdtalk?

if it doesnt have any ads on it.. and doesnt track any info.. how is it going to benefit the sites?

unless the big benefit will be built in affiliate links on some searches?

btw.. is there any chance that dvdtalk might use eventually add in the feature that fat wallet uses.. that automatically turns certain works (such as ebay, dell, etc..) into hotlinks to the websites and include the sites affiliate links?

[GeoffK]

Originally posted by twikoff
nawww.. he can just bring in alot of pop unders ;)

Absolutely not.

I absolutely HATE pop-ups and unders! I'm constantly lobbying with advertisers to NOT use them. So honestly my ideal for DVD Talk is a world without pops.


Originally posted by twikoff
btw.. the big question i have is...

why?
whats in it for dvdtalk?
this could potentially hurt the ability to bring in advertisers, right?
what are the benefits of this, from the point of the site?

can you make the toolbar only block pop ups from sites other than dvdtalk?

if it doesnt have any ads on it.. and doesnt track any info.. how is it going to benefit the sites?

unless the big benefit will be built in affiliate links on some searches?

btw.. is there any chance that dvdtalk might use eventually add in the feature that fat wallet uses.. that automatically turns certain works (such as ebay, dell, etc..) into hotlinks to the websites and include the sites affiliate links?


I'll be real upfront about what's in it for us:

#1 Quick and easy access to our content for our readers. The easier it is for you to get to us, the more likely you will be to visit DVD Talk, read the forum, check out the columns, read the reviews. All that will more than makeup for some blocked pops.

#2 Affiliate Revenue for searches. We've got built in searches at many of the online sites we work with, the win for you is easy quick searches of a lot of the top DVD stores from one spot, for us it's affilaite links and some revenue. Hopefully if enough people use the search bar we can look at killing pops all together.

#3 Creating Value for our members. If we can build a truly useful tool that meets the needs of our members/readers then we continue to be a useful and valuable site, something that's important to us.

[GeoffK]

Closing.... We're now in Beta!

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=345508