I am not trying to K-nock the AOS. I like the AOS, I have been getting that
"Bulletin" (Now called "Orchids") since the 1980s, however....

http://www.orchidweb.org/aos/orchids/osd-listing.aspx
The grower/vendor listing above on the AOS website is an interesting case to
help answer your question

They list vendors by state for the USA. When I first bought my listing for
Virginia it was $50 for *two* years. Then it jumped to $100 for *two*
years. This renewal period, for just *one* year (July 2006 through July
2007) it cost $100. So the price doubled from last time.

And last month, at the end of the last two year period there were about 7 to
9 vendors listed in Virginia. Today I found one.

I had called to ask if the one year change was a misprint and was told it
was not and the lady from the AOS told me they felt it was a good deal
because of the exposure they could provide my business. What makes me
chuckle is that they don't seem to know they can easily count how many
visitors to their site find a specific link and click on it. They should
know what kind of deal it is and be able to provide their potential
advertisers with real data.

I can do this in reverse: I know where people find the link that brings
them to my site. I have a site statistic program on my site that tracks
this kind of info. In the last two years click-throughs from the AOS
averaged less than 1.5 clicks a week. and I could not spend $1.28 a click
for this amount of exposure next year. In contrast, the orchidmall.com
averages about 25 to 30 a week and Google's various IP addresses account for
closer to 125 to 150 a week.....and these are free.

For the $100 I would also get my business name printed in their Source
directory which they send out to members. I searched for mine last month
and could not find, of course it was two years old at that point and long
buried under piles of stuff in the 'library'. Then I asked a couple of
friends to look something up for me and only one person could find their
copy. I think that about says it all.

The AOS marketing committee should KNOW this and price the advertising
accordingly. But if there is a corresponding loss to membership over the
rise in dues, the AOS is in real trouble.

If you were allowed to say things like this on the AOS forum without getting
booted off, maybe they would know it.



"Eric Hunt" wrote in message
...
Danny,

I've heard through the grapevine that the membership is in "free fall."

That's just the grapevine, though.

I didn't renew at $60.

-Eric in SF
www.orchidphotos.org

"danny" wrote in message
...
I've heard membership dropped, I don't know how much. That's not
something they would want to publish.
-danny