Do you offer incentives to your staff members, in any way? Perhaps they get a gift card every once in a while? Or if you run a webmaster-related website you host them for free or something?
Yes, I offer staff (administrator) incentives. I pay the back-end administrator over at Bird is the Word and of what I make from graphic requests, I shoot some money to Nei as she does the same for me. Also, for Christmas/Birthdays, I give/will give gift cards/money to the other administrator over at Bird is the Word.
I offer all of my staff members a customized hosting plan of their choosing (regardless of the specifications... I'll purchase an additional server if need be).
Free full membership. It has been lifetime, but as I expect to cycle through more members as mods for only a year or so, I think it will be something like 2 years after their staff term. Those who actually do some work get extra benes. Some get to choose from some of the stuff given out as contest prizes ... anything from $10-$20+ value each, mostly ordered products. I base it on how much time and effort they gave. Some get fired-up about a contest and really spend hours making it a cool fun event. If I have anything done up with the forum logo the mods automatically have one sent to them - photo-insert mouse pads was the last item. They can give it away if they don't really want it, it's all good. I could use ideas on what to give some of the most active membership-management mods on a semi-regular basis. They deserve something they would enjoy. One time the forum sponsored an artist-commissioned model to be reproduced and sold to the membership. The mods all got one that was a limited special edition with extra features - that was expensive! But it made them very very happy for quite awhile. They were free to do with it as they wished, some kept theirs, some sold it at a premium since it was a rare version. I really could not afford to do that again, it was an idea and a commitment of the former owner.
How do you handle having them access the server to work with the website files? Must they do it through software that allows them to log in to the software, not the server?
3Phase, I generally create individual cPanel accounts (whether it be a standard shared or a reseller). It's easier this way - allowing them to host files on my (personal) account by way of FTP access is a bit risky. Edit: I just realized that post was directed towards Savage X. Sorry about that.
Yeah, I'm fairly certain I will be doing the same thing for the first time. I'm sure my team will love it.
I wish i earnt enough too, but i don't even get enough to cover running the site I will need to shut it down soon if i can't do anything.
For my current forum, the mods and admins are unpaid. My next two forums will be commercial projects and the moderators and admins will be paid. My rule of thumb is that if the project is making money, the people who make the project successful should be making money.
Just straight up asking, no. I do selling VIP memberships, with access to special forums etc, but i can't afford prizes for comps or anything, so finding it very very hard
A couple of years ago i had it running adsense, i got to 49.90 - payment then was at 50, and then my account was closed/cancelled, and was never able to get any response as to why. I am too scared to try again, i'd rather use someone who might pay less, but at least pays me.