Sionvalais is an independent guide to mountain and skiresorts in Europe, which has been online since january 1999.
Sionvalais.com has become the largest of it's kind in Europe with some 16247 webcams.Sionvalais shares webcams, reviews, weather- and snowreports for well over 1.200 skiresorts. According to Alexa Sionvalais belongs to the top twenty in the category Snow and forecast websites. Google ranks this website with a PageRank 5, which is pretty decent considering the nature of Sionvalais' content and the absence of serious marketing efforts.
As much as I love building and maintaining my site, the downside is that it has become a bit costly for me.
I refuse to compromise the integrity and the aesthetic value of the site by adding obtrusive banners or annoying pop-up/under ads*. Recently, I've received a few emails asking about how they could help out through a donation of some sort, so I thought that if I added something like the Paypal Donation button, that it would be up to you whether you felt motivated to help support Sionvalais.com.
Please understand that you are under no obligation to donate any money for using any part of this web site. But it would be incredibly appreciated! No contribution is too small. Your donation will go directly towards paying for the cost of the infrastructure and maintenance of the site as detailed in the table below. The Paypal account is owned by me and all funds are transferred under the name, "mark@sionvalais.com". After the donation has been processed, your name will be posted as a Sionvalais.com Supporter (If you like you can mention your website or company too). Thank you so much for your consideration and support!
| Aspect | Price/year | |
| Web Hosting | EUR 1170 | |
| Domain Names | EUR 110 | |
| MySQL database | EUR 30 | |
| Software | EUR 500 | |
| Labour cost | ... (priceless!) | |
|
Total Expenditures | EUR 1810+ |
Do I have to donate?
Not at all. This is only an optional choice for those who feel that they want to help out the site in some way.
Will you close the site if no one donates?
I had already made the decision back in 2000 to pay for my own website in order to make it what it is. I will still continue this site even if no one donates, because it is something that I enjoy.
Do you do this for a living?
I do not get paid for anything involving this website. In fact, I don't even do web or graphic design for a living!
What's Sionvalais' objective?
Sionvalais wants to offer a clean, non-obtrusive interface which provides instant access to the webcams. Moreover, Sionvalais realizes that it is important to place the webcams in the correct context. On this regard Sionvalais is quite unique in the fact that it researches it's
own geodata and skiresort information, with the extensive help of it's visitors. The threshold for user input is amongst the lowest around, but closely watched!
Why PayPal?
PayPal is one of the more reputable, secure and convenient services for collecting donations online. Most people use it for Ebay, but it works for just about anything. I've created an account specifically for this website. PayPal will deposit your donation from your credit card (or bank account) directly into the mark@sionvalais.com PayPal account.
Donate now
Is there any other option to transfer money?
Yes there is; you might want to consider an international bank transfer.
International Bank Account Number (IBAN):
NL63PSTB0006313207
BIC for Postbank NV:
PSTBNL 21
For The Netherlands:
Postbank account:
6313207
M.H. Gremmen
Den Haag, The Netherlands
Can I support Sionvalais in any other way?
The exposure of Sionvalais depends for a large part on other webcam and wintersport enthousiasts in the internet community. If you own a website, blog or social community page I would appreciate it very
much if you would mention (incorporate a link or banner) Sionvalais.com on you website or consider including a snowcam feed!
Thank you very much for your support!
Mark H. Gremmen
Sionvalais.com Supporters
October 2007: Marcin Jarosz, Ikutow Poland
November 2007: Mr. Th.A.J. Vermeer, The Netherlands
November 2007: Mrs. M.J.L Vermeer, The Netherlands
January 2009: Miss. Julia Conway, London England
October 2009: Mr. H. Stehr, Hannover Germany
January 2010: Michael und Anne Kuntz, Bremen Germany
March 2010: Mrs. Kovalchuk, Praha, Czech Republic
*) This does not mean there is place for some - content related - ads...