Friday, May 23, 2003 at 00:28
I have been a non-financial user on this site for a few months now and only discovered ExploreOz through good old 'google' search. I have found the information on this site both entertaining and informative and I would like to see the site continue and be profitiable for the owners.
However I feel that if public access to the information is restricted to a members only service then the site will eventually wither on the vine because very few will find www.exploreoz.com.au in the vastness of the internet.
For example, I was looking for information and opinions on tyres, so off to google I go and search for 4wd tyres.... bingo. I find a www.exploreoz.com.au
forum discussion on MTR/BFG etc If it was a subscription only service, then google would not have pointed me to www.exploreoz.com.au based on my search.
To take this example one step further, when I wanted to actually find out product information relating to my vehicle, get a quote and finally purchase the tyres I was left to my own inititive and the yellow pages...
I see opportunity here for ExploreOz to provide context specific advertising on the side similar to google. This advertising would relate directly to the question asked and the subject being discussed. I should not have to try and find a retailer or service provider from the 'Business Search' tab, ... advertisers should be placed along side or interleaved with the
forum content. Special note: popup advertising will drive away many people including me...
I think charging members to post content which creates much of the actual value on the site is putting the 'cart before the horse'. The
forum brings people to the site, and with the statistics presented (ie more subscribers than popular 4wd magazines) it would appear that this message needs to be sold/marketed to the 4wd retailers in Oz so that revenue can be gained through targeted advertising.
While I have found the site informative (it has assisted me with purchasing decisions) I would not be prepared to pay for the privilege of using such a
forum as ExploreOz.
It is a shame that the current site does not benefit from the assistance it has given me in purchasing products, but with targeted payed advertising this could be a different story.
For over a decade newsgroups (eg usenet) and now many other web based forums have thrived because they are free. ExploreOz needs to capitalise on its user base through advertising, not by charging the users.
There are other improvements regarding the actual site such as
forum categories (eg vehicle specific, trip specific, gear specific etc) that would make the site even better, and possibly help with targeting the advertising, and/or providing categroy specific FAQ's product information and associated retailers.
Has ExploreOz considered hosting sites for 4wd retailers, mechanics workshpps etc ? Perhaps some revenue could be generated here also.
I have also purchased a couple of 4wd magazines and only the other day I noticed an ExploreOz advertisemen. Even though I have flicked through the magazines a few times I had never noticed ExploreOz until after I discovered it with google. Perhaps the ExploreOz marketing/advertising needs some review. Perhaps more value would be gained by targeting and attracting retailers to advertise or host their business on your site.
Hope some ideas here help you with tough decisions...
-Hax
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