Feedback sought

Ah yes but the every day forum users are not always the target in the advertising we offer. We still have several hundred reads of each of the article pages on the system that do easily support the advertisers and are more targeted to the advertisers products and services.

And yes we have options for people to advertise in the forum but these have not been taken up yet either. They are also still much much cheaper than the mags but alas we have not got the advertiser in this area yet.

$150 in the shop should be easy we give this level of membership award out about 8 times per week without any trouble. We even have many repeat members spending several hundreds per visit to the shop and they already have qualifed for or paid membership. It all depends on how much stuff you already have I guess.Regards
ExplorOz Team - David
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Always working, not enough travelling ;-)

Just thought I would add that our problem is we have a passive sales team. There are only really two people to attempt to look after the entire site and also work on the sales aspects. The other mediums have many many sales staff and the advertisers pay for them. We have been trying to run lean and mean with low cost advertising to try to appeal to the people who simply cannot afford to pay $2000/mth/page to be in the mags. So for about $12.50/mth they can advertise on ExplorOz, do the maths and you will see that if we want to sell more advertising it is either word of mouth or increase prices and have a sales team.Regards
ExplorOz Team - David
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Always working, not enough travelling ;-)

This subject needs a new string to itself almost, David most people I have spoken to and a few comments noticed on this forum is that we find this site by stumbling on it through places like google etc, get in peoples faces , get on TV or something , get on the back of Buses, you’ll be surprised the difference being noticed just that bit more will do, Get Bloody great posters made up with “EXPLOREOz SPOT” on it so people like me can stick them up on our shop,
Big 4x4 Rigs + Caravans, campers etc touring this State stop in front of my shop about 5 times an hour. Because we get a bit out of this site, We wouldn’t have a problem giving a free Blend 43 with coming in and sayin’ G Day, since I have found this web site I have visited it just about every day for about 5 months now I guess, spoke to you on the phone about a few things and generally found the site well worth the time spent, We are doing a trip soon covering a lot of WA and ill be happy to sponsor a sticker or two on the Vehicles.
TV is expensive I know but try it if you haven’t already. If you were on GWN for example, I personally would advertise with you.
Don’t be frightened to ask your viewers for a bit of help along the way.

Just bring your own snatch strap !

Keep Left !

Cheers Bill

Agreed it needs it own post (I will move it to one) Interesting comment you must miss our full page mag ads (does not suprise me - people in the industry just pick it up look for their own ad and put it down), 17000 stickers already sent out. Flyers in every desert parks pass, flyers from trade shows, press releases in newspapers, and yes the search engines - worked very hard on that (we almost have all keywprds covered now). We have spent a very tidy sum on advertising and we have the stats now 250,000 reader sessions per month (growing at 15-20% per month), hosting rates and data transfers already cost a bomb. Bigger advertising and more readers is always good but if it only always costs me then how does one stay in business?

We are not freightened to ask for help along the way this is called membership and low cost advertising options.

Posters good idea - We will look into it. We already have distributed thousands of flyers at trade shows.

TV agreed but the costs are unbelievable even on regional and then we have the problem about which region - One TV hit across the board for 15 secs $60000 - does not even include how much it costs me to produce it. Would love to of course but I do not have a spare 60K to throw around. Then the advertising costs would need to go up blah blah blah. Dammed if you do and dammed if you don't.
Regards
ExplorOz Team - David
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Always working, not enough travelling ;-)

Jobs vacant is at the bottom of the exploroz "about us" page!

Vic rep - yes we are looking for reps. Currenty we have Peter in SA doing a great job - but the more the better. Email me off the forum if you are interested in taking some of this on.

Melb show - I think we missed it this year. We generally have one of our existing advertisers have our flyers on the stand. We actually intended to do the trade show circuit (next year) with the vehicle and have computers hanging out of the doors and windows to allow people to use ExplorOz at the shows. However Michelle is pregnant and due mid most of the shows so that plan is on-hold at least for next year.Regards
ExplorOz Team - David
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Always working, not enough travelling ;-)

Due mid - most of the shows....... Clearly a multiple pregnancy. Now thinking laterally.. what can we do with that.........maybe a webcast during the shows delivery sponsored by exploroz.....

If you can overnight some bleep to me I'll take it to the 4wd show... Im there on Saturday.

Testing .
So you still can have another Andrew.
I'm from Melbourne .
Where is above Andrew from ?

Melbuntoo

Has already been done to the clubs, or was last time I asked in the process...

Or Exploroz taking out Ads in club magazines. The costs are very small, and the distribution is MASSIVE....

Agreed bruce in fact we have already advised the free advertisers that they will be disapearing soon and we will only have paid advertising available.

I know of a few businesses in the system running free that have made several 1000's in sales based on referal from ExplorOz, so they will either pay or not been seen.Regards
ExplorOz Team - David
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Always working, not enough travelling ;-)

Bruce,

It was such a good idea and so easy to do that I have now made the free ads less attractive in the business search. Reduced font of keyword listing and also removed the bold around the address details etc.

I may do some more at some stage but good idea - As mentioned we are getting rid of free option soon. Our free option now is one month free trial on all packages so the try before you buy lasts for 1 month then you must pay to keep going. Regards
ExplorOz Team - David
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Always working, not enough travelling ;-)

Eric,
I am sure it is and you were billed. Anyway just click on the Manage button in the green customer bar this will take you to your campaign settings. Have a look down the page you will see the banner section. The main page will tell you the number of banners running and your current max budget. If you click to Edit the banners you will be able to see a breakdown of each banner and the current costs etc.

Let me know if there is a problem.Regards
ExplorOz Team - David
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Always working, not enough travelling ;-)

I just checked for you and yes it is running, you were billed on the 1/10, invoice and statement both sent to your email with payment processed on 8/10 via CC.

Anyway have a look at the Manage Screen and make sure all your stuff is still correct.Regards
ExplorOz Team - David
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Always working, not enough travelling ;-)

Many thanks I will check my statment again.
All the best
EricCape York Connections

Hi Willem/David,

I proudly display two stickers on my vehicle and already have the spare wheel cover. Having just spent four weeks on the road in central Australia, I was disappointed that no-one asked about the wheel cover or where I had bought it from. I met heaps of people in caravan parks and camp sites, and to each I spoke to I talked about the ExplorOz site in detail and how informative and friendly it is. Unfortunately I only had one spare sticker to pass onto one of the people I met, but I did mention to him that the company he is a franchisee for, is now an advertiser on this site. If I had had fliers, more stickers or even fridge magnets, I would have handed them out to all those I had met. I would have also posted them on the display boards in caravan parks etc.

I know this doesn't really help you David, but I know that if I had more info on hand to give to those I had met, they too may have visited the site and maybe become members. One family I met already knew of the site (we met up for dinner in Alice Springs due to it) but were not members. I explained the benefits of doing so.

I am a firm believer in helping out the small Australian owned and run businesses as much as I can. If there is anything else I can do, let me know. I would even have magnetic signs attached to my car doors if that would help.

Keep up the good work. Word of mouth is still the best form of advertising, unfortunately David, it doesn't appear to be assisting you in making this a more profitable site.

CheersJust Do It!

Agree again - BTW: With members free freight ($8.00 each), 5% membermoney, credit card merchant fees and Juliana's salary I do not actually make any money already at $60.

I wanted the wheel covers to be a cheap as possible however different size requirements etc etc they cost a fair bit to buy and take a fair bit of space to store.

I really do think it has merit to give these out as cheap as I can I want every 4WD to have one on the back - excellent advertising. But each one without anything added cost more than $42 each.

Membership does not actually cost me dollars in real terms to give away. I have written all the software already to manage it. It just comes as a lose but not a cost, if you get my meaning.

Excellent feedback and thanks I will see if there is something I can do I have intended to run a load of comps with wheel covers as give aways.Regards
ExplorOz Team - David
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Always working, not enough travelling ;-)

Glenn,

Thanks for the info. Just let us know when you are travelling and we will send some stuff over your way. That goes for anyone that is willing to pass out the info. Interesting enough on our CSR trip we actually only found a couple of groups that did not know us. The majority certainly did and if they did not they know now.

Also don't think the word of mouth is not working it certainly is - I am just trying to work out if we have missed something or our offering is some way incorrect. Word of mouth is the best and the more it happens the better the site gets for all. Thanks again for your assistance.Regards
ExplorOz Team - David
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Always working, not enough travelling ;-)

Brad,

Yes I can do this however the problem is not the advertising ideas from our end it is getting to speak to the advertisers. I have forum advertising options and if someone wants something specific like that then I can create that fairly easily. Our real problem is getting in front of the advertisers and this is where the posters, stickers, mag ads, word of mouth etc is supposed to help.

As you know we have the readers in fact we surpass the pubished circulation of BOTH 4WD mags put together on a monthly basis. Most of our current advertisers are happy (I think) with the performance - not many of the paid advertisers leave the system once they start. We are flexible and have all sorts of advertising options available. I guess we really suffer the from the intangable Internet thing and the fact that people may not believe our stats. Best thing about or stats is that they are real and measurable. We just need a way to get more advertisers on board.

The mags have a place and the Internet has a place we are an Internet business that does not produce a Mag or books (yet) and can offer the best Internet options available for this market. We are not a book or mag provider that dables in the Internet because we think we have to stay in the market. We directly hit the Internet hard and provide what all Internet readers what - A Good quality site with loads of targeted information that suits the market free for people to read and contribute.

Thanks for your post comments and thoughts on the Tanami pump thread and also this one.