Forum Stats...upd 1st Qtr p.8

[Amskeptic]

Well, we could be having a "chicken and egg" moment.... from my perspective, reach out to others in the area ~ that drives visits, which creates engaged users, which creates more visitors/posts to the website.

There are a couple of ways you could go, which other smarter members have already posted ~ linking and/or ads in other forums, etc. But I'm wondering about other things too... giving talks at local clubs (there are 3-4 air cooled clubs that I know of in OC, and most of them meet weekly) when you're here, or going to those meets and doing a little press-the-flesh. That would have the effect you want (more visitors/posts) but is driven from the other end. Get 'em as customers, sort of, and they'll come back for the info here.

My .02 cents.

L.

Set up a club talk. I wrote Bus Depot an hour ago asking to link us.
Zabo is going to meta-tag us for better Google crawling.
Colin

[Lanval]

We are also a community, which means more than mere customers...I'd hate to think I'm a "commodity".

Teaching world history this year, and it's clear that all communities in origin were economic communities ~ so I guess I'd say we all start as commodities that other people need.... that's why they tolerate us! That minor (and essentially irrelevant point) aside, I was thinking that those two terms shouldn't be mutually exclusive.

Assume for example, that Colin went here:

http://www.octo.org/files/

I don't think it follows that 'paying customers' is the definition of success ~ sure, some would pay. But plenty of those guys already know what they're doing. But they might find this a hospitable home for their online peregrinations... in short, I think the goal of something like that (if this were my website, and I had an interest in driving traffic) would be to meet a bunch of new people, introduce them to what I'm doing, and my website, and expect that the long-term value is in expanding the "IAC Community" to a new group which may or may not know/care about IAC.

For all I know, those guys all visit here weekly, but honestly ~ that's a big club (I've seen them driving around at times, more than 20-30 vans) and I've NEVER seen a post here from someone claiming to belong to that group, or someone that even lives close enough to belong to that group.

Further:

A couple of months ago, I went over to a random mall in North OC ~ I can't remember what we were after.... something specific. It was in Anaheim, close to D-Land. We pulled in, and there was a Porsche club meeting. Maybe 60+ cars, MOST of which were vintage A/C Porsches. I talked to a couple of guys about 914s (I'm interested) and looked at some other cars.

Why couldn't those guys be part of this commodi-unity? Hell, maybe Colin would LIKE helping some guy work on his 1956 Speedster! I dunno...

BUT:

There is more A/C stuff in OC than anywhere I've been. I lived in Blue-gene and Stumptown more than 35 years combined, which are two hippie-havens chock full of old VWs... and it. is. not. even. close. I live in the richie-rich area of Irvine, surrounded by 15 million dollar homes (and up) and I see guys/gals driving vintage and wasserboxer VWs, as their daily drivers. Unbelievable to me... 'cause so many people here are into the super upscale cars. Mostly they just pay people to fix 'em, I guess. I know one shop in Santa Ana where I walked in to have something done, and the owner didn't have time, because he'd been asked to restore 10 vintage 911s for an upcoming show; they were all parked right there on his lot.

So the money's here. and the community. Just a matter of reaching out, and creating the latter, and happily, also getting some of the former.

Best,

ML

[RSorak 71Westy]

Most of those rich folks do not care about learning to fix their own VW. This is Colins whole thing. He has no desire to just fix their stuff. Plus the fact that he hates rich people who are so full of themselves.

[Westy78]

And I would imagine that most of the OCTO members look way down their noses at anything made past 1967.

[Amskeptic]

Most of those rich folks do not care about learning to fix their own VW. This is Colins whole thing. He has no desire to just fix their stuff. Plus the fact that he hates rich people who are so full of themselves.

Easy there . . . not only do we have customers here who are quite well-off, I enjoy a broad array of people both on and off this board who have done well for themselves. I do not hesitate to engage in spirited discussions with them, sure . . . but hate is too strong of a word by far. There are poor people full of their own downtrodden learned helplessness who drive me bats too!

As a general perspective, I do *hate* the games going on in Washington where the stinky rich show no regard for the fabric of this country, I *hate* the blindness and self-aggrandizing justifications of public policy pronouncements from theDonald, for example, but Lanval? Lanval has a path to my heart regardless of his balcony overlooking the rooftops in Southern California's sunshine.
Colin

( p.s. "(any) folks (who) do not care about learning to fix their own VW. This is Colin's whole thing." Spot on about that!)

[TrollFromDownBelow]

Okay Colin 'splain something to me. You made it evident (or at least as I understood it) that you want to grow your business (mostly) by generating traffic on this site first. Could you envision the opposite to be true...namely growing your business first by exploring other marketing channels (sorry for the MBA speak) which would then subsequently drive traffic here? Chicken and egg thing, but like the question, does it really matter what comes first? Just wondering.

[Amskeptic]

Okay Colin 'splain something to me. You made it evident (or at least as I understood it) that you want to grow your business (mostly) by generating traffic on this site first.

I do not want to grow the itinerary business. It is exclusive and limited to 50 calls per summer. I might be able to make it more efficient. I might finally listen to people who say a group appointment might work. When I can't fill a summer, then I will look at ways to make it happen.

I want the site traffic up, because I can't believe it hasn't grown naturally. Nice people, nice articles, nice pictures, nice free speech [that deserves a new ass-kicking reminder that we need to toughen up and express and share diverse opinions, a lot is going on in the world!! and it feels like backing off because of the (very few when you think about it) folks who decided it was too intense for their delicate constitutions], and what the hell, are the technical articles sufficient? What is our place on the continuum of VW websites?
Colin

[dingo]

I have said it before a few time over the years, so you might be rolling your eyes with the 'here we go again !'...but your travel-writings have a wider audience than the regular customers here...i routinely used to cut and paste the humorous anecdotes,encounters and observations of the America-out-there to a few different folks who enjoyed reading them, and who are not neccessarily Bus owners....they would always ask 'whats that guy up to now ? where is he now? '....you might could explore that avenue more fully...or perhaps bolt the door on it, and i will not bother it futurely

...or throw glass-eye in the back of the Bus and do an Itinerant photo essay/book/video/travelogue..or sumptin

[Amskeptic]

I have said it before a few time over the years, so you might be rolling your eyes with the 'here we go again !'...but your travel-writings have a wider audience than the regular customers here...

I will try to keep that in mind. Now go forth and bring humanity herewith.
I will try to write more this summer now that Chloe and I have an understanding.
Colin

[RussellK]

Free speech seemed to be more robust in the forum's earlier days. It seems to have moved to a tendency of clipping and pasting articles with a commentary of I like what this guy says. I'm reminded of those newspaper clipping Mom sends in the mail. I prefer to hear opinions that are directly given so I usually ignore those clip/pasted postings.

[glasseye]

I prefer to hear opinions that are directly given so I usually ignore those clip/pasted postings.

Fair enough, but what if others can enunciate our opinions more clearly? So many times I've found something somewhere on the Internet and said to myself, "Yah! Exactly! That's just what I was thinking".

Or, even better, you find out something new and go "Crap! I had no idea!"

Also, posting links to pieces that reference what you're saying adds veracity.

I do try to explain what's in a link. I hate posts that consist of nothing but a link that forces you to go there to find out what it's about.

[glasseye]

I have said it before a few time over the years, so you might be rolling your eyes with the 'here we go again !'...but your travel-writings have a wider audience than the regular customers here...

Colin has the capacity to write a classic along the lines of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance". He's done the research, he's paid the dues, he has the chops. Much of the material is already written, the market's there and the distribution system is in place. He's flat out of excuses.

I've been beating on him for years on this exact subject. Not because I want him to succeed, but because I want to read the book.

[zabo]

I have said it before a few time over the years, so you might be rolling your eyes with the 'here we go again !'...but your travel-writings have a wider audience than the regular customers here...

Colin has the capacity to write a classic along the lines of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance". He's done the research, he's paid the dues, he has the chops. Much of the material is already written, the market's there and the distribution system is in place. He's flat out of excuses.

I've been beating on him for years on this exact subject. Not because I want him to succeed, but because I want to read the book.

its true

[Amskeptic]

I have said it before a few time over the years, so you might be rolling your eyes with the 'here we go again !'...but your travel-writings have a wider audience than the regular customers here...

Colin has the capacity to write a classic along the lines of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance". He's done the research, he's paid the dues, he has the chops. Much of the material is already written, the market's there and the distribution system is in place. He's flat out of excuses.

I've been beating on him for years on this exact subject. Not because I want him to succeed, but because I want to read the book.

its true

Can we do a compilation of stories and photographs from the Itinerary Forums?
ColinZaboYou'reAGoTagsPMme

[sailorkh]

I put in the word at my favorite camping forum.

http://vwcamperfamily.ning.com/forum/to ... e=activity

You should consider joining, good group of people.

http://vwcamperfamily.ning.com/