Site visits

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  • 23 Feb 2011 09:55
    Reply # 531308 on 519990

    Put the annual cost in, but use an international currency that people understand. Let's face it, we are talking about less than the cost of 2 beers, or one glass of wine. Even with the newsletters, which are worth a fortune, the cost is only a round of drinks.

    Think of your health. The alcohol is bad for you, but the JRA is good for everyone!

    Cheers, Slieve

  • 23 Feb 2011 00:48
    Reply # 531117 on 530352
    Deleted user
    Annie Hill wrote: 'to let people know that there's more on the inside than they can see on the outside'.

    As Deep Thought said: 'You're not going to like this.'  Because it probably means a lot of work.  But, what about putting really, really useful Member's Pages on the Public Pages, just one at a time and only for a week or so.  We would emphasise that this is a 'tease' to attract new members and possibly list what they missed by not logging on last week.  Or would this be self-defeating because the old pages would be accessible forever?

    And how about on the Home Page have: Only $5 A Year! in big, friendly letters. (I know it's 3 quid but we can't insert a pound sign here.  Come to think of it, better put it in US$ anyway - who knows what a pound is worth?)  I think that Join Now should be in-yer-face when you open the Home Page, instead of politely tucked away via another click.

    If we get no obvious reaction, we can go back to being tasteful and discreet.

    Well, back in my day about 40 years ago a pound was worth about $150.00. No, wait, that was a different pound. I like the "Only $5.00 a year!" idea, but of course the full newsletter membership is closer to ten. A minor quibble. It would take more thought as to how to bring pages to the front. What about just bringing out individual threads? David, is that possible? If one thread from time to time remained permanently visible we could live with that. I'm liking some of the ideas I'm seeing here.
  • 21 Feb 2011 22:46
    Reply # 530352 on 519990
    'to let people know that there's more on the inside than they can see on the outside'.

    As Deep Thought said: 'You're not going to like this.'  Because it probably means a lot of work.  But, what about putting really, really useful Member's Pages on the Public Pages, just one at a time and only for a week or so.  We would emphasise that this is a 'tease' to attract new members and possibly list what they missed by not logging on last week.  Or would this be self-defeating because the old pages would be accessible forever?

    And how about on the Home Page have: Only $5 A Year! in big, friendly letters. (I know it's 3 quid but we can't insert a pound sign here.  Come to think of it, better put it in US$ anyway - who knows what a pound is worth?)  I think that Join Now should be in-yer-face when you open the Home Page, instead of politely tucked away via another click.

    If we get no obvious reaction, we can go back to being tasteful and discreet.
  • 21 Feb 2011 05:24
    Reply # 529902 on 529788
    David Tyler wrote: A quick update from the bottom end of Tasmania, where it's cold, wet and windy, with snow on the mountains - in the height of summer!
    In the past week - 636 visits from 326 visitors in 37 different countries; 40% of those were new visits, that came through search engines and referring sites. People are actively searching to find out about junk rig. We have to let them know that there's more on the inside of this website than they can see from the outside.

    The other extreme here David, it's hot and humid enough to turn a rock into a soggy mess. Washed some of the dust off the boat yesterday, it was turning green.
  • 21 Feb 2011 00:16
    Reply # 529788 on 519990
    A quick update from the bottom end of Tasmania, where it's cold, wet and windy, with snow on the mountains - in the height of summer!
    In the past week - 636 visits from 326 visitors in 37 different countries; 40% of those were new visits, that came through search engines and referring sites. People are actively searching to find out about junk rig. We have to let them know that there's more on the inside of this website than they can see from the outside.
  • 20 Feb 2011 20:37
    Reply # 529689 on 519990
    Hi Jeff

    You're right about people not being 'joiners' any more.  We have the same problem with our tramping (hiking) clubs in NZ.  It is quite an important issue, because the tramping clubs are part of Federated Mountain Clubs, which provides an effective watchdog to alert people to, and fight against, actions that degrade and limit access to our wonderful wild areas.

    Hard to tell from the inside, but I reckon the JRA would come across as both attractive and interesting.  Junk rig seems to boom in bad times, when people are short of money.  I guess they tend to concentrate on improving what they have rather than buying new.  I shouldn't be surprised to see a resurgence of interest over the next couple of years and this time, we will probably keep the members because there is so much accessible material and a lot going on.

    I don't think we need to worry too much about the size of membership.  Small is beautiful!
  • 19 Feb 2011 17:57
    Reply # 529167 on 523509
    Deleted user
    Barry Stellrecht wrote: I wouldn't expect a lot of people to join--for one thing, most people wandering through the WWW are very reluctant to PAY to see anything out on the web.  Despite a decade of such things, there are only two sites I've paid to access to date, and this is one of them, and I was a paid member prior to the website here.  In fact I'm usually turned away at just the need to sign up for a "free membership" to read something.
    David Tyler wrote:People are finding us, now that the old website is no longer active, and the new website appears at the top of the page when you Google for 'junk rig'. But they're not joining us - yet. Why is that, I wonder?

    I will grant Barry's thought that most people wandering through the web are very reluctant to pay for any content.  However, I think equally important is the fact that people are just getting out of the habit of joining anything.  My other boating group affiliation, the United States Power Squadrons, is the oldest safe boating educational group in the US and is not a primarily web-based group, and we're having a helluva struggle keeping people joining up and staying joined up.
    That said, we - the Junk Rig Association - are not just a web site trying to get people to pay to read content.  We're a social group, a research group, and a source of very specialized knowledge. We offer pdf's of many years of printed research that people can't find anywhere else in the world.  Admittedly, what we offer is, as I said, very specialized: if you don't need it a lot you don't need it at all.
    That said, what we offer is not the same as reading a story on one newspaper that you can just as easily read on any of half a dozen other newspapers.
    I still think it's hard to get conversions, convert visitors to members, but we should all be thinking how to present ourselves on the public pages that makes us as appealing as possible to people who might consider joining and makes it clear that they can get stuff here they can't get anywhere else period.
  • 17 Feb 2011 00:29
    Reply # 523509 on 519990
    Deleted user
    I wouldn't expect a lot of people to join--for one thing, most people wandering through the WWW are very reluctant to PAY to see anything out on the web.  Despite a decade of such things, there are only two sites I've paid to access to date, and this is one of them, and I was a paid member prior to the website here.  In fact I'm usually turned away at just the need to sign up for a "free membership" to read something.
    David Tyler wrote:People are finding us, now that the old website is no longer active, and the new website appears at the top of the page when you Google for 'junk rig'. But they're not joining us - yet. Why is that, I wonder?

  • 12 Feb 2011 20:39
    Reply # 521125 on 520896
    Jeff McFadden wrote:
    David Tyler wrote:
    ---- People are finding us, now that the old website is no longer active, and the new website appears at the top of the page when you Google for 'junk rig'. But they're not joining us - yet. Why is that, I wonder?
    David,
    Do I understand this posting to mean that the old jra.com is now offline?
    As far as why they don't join us - one can't expect a very high conversion ratio, I don't think.
    Jeff
    www.junkrigs.com is offline, and traffic is forwarded to www.junkrigassociation.org
    We now have Google Analytics working, and it's showing a healthy level of traffic from both members and non-members.
  • 12 Feb 2011 12:21
    Reply # 520896 on 519990
    Deleted user
    David Tyler wrote:
    ---- People are finding us, now that the old website is no longer active, and the new website appears at the top of the page when you Google for 'junk rig'. But they're not joining us - yet. Why is that, I wonder?
    David,
    Do I understand this posting to mean that the old jra.com is now offline?
    As far as why they don't join us - one can't expect a very high conversion ratio, I don't think.
    Jeff
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