business members

[jezerams]

are there any rules about guys with small businesses being members on the forum?

 

was chatting to a guy at a show recently, panel beater, fabricator etc who has recently setup on his own after learning the business working for others for years. His passion is obviously old fords and thats what he wants to concentrate on. i build websites, mainly for big companies, we eventually got talking about that... i suggested rather than worry to much about his own website he join up on forums, post pics on the builds etc he has done/is doing, show what his skill is, provide a load of pics we like to look at etc, after all my feeling was his potential customers are more likely to be found on specialist forums than coming across his own site from searching google.

 

He told me he had tried joining one forum before, but thought he had to pay upfront to sponsor if he was a business and wanted to be a member. Obviously only recently started up, things no doubt are pretty tight so although i got the impression would potentially be up for paying to be a site sponsor in the long term, it was pretty hard to justify throwing cash at it up front.

 

personally it feels we need the experts on the forums too, great to see the pics of the work they do, draw on their knowledge when we have questions etc, so was surprised that was what he thought

 

can someone clarify what the rules are on here

 

cheers

[Vista]

He is welcome to join the forum as a member and get involved with chat chat in any room and on any subject.

 

As to advertising his wares, that's a different matter. If all he wants to do is post a weblink to his site in his signature then we ask that people are site contributors before doing so. This is just £12 per year.

 

If however he wants to regularly advertise his services and post threads showing work done then he comes in to the area of sponsorship. We have a number of sponsors on the site who pay for the right to promote their wares and services and I'm sure your friend would understand that it wouldn't be right for him to be able to do the same sort of thing for free, that they pay for. Especially as one of our existing sponsors is in the same field of business.

 

I hope this clarifies things for you but if you or he want any further information about sponsorship, please let me know.

[jezerams]

thanks for the response, just wanted to clarify the situation

 

so cool, he can join for free and contribute

 

can his username mention his company name? and/or can he show a logo/company name in his signature?

 

I.E. is it just for a link to his website in the signature its £12 per year?

 

if he wanted to start threads in PROJECTS AND RESTORATIONS but not yet have banner ads etc how much would that be?

 

and then if he wanted banner ads too how much for that?

 

sorry.. not trying to suggest he avoids paying, but talking to him he's never been a member of a forum before, personally as an oldskool ford enthusiast and car owner as well as being someone who works on websites for a living i'm convinced its the best way to reach classic ford owners and enthusiasts, just want to give him a chance to see that for himself.

 

Once he has seen what it is all about, i would expect its gonna be easy next step to convince him its worth spending a little on it

 

be grateful if you could let me know

 

cheers

[Vista]

He can join for free and contribute to discussions yes. We welcome all members.

 

His username can be anything he likes (within taste limitations)

 

If he wants to post links to his website or a company logo (in his signature) then we ask that he is at least a contributor. Otherwise they'll be deleted.

 

Website links in posts or references back to the company name will be seen as trade advertising and deleted

 

Resto threads are generally intended to be for members restoring their own cars. Yes he can post threads about cars he's working on but any attempt to advertise his services within those threads will, again, be seen as trade advertising.

 

This may seem a bit harsh but a forum this size costs quite a bit to run and it's unfair to allow people to compete (for free) for business with genuine site sponsors.

[jezerams]

great ok, thanks for the info i'll pass it on