My site has been going for 7.5 months I have reviewed 369 magazines and added the sumarised contents to the Web site. In addition I added 40-50 magazines of mainly those of to the much bigger archive which is off line currently on over 350 Excel Spreadsheets and 35 searchable fields. In the course of the period the sites been live I have answered many queries to help car enthusists find information on their car or a car they are about to buy not just here In New Zealand but also those from overseas...However
Not all have I managed to answer and this blog will serve as an ideal temporarly forum until I get a forum produced on the my main web site
MYSTERIES
4 queries come to mind 2 are from New Zealanders and 2 from overseas 1 of those I had approached myself off the British pre-war web site which is the partner to the excellent Vintage Magazine The Automobile. -In this instance I had to admit I had bitten off more then I could chew in that this car was a 'bitsa' made up of a Griur chassis; Fiat mechanicals and what looked to me like a MORETTI 750GS Spyder body of the mid 50s or was it a something like ever rarer company an ERMINI ( I ) which was around in the period 1950-1954/1956 I had to admit I am stumped as present owner believed car was a x Italian race car that raced in Europe and was later raced by number of Americans in the 1950s called MacArthur -Present owner is anxious to find what it really is as he wishes to do a professional restoration on it -
More... soon
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Monday, August 13, 2007
Any website business or service with no contact details is going to lose in the long run !
Ahhh.... Its late I had ment to write a blogg weekly but this stupid idiot- MYSELF forgot his password and user details and I have had a devil of a job trying to get it from blogger! -
For many weeks I pretty much gave up as I could never get an answer as reply from Blogger. Blogger kept sending me an email with link to a highway to never..never land! Ie looping me to hoop after hoop to type a phrase but there was still no password - thank goodness tucked away in far box in one of my many boxes of magazines that surround my feet still to be added to my car magazine index was scrap of paper with the details and here I stand before you...
There is something to be said with regard to automatic replies they do not work. people like to feel they are important and that there is a human being at the end of the line
There are many instances of big companies that dominate the internet - I Found this again with personal experience with other large predomiately US Corporations E-Bay, Pay Pal, Gateway all come to mind at different times.
Frankly those that have automatic repies have lost me as a customer.
In my capacity as a reviewer of car magazines both current and those of past its important to be in contact with the publishers and the publishers should be in contact with public - its called feedback and it should be is two directions not one way in favour of the magazine we want your money and we also want you to buy something from our advertisers who support us!
A disturbing trend I starting to see with the Car magazines as many seek to upgrade their sites they have the Bells and whistles but they lack something (Where the F is your contact details?) a case in point and in my opinion the market leader for inovation and the first car magazine to be on the web is the little known South African 'Car Today' is good example see www.cartoday.com
When a business first starts up the web site is still pretty basic with few pages - more functional then beauty. These sites in an early stage are called Infotmation Pages at Stage 1 but even these have contact details!!!
I chatted to a local Kiwi Publisher that produces Automotive magazines when asked them Why they do not have a section for letters to the Editor (After all it is Reader feedback)
This is this response
"We don't deal with the public
"It uses up too much editorial time"
Do you really want to buy magazines from these Guys? Is this unique to those of us who live down under or is it a worrying trend
Your comments
For many weeks I pretty much gave up as I could never get an answer as reply from Blogger. Blogger kept sending me an email with link to a highway to never..never land! Ie looping me to hoop after hoop to type a phrase but there was still no password - thank goodness tucked away in far box in one of my many boxes of magazines that surround my feet still to be added to my car magazine index was scrap of paper with the details and here I stand before you...
There is something to be said with regard to automatic replies they do not work. people like to feel they are important and that there is a human being at the end of the line
There are many instances of big companies that dominate the internet - I Found this again with personal experience with other large predomiately US Corporations E-Bay, Pay Pal, Gateway all come to mind at different times.
Frankly those that have automatic repies have lost me as a customer.
In my capacity as a reviewer of car magazines both current and those of past its important to be in contact with the publishers and the publishers should be in contact with public - its called feedback and it should be is two directions not one way in favour of the magazine we want your money and we also want you to buy something from our advertisers who support us!
A disturbing trend I starting to see with the Car magazines as many seek to upgrade their sites they have the Bells and whistles but they lack something (Where the F is your contact details?) a case in point and in my opinion the market leader for inovation and the first car magazine to be on the web is the little known South African 'Car Today' is good example see www.cartoday.com
When a business first starts up the web site is still pretty basic with few pages - more functional then beauty. These sites in an early stage are called Infotmation Pages at Stage 1 but even these have contact details!!!
I chatted to a local Kiwi Publisher that produces Automotive magazines when asked them Why they do not have a section for letters to the Editor (After all it is Reader feedback)
This is this response
"We don't deal with the public
"It uses up too much editorial time"
Do you really want to buy magazines from these Guys? Is this unique to those of us who live down under or is it a worrying trend
Your comments
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