Ideas to Recruit more members:

[CTele02]

Well I always see "guests" out number actual "members" online at any given time so heres a suggestion: Restrict access to some forums to members only. For example: the DIY sections, the Member Profiles, Polls, car of the month, market place, group buy, and all the regional forums.

www.elantraclub.com and other car forums do this all across their forum... why can't this one?

Please vote and comment.

[robs02elantra]

I agree that it might be a good idea, but at the same time, some people like looking around for a while before they actually commit. I didn't join other sites because I couldn't find out what they were really about before joining. I like the freedom on here and I think that I got a better experience because of it.

It's not a bad idea though.

[CTele02]

Well, I'm only recommending partial restriction on some of the forums, so most of the site would still be accessible. But if the "guest" wants to see more, they would have to commit to the membership to see the extra goodies and knowledge they are missing out on.

[05xd]

Thats just goin to cause people to sign up just to snoop around and never show themselves again.Just look at the members list and see how many people joined and never returned.I wonder how many real members this site has?By real members, I mean ones that show up at least once a week or post on a regular basis.

[VTElantra]

I want to point out this other site and maby you can get some ideas from them. Tey got 3000 members in less than a month, 1 of them being me.

www.importpost.com

I got a member from there site on my cardomain asking me to join, so I did. There is actually quite a bit of Hyundai talk, mostly Tibbys, couple Elantras and the other models, mostly Honda's and stuff.

[Doohickie]

I was invited to join by someone on the Drivers & Believers Elantra GT mail list. I don't even remember who anymore! Maybe my point is that online contacts are kind of effective. I post to several other forums (the mail list above, Edmunds Elantra forums, ElantraClub, Hyundai-Forums.com, NewTiburon.com (hey, I can dream, right?)), and when there is someone there that can benefit from this crowd I don't hesitate to send them over. Sometimes they join, sometimes not, I guess.

[SuperGLS]

Honestly I hate that kind of thing. I have expressed this to a lot of people before over IM or PM. To me, making people login doesn't make any sense. If someone needs to check something real quick or they are someplace they can't (don't want) to log in, they still should have access to the site. You do have to be a member to use the Chat and Arcade, I think that's limiting it enough (that is more to protect against people using those functions for non EXD related stuff). Other sites like that are basically the same as porn sites (a couple teaser pics/movies and then a "Register for more!" message). To me, that's not the way any forum should be.

That's a nice site VT. The main reason I see for their rapid expansion is because it caters to millions of people, whereas EXD only caters to at most 100,000 new Elantra owners a year (and realistically less than 5,000 Elantra owners a year).

I can't imagine the hosting could be $500-$2000 a month though, unless they are getting ripped off. But, if they make money, the more power to them. I don't make any money off EXD and I'm not here to make any money really, although, I can't lie, I'd love to make money, or at least break even, but that doesn't even happen.

[CTele02]

Other sites like that are basically the same as porn sites (a couple teaser pics/movies and then a "Register for more!" message). To me, that's not the way any forum should be.
Hmmm... You seem to have a lot of experience on porn sites...

I can't lie, I'd love to make money, or at least break even, but that doesn't even happen.
And hey, the more people register... the more likely chance they will buy EXD merchandise :whisper:

[ZetaOne]

Here's the deal guys...........

A. You don't screw with the web visitors......if they lurk, they lurk. For every member in a club like this, you get 100 lurkers. The hope is one of them will pop in when he/she has a question or comment.....and then start to get comfortable. punishing anyone who lurks is a mistake. It's part of the Internet.


B. You want new members? Depends how much everyone esle here wants them too. It's easy as Hell. I saw a Ford Focus online group go from 100 or so members to about 8000 in one summer........ya know how they did it?

calling cards (business cards)

The owner of the site agreed on a design...with the web address and an explination....placed it into Acrobat reader and made it downloadabale to all members. Those members that were dedicated, spent $30 at a local printer, had 1000 cards made, and handed them to every Focus driver they saw, or placed on on every Focus windshield wiper they saw......all summer.

Each person wrote his/her name on the back of the card and the new member was asked to give them credit when they signed up.

The whole thing was amazing to watch and worked like a charm.

[alienman]

I really like that business card idea... the guys at sccowc did something like that before... and also had club decals made up so people who seen the cars would see the website as well...

I would be willing to drop a few cards under some wipers and hand some out to people i saw...not to mention... if i talk to my salesman at the dealership i could get him to drop a card with every new elantra he sells...or at least mention that we exist here...

[paki]

there are already business cards.. PM SuperGLS and he'll give you details. When I got mine I got 50 for i dont even remember now

So far, I have 20 left. No referrals yet.

[SuperGLS]

I do know a lot about porn sites as everyone should.

I never thought of downloadable business cards, that might be a good idea. I'm currently working up a couple different merchandise logos and when we pick one and finalize it, I might set something up like that. People just need to print them on quality paper, not regular stuff that would make people think "What the hell is this low quality poop?" Haha.

[BColeman]

I'm with Super... We shouldn't alienate visitors and prevent them from seeing different things. It shouldn't be a requirement to join, just to see if anyone else is having problems with putting new shoes on the rear drums, or a loud clanking noise coming from here or there.

When I found the original site of ElantraXD 2 years ago, I about keeled over in my chair. I was so excited to see there was a forum dedicated to just my car. I started at Hyundai Performance and on a suggestion from another member, I joined here. I haven't been back to Hyundai Performance in over a year and a half. I just joind Elantra Club the other day, but for one reason and one reason only. I was looking for more info regarding my Wideband O2 sensor, and the info wasn't here. And I tell you, I didn't appreciate having to register to just find some answers to a question.

I say we keep this site as open as possible, because not every John Doe wants to be a member to find out the answer to a question, or may not even be interested in the extent of modification that we are all into.

[Doohickie]

there are already business cards.. PM SuperGLS and he'll give you details. When I got mine I got 50 for i dont even remember now

So far, I have 20 left. No referrals yet.Well, stop putting them on "family" cars! (Like at Grapevine Mills :D )

[slow 2K2GT]

How about not jumping down neebies throats then they post a topic thats covered already...Or making HUGE signatures with SEARCH OR YOU WILL DIE A MISERABLE DEATH AT THE HANDS OF EXD JACKALS!!!!!

[paki]

Well, stop putting them on "family" cars! (Like at Grapevine Mills :D )

doh! well i did find an elantra xd2 w/ at the very least a muffler on it.. so i gave that person a card.. where the hell are they??? thats what i thought. lol

[Leviathant]

Slow2k2gt beat me to the point.

Two surefire ways to slow or reverse growth in an online community:
1) restrict access to registered users only - an attempt to cut back on fresh meat
2) berate the fresh meat.

Here's an analogy I'll rip off from OldSailor at Plastic.com, one of the best posters to visit that place.

I'm an old sailor, and this reminds me of a tale of the sea. The queen of spain had been involved in extensive trades with with Italy, and had been giving out lucrative contracts to Sailor's such as myself to perform the frequent transport trips.

As such, the spanish ports were crowded with sailor's of all stripes, all competeing for the coveted contracts. And there were plenty to go around, young sailor's with tiny schooner's to old pirates trying to go legitamite were all getting work.

Eventually, however, the Queen discovered the ineveitable consequences of her indiscriminate hiring. Large cargo's were being lost as her ships were being sunk, lost or robbed on their way to Italy.

Frustrated, the queen banned all ships except those with esablished reputations from the major ports for the shipping season. Suddenly, the ports were empty, deserted of even experinced sailors such as myself.

You see, what the queen didn't realize was that old seamen know the good money is in pillaging. I'd robbed as many shipments as I had transported to Italy. When the sea-newbies, if you will, had been removed from the picture, it was no longer an attractive prospect for me or sailor's like me.

So listen well Captain, theres a lesson in this tale for you. Your newest sailor's may sink the occasional thread, but you may find that many in your old guard is in it to scuttle the newbies, and could be tempted to take off for bluer waters*. Take this old sailor's word for it.

*Areas lucrative for pyrates and privateers.

Seriously, if you think about it, it makes sense. You've just got to find a healthy balance.

In arguing points for helping grow the community, you make the point that elantraclub.com's forums restrict access to certain parts of their site -- however, even with this, their total member count is nearly half of what ours is.

Anyway, I've been running online forums for over a decade now. Forced registration and restricted content on a site with fewer than 500 active members at any given time is a bad, bad idea. And griping about n00bs ('specially when you yourself are a n00b) is also a bad idea.

[vsolo]

In arguing points for helping grow the community, you make the point that elantraclub.com's forums restrict access to certain parts of their site -- however, even with this, their total member count is nearly half of what ours is. I'm not a big poster over there, but the owner did not like my age, I was 100 something over there too <grin> :D & made me change it, then when I was in the Desert for a few months, I get a "you have not been on in a while so we cut your membership off". I guess you are not allow to just read ???? **EDIT. I just went back & looged on & it let me in.. **EDIT** It is hard enough getting member but to make it harder why have a board with a tiny community like us.... I do this for fun...

[slow 2K2GT]

I forgot to mention this point earlier, but we have a lot of mods and a great admin who all do an awesome job of running things. If there is a problem with things getting out of control than let them deal with it. Allow them to talk to the noobs, if a question is asked and its been covered politely give them the answer and perhaps a link to the thread. Thats what a good leader would do. People will come back if we treat them good, they may even spread the word about our little community

[KeWLKaT]

^^^ totally agree

[zx2uner]

How about not jumping down neebies throats then they post a topic thats covered already...Or making HUGE signatures with SEARCH OR YOU WILL DIE A MISERABLE DEATH AT THE HANDS OF EXD JACKALS!!!!!
^^^^^^^^
I couldn't agree more

[RedScorp]

I didn't read through every single post so forgive me if my thought on this is redundant. But what's to be achieved by forcing people to register and login to view the site over just letting them roam around? Is that all that's wanted is an increased membership number on the forums?

I could understand it if SuplerGLS were running banner ads to support the forum hosting costs and that's what the advertisers wanted, but that's not the case. So in the end it's all about just a number that really means nothing anyway right?

I personally think we have a good group of core members here. Some like me don't frequent the site every single day but do fairly frequently and as time goes by we find ourselves mingling and even posting with more regularity.

Unless it's a money issue I think it should be left as is.

^^^^^^^^
I couldn't agree more

If it already exists I've never used it and therefore unaware of it's existance but since there seems to be such an irritation with noobies asking repetitive questions why don't we keep a sticky on each forum that addresses FAQ's and direct noobies to those stickies (and keep them updated!). If it's not there THEN ask. Make it easy for them, rather than getting on their arses about it. It's not like we don't have enough material to cover a FAQ sticky or something ya know? =)

[CTele02]

If it already exists I've never used it and therefore unaware of it's existance but since there seems to be such an irritation with noobies asking repetitive questions why don't we keep a sticky on each forum that addresses FAQ's and direct noobies to those stickies (and keep them updated!). If it's not there THEN ask. Make it easy for them, rather than getting on their arses about it. It's not like we don't have enough material to cover a FAQ sticky or something ya know? =)
Sorry to go completely O/T but I must justify my posts:
The reason many of us say "REPOST" is the fact that the information does "already exist" just some people (i'm not pointing fingers at the moment, I only do so when the reposting occurs) lack "searching skills"... and I mean that doesn't just regard this site, but that regards their use (actually misuse) of the abundant amount of information found on the internet in general...

For example when someone reposts, it takes them more time to write the useless/worthless question than it takes for many of us (me and the others you see "assisting" the noobs) to search a key word from the useless/worthless question and pull out 3 or more threads on it... its just poor internet etiquette to repost/rethread...
I know that theres "no such thing as a stupid question" but that doesn't mean the person asking it can't be....
In many examples, when I generally tell someone to "SEARCH", its after the fact that I've pulled out 3 or more threads (or one really important one) that answer/relate to the issue/question. Thus I AM being helpful. And sorry for the people that take "e-threats" too seriously like when someone shouts "stop being a lazy noob and search" maybe they must be personally offended since perhaps in real life they ARE lazy and have no idea how to answer things on their own.... I dont know nor do I care, but its sad when they can't take your simple advice and turn themselves around after the first time of being asked to search and begin to use the internet fully.
This is straight out of the Bible: "if you give someone a fish, you only fed them for a day, but if you TEACH them how to fish, you fed them for a lifetime"
There is even an announcement stickied on the top of EVERY forum showing/telling people to search FIRST ask questions later. And searching doesn't mean "Oh I put in one word and nothing came up" that means you try different variations of what you are looking for. Also don't only search, but READ the threads you find FULLY. You have eyes and a brain, thats how you're online and able to understand what I'm saying. So the main idea is: "Search and Read, and You won't get Flamed." is that so hard? For many people it is....

The reason I'm so harsh is I make that assumption that mostly everyone here is an "adult" and has a license and understands its responsibility. I assume people can mature and take good advice when given to accomplish the goals they desire... I guess my assumptions are false.

But anyways back on topic:
The main reason I bring up the "recruiting more members" thing is that Guests at every moment always out number members online... and I was just wondering why? So this is just one way of understanding that. Sure my suggestion can be "mean" to lurkers but like I said before, I'm mostly advocating partial "restrictions" on across the site only on the forums that can be a little "personal" (such as off topic/flame/member profiles/regionals etc).

[RedScorp]

CTele02,

Your post is certainly understood and well taken. Trust me, I don't really mind that people get frustrated at constantly having to tell others to search before asking, if I were as knowledgable as you guys are about modding our cars and such I'm sure I'd get tired of it if I had to look and potentially answer them every day. ...actually I know I would because I can't stand blatently stupid or lazy people myself. I just think it's a problem that every posting board similar to ours on other topics have. I don't think there's much of a way around it other than letting the mods do their job and enforcing the rules. They are here to enforce board restrictions after all! =)

Anyway, back O/T.

[slow 2K2GT]

I also have read and taken in your reply. What you need to understand though is there is a way of showing them how to do it. There is the out and out method of putting big loud pictures and links into you sig and yelling at people when it happens. There is also the method I employ, give them the answer they are looking for, inform them of the search feature and that it should be used in the future to avoid bad things, and also supply a link to further information for them if needed. If people are so keen on searching around here why not do some searching on my above method of approach. No im not saying im perfect or anything, but your time around a forum definitely reflects how you respond to things.

[ilanpro]

Why will people come to Join, So they can be made asses off themselfs? "SEARCH YOU NOOB" and **** like that! The site is for Information If I would join and someone would make me look like an *** by not using the search or whatever, I would go Elsewere. just my .02

[CornbreadXD]

I've used over 100 buisness cards. I've even put them on some cars twice i think, AND wrote my name on the back of the card...and I still haven't seen anyone from my area on this site. WTF! I need some more cards though cuz i'll keep trying. and BTW (off topic) would anyone else want EXD windshield banners I had one on and the ice+windshield wiper tore it off. I need another but Super is out <groupbuy?!?!>

[zx2uner]

What you need to understand though is there is a way of showing them how to do it. There is the out and out method of putting big loud pictures and links into you sig and yelling at people when it happens. There is also the method I employ, give them the answer they are looking for, inform them of the search feature and that it should be used in the future to avoid bad things, and also supply a link to further information for them if needed. If people are so keen on searching around here why not do some searching on my above method of approach. No im not saying im perfect or anything, but your time around a forum definitely reflects how you respond to things.

Again,^^^^^^well written. It's not that hard to repeat an answer and give a link to a related thread. I am not mentioning names, but some of you are hard on newbies, and I know all of us have asked a question that has a previous post somewhere on here. Does everyone search b4 they post? I surely don't, and I am positive I am not the only one.

Why will people come to Join, So they can be made asses off themselfs? "SEARCH YOU NOOB" and **** like that! The site is for Information If I would join and someone would make me look like an *** by not using the search or whatever, I would go Elsewere. just my .02

^^^^^6your .02 is exactly right.

[RedScorp]

Perhaps we should really look at the old saying that all of our parents told us when we were kids... "If you having nothing nice to say then don't say anything at all." Maybe that is the best approach to help attract more members in this case.

[CTele02]

Does everyone search b4 they post? I surely don't
1234567

[ZetaOne]

1. and most importantly: Porn Rocks. :)

2. It's all in the marketing Super.

(a) the people on the Focus site did not call them "business cards", they called them "Pimp Cards"......and that's what the card said too. Let's face it, little things like that work.

(b) the ability to instantly mass deliver the card design via Adobe was genius, and it worked. It allowed every member to set up his own distribution netword with no complaints or waiting. The onus was on him/her.

(c) the cards were short & sweet. They mentioned the site was free, made by Focus owners FOR Focus owners, non profit, informational and educational.


Free Pimp Cards for the People !!!!





I do know a lot about porn sites as everyone should.

I never thought of downloadable business cards, that might be a good idea. I'm currently working up a couple different merchandise logos and when we pick one and finalize it, I might set something up like that. People just need to print them on quality paper, not regular stuff that would make people think "What the hell is this low quality poop?" Haha.

BINGO!!


[QUOTE=Leviathant]Slow2k2gt beat me to the point.

Two surefire ways to slow or reverse growth in an online community:
1) restrict access to registered users only.
2) berate the fresh meat.[/QUOTE=Leviathant]


RACK HIM!!!

[rckozma]

I am going to add my 2 cents. CTele02 already knows how I stand on the poll.

I am about to close on a new house (actually tomorrow at 2pm). One of the 'deals' I had with my wife is that after we get the house then I can get my bike. There are about 5 different types/manufacturers I am looking at. So I have joined 5 different forums looking for info about each different bike. The one thing I notice on here is that the first thing the major offenders say is 'it would take you less time to search than to make this thread', and I will tell you that is simply not true. On one particular site I have been searching for over 3 days and I know it would have been easier and faster if I could have just made a thread like 'I am thinking of buying a xxxxx, what should I look for and what type of known problems are there for this bike'. But being a mod here and seeing how some of our members treat others that do this and being new to their site I don't do that, but I know it would be easier.

I guess what I am saying is that being on the other side of the fence, I know where they are coming from and we all need to help others out. Besides, isn't it knowledge that we are all seeking?

[ZetaOne]

It's become obvious here that people have to stop slapping newbies around about the search feature, and either help them, or say nothing.......

But that does not address the ORIGINAL topic......which is attracting new members.......that just keeps the new members here. Still.....a very good point that I noticed from day one.

[Cypher]

well this thread is about attracting new members... obviously if one can view the site and sees noobies getting bashed they will not joined so that must be cut down on. SECONDLY, i saw one of the business cards that vahyundai had and i must say it wasn't something that would make me wanna go check out the site or join it. it just didn't say hey come look at me. it was a bit too bland. maybe make up some slogan or something? as of now all it has is like "Elantraxd" and the web address right? its boring! you gotta spark people's interests ya know? thats how you'll get them hooked.

[SuperGLS]

You hurt my feelings Cypher, I was the one that made up the cards for BlueGT all those years ago, haha. It actually says "Chat - DIY - Forums - Aftermarket Guide - Car of the Month" and says "The foremost site for Elantra XD Performance."

However, I'm always up for new designs, and like I mentioned earlier, I am making up some new logo designs so we'll see.

[slow 2K2GT]

I think this site grows well on its own, but like anything else you have to back what you believe. I can tell people about this site and what is available to them or the fact that im not a fool for modding a Hyundai and there are others out there just like me. Thats one reason I purchased a calendar, so I could display it at work where 500+ pers will see it each day. I am a firm supporter of this site and tell everyone about it when they ask about my car or where I purchase parts. On that same respect people are only going to join if they feel the need, join is one thing come back thats another. Take a look at the members list, theres a ton of people who have signed up and never came back or visit very little. So I dont think our troubles are centered around having people join, I think its keeping them. Our small circle of regulars are what holds this place together.

How many times has someone handed you a business car and you put it into your wallet then never seen it again until you cleaned it out. Word of mouth and visual reference are what people go off of. We dont need to have random car meets we need to get in touch with local dealerships and have our cars at their big sales, even if we arent there to sit with them. Humans are like crow or ferrets, very attracted to shiny things and always interested in whats different, not banners or cards.

[Leviathant]

So what you're saying is...

...we should have shiny business cards!



Ever notice that when you Google the words "Hyundai Elantra" that ElantraXD is nowhere to be found?

[Cypher]

super you know i didn't mean to say that the cards were absoutely horrible or anything... just it needs to be changed. it has to hook the people to get them to join. now i didn't remember it saying all that but it doesn't really make me want to join and post. some people wanna feel like they are part of something special. thats what the cards have to entail. you know what i mean right? it has to spark their interest and make them want to become part of this great community. and thats a good point too. how easy is it to find this site if you're searching in google or another search engine?

[slow 2K2GT]

"elantra aftermarket" works, brings up 1 links at the top.

[SuperGLS]

I'm not sure how I can make it appear more on Google, I've always been interested in getting better results there, but have been unable to figure out what to do (help me out here Matt).

Cypher, I know what you are saying, just giving you a hard time.

[rckozma]

So what you're saying is...

...we should have shiny business cards!

Ever notice that when you Google the words "Hyundai Elantra" that ElantraXD is nowhere to be found?

I used Yahoo's search 3 years ago when I found EXD.

[J-son]

I'm not sure how I can make it appear more on Google, I've always been interested in getting better results there, but have been unable to figure out what to do (help me out here Matt).

Cypher, I know what you are saying, just giving you a hard time.


I am not Matt, but I have a little info I can give you on this. My inlaws and I have a Bed and Breakfast here in Fort Wayne, Indiana and we are always trying to improve the amount of people we can generate from the internet. So we have a listing under the Yahoo search for people seeking a bed and breakfast in Fort Wayne. We pay a little fee for key words, ex: Bed and Breakfast, Fort Wayne Bed and Breakfast, etc. I am not totaly clear how my father-in-law set it up but I think it is something on their (yahoo, google, etc.) site for you to sign up for. You pay per findings, hence that is how google make most of there money and their top links on the right side. I now when I google search something, I make it simple and short. So having Hyundai Elantra under a google search list would be very cool, but how far donw the list would you have to look. Most people are not going to look through ten pages of search for ElantrXD's web site, let the evidence show when it come to simple things like CAI,Exhaust, and etc.

About how many members do we really have. I thought the same thing when I look at the home pages about the guest here. Why there was so many more than members? And also in the members directory there is alot of names that are taken with zero posts. Couldn't these be erased after a certain time. Let a members name have an experation date so to speek. Ex: you have not posted in 4-6 months or something your reminded and if you don't reply to the reminder then the name becomes available to the public. Then we could have a true feel of who's out there and not. I would image that alot of the names are not used because people changed their sign in name...just guessing.

I like the b.c. (business cards) idea. If something simple like that and getting a local group together with their Hyundai Dealers on there big sale days could be a great idea to. Just this last summer a couple times I head up to the dealer when they have their 20years/200,000 mile warranty special and park my car up their in the front of the store. Alot of people looked at the car and couldn't beleive it was sitting on 19's and that there was a web sites out there for Hyundais regaurding information and performance options. I am sure that if I had thought if it and had some splashy looking b.c. to give them or had on the car somewhere, I am sure some would check it out or even become a member. Who knows, you dont know unless you try. And sometimes you just have to repeat yourself over and over and over again till you find people interested.

Newbie will be newbies. Some times you just have to bite you tongue and give them the answer, even if it is ask alot. I am a newbie at my job in the shipping department at Heidtman Steel. I have asked questions and probably some of the same question more than once, it is only because I do not want to screw up anything with shippments of steel to our customers. But after a couple weeks of getting comfortable with my surroundings I d o not ask those same questions. This is most likely the same for a newbie here. You don't see long time members or mods, or adm. asking where to buy a cAI or such new items a newbie would ask. Because they have been here a while and they are comfortable with their surroundings. I thnk SuperGLS has done a great job annoucing to new members of the search function and having all the stickies in every topic should help to.

Hey SuperGLS...(not yelling at you)
Would it be best to wait till you have something firgured out for a new b.c. idea or is this something a member could take on their own and make something up to hand out to other Elantra or Hyundia owners. IF it is ok for a member to make something up that would be cool, if now that's cool to.

Well, I think I have rambled lonng enough. Just so many points I wanted to comment on after reading all of the above posts.

Cheers,
J-son
:D

[CTele02]

Perhaps the business card face could be in color and have a collage of elantra pictures like the one on the calender front pic (but obviously not the same).

[J-son]

Had a little time b4 I took off. I thought I might do some google searches on some key word that would like to our community.

key word: elantraxd
#1 (of course) on 1st page

key word: elantra
page 23 on the bottom...link to www.elantraxd.com

key word: hyundai elantra
zero finds of www.elantraxd.com or anything related out of 67 pages

key word: elantra aftermarket
page 1 4th listing relates to a post in elantraxd

key word: hyundai performance
page 3 bottom untiled link, relates to hyundaiperformance website in EXD's link page

key word: hyundai aftermarket
page 4 realtes to hyundai aftermarket website in EXD's link page

Just thought this might help if you had newbies looking for an Elantra web site and forums to be a part of.

Cheers,
J-son

[Keyan]

There is an HTML code you can use in the >HEAD< tag to increase seach hits on google and yahoo etc etc.

I will look it up for you.

[CTele02]

The only problem is that no one knows about the term "XD" until they actually find this place....

[Keyan]

Ok, here is what the code of elantraxd.com looks like


<head>
<title>ElantraXD.com</title>

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" />
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The "keywords" meta tag is the key to getting hits on a search engine. There are 2 tricks. 1 is to space everything. elantra, hyundai, gt, gls etc etc.

the second trick is a long one.

Go %$@#!@ing nuts on it. Every thing. Example:

elantra, gt, gls, elantra gt, elantra gls, hyundai elantra, hyundai elantra gt, hyundai gt, elantra performance, hyundai elantra performance, ETC ETC.

The trick is to type in what you think the person will type in EXACTLY into google, yahoo, etc.

PLUS, the more times you write "elantra" and "hyundai" into that keywords tag, the more "relevant" the website will become, and the higher up in the list it will be.

:)

[J-son]

very cool Keyan!

[slow 2K2GT]

shoot Keyan your pretty smart with this stuff, wish I knew more about it. I honestly had a hard time making my Cardomain site at the start. Huh. Well done.

[CTele02]

Cool so I guess once the "list" of keywords is made... just copy paste it over and over to make it show up more???

Don't forget year numbers 01 02 03 etc, then theres the 2001, 2002, 2003
Modifications such as: Elantra Cold Air Intake, Elantra Bodykit, Elantra BodykitS
I guess it all depends on if there is a "limit"

[Leviathant]

You want hardcore search engine optimization?

I got your hardcore search engine optimization right here (http://www.vaughns-1-pagers.com/internet/google-ranking-factors.htm). Meta tags are so 2001 ;)

[ZetaOne]

in with: "PIMP CARDS"

out with: "business cards"

[CTele02]

Does anyone else get that "Smart" hyundai driver news letter/magazine? I get one like every couple months or so and I was wondering if maybe the Hyundai aftermarket car forums had a chance of advertizing in it.... they usually have "testimonies" about the cars from drivers and some facts about new models. It think that would be the "ultimate" way of reaching out to all Hyundai owners.... and Hyundai would be doing all the distributing work for us (at a high expense probably) but how much would a little ad on that go for ya think?
Has anyone tried this in the past?
http://www.hyundaiusa.com/owners/ownermagazine/main.aspx

[LittleGT]

I am new to this club, and did not read every post. But the first thing that came to mind, is to share this group with your local dealers. Have them put a card about our club in every new Elantra/BetaII/?, they sell. If your dealer is a good guy/girl, he/she will understand that this will be a great selling gig. Not only will the new owner have a large group of new friends (that knows about these cars), but if the owner really enjoys the car, he/she will share this with friends. This means a new group of buyers.

[SuperGLS]

Hey guys, sorry, I missed all posts since my last one (I was out for a couple days and just missed them, sorry). Good info from everyone. Keyan, when putting them in it asks me to use no spaces if I remember correctly, but I will add more stuff.

Matt, I don't know what any of that stuff is, ha.