MotorWeb Sale

[ivo]

A Big week for MWeb last week by all accounts with the majority shareholding now in the hands of Thomas Crosbie Media.

[Junior]

Well with Brian Byrne branching out into his own site and nothing happening with the site for over a year, one wonders is it to little too late ?

Theres also the dot com backlash that has been happening in the industry in the last while as well, you are no longer selling your dot com but your content and your long term future. One thing I've learnt Content is King. Also it is worth considering with most of these sites the forum is only an interactive part and not the one that actually generates revenue. So how long before the forum dies ?

[Anders]

Why doesn't the forum generate revenue? Assuming that revenue is generated by hits, it's as good as anything? It also draws attention to the site, the thing has been developed already, and I doubt it costs that much to keep it running. And every other commercial motoring related site in Ireland has a forum. And most every successful site in the world has some sort of discussion forum or chat room to attract traffic.

And even if it is removed, there's not really a lack of forums out there.

What is Brian Byrne's site, btw?

[Junior]

Why doesn't the forum generate revenue?

The Forum(s)don't generate cash mainly because all you can sell on them is Banner Ads ... and banner ads only operate on a click thru basis normally. They don't operate on a view basis most of the time from my understanding of things.

Thats the difference between hits and click thrus, hits are just page impressions, where as click thrus are an actual person going to look at what the ad is about.

It also draws attention to the site, the thing has been developed already, and I doubt it costs that much to keep it running.

This is where it all falls apart, how often do forum members browse the site, they don't, the site is a target for people who can't find the information on the site.

UBB and VBulletin Cost money to buy, they take up huge amounts of space on servers and unless well managed do become fat and slow. So Cost is a factor UBB costs $600 for a licence and is the Microsoft Bloatware of the BB World VBulletin is heading that way as well.

And every other commercial motoring related site in Ireland has a forum. And most every successful site in the world has some sort of discussion forum or chat room to attract traffic.

These interactive features don't attract traffic Anders they hold it, thats their whole life cycle .. they create sticky visitors. If someone was looking for information once they found it on sites like these they leave, you don't really need to keep checking the specs on a Mazda 121 now do you ?

Also just because Johnnys Site has a discussion forum does it really mean you *need* one yourself ?


And even if it is removed, there's not really a lack of forums out there.

I certainly agree there, and I think it's Irishcar.com

Btw you still looking for *properllheads* to help out with your site ?? Drop me a line if ya are.

[Anders]

Not an expert on internet advertising, but I was talking to someone the other day who claimed to know what he was talking about, and he said that viewing the ad is sufficient for revenue.

I think you're wrong about the interactive aspect of sites, but I'm not an expert on how to generate traffic to a web site. But it seems to me that any site with information that's updated rarely, like that on a car web site, will have problems attracting people constantly.

I think one way or the other that any Irish car site trying to get hits on contents will have a big problem. Sites like cbg.ie try to give information and reviews, but as always it's pathetically bad if you compare with any of the British sites based on the British car mags. The only site I find of any value in Ireland is that autofinder.ie or whatever it's called, and that's because the manufacturer's/importer's web sites are so useless in this country. But I'd say that's a reasonably expensive site to run and probably doesn't get a huge number of hits. I suspect the new motorweb.ie will contain that information and will probably try to become a hub for dealers to advertise their cars.

Hopefully my dealer satisfaction site will add something to the web space, and yes I'm still looking for help... I'll drop you a line.