Forum

So… about 2 years ago I remember having a chat with a few peeps about setting a site like this up. The idea was to have a place where there was always a ride going on. I put a few designs out to the original members for feedback and got a great steer from them on what they wanted to see. Finally the site went live with this post http://www.essexhertsmtb.co.uk/mountain ... 9.html#p19 (yeaaaa drew the spew! Never ride on a hangover) but it wasn’t really released to the wild until May 2010.

Its awesome to see rides going on all the time now. There always seem to be options of a weekend of an XC ride or a jumpy ride which is exactly what we wanted to happen. Thus far it seems to be a cool and chilled out place to ebike and there have been some wicked riding days / trips which have come about from posts on here. Thanks to everyone who has or is contributing!

Anyway the reason for the history lesson is to give some background, in preparation for a bit of a look ahead. Coming up I’m thinking of… (brain dump time)

1. Looking into Google adwords – yea ads I know.. boo hiss… but id like some funds to invest in some software to help automate some tasks pay fees etc. User contributions never work unfortunately. Im sure they can be integrated to look sweet. TBH I think revenue might be pitiful but only one way to find out. I might trial it for a month or so. Linking with local bike shops might be a neater option but would take time to organise.
2. Using funds generated from above to work on a media bin idea where all assets are in one place and can be pulled in round the site.. V optimistic in the short term.
3. Custom 404 – just cos I fancy it – lots of pics of crashes should do the trick.
4. Fix misreported posts at the bottom of the forum.
5. Fix the mark as read which has to be clicked twice and is a little funky.
6. Add in extra venues to map dirt jumping in Essex, Langdon hills.
7. Tweak / automate homepage gallery.
8. Work on LinkPopularity as we have some bad ass content but Google doesn’t always pick it up.

There are some areas where you guys can help.

1. Link back to this site where you can – other forum sigs (mtbr pinkbike etc).
2. Take pics / vids – they really bring the site to life and it’s great to get some fresh eye candy on the site which isn’t from me.
3. Keep the suggestions for changes tweaks coming. I can’t act on them all but they are good to hear.. Anything which requires manual maintaince or requires loads of dev will always be tricky.
4. Report any bugs or site madness you see.
5. Let me know if you are a PHP / Web designer legend with some free time as I’m always having ideas to streamline the site but don’t always have the skills.
6. Let me know if there are any venues you want listed which arnt on the map.

Feedback welcome

Okay…thats enough ebiking lets go slay the brown pow

I'm a web developer (do PHP/MySQL/CSS/jQuery etc and help maintain a load of Linux servers). Could even sort out free hosting if you ever need it. I'd be happy to help out when I can. To be honest I think the site is pretty sweet as it is.

Schweet site.

Like the new map idea.

I would pay to advertise on here?

Cant complain at all really.

The only thing would be, dont try and make it too big. Look at places like SDH.....its the joke of the riding forums. Full of 15 year olds who have had a 5 grand bike bought for them by mummy and daddy, and who know it all.

My only other gripe I expressed in another thread, about giving out trail locations willy nilly.

I maybe barking up the wrong tree here, so tell me to shove off if i am. I used to belong to a car forum/club whatever you want to call it. They had a subscription fee to join which i think was £20 initial joining fee then £10 every year after, which isn't a lot of money but paid for the site maintenance etc. They also had a Traders forum, obviously Traders paid to advertise and gave a discount to subscribed members and group buys. For this subscription fee you got a membership card/number and full access to the forum i.e. Traders forum and the for sale forum and in this case the Trails and rides area's too. Non subscribing guests will only be able to access the Gallery and forum but only be allowed to post for a limited time.

No awaits the stoning for the mention of a subscription fee.

And if i have got the wrong end of the stick i apologies

Caps and T shirts and sweat shirts is another option, i think that was already mentioned somewhere though?

Yeah the clothing the is 'in progress' (i.e I'll have more time to sort it when I've moved into my house this weekend, woo!). I'm not sure many would be keen on a subscription.

Thanks Eccles - i rememebr u mentioning it on the ride a couple weeks ago. ill touch base next time there is some funky coding needed.

Cheers for the ideas... ill vote no for subscription.. it disincentives new people from joining. Making the content and rides accessible was one of the original ideas of the site. Cheers for the suggestion anyway. Its worth debating.

Thinking about it more id like to get good quality local bike shops / bike related businesses with a couple of banners on here. Eg noels fitness stuff would be relevant etc. It will add to the local feel for us and they cant ask for a more relevant or focussed audience for an advertisement. We have also had numerous - where's a good local shop debates on here and it might help with that. What are the local shops that everyone uses / recommends?

The local shop thing could be tied in with the map maybe ?
to show were the shops are local to riding places - i.e: so if your go riding in broxbourne for your first time and don't know the area, the map has shown you how close there is a recomended bikeshop by another member ?

edit: too keep it tidy on the map could be the same symbol, jsut smaller, and name of shop doesnt come up until you hover over it or something, just a thought

Yes, great site and its great to have options at the weekend.



Inital thought is that there is already too much advertising on here. Site should be about riding not shopping.

Adwords / adverts aren' t the way forward, they are annoying as funk

The software / content slows the site down, a 39k ad is standard size, this page is 4k for comparison.
I use and assume most people use adblockers.
Monetary revenue is a fraction of what you think. Thats why sites that take adverts start out with one ad and end up with a page full.
If you want bigger advertisers, marketing knobs will insist on tracking data, which means using ad traffic management software which slows down the site ever further because they prioritise the ad content before the site content.

Im not suggesting a subscription, Im sure most regualar riders wouldnt mind donating ten or twenty quid considering the cost of the bikes we ride

This site is also hosted in the US isn't it? That also slows things down a little. As I mentioned, if hosting is being paid for at the moment I could host it here in the UK for free as a friend has a small hosting company that I can host free with or I can probably get something sorted through my work. Apart from domainsamd time are there other costs?

Said same donation button. Clean looking site then adds.

Jon's exmoor cake budget

He needs to do the exmoor explorer event then, plenty of free cake at the half way stop!