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By definition, visitors to your web site and blog ARE interested in pickups in general and yours in particular. They are a self-selecting bunch.
The argument for posting on a public Interweb forum is that you might attract the occasional browser who had not previously been aware of you and your products.
As my father and grandfather were both engineers I have a built in interest in how things work, and as a lover of all things classic and old, I love getting dead kit up and doing what it was built for.
My original motivation for putting up restoration threads was to help generate content for the then 'new' forum: as we had to hit the ground running after the demise of 'the previous place' ... sure I might have gained a few sales since those days through the rebuilds, but the intent was to entertain and inform. To show the work that goes on behind the scenes when you send a pickup away to get fixed.
Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message
it's also maker-doer active, potential customer passive. which may suit those maker-doers who are good at putting themselves out there, but they may only be the tip of the iceberg.
but if a potential customer wants to find out who all the finishers on the forum are, check out examples of their work, then make contact, it's not so easy.
if you have been here years, then you will know a few names, but everyone arrives here new.
obviously the easiest way is to put out a shout in a comment, but that requires a different shout for each person who wants something done (allowing for repeat business), and relies on someone who can recommend the right finisher for them to notice their appeal and respond to that. hit and miss and quite contingent.
whereas with a simple list of names, services and links, they would instantly know who does what on the fourm, and how to get in touch with them, so they could go from thinking about doing something to initiating contact themselves, without recourse to apublic appeals or luck.
but (to someone like me who hasn't been here years and doesn't just know) it's a bit like looking for a shop you don't know the name of in a town you've never been to before.
i can scroll through for a while and get a general impression of what is going on. but it's wandering around, optimistic but hit and miss.
if you were going to paris, berlin, bcn for the weekend, would you wander around (hopefully but aimlessly) all weekend in an area you heard there was a music shop, or would you look in yellow pages for a list so you could get going and in there asap?
it could be a list, or an x/y axis spreadsheet, or chart. maybe it's a bad idea and maybe it can't be done.
it was basically me thinking out aloud about how things could be made simpler or more direct.
It's not the old "look at this, buy this, it'll make your clothes whiter" advertising. It's far more effective in that it demonstrates - in detail - your expertise and capabilities. That establishes your credibility far more effectively than any of that old "advertising" ever could. And posts like that persuaded me to trust you with my ££s all those years ago, and probably many others too. Keep those posts coming Ash.
And that's why I think we can do better. Just haven't worked out how to do it better without creating a load more work for ourselves yet!
I like to think that I have some understanding of how much work is involved in taking photographs whilst doing the job and, then, composing text to describe/explain what is visible in the photographs without resorting to jargon any more than absolutely necessary.
Don't take my word for anything, folks. Gauge the level of interest in the inner workings of guitar pickups by getting technical with the average end user. Watch their eyes glaze over. Fifteen seconds could be enough.
Some self-employed friends of mine run an ecologically-friendly website design business. Margins have always been tight. Any activity that does not bring in money is unceremoniously dropped - including not replying to voicemail messages unless they contain firm orders.
The extent my support of Ash's work is confined to one pair of pickups that I purchased through this forum approximately a year ago. Unless or until I crack open my wallet, I do not expect Ash to take the slightest notice of me - maybe, not even then.
The marketing value of the forum works in two ways. It opens up interest. I’ve always modded my guitars, but without this forum I wouldn’t have started building them from scratch, with all the purchases that ensue. The forum also gives credibility, both in someone’s abilities, and their trustworthiness. I know who I’ll turn to if I want a neck made, a body painted, or a pickup wound. Without this forum I wouldn’t have known that you guys were in business.
Not correct, look back up the thread.
"Don't take my word for anything, folks. Gauge the level of interest in the inner workings of guitar pickups by getting technical with the average end user. Watch their eyes glaze over. Fifteen seconds could be enough."
Not true: In some senses I wish it was, it would save me hours a week answering technical e mails, and being on the phone to customers for sometimes an hour plus each! The 'average customer' is far more technically savvy than say five years ago.
"Some self-employed friends of mine run an ecologically-friendly website design business. Margins have always been tight. Any activity that does not bring in money is unceremoniously dropped - including not replying to voicemail messages unless they contain firm orders."
Since when is answering customer enquiries not going to bring in money? When you answer an potential customer's enquiry your job in any business is to convert that interest into a sale. If you don't take that opportunity you are simply a shit businessman!
"The extent my support of Ash's work is confined to one pair of pickups that I purchased through this forum approximately a year ago. Unless or until I crack open my wallet, I do not expect Ash to take the slightest notice of me - maybe, not even then."
I always take notice of public reaction to what I do, and especially to customer reaction. That's what running a business is all about. Acting on the more subjective aspects of some of those reactions is another matter. Lasting as long as we have in this (these days overcrowded) business takes a certain bull headedness (as well as a willingness to work seven days a week for next to bugger all) :-)
Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message
http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/137630/the-directory/p1
@gavin_axecaster for parts
• Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@Goldeneraguitars
@streethawk for parts
• Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@Goldeneraguitars
This cannot possibly be an error by a member of long standing. It must be the relative newcomer.
For example. your post above was posted at 6.43pm, that's shown on the post title bar directly under your userID. Hover over that time and a little pop-up shows August 12, 2018 6.43pm. If you look back at a post in previous days, the displayed timestamp just shows the date. But, hover over it and you get the full date/time stamp displayed again.
just on first sight if that initial list i've immediately doubled the number of builders i was aware of, and been able to quicklink to their work threads. so it works perfectly in a simple list format.
hopefully it will get spread around the threads quickly from now on, and makers-doers and forum will become all the more the busier and more inter-connected for it. totally wired!
Obviously because I have a business interest, I spend a lot of time in the Made in the UK thread and find it amazing seeing the work of the talented members who post there.
My previous experience with other forums has normally had the rule of 'no selling/promoting in discussion pages' and business members who do that often tend to get shot down, so I've always been a bit bashful of posting things work related in Making and Modding etc - so as not to be seen as hawking for trade - but it's good to know that when I have something interesting to show I can do that there too. Cheers.
www.rexterguitars.co.uk
To me this is a safeguard not necessarily against moderator action, but against any 'hawking for trade' issues the general membership might have.
Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message