Autopia Pro Services

[Bobby G]

Happy New Year Autopia Pros!



How many of you would like to have a website under the Autopia name where visitors can easily find you? I`m thinking of two service levels. Basic would be under the autopia.ws domain where you would be reached via www.autopia.ws/~yourname. Premium membership would give you your own domain, but you would still be accessible via a "Detailer`s Directory".



I would include some key website features including:



* Autopia email

* Mini forum (one topic area)

* Appointment scheduler

* Web based page design

* Pre-defined web templates



Thoughts?



db

[Kleanride]

For vendors too? :nixweiss

[jimmybuffit]

Well, I`m all for it! As with most things, it will be a value based decision - cost versus benefit. But you know that...



Would MY clients be subjected to Ads and vendor related posts? I`m not sure they want or need that. Of course, they would be as welcome as anyone in the general/current forums, right?



Put me on top of the "most likely" list.



Jim

[C. Charles Hahn]

ok since you would be giving us "pre defined" HTML Templates, could we also still upload our own stuff? (as in our own hand-coded or FrontPage/Dreamweaver designed HTML pages?)

[ragtopgolfer]

How much would you plan on charging?

How many templates are there?

[imported_Intel486]

I wouldn`t mind it.



What is the draw of these pages though? Are we suppose to attact customers off Autopia? I don`t think many Autopians would hire a pro detailer as they would want to do the work themselves.



For my normal customers I already have stuff setup for them and server101.com offers hosting for $9 a month and you can use your own URL.

[Bobby G]

All good questions... let me give a little more input.



1. I get 5-10 emails a week asking me to recommend a detailer. My standard answer is "sorry... I don`t have a database of detailers by area..." So, people do find autopia looking for detailers.



2. I will be adding more car car articles soon... I fell off the wagon in 2002 and didn`t write much new information. I am almost finished with a new database driven content management system that I will use to host autopia content. When it is up, I will start advertising again. People interested in caring for their cars will find us.



3. I think it makes sense to have a database of pro detailers by area. It will help customers find you and it will help you communicate with customers. That`s a win-win.



4. Cost will be minimal... $12.95 a month. It will be a better deal than going to a generic web hosting company because Autopia will do the advertising to bring people to the website. For those of you who have knowledge of HTML and web development tools, my servers support ftp, FrontPage, ASP, cgi-bin, PHP, MySQL and more. For those of you who don`t know squat about building a web page, I will be your resource... and the Pro Detailer`s forum will be a great place to share information. The value will be in the pull created by Autopia as a large site. I will spend half of the revenue each month on pay-for-placement advertising. Granted, you could each spend $6.00 per month on advertising, but it won`t get you as far as my spending $60 to $120.



5. If the Pros want to build a consortium, I will negotiate volume purchasing agreements with chemical providers.

[Scottwax]

It sounds interesting to me! At the very least I could have a link on my website directing potential customer to here and they could use a forum to converse with me on anything to do with detailing.



BTW, people definitely do come here looking for detailers because I have a few customers who told me they found me on Autopia.

[detailbarn]

David B sign me up thats sounds like a great setup , I think it would be great exposure. When do plan on having all the particulars worked out and when would this start?:xyxthumbs

[Bobby G]

Originally posted by detailbarn

David B sign me up thats sounds like a great setup , I think it would be great exposure. When do plan on having all the particulars worked out and when would this start?:xyxthumbs



I need to know there is general interest before I invest time and $$$ in building a system to support pro detailers. I think it makes sense.

[ragtopgolfer]

I think if it were a couple of dollars cheaper a month I could afford it but at the moment I don`t think I do enough business to be able to afford it especially since I`m in college $ counts.

I`m thinking $9.00/month seems reasonable.

[yougottawax]

42 people on line and only a small handfull has weighed in on this !!!!!!



WHAT GIVES ?????







:sosad

[Bobby G]

Originally posted by THESANTINI

I think if it were a couple of dollars cheaper a month I could afford it but at the moment I don`t think I do enough business to be able to afford it especially since I`m in college $ counts.

I`m thinking $9.00/month seems reasonable.



If it`s too small, then I don`t have any revenue to spend on advertising (to bring YOU new clients). The reason this would be a good idea is because you would all be pooling advertising money. So, instead of everyone fighting to get top search engine placement for the search term "car detailer" or "chicago car detailer," I would buy these pay-for-placement terms and keep us in the top 10 on all of the major search engines. Everyone wins.

[grandprixlar]

Hey Dave



This sounds like a good idea.

Will the monthly fees depend on the number of people that participate? I would think the more people that we have participating the less each of us would have to pay.

Does the customer have to go through Autopia to schedule an apponitment or can they contact the detailer directly?

I do not have a web site up at this time. Would I be charged to add this information later?

[Detailing NY]

Originally posted by Scottwax

It sounds interesting to me! At the very least I could have a link on my website directing potential customer to here and they could use a forum to converse with me on anything to do with detailing.



BTW, people definitely do come here looking for detailers because I have a few customers who told me they found me on Autopia.



I agree with scott, I would just link up with my own web site. I get a lot of work reffered to me from autopia. It is definitely worth it for me to do this.