UKBF V Ecademy V Soflow

[ebonybailey]

Is it me or does UKBF offer more than other network sites, and its free to boot.
Ecademy is a networking site that is full of Gumf and Sharks, either people are talking about complete rubbish that they have copied and pasted from elsewhere, or there trying to make a sales pitch look like a blog. You also have a handfull of people that crucify new comers that dont understand the RITUALS that Ecademy has. take a look at there frontpage its full of rubbish that means nothing to nobody, I feel its turned into a social / *****ing club.
Soflow isnt bad however there is very little interaction there is no help on tap.
UKBF is by far the best, not only can you network but you can network at your speed and to who you want, all the others have a "you have 1573 in your network!!" Now come on!! you know they only actually communicate with about 6 of them. Also help is on tap pretty much non stop, and you dont get messed around the sections are simple but effective as well. Im sure there is more but that will do for now.
SO WELL DONE UKBF.
My advice is use SEO with top click or one of the others and raise you membership levels you could start to charge £5 a month or something- PRESENT COMPANY EXCLUDED. you'd make a mint.

Michael

[The_JinJ]

Is it me or does UKBF offer more than other network sites, and its free to boot.
Ecademy is a networking site that is full of Gumf and Sharks, either people are talking about complete rubbish that they have copied and pasted from elsewhere, or there trying to make a sales pitch look like a blog. You also have a handfull of people that crucify new comers that dont understand the RITUALS that Ecademy has. take a look at there frontpage its full of rubbish that means nothing to nobody, I feel its turned into a social / *****ing club.
Soflow isnt bad however there is very little interaction there is no help on tap.
UKBF is by far the best, not only can you network but you can network at your speed and to who you want, all the others have a "you have 1573 in your network!!" Now come on!! you know they only actually communicate with about 6 of them. Also help is on tap pretty much non stop, and you dont get messed around the sections are simple but effective as well. Im sure there is more but that will do for now.
SO WELL DONE UKBF.
My advice is use SEO with top click or one of the others and raise you membership levels you could start to charge £5 a month or something- PRESENT COMPANY EXCLUDED. you'd make a mint.

Michael

Actually maybe a Paypal donate button is a good idea for UKBF

[Alpha]

Now this is a loaded question if ever I saw one.

How many people do you really expect on this site, to put anything other than UKBF as the best???

Whilst I'm sure that the idea of a paying site must be expected by people to be jumped at i'm fairly sure that it would be completely against what Ozzy wants for the site.

Now I suppose there could always be an offshoot!!

[SillyJokes]

I've got ot admit I have just tried to cancel my ecademy membership.

I'm not getting enough out of it to warrant the fee.

I don't go to any other business forum. This place has come on in leaps and bounds since it's start and like is mentioned above there are few people trying the hard sell.

Also here I feel there are more people doing retail like me. Ecademy seems to have a heavy B2B bias with few retailers. It's ok if you need a life coach.

[Rob Holmes]

I cancelled my ecademy fees last month - I just didn't have time to 'work' the system (or figure it out actually)

UKBF is a different animal altogether. My natural inclination is to just help people and UKBF is a great place to do just that, if I didn't need to pay the mortgage I'd just help people all day :)

Rob

[Amber]

I have never bothered to upgrade to a paid membership on ecademy because I know I don't have the time to spend on it, and many of the people there (or many of the active users, I should say) strike me as a little bit "try-hard" for my liking...

I don't even log onto it now, because I get tired very quickly of receiving messages from people giving me the hard sell.

I have a lot of different business forums bookmarked, but I increasingly find that UKBF is the only one I really use. It's definitely the friendliest :)

[DuaneJackson]

I've never heard of soflow.

I've tried getting into ecademy a few times but have given up as it's overly complicated.

I only found this place a few weeks ago but I instantly liked it and I now visit daily even if I don't post every day.

I'm not sure what the economics behind this site are or how much the adverts generate for Ozzy & co. But if there was a paypal donate link and a suitably worthy begging letter I know I'd send over a couple of quid : )

I think making it a paid membership site would ruin it.

I set up a similar site (www.trustnetworkers.com) for a similar purpose a while ago, aimed at the smal business owner but in a certain niche. It's very popular but the forums are massively underused. It may be redesigned soon and if and whenit is the forums will be closed and everyone told to come here is they want a forum.

On another note, if there was easily accesible pricing info for advertising here that could be useful. We all have a buisiness to promote and for those of us (like me) in the b2b area, this would be ideal.

[Whistle Ink]

I have to say ecademy is very confusing! :oops:

I think this forum works really well because it is free. And because it is free, you can dip in and out of it, use it when you need to or want rather than if you had to pay - you would do everthing to get your moneys worth.

A paypal donate button might bring in a few quid but I couldnt really see myself giving 'regularly' - I know people will say it's a good idea now but when it comes to the crunch do people really come forward to give unless they have to? (subscription)

:D

[coxadmin]

I also cancelled my Ecademy membership - then I rejoined and then I cancelled again. As Whistle Ink says - you can dip in and out of this forum.

[Ozzy]

Oh what a thread ;)
I am a member of Ecademy, but I dont use it...at all! I also find it overly complicated and I simply just don't have time to work the system there.

I currently have no intention of ever charging for membership on these forums. I hope to earn money from them by selling the advertising on them eventually. I also plan to put a page up detailing advertising rates for the forums but I just dont have time (see ad for new staff member required going in the jobs section any day now).

I have thought of creating a members only forum hidden from view from everyone except paid members, maybe around the fiver a month mark, but that idea was simply that. An idea that IF it ever is to happen its a long way off from now.

This forum pulls around 4.5gb a month in traffic which is a reasonable amount, but I have far more hosting facilities at my disposal than what I actually need, so it isn't causing me a problem. My only problem is time currently :)

What I am concious of is the amount of moderating that particularily Matrixx is doing at the moment in his own time, so not only am I very grateful for that but if it ever gets too much for him then that is when another moderator may be needed.

Basically, I am pleased that so many people find these forums useful. I enjoy them myself, and the whole purpose behind them is to be a free resource for people to network and help each other - I call it Community Business Support ;) (does that expression already exist? ... maybe a Trademark Attorney is needed :)

SEO is something I know needs doing, I already do PPC for these forums, and I am paying 10Yetis to do a bit of PR work for them. I am also talking to the Chamber of Commerce with a view to linking in with them in some way. There is a lot on the bubble behind the scenes to move these forums forward.

[Alpha]

Oh by the way I added the vote for Soflow even though I've never heard of it just to prove myself wrong (But then someone actually did vote for ecademy over this forum :cry: )

I was also a member of ecademy but found that it was too complicated to pick up quickly and I just didnt have the time to be on for hours on end every night in oredr to network with people.

I find these forums much more friendly and genuine.

[Twokids]

This is what I like about the UKBF.

Occasionally you come across posts that so accurately reflect your own thinking that you could have wriiten them yourself. Hats off to ebonybailey - I could not agree with you more!!!!

I joined Ecademy through an invite from someone I didn't know.

I am always suspicious of the term 'Networking' - I can see the value but here's the problem for me.

I want to Network to increase sales or meet business partners with whom I can increase sales. I dod't join a network to be sold anything.

See the problem? Everyopne joins to sell, not to buy - so you get bombarded with people trying to sell you something ( meanwhile Ecademy hides behind it's 'system' which is quasi-religious in tone ( or quasi-cultish ) the message seems to be;

' If you do not cough up for the highest membership fees you will not be using the system properly and you will fail'

That sounds awfully like ' If you do not believe, and obey by the rules you are an unbeliever and will fail and be cast out'

Meanwhile they scoop in the membership fees.

To me Ecademy is full of Snake-Oil sellers ( sorry- I mean personal coaches ) and charlatans ( sorry - I mean business efficency experts ) who are preying on the poor business people that are struggling to make a living out there. Like the Landmark Forum and other 'networking' groups it has been infiltrated by Sharks when the naive person like me only jumped into the water to catch a few fish...

Sorry - rant over!

Jim

[ebonybailey]

Jim

Thanks for your compliment. But I like your message better.
Its true though, as soon as you walk through the Ecademy doors your told NO SELLING.

Michael