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Full Membership - convince me :-)

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Hedgie

Hedgie

Free Member
Aug 17, 2007
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Planet Mars
Ok, having been a free member for several years what would you say about full membership that would convince me to sign up?
 
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Okay, well, as a paid up member, I have links to my website in my signature, and I know this has been a big part of me getting work from UKBF members wanting to know more about our service. We have a website enquiry form and in the "Where did you hear about us" box a lot of people put UKBF. (I've had two UKBF-generated enquiries just this weekend, and average three or more a month.)

Second, I get access to the private forum - this is a forum where we can post things that won't get "Googled" or appear in search engine results, whereas posts in this "General Business Forum" do.

Also I get access to the Private Tenders section - not open to free members, like yourself.

So there's three to be going on with.
 
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Ashley_Price said:
Okay, well, as a paid up member, I have links to my website in my signature, and I know this has been a big part of me getting work from UKBF members wanting to know more about our service. We have a website enquiry form and in the "Where did you hear about us" box a lot of people put UKBF. (I've had two UKBF-generated enquiries just this weekend, and average three or more a month.)

Second, I get access to the private forum - this is a forum where we can post things that won't get "Googled" or appear in search engine results, whereas posts in this "General Business Forum" do.

Also I get access to the Private Tenders section - not open to free members, like yourself.

So there's three to be going on with.
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Not convinced by the links in signature as peope can visit your website via the view homepage menu :)

Private tenders would be a very localised thing for me so not much benefit there.

Private forum. Now that could be the deciding factor but not sure if there are things I would discuss there that I wouldn't discuss on the open forum?
 
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Hedgie said:
Not convinced by the links in signature as peope can visit your website via the view homepage menu :)

Private tenders would be a very localised thing for me so not much benefit there.

Private forum. Now that could be the deciding factor but not sure if there are things I would discuss there that I wouldn't discuss on the open forum?
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To be honest it's pretty quiet in the private part. I only signed up to see what the fuss was about.
 
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This has been discussed before a few times and it seems to come down to touting for business. If you offer a service or product to other businesses and want to flog it on here then it may be worth paying for. There are also a few members on here who think that it means that you are doing really well if you pay the £30 or £40 'membership' but simply can't afford it if you do not.

I have posted on here for quite a while, but I am yet to see a reason why I would pay for the honour.
 
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After a year of free membership, gaining lots of new knowledge as well as contacts and customers I felt I had had more than my moneys worth (without paying) so decided to become a full member and contribute to the good work the members and sift are doing in keeping this going.

The extended signature and larger avatar/logo were a nice bonus too :)
 
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totalwebsolutions said:
After a year of free membership, gaining lots of new knowledge as well as contacts and customers I felt I had had more than my moneys worth (without paying) so decided to become a full member and contribute to the good work sift are doing in keeping this going.

The extended signature and larger avatar/logo were a nice bonus too :)
Click to expand...

I think that might be the good work the members do, not Sift.
 
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Ashley_Price said:
Okay, well, as a paid up member, I have links to my website in my signature, and I know this has been a big part of me getting work from UKBF members wanting to know more about our service. We have a website enquiry form and in the "Where did you hear about us" box a lot of people put UKBF. (I've had two UKBF-generated enquiries just this weekend, and average three or more a month.)

Second, I get access to the private forum - this is a forum where we can post things that won't get "Googled" or appear in search engine results, whereas posts in this "General Business Forum" do.

Also I get access to the Private Tenders section - not open to free members, like yourself.

So there's three to be going on with.
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Links - well having been a full member for a wee while, and now not being so - I get just as many hits and link juice as I did beforehand ... so that aint a benefit!

The private forum - well that used to get maybe half a dozen new threads in a week - nothing major and earth shattering.

Tenders section - depends on what your market is and what you are aiming for!

Truthfully - aint noticed any difference since I dropped the full bit ...
 
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Ashley_Price said:
Of course, if you've been on here for years, you obviously think it's a great forum - so why not help to keep it that way by donating the huge sum of £36 per year?
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If thats aimed at me - because believe it or not - I am firstly a business head and no ROI means no investment!

Not that strange a concept one would hope here on a BUSINESS forum, not a sentimental feely touchy group hug forum!

Oh and you need to revist some figures - it aint been £36 for some 7 odd weeks now ...

If its aimed at Hedgie - well in his many forms he has been full member or at least could have sworn you were some years ago Chris!
 
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Hedgie said:
Not convinced by the links in signature as peope can visit your website via the view homepage menu :)
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Sometimes, when I log in, I notice there are hundreds of guests viewing the forums who are not logged in. They aren't going to click on your homepage menu. For that matter, when was the last time you visited someone else's profile to find a link to their website? You're underestimating the usefulness of having active links in your signature.

Some people have become full members simply to get feedback on their website. For them, this is a very tangible benefit. Where else in the world can you get candid feedback from a number of experts in the field?

Plus, you get to find out all kinds of useful tidbits of information in the private area. How else would you have known, for example, that Dan Martin has a Blue Peter badge or that Estwig once managed to....hmm, that would be letting the cat out of the bag. ;)
 
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Gillie said:
If thats aimed at me - because believe it or not - I am firstly a business head and no ROI means no investment!

Not that strange a concept one would hope here on a BUSINESS forum, not a sentimental feely touchy group hug forum!

Oh and you need to revist some figures - it aint been £36 for some 7 odd weeks now ...

If its aimed at Hedgie - well in his many forms he has been full member or at least could have sworn you were some years ago Chris!
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I think I was years ago when I was 'Hedgehog Toys' but then they started charging and I left for a while (not because of the charge) and returned a year or so later as a free member. Not been a full paying member but then not felt the need to and wondered if there would be a benefit to me in paying the £40+.
 
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If thats aimed at me - because believe it or not - I am firstly a business head and no ROI means no investment!
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It wasn't aimed at you - it was for the OP. However, as you mentioned it. Since being a member of UKBF, it has been my biggest source of new clients over the last three years!

The money we have made from ONE UKBF client has been over ONE HUNDRED TIMES the cost of the fee. So I call that an excellent ROI.

I don't think I would have the majority of those clients if I didn't have the link in my signature.

Not that strange a concept one would hope here on a BUSINESS forum, not a sentimental feely touchy group hug forum!
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True, but if anyone had to pay for the advice and the work they (may) have got from UKBF, the cost would come to FAR more than £40.
 
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I just paid for membership because
- I wanted access to the website review area
- I read somewhere that having your website in a forum sig can help with google rankings.
- This coming year I expect to increase the number of questions I'll ask, so in return I want to contribute to keeping the forum alive. It's unfair to just be a taker, IMO.

Having said that, I'd be keen to understand what the fees are spent on.
 
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Hmmmmmmm, a business forum that makes it's money through advertising due to it's high membership numbers but charging said members to promote their own business.

A highly short sighted business model. Perhaps offering full "facilities" to all members free of charge would increase the membership numbers, activity and Google rankings on threads, and therefore increase advertising revenue.

Just an idea.......
 
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How many bricks are there in a tonne? Is it more than in a ton?

/Desperately trying to change the subject and avoid further strikes ...
 
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KM-Tiger said:
How many bricks are there in a tonne? Is it more than in a ton?

/Desperately trying to change the subject and avoid further strikes ...
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Well, seeing as you asked so nicely. A tonne in modern terms is 1000kg whereas a 'ton' or 'metric ton' is just the Americanisation (or should that be Americanization?).

If we assume an average brick is around 3kg then a tonne of bricks would be around 333 bricks. :D
 
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If the above perfectly harmless posts are not removed as per the last nonsensical deletions then some kind of complaint/enquiry should be made.

If we are going to be ridiculous let's at least be consistent.
 
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I think if I remember correctly becoming a full member allows you to request feedback on your website?

If this is the case the resulting advice from other members may be worth considerably more to your business that £40 odd membership fee
 
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Craig Kirby said:
I think if I remember correctly becoming a full member allows you to request feedback on your website?

If this is the case the resulting advice from other members may be worth considerably more to your business that £40 odd membership fee
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Easier and quicker to get from facebook - just stick up a comment on it asking for volunteers and you might be surprised! I asked for one site and got several very professional critiques back!
 
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Craig Kirby said:
I think if I remember correctly becoming a full member allows you to request feedback on your website?

If this is the case the resulting advice from other members may be worth considerably more to your business that £40 odd membership fee
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Killjoy. That's just cost me a tenner lost per PM, thanks. Do you know how many sites I've put through for other people, I'm not called Oskar Schindler 11 for no reason.
 
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LicensedToTrade said:
Only four and a half hours to go then.

Has anyone ever thought about a career in taxadermy? My favourite colour is green if anyone was wondering.
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Should that not be taxidermy?... and green?.. why is that your favourite colour?.. does it give you confidence cos its the same colour as money? ( talking of dollar bills here.. or a £5 note :D


note:
The only difference between a tax collector and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin.... Mark Twain
 
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Tej said:
Should that not be taxidermy?... and green?.. why is that your favourite colour?.. does it give you confidence cos its the same colour as money? ( talking of dollar bills here.. or a £5 note :D


note:
The only difference between a tax collector and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin.... Mark Twain
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I stand correctly, it would seem that I don't often use the word tax(i)dermy and my spelling has suffered as a result. :D

£5 note? Haven't seen anything that big in a while. I like the colour green because when I was a young'un I used to dress in green all the time as I thought it meant I was a soldier and was capable of blending myself into any setting with my green camo. Incidently it wasn't as effective on the high street as I thought it might be. Ah to be 21 again running around dorothy perkins in my greens.
 
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