Bin the white space

[LINGsCARS.com]

Media attention helps, but there has to be meat and potatoes.

I have many IT companies who have had cars from me. Search "IT" on my 1,000+ mish-mash-mess letters page ))). Part of the lower demographic, too, I guess.

Frankly I am not too fussy, I love all my customers

[grantglendinnin]

Who am I to comment on this? Just a regular guy, but I've got the same view as everybody else.

A company boasting about who and what their customers are just shows how foolish the person behind it is. I for one, as a consumer of your company, would be angry at being brought into disrepute from the constant aggressive promotional style of your business - especially if you brought my name into the equation.

Gabe gave foolproof, sound advice on the design element of an online business - and you'd be a fool not to take this advice with a pinch of salt, and integrate those ideas into your site. The press may well be able to get your visitors - but in reality, who'd buy from a site looking like that? I bet even the trees would shake their roots if they came across that.

As for the Actinic forums, I thought it was a general rule that non-Actinic sites aren't to be promoted here, or did I mis-read the rule book?

All just my opinion, of course.

[chris ashdown]

I think i only fair that whilst the company is not actinic it's website was brought up by a actinic member and that Ling has a obviouse right to reply.

It also shows the power ot the forum that Ling found the reference so quickly

Who are we to put scorn on other peoples sites, we all think we know the best route to get sales and often follow others like sheep for good or bad remember all that flash banners etc

Quite often I see companies which make me wonder who the hell runs them and why do they do it in that fasion, but if it works for them then i guess its ok

Keep up the good work Ling and just maybe in a few years you may be proved right

[NicolaUK]

But 'noodles will be free' godammit

[NormanRouxel]

I think that Ling's nutty site has got her enormous exposure and a lot of referrals. Priceless stuff really. Her visitors probably have been pre-warned that it's a mad place.

Don't forget that some very successful sites break some or all off the rules. Google: incredibly sparse. Apple: no branding other than a 30 x 30 micro logo. Crumpler.com.au - completely mad but in a very professionally done way - you should have seen their previous site.

[LINGsCARS.com]

Well, what a range of views!

My own pet hate is that on many sites I cannot figure out who runs them. Even which company is behind them. There are often "we this", "we that" references, but who are "we"????

I thought everyone had to clearly display ownership, but that simply does not happen in many cases. Also, many sites (in my industry) are very bad at not displaying true costs. They often only have ex-vat prices, and do not disclose "document fees" in the prices etc, and then advertise lead-in prices that are clearly misleading.

I have to compete against these jokers (try to find a car leasing site that does not advertise "ghost" lead in cars - they claim "oh, we have not had a chance to update the site" etc). Their websites are a static site just so they have a website, not often true web-businesses. You can tell, because they have a "phone for details" written in large text. You should NOT need to phone to get details.

Regardless of Actinic or however you run your site, these issues are the same, I think.

[Darren B]

I could not agree more, with the hiding of details, part of actinic is filling these details in, it appears in the T & C's some remove it but in general its there. And you are required to, when i applied to streamline for CC processing they wanted to see my site and check i had the details on there. But do they ever come back and check, i doubt

Excluding VAT prices is a pain, but report them to trading standards, you are not allowed to list ex VAT unless you are solely trade or you list both including and excluding. It only takes a phone call and they will take action.

If one go's another will take its place

[parklifeclothes]

Having previously visited Ling's car site, I feel it does make your eyes work but it gives some of the most honest and reliable information especially in respect of it's products when even the manufacturers site give little or no depth of info required when making what to most is a very big purchase. I guess the PR it gets is pretty much priceless and most of us would love some of the 'free advertising' it gets, certainly saves money on CPC.
At the end of it whatever exposure your business/website gets as long as it brings visitors/business can't be a bad thing. See this recent BBC article that featured on the main BBC page for the best part of a week

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/n...re/7550134.stm

[Darren B]

Certainly a great piece of publicity, i would put a big banner up in the window over the top of the dummy saying "As Seen On The BBC"

FFS though, next we will be locking pregnant women up until they have the baby

[leehack]

FFS though, next we will be locking pregnant women up until they have the baby

Good idea, they take up twice the room.

[Darren B]

Good idea, they take up twice the room.

Only you Lee, only you - made me laugh ty

[Paragon]

Ling gets her site everywhere:

http://www.managementtoday.co.uk/spo...trepreneurship

Are Viz readers in the lower demographic then?

[LINGsCARS.com]

Viz is quite a heavyweight in readership terms: Audited circulation of 88,165, Readership of 500,000, 83% male, average age = 36, profile of readers = independent, individual, intelligent and affluent (as opposed to effluent, hehe). That's the official description from MediaDisc.