SURVEY: WorldCarFans Needs Your Help - BIG plans on the table

By Brian Potter
February 25, 2009 9:50 PM
Filed Under: Announcements

Back in December we added an *edit* button to the comments section. We received such a positive response that we started thinking, "What else can we do to improve the WCF experience?" One thing led to another, and before we realized it, we were mapping out an entire social networking section for WCF with member profile pages, usability preference settings, customized news feeds/alerts, WCF friend list, photo album upload and more.

Taking the WCF experience concept a little further, we starting thinking about the unthinkable - an advertisement free WCF! Over the years we received many request to provide an ad free subscriber based version of WCF. For fear of alienating our core visitors who would not subscribe, we shied away from the idea. However, if both ad-supported and ad-free versions were provided, it could be a win/win situation for all.

So, before we go any further in our development, we thought it would be best to ask you first. We have put together a quick five question survey about a free social networking community integrated into WCF as well as an ad-free subscriber based version of WCF. It will only take two minutes to complete:

Recent Design Updates

During our brain storming sessions we also decided to clean up the site's appearance which included a shortened WCF header and revised navigation fly out menu. The menu now flies out to the right instead of downwards. As a result, for those who have wide screen monitors that run short, there's no need to scroll down to see all of the items in the menu. It's slightly easier to access now. On the article pages we increased the size of the top page photo and put it back in the middle of the page for increased visual impact. Lastly, in an effort to make WCF pages less confining, as darker colors tend to do, we changed the background color from dark gray to white. Perhaps it's not the prettiest shade but it gives WCF a more open feeling. These are just small design changes but we hope you'll agree they help take away some of the clutter.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to comment below or email us at feedback[at]worldcarfans.com.

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Comments

911fnatic

February 25, 2009 10:04 PM

I like the proposed ideas but am not willing to spend a monthly fee to get something that is pretty much free - newsworthy content, I can get the same news from other sites but I choose to view WCF because I like its persona. I think I speak for many when I say this. And I don't mind having ads on the site, its your means of revenue and I respect that.

Keep it rocking!

IKA595

February 25, 2009 10:07 PM

i agree

motorsport13

February 25, 2009 11:25 PM

agree

mojammer

February 26, 2009 12:08 AM

Agreed, I love the site, but wouldn't pay for the content.

carbonsigma

February 26, 2009 12:32 AM

BrianWCF

February 26, 2009 12:46 AM

Just to clarify again, WCF would remain the same as now. A paid version of WCF with no ads plus other content upgrades would be IN ADDITION.

lucifa

February 26, 2009 9:22 AM

Agreed. I think the reason this site works is because it's free; I don't think many people really mind the ads, it's your means for revenue and that's fair. I really don't see much point in changing it, unless users could just pay to lose the advertisements. But if you have to sign up and pay to view certain content, it rather defeats the nature of this site.

joshg_5

February 26, 2009 9:50 PM

Bump.

IKA595

February 25, 2009 10:05 PM

Hi.On what e-mail i can send letters with some questions for WCF administrators?

clinton

February 25, 2009 10:16 PM

You can contact WCF at feedback[at]worldcarfans.com

Geefiasco

February 25, 2009 10:18 PM

There's no way I'd pay any monthly/yearly subscription for an add-free website.

Ad-Block Plus in Firefox does the job for me!

The member profiles and avatar is a good idea though.

How about a vBulletin FORUM? with sections that allow us to share our own car photos and have our own car and non-can related discussions?

Video's of car reviews would be fantastic. Also, high-resolution picture galleries.

IKA595

February 25, 2009 10:27 PM

Not bad,Also i think will be great if the WCF users will choose the WCF car,concept,eco or hybrid of the year. And section cool and not cool like the top gear board

BrianWCF

February 25, 2009 11:45 PM

This is also another great idea that is on the table. We recently did a WCF Readers Vote for the best stars of NAIAS as a beta test. http://www.worldcarfans.com/9090120.005/wcf-readers-vote-audi-a7-sportback-audi-r8-v10-stars-of-2009-naias

It went very well. Due to the positive response, we developed a new voting/survey system that integrates right into the article page. The survey you see above is our first deployment of this. It will allow us to do more polls and "reader's choice" awards.

zdenda20

February 25, 2009 10:41 PM

I think that charging money isnt the solution...yesterday, the top X blogs were announced, the top 4 being valued at 40 mil $ or more (the #1 being a conglomerate including the biggest rival to WCF:)

So my suggestion to INCREASING revenue is INCREASING the fan base...easy (and fun) way to do this is to make monthly (?) video car reviews - just get a camera and then its free and fun - or other "different" WCF-made material...

Wickedated

February 25, 2009 10:44 PM

No to charging, yes to user profiles

jandrews90

February 25, 2009 10:55 PM

I agree with both Geefiasco and ika595, I like the idea of having a user profile where i can display my own car and maybe people can vote on how much they like my car? and being able to vote anually on the years best cars is also a really good idea that wouldn't take much work. And i also agree with 911fnatic on the advertisements.

BabyMilo

February 25, 2009 11:00 PM

NO i dont not wat to pay to visit WCF, the ads dont bother me ive learnt to block them out. If you make WCF a paysite youve lost me im sorry. I do like the idea of having a home page though BUT im not going to pay to use any of it, ill find another site to visit... Plus some of those ideas you have if we pay are things that we can still have now even if we dont pay eg. batch download of images. Maybe an idea to make more revenue is to make WCF T-Shirts and posters and stuff. You could even sell car posters.

BrianWCF

February 25, 2009 11:18 PM

Just to clarify, WCF as you see it today would remain exactly the same. No WCF content would be taken away.

However, for those who do subscribe as a paying member would get access to an ad-free duplicate version of WCF plus receive bonus features (mentioned in survey above) that would not be available to non-paying members.

Edited by user on February 26, 2009 at 12:50 AM

350Zed

February 25, 2009 11:01 PM

Fees will drive users away. Competitive sites offer up-to-date info for free (ad-supported).

Bremen_Koenigsegg

February 25, 2009 11:07 PM

Wow, WCF is getting ambitious. They are supersizing ambition.

Sharpie

February 25, 2009 11:14 PM

I have no problem spending just a few dollars a month for no ads. I would like to see a some actual reviews from WCF and not just news update.

BrianWCF

February 25, 2009 11:35 PM

All of our editors are really talented guys. We are itching to start doing some testing, if we could only get away from our desks. Processing the daily news is quite demanding and requires a certain tenacity to do it effectively. Especially when you don't have an army of writers, researchers and copy editors. test drives are definitely on the table though.

carcrazy1234

February 25, 2009 11:23 PM

WCF should stay as it is.... i'm guessing their trying to make an OPTION for people if they ARE willing to pay to access even cooler things such as High definition video, HD photos etc. that's their choice. but def, don't make this manditory and do not take away things if we do not pay. :D

BrianWCF

February 25, 2009 11:28 PM

It definitely would NOT be mandatory. The ad-free site would be a supplement to the existing WCF.

However, for those using ad blockers - they won't be effective on WCF for long. There are ways around it. We have just opted not to implement them, yet... :D

fatter1

February 26, 2009 12:09 AM

Yet? Why would you purposely want to do that?

UnReal

February 25, 2009 11:30 PM

No fees !!!

muellr

February 25, 2009 11:36 PM

no paysite and no to community bla- put your car pics on your facebook site if you must. I like WCF as a pure unbiased collection of news about cars and the industry. Comments are enough user interaction here.

Thanks for keeping it real- just because you can add sth. doesn't necessary make it better!

Edited by user on February 25, 2009 at 11:37 PM

BrianWCF

February 26, 2009 12:07 AM

But who from WCF is going to see your car on Facebook? How about your modifications, what shows or races you're going to?

By creating our own WCF version of facebook, we can create a community of like-minded enthusiasts. Groups will be created and members can join the ones they like, customized WCF newsfeeds will appear on your personal home page. You'll be able to subscribe to any news topics, read the discussions and reply right from your personal WCF home page.

Edited by user on February 26, 2009 at 1:13 AM

muellr

February 25, 2009 11:42 PM

oh one thing would be cool- please create an iphone version!

IKA595

February 25, 2009 11:49 PM

I'm use that version on iphone with no problems.

sub39h

February 26, 2009 12:02 AM

i just want the grey background back. aside from looking better, it will probably reduce eye strain

devperson

February 26, 2009 12:17 AM

I love this site, its well presented, and always has all the top motoring related stories in one convenient place. That said, if you start charging for things that your faithful user base has previously been getting for free, users will go elsewhere, and that would be a shame.

hitar_potar

February 26, 2009 12:44 AM

funny thing is that i've never seen this "edit" button on comments... don't know if i'm the only one with such a problem... :(

carbonsigma

February 26, 2009 12:47 AM

There is no shortage of free sites out there that offer minimal advertising, high resolution images (albeit not wallpaper size), car reviews, previews, spy shots, etc.

Leftlane News is a prime example, and it seems to have a much bigger following, looking at the number of comments each story gets. It offers reviews, high res images, etc. and the advertising isn't intrusive. And, to be honest, their users seem to be much more knowledgeable and reasoned argument is possible (as opposed to the often immature/childish/fan boy/illegible comments often seen on WCF).

Paying just to have the ads removed and whatnot is not enough to get earn my pennies. It's not like the advertisements are bothering to the extent that I'd pay to remove them.

Implementing a fee-paying system, even optionally, would see many find alternative sites. It's the principle that we have to pay for something that is usually free that is a turn off.

I'm sure WCF makes enough money as it is? After all, there are six ads on this page alone.

And btw, the forum/social networking is a good idea!

Edited by user on February 26, 2009 at 12:49 AM

BrianWCF

February 26, 2009 1:09 AM

You said:

"It's the principle that we have to pay for something that is usually free that is a turn off."

I couldn't agree with you more. But that's not what has been said. It seems many have misinterpreting the survey.

All WCF content that is free NOW, will remain free. Nothing will change. All WCF visitors who do not wish to subscribe, will continue to see the same WCF site and content as usual.

Edited by user on February 26, 2009 at 2:53 AM

JoeyRamone

February 26, 2009 1:29 AM

No way, WCF has double the traffic of LeftLaneNews. Check out their Alexa traffic rankings:

LLN 14,000 WCF 7,000

But autoblog is like 2000

carbonsigma

February 26, 2009 1:32 AM

I understand that what I see now will still be free, but if a fee system is introduced, that would divide the users of WCF. Would the fee-paying users share the comment space with the normal users?

joeyramone, I stand corrected if that is the case. However, you'll find that the demographic that LLN attracts is *usually* more mature. But I might be wrong, as WCF is "World" so it appeals to people whose first language might not be English - which contributes to the perceived immature/childish/fan boy/illegible comments that I mentioned earlier.

Edited by user on February 26, 2009 at 1:43 AM

sub39h

February 26, 2009 10:47 AM

i think the issue is, Brian, that WCF patrons get to see ALL the content of the website at the moment.

if a fee paying system were introduced, those who didn't pay would no longer get to see ALL the content, and thus it's hard for you to say that all the content that is free now will be free under the new system, because under the current system users would have been able to see it all regardless.

paulbe

February 26, 2009 1:11 AM

Don't fall for that unnecessary "value adding" nonsense. Most of us come here to see quality reporting and quality pics, not to "interact". The ads aren't intrusive as they are. If you're looking for a reason to justify charging for access, just say so. I know moneys tight like never before but there's a limit to how many paid website subscriptions we can all afford before we just don't bother.

BrianWCF

February 26, 2009 1:16 AM

... and the quality reporting, photos will continue as always FOR FREE! For those who want more will have the choice.

afterace2

February 26, 2009 1:35 AM

Ads really don't bother me, they can stay. Anyway extending the profile info about everyone is a good idea, as are all other ideas from the survey, it would be great to have them...for free. Just keep the ads, and improve the site without any additional payment. I think this is the best way. Anyway, keep Your job as it is, You're doing great. I love WCF. Best regards!

ebolla13

February 26, 2009 5:12 AM

How about creating an iPhone version. Currently I view the articles through an rss reader on my iPhone. An iPhone version that allowed easier navigation and better photo browsing would be awesome. I would pay for that! As for the regular website, I think the biggest improvement can be made by making photos easier to browse as slideshows.

radmeister

February 26, 2009 6:05 AM

I love the idea of batch download in zip file, i think what would be great is the ability to submit your own albums, there are a lot of people from all over the world. I have 125 photos that i took at this years Canadian Autoshow that i would like to share, sure i'm not a professional photographer and i forgot my polarized lens filter at home so there is some reflections on the cars, but i think its worth seeing. SL65 BE, R8 V10, and the rest of the gang. Also i think the reply layout should be re-organized, like being able to reply to a reply and it goes under it instead of under the original post. I mean this site could become perhaps the FIRST community site, all you would have to do is either make a community site that works like a Facebook group, members, wall posts, own articles, own photo albums. Or hey why not use Facebook's already designed infrastructure and create a group and an application for FB. That would be cool. Like imagine, bringing people together, if everyone had their own kind of wall with stories, photos, articles, and people that liked/agreed with that person would visit eachother's walls. Hell maybe one day we could have track events, or group meets at autoshows. Guarantee you it would be the first car site to do that in the world.

BrianWCF

February 26, 2009 4:14 PM

Radmeister, that's exactly what we're going for. It would be a social network community layered right into WCF content. We plan to build all of the same functionality facebook offers.

I don't know if WCF would be the first content driven social network, but perhaps we would be among the first few. I believe Driver's Republic has a social aspect to it. There are also similar sites like CarDomain as well.

radmeister

February 27, 2009 8:30 AM

The difference with those sites is that they are primarily a community site with cars on it. Not the other way around. I think if you make a car news site(primary function) with facebook like functionality for the community aspect you will end up with something really special. Those other sites may have forums and avatars, a few event photos here and there and some articles. I think ideally you want to keep the content of the site, ontop of that a community and all of this mixed with the simplicity of google. I think google is god when it comes to the internet, you get the content you are looking for, fast and simple. Don't put 3 buttons where one will do. This is what i want, and i know when i look for it i will always find it, faster, better quality, and more simple to get what you want out of the site. Nobody comes to a website for their fancy flash effects or graphical interface. WCF seems to be going in a more simplistic direction already, where focus is on functionality instead of fancy design. At the end of the day, we read text, and look at photos, and that's what it boils down to.

BrianWCF

March 1, 2009 2:30 AM

Great stuff Radmeister, you totally get it. That's exactly what we are aiming for.

stef

February 26, 2009 6:11 AM

Look for suitable affiliate programs, rather than PPV. Another "possibility" is to charge a small annual fee for the RSS feed .... not sure if I'd pay it though!

davidc

February 26, 2009 7:10 AM

I wouldn't recommend charging your fan base to compensate for revenue shortcomings, instead concentrate on increasing traffic and available impressions to advertisers. If you're using a CPC ad model consider changing to CPM to monetize your impression inventory.

MARG

February 26, 2009 11:25 AM

don worry we still have topspead and autoblog

benzomatic

February 26, 2009 11:32 AM

I have been a loyal german car fans reader since pretty much the begining of its existance and i am sorry to say this, but i think the site keeps geting more and more overloaded with garbage. i know you guys are trying hard to make a site with complete coverage of everything car related but that is not really what i am after. I really loved the very old format of german car fans, where the only things on the site were actual press releases and no redundant bullsh!t. I get an autobild in my mailbox every week and that pretty much covers my demand for car news and tests, but german car fans was great because everytime i read about an interesting car i could then always go there and read the full press release with all the crazy details about the car and all the millions of photos. For exapmple mercedes releases are usually excelent. And that was all i ever wanted. Back then german car fans was the only site to offer something like this, coz they wouldnt add their redundant coments and just gave the full press release as it was. Even though the option is still there, it is secondary now, and world car fans is less serious and more tabloid like. I think that is a shame. I think there wont be many people to agree with me, but I still wanted to say this. Btw was there not a german car fans forum many years ago or is that just my ilusion? thx

benzomatic

February 26, 2009 2:24 PM

2 amazingjerry: Seems like you didnt read my post properly. I also like the quick news and such but i have plenty of that from autobild and i would dare to say that the guys at autobild can do that better than wcf. or if i need there are loads of other sites sites to offer car news. But if i want to know about a car in depth than i read the release. And the old gcf was ideal for that and it was unique with that approach. It was very factual and it offered serious info only. It was very clear and plain with the design and so on...and i liked that. Now its becoming just another car website like all the others. Thats all i was saying.

On the other hand i do like the babes section and maybe the usabilty got a bit better. The comercials i dont really mind but there is one that is extremely anoying and that is the one that pops up in the middle of a picture and there is no way to remove it other than click on it and then press back. Please put that one away. Question to Brian: was there ever that gcf forum? i somehow think there was but i am not sure

BrianWCF

February 26, 2009 3:45 PM

Yes, we had GCF forums between 2001 and 2005 i believe. But it did not develop as we hoped and consumed a lot of time moderating. We decided to shut it down so we could focus more on content.

Returning to a discussion forum format is not something that interests us. Although we want to build a WCF community again, our preferred method is via a social networking element.

Creating a discussion forum (which is essentially it's own web site) would segregate users away from the WCF main site. By building our own social networking system that we can directly integrate into WCF main site, we can keep the members and the content all together. We believe by doing so, will add a whole new dimension to WCF for a richer/fuller experience.

Edited by user on February 26, 2009 at 3:57 PM

muellr

March 3, 2009 12:38 AM

se germans as alweys have different point of view-

I ' m totally with benzomatic - gcf and now wcf is the source for great pics and full press releases. that was yesterday now look elsewhere stories u get @ jallopnick or @ cartype or @topgear et all. if you like to read detailed about vw group cars go to vwvortex, babes you will find at the photo section of motorsport just to name a view. wcf can go ahead and become a hybrid ( popular right now) of facebook and picasa with a fanbase of wannabe carexperts ( guys that own those cars in dicussion or rides of interest are already member in the ownersclub community and most likely not interested posting twice for posers)

paulbe

February 26, 2009 2:35 PM

If a paid, higher functions site remains as an addendum to the free site, then why ask? Just do it. If it looks good from the outside, then some of us will likely become subscribers anyway, but you'll never know if.... So why not just do it?

BrianWCF

February 26, 2009 3:40 PM

From our point of view, it's better to ask first, then build. Instead of build and then ask. We don't want to second guess our readership.

However, the social network is already being developed.

MAXLD

February 26, 2009 4:26 PM

I don't mind the ads and I don't block them. But, there is a limit of tolerance... what I hate are those ads that interfere with the site. Examples: ads that appear "popup style" on top of the articles (blocking the view), ads that have automatic or "passing mouse over" sounds, game-like ads (score 3 goals to a free ringtone), not car related (jamba ringtones, etc...)

I like the actual style of the site: ads are on the sides and do not interfere with the text/informations we want to see.

My advice to WCF is to get regular car-related ads. They are related with the WCF website subject and I personally like to see good quality ads announcing new cars and features. It also gives more "reputation" to the website. Try to contact car brands, tyre brands (Michelin, Pirelli, Continental...) and audio brands (Kenwood, Alpine,...). I'me sure that WCF website pageviews/daily visitors statistics are very interesting to reach good ad agreements with them.

Otherwise, as you can imagine, our personal life is very bad at the moment, asking for our money is not a very smart move... we don't have any extra to spend on this type of thing. ;)

madmax

February 26, 2009 5:20 PM

ok, hear this. better design should be on 1 place. more videos on second. user commenting is enough you should stay objective as you are now.

i like wfc because is different. jalopnik and autoblog make content from anything, its funny for quite some time but then you put down your crack pipe and it becomes obvious. they make sh*t, unbelievable unremarkable sh*t.

MadMaTTer

February 26, 2009 7:28 PM

Payment for "extra" info that once its leaked will end up free in other websites will have an adverse effect towards your goal. people will start going else where to get that same info for free.

I do however agree on making the logins more personal for the user it will make it more fun for the regulars.

Otherwise I enjoy the layout of the website which is what keeps me coming back daily. The addition of Hi-Res videos and car reviews would be a step in the right direction as that is the primary reasonI go to other pages. but other wise I commend you guys for what you do here. Keep it up.

Mohannad

February 27, 2009 5:29 AM

I'd like it even more if you'll add top gear episodes to download on the paid membership version then I'll be willing to pay

thanks for considering our thoughts into this

radmeister

February 27, 2009 8:41 AM

You know what would be EPIC, i remember there used to be this application for streaming video, that kind of worked like bittorent, there was one seeder of the original feed, and then every user that connected shared the feed with others. Therefore greatly reducing hosting costs. If law allows, you could in theory have a computer with a tv tuner card broadcasting live F1 season, broadcasting Topgear, all live. To keep it legal you would have to include commercials i think, and then you also record the shows/events, so people can see them later. Seriously i'd pay for that. I don't have a tv tuner card or dvr reciever to record these shows when they are on, especially F1 which i cant stay up to watch some races. If someone could do that for me i would pay for it.

p2c

February 27, 2009 8:41 AM

This site is perfect the way it is now.

James2911

February 28, 2009 2:47 AM

I would pay for WCF - if I had enough money, which I don't, and if I was old enough to have a credit card :S .

PotatoEater

March 7, 2009 6:02 AM

The site is awesome the way it is now. Ads are not a problem really especially if they feature skimpy chicks. Yes, cars and chicks that quickly go topless at the push of a button....

OrgoglioScarlatta

March 7, 2009 10:12 AM

The WCF Web site, as this at the present time is perfect, if they want to make money can put but announcements (it would not displease to me, with a so brilliant Web), inclusively emergent windows that left when giving click in a article or a photo. But the news and sections that until now they have, with photos with good resolution that follow thus. The extra content that fodder that serious right that received is spy photos, videos and live videos of the car shows and presentations. Greetings from Mexico.

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