What would make you visit GC more?

[Kiwi]

Just wondering, nothing more. Would be keen to know your views just in case we are missing anything missing obvious.  Cheers!

[ezbass]

I feel it’s a chicken and egg situation. I visit everyday but rarely see anything new, which can only be brought about by a larger membership and folks posting more. Perhaps there are already too many other guitar sites, or six stringers are less community centric than their low end cousins? I’ve tried to encourage axe wielding friends to join, but to no avail  .

[Scratcher]

10 hours ago, ezbass said:

I feel it’s a chicken and egg situation. I visit everyday but rarely see anything new, which can only be brought about by a larger membership and folks posting more. Perhaps there are already too many other guitar sites, or six stringers are less community centric than their low end cousins? I’ve tried to encourage axe wielding friends to join, but to no avail  .

As above.

I visit every day.Not very many new posts though.Nothing wrong with the forum at all.

[Kiwi]

How about we shape the forum in favour of the things you like to post about?  It will take a while for things to pick up but if no-one posts anything then nothing is going to change.  I was also thinking about giveaways or a competition or something but the benefit is usually temporary unless the place is more interesting to use.

[darkandrew]

It seems that most people on here are Basschat members that also play guitar, I don't know what the official stats are but that's my observation. I suppose that's quite a specific demographic, which is probably why it's not all that busy over here.

[Kiwi]

On 06/02/2020 at 03:18, darkandrew said:

It seems that most people on here are Basschat members that also play guitar, I don't know what the official stats are but that's my observation. I suppose that's quite a specific demographic, which is probably why it's not all that busy over here.

I think you're right - so the problem is about how to draw in from a larger source I guess.

[darkandrew]

On 06/02/2020 at 23:18, Kiwi said:

I think you're right - so the problem is about how to draw in from a larger source I guess.

It's a difficult one - if we look to other guitar-centred forums for inspiration, then we're just going to end up as a clone of them and therefore just another guitar forum. What makes Basschat special are the members and real sense of community that they bring, in which case I guess it begs the question as to whether we actually need a guitar specific forum or if it's best just to keep the one forum (ie. Basschat) and have a dedicated guitar area within it?

Edited February 8, 2020 by darkandrew

[Kiwi]

2 hours ago, darkandrew said:

I guess it begs the question as to whether we actually need a guitar specific forum or if it's best just to keep the one forum (ie. Basschat) and have a dedicated guitar area within it?

That reminds me of a joke from work.
Q: How many designers does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Does it have to be a light bulb?

I think it's OK for each to define their own senses of community and identity.  It's probably inevitable and helps ensure a broader appeal.

[darkandrew]

5 hours ago, Kiwi said:

I think it's OK for each to define their own senses of community and identity.  It's probably inevitable and helps ensure a broader appeal.

And that brings us right around to the initial question of this post - how do we make this particular forum (ie. Guitarchat) more appealing? Whether we like it or not, one question that does need to be asked is whether the forum would have a larger and more active readership if it were a part of the Basschat forum? Would it be possible to have certain pages shared across both forums? This might be one way to increase readership and activity.

[Kiwi]

6 hours ago, darkandrew said:

And that brings us right around to the initial question of this post - how do we make this particular forum (ie. Guitarchat) more appealing? Whether we like it or not, one question that does need to be asked is whether the forum would have a larger and more active readership if it were a part of the Basschat forum? Would it be possible to have certain pages shared across both forums? This might be one way to increase readership and activity.

There's a distinction to be made though between the kind of appeal that attracts initial interest and the kind of appeal that sustains interaction in the longer term.

[MWH]

As above,    folk pop in but the  ''long term''  isn't like on Basschat,  my opinion is that there are enough guitar sites to satisfy already,  which for this site is a shame,  what if i said that if only the bass players from next door are the dominant force here,  then though we have a guitar, it would be an  ''as well as'',   so the need to be here is less,  and the bespoke guitar players are already catered for as per my first line.   Its the lack of activity that makes it unnecessary to visit more.   As a matter of interest i'm a member of a Ford site,   and that site is using the exact setup software as here and B/chat,  which makes it easy for me to get around,  that's not over used either.      I have a new custom built guitar which the bass players here might find interesting,  i'll make an effort to upload something soon.

[ezbass]

I’ve been giving this some thought and the only idea I’ve had that has, in my mind, any potential is to team up with a guitar shop with national coverage (I’m thinking GuitarGuitar) and offer them free advertising space on the site in return for the same on their site and perhaps have their shop staff mention it to shop customers. I’m sure it could end up being a minefield, but it’s all I have, short of physically making my guitar playing chums sign up.

Edited February 10, 2020 by ezbass

[Thunderpaws]

Have you advertised this forum anywhere other than basschat? Maybe guitarists just don’t know it’s here? 

[MWH]

On 10/02/2020 at 17:12, ezbass said:

  ......it’s all I have, short of physically making my guitar playing chums sign up.

     Ooh !,  i like the sound of this,  we could be like the Spanish Inquisition  ?

[ezbass]

 

 

[EdwardMarlowe]

I stumbled across this place via basschat. Primarily a gyitar player that also plays bass. This site being uk based is a big plus for me. Posted at Harmony Central for years, but they hacked the site about and it went crap. UK market is also very different than US, so a UK site is better for me. 

A reviews section could be cool. But I'd rather it grow organically than get huge fast for the sake of it. 

[MacDaddy]

Since I stopped playing for the band that I played guitar in, I visit here a lot less.

 

[BoppingT]

1. It would be good to post both

- public ally

- To a smaller audience of members.

You don't mind posting a video of yourself playing guitar to a smaller audience, just so it is not in the public domain in case I get famous.

2. This may not be a problem - maybe it is difficult because members are geographically overly spread out.

The best  forum I know is a local forum in South Wales for sports. If there was a HQ to the forum (a shop) that would be better. Andertons are massive on YouTube mostly because they are a known shop at a location.

Edited April 1, 2020 by BoppingT

[BoppingT]

 

 

 

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Edited April 1, 2020 by BoppingT
Edited so it embeds

[Kiwi]

Facebook isn't as good as it used to be.  The advertising isn't all that effective, it appeals to a Gen X and older demographic and it's not great for relationship building...but what social media is?  Twitter is all about proclamations and instagram is all about thirst, there is no depth in either.  Google is still king but it takes more work to get things up the search engine rankings these days due to competition and an algorithm which is harder to game than it used to be.

3 hours ago, BoppingT said:

Andertons are massive on YouTube mostly because they are a known shop at a location.

I know Andertons well, Lee and I occasionally exchange messages.  They are massive because;

1) They started posting in 2009 before Youtube exploded as a promotion tool.  They got carried along on the tide as it were and probably wouldn't be able to repeat the success now as the algorithm has changed and there is more competition.
2) Lee (and Rob Chapman) are charismatic on camera.  Rob put Lee onto the idea of Youtube as a promo vehicle at the same time he was thinking about Chapman Guitars over ten years ago.  Lee has a stake in Chapman as well.
3) Andertons have an established and trusted brand, customers expect Lee and the team to take care of them (and they do).

[BoppingT]

Maybe this is the time for the Guitar Forum to evolve.

If you made some parts open forum and some parts closed group, people would post video possibly.

It would be good to get some guitar advice from people willing to teach for free, or video call.

I am not interested in learning guitar now but people starting would like to correspond with others in the same boat if it was a closed group.

[Kiwi]

Closed forums can't be accessed by search engine bots so the content is never registered as searchable.  Searchable content is valuable for the purpose of attracting new members via search engines.  So it helps the site to have accessible content.

 

[Skinnyman]

This is me thinking with my fingers as I type but perhaps we need to augment and amend the content a bit?

We’ve been relying on the content growing organically and, for all the reasons stated, it just isn’t happening. Maybe it’s time to start pushing content onto the site to seed it (and the search engines) with content so that non-BCers start seeing GC in search results? 

I think that within the overall guitar-playing community, there’s a distinct sub-group of learners. A much bigger group, and on a much longer journey, than those on BC and, if my experience was anything to go by, very intimidated by those who can play.

So perhaps the site needs a dedicated (and very visible) learner section where newcomers to guitar can have a “safe space” to ask dumb questions, get novice-specific advice?

Reviews of all the tuition sites out there, for example. Sites like Guitarbots. Who’s used them? Are they any good?

Within the general site, gear reviews - and, again, reviews of YT review sites.

Playing and composition videos (especially while we’re all locked away).

I know the site has the potential for all of this but maybe it needs a group of people to submit the posts and, most importantly for the search engines, start discussing them? It will feel artificial at first but that will change as the audience grows.....

Sorry, this turned out to be a bit more of a ramble than I anticipated but, hopefully, within all this blather there are one or two valid thoughts.

I think I need a lie down now.

[Kiwi]

lol

Thanks! All constructive suggestions...!

Would you like to add some content of your own?

[EdwardMarlowe]

I'd definitely be open to adding some user-reviews if you go down that road.