Over 200 members and counting!

[Lexman]

Guys, great to see that we made it over the 200 member plateau. I think it's a momentus occasion for the Guide.

Thank you for joining us, all the new members that don't personally feel as though they were ever welcomed to htguide.com!!! Thank all you other folks too!

Andrew does a great job welcoming members with public email addresses. It's one of the things he does here. What a guy.

I had set a goal of 200 members by midnight last night, and we didn't miss it by much!

Thanks,

Lex

[SteveF]

Heh Boss man, I try to tell people about this place every chance I get. I'm sure some people get tired of the attitudes at that other place, you know the one I mean !!! Everyone there is either a smart ass or a comedian. Peace SteveF




SteveF

[Markj]

I have been watching the count myself when it got to 180. Its great that the new members keep on coming!

[Bing Fung]

Congrat's to Lex, the HTG and all it members !

Thanks for giving us a place to hang out and be casual




Bing

[Lexman]

Thanks Steve, Mark, and Bing, I feel that we have a real synergy going here, and that to me was my goal from the outset. Now, it happens, that I also had other goals, including making this a business. All be it, a part time one, at least for now. But so much achieved, and having fun doing it.

Really, I wouldn't change a thing from what we have right now, unless another positive change appears out of the blue. I like what we are doing here, and it seems the members do too, as they do just keep a coming!

Thank you,

Lex

[SteveF]

OK Lex-Man !!! What can I do to make things better?? We could all go to the other forums and try to recruit?? Nah, that's being too petty, we're above that?? Well, we could go out and kick up our heels, no that will definitely not work. Heh, we gotta put our minds together and find a way to get more of the right stuff here !!!! Come on, let's support the Lex-Man !!! Put the ole thinking caps on, I'll sleep on it, 5 a.m. will be coming real soon, and yous guys, stay up and think about it!!!! Good night all. Peace SteveF




SteveF

[Lexman]

Well Steve, not sure we are above that actually. Let's face it, other forums are a great place to show people what htguide.com is about. Yes, you have to be somewhat discrete about it, and handle it carefully, but some of you have demonstrated that this can be done, without management of the other forums publically castrating you. Some of you have links to htguide on your home page, and that's a great source of advertising for the Guide. You would be surprised how many people find us this way when you have your home page in your signature while posting on other sites, and the home page has a link to the Guide. (If anyone needs banners, or help with links, let me know).

Perhaps the most satisfying one of these occured yesterday. A NEW member, took the time to put us in his links section of his home page his very first day! WOW, this made me feel really good. Thanks Kerry.

Now, regarding using the search guide as a tool:
For example, someone is looking for a vendor for a particular product. You go to the Guide, and do a search. Then, pick the best result, if any, and post the link to the htguide page that displays the results, so they can click on them. Once there, they become somewhat curious about htguide. So, after they look at what they wanted to see, they come back to the guide to check it out.

To me, this is not wrong if you are helping someone with information. It just happens to be in the Guide. You didn't strong arm them to get them here in any way.

I have recently posted publically about our contests in a few places. I consider this "news" worthy, in the realm of HT, and we are actually doing their members a service, notifying them as such. Sometimes, the forum owner knows about it in advance, and sometimes they don't. Sometimes, I just say, if this message infringes on anyone in any way, just delete it. That's what I did at one forum, and the message stayed there.

The contests are great "hooks". But unlike fishing, we must first reel them in, before setting the hook. In order to do that, we need publicity. Any and all publicity is good. This is in large part how we went from 150 members to 200 members in the last 2-3 weeks.

Of course, you can't discount the personal touch, inviting your friends over to htguide.com. Many times, they come. Again, remember, you can encourage people to use the "Guide", without strong arming them to come to the forum. Once on the Guide page, if they want to come, the link is there, and many of them will come in and join. We have something that not many other forums have with the directory of URLs, and search engine. So, by all means, use the engine, and tell others about it.

Thanks,

Lex

[Ken McDaniel]

I'm still bucking for 1,000 by the 1 year anniversary.




Ken

[Lexman]

I think that's a good target Ken, I am pulling for it too!

Lex