Easy as It

[AstroTiger]

Hi all

not only am i an astronomer but i also run a business as well, offering computer based It trainig for total beginners

Would you guys mind offering ur opinion on this please guys?

http://www.peeba.co.uk/alanna/index.htm

and the forum that will go with it

http://s14.invisionfree.com/Easy_as_IT/index.php?

any comments, suggestions most greatfully recieved

Al

[daz]

All looks very good Al, apart from the hyperlinks - the text is smaller than the normal font.

But everything is working OK

[Jamie]

Hi Al had a look and all seems very good.

The advice that i have received from webmasters is keep it simple / keep it clean

and keep it informative.

You have achieved all three in my book well done.

BTW the forum looks good too.

[Grant]

I really like the look you've got there Al! Nice work!

You can check the correctness of the html here: http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.peeba.co.uk%2Falanna%2Findex.htm your site is validating pretty well!

The only thing thats missing is the page title, at the moment it just says "Untitled Document"... other than that, spot on

[AstroTiger]

thank you for that guys,

nice to know we are doing it right.

though the forum is a concern

I want to offer some form of asistance without the risk of offering free consultancy, and the risk of ppl not buying my disks, does anyone have any thoughtss or ideas on this?

Al

[Jamie]

Maybe you could have a section that is available only to people who have bought your discs.

That way you can offer real time assistance if its required. (i.e forum section IT ASSISTANCE )

But i must say that its going to be difficult to filter out the people who have paid for a disc

unless you include an access password with the discs that would enable that particular part

of the forum.

Remember that this idea is comming from someone that has no concept of how difficult

this would be to apply nor has any experience in this field.(so feel free to just ignore it if its of no use to you)

[AstroTiger]

this is true skyguy

But you have a valid point. I have been wpndering for a while about away of betting a residual income from customers.

and you have me thinking

If the forum could be provided to those who already have the disks, then a one off serial umber can be given to them.

Similar to geting them to register i guess, enter in this number to activate, you send them an emai, they click to confirm.

This would also cut benefits for those who pirate my stuff. Esp if a number can only be registered once!

in return they could get online support, cos as as they have bought their disks, they ain;t going to want another one are they!!! Could be a way of getting extra money out of them! And regularly too. £5 a month?

you know what Skyguy, your a ****ing genius!

LOVE LUV YA!!!!! :sunny:

Al

just need to figure how i am going to make it work now.

My poor web developer is going to kill me.!

[Grant]

Easy, in the forums you can set it so a person can join, but can't do anything or see anything until an admin authorises them, each time somebody joins email them asking for their serial number, if they don't have one, don't authorise them....

If you want to make it automated, this is easy too but a little more work and money

[AstroTiger]

well the forum already has this facility,

so i could build this in as the permissions. Only as ppl pay do i autrhorise them into the site? need not cost a penny.

Could have a little something for non paying ppl, but more for paying customers, those subscribing to use it.

Now there is a thing.

Now need to assertain exactly what i could offer them that other forums don;t

Support they can get in other forums for free.

Greater discount on courses i suppose?

Any other ideas chaps?

Al

[Jamie]

Here is another thought.(OH NO NOT AGAIN I HEAR)

You know how you have a separate section for Admins that only they have access to well you could have a section just like that exept

you only authorise it for your paying clientel.

What you offer them to subscribe to that section could be buy one get one free or more of a discount for

requesting more than one tutorial.

Try not to alienate the rest of the normal users of your forum (have it open exept the tutorial side)

I'm only rambling on now so i will stop.

[Grant]

I would also suggest, if people are paying you for forum access that you setup your own forums on your own hosting space rather than using a free service, this will get rid of the adverts and will also allow you greater control of features, plus then you can make backups etc... Something people will expect if they're paying a subscription....

If you need any webspace, or need any help setting up the forums then let me know (http://iseeonline.net)

[AstroTiger]

thank you for that grant.

the more i thnk of the idea the more i am beginning to like it.

Printed notes on the courses could be made available to these guys that non paying customers would not get.

I am sure more will come to me on this one.

As for the non customer, they can contribute to the newletter and other things.

The idea is good, need to think it through more.

Thanks guys

Al

[AstroTiger]

hi guys

i have given this concept a lot of thought.

what i think i will do is have both forums, the std one and the premium one.

standard is just for the newsletter and comments etc

but the premium one ppl pay for.

Now ppl who but a Cd from me will get 3 months free trial then be asked to sign up if they wish to continue. Other will have to pay £5 for the year say.

What they get in return is the tutorials snippets that will only be streamable but not avialable the general public.

Also i will consider having written notes available fri them to download.

Support can also be offered to those who post within the forum.

A higher membership for say £10 per year will get them copies of the tutorials mailed to them on CD twice a year. I say twice as they will be produce monthly, and by the same token more than 6 and they might take up too much space on the server.

now does that sound like a service you would pay for?

comments please :-)

Al