Topic: How Are We Doing?

[JacobBlack]

Well, I could see that coming. LOL
But, if the interest didn't happen on its own and come from within it's hardly right for you to grab it just because someone else is footing the bill.
Railton

Your assumption that the interest didn't happen on its own is totally false. I've spent a lot of my life mucking about with cars and motorbikes. I've been working on my wife to let me go ahead on an Oldsmobile for the past little while. And before that a Mini.

[Railton]

Well, I could see that coming. LOL
But, if the interest didn't happen on its own and come from within it's hardly right for you to grab it just because someone else is footing the bill.
Railton

Your assumption that the interest didn't happen on its own is totally false. I've spent a lot of my life mucking about with cars and motorbikes. I've been working on my wife to let me go ahead on an Oldsmobile for the past little while. And before that a Mini.

Mucking about is what actually?
Railton

[JacobBlack]

Mucking about is what actually?
Railton

Wrenching on.

Regardless, this point is moot.
All this autoTRADER.ca project car talk is just fantasy.
I've reached out to Arthur for a potential story on one of his projects, I think that would be cool.

[Railton]

Mucking about is what actually?
Railton

Wrenching on.

I've reached out to Arthur for a potential story on one of his projects, I think that would be cool.

Great!
Railton

[sailor723]

Jacob - do you have a goal in mind? 
If so - is it to try to broaden appeal to those who are looking for general type of info (like the Test Drive articles), or something more targeted to 'enthusiast' interest (like the Final Drive stuff or profiles of people with interesting cars idea)

I like the people/car profile idea, but don't think that would attract much traffic (?) 

Is there a specific audience you're trying to attract?

Do you mean with this thread? No, this thread is just a check-in. We spend a lot more time than you might expect thinking about how our forum responds to our content and whether or not you're being served. You're very much the enthusiast arm, so we want to make sure we're covering enough of the stuff actual car people care about.

Outside this thread, our goals are very broad, we're not a niche site, we're a one-stop shop for everyone from EV evangelists to hot rodders and everything in between. If a story is compelling, it's one we would do. Over 6 million Canadians use autoTRADER.ca each month. We want to give them all something to come for.

If I could make a comment about the AT site in general.....get rid of that search by distance filter.....or at least allow a search by province or series of provinces as an option.
I'd like to be able to search just all of NB...or NB,NS and PEI.....or Maritimes and Southern Ontario. ( I like to be able to exclude Quebec listings as most are unilingual French.)

[JacobBlack]

You can choose by Province.

[rrocket]

You can choose by Province.

Yep.

You put your postal code in.

Then choose distance....all the way up to Provincial or National.

[rrocket]

I know you've done an Industry News type story about your FIL car plant before.

If you want another, I could likely facilitate a tour of our facility to show you how much work, effort goes into making a single car part (in this case headlights, taillights, lighting).

Most people have no idea....and everyone from the forum who I've brought in for a tour were shocked at how much work it takes and the scope and size of the operations to make it happen.

[sailor723]

You can choose by Province.

Yep.

You put your postal code in.

Then choose distance....all the way up to Provincial or National.

Yes but you can't choose provinces can you?  ie ..."show me cars in NB and NS"  or...."NB, NS, and Ont"

[Noto]

I know you've done an Industry News type story about your FIL car plant before.

If you want another, I could likely facilitate a tour of our facility to show you how much work, effort goes into making a single car part (in this case headlights, taillights, lighting).

Most people have no idea....and everyone from the forum who I've brought in for a tour were shocked at how much work it takes and the scope and size of the operations to make it happen.

^^ it was amazing.

[rrocket]

You can choose by Province.

Yep.

You put your postal code in.

Then choose distance....all the way up to Provincial or National.

Yes but you can't choose provinces can you?  ie ..."show me cars in NB and NS"  or...."NB, NS, and Ont"

Yea, you can. Provincial.

[draghon]

I know you've done an Industry News type story about your FIL car plant before.

If you want another, I could likely facilitate a tour of our facility to show you how much work, effort goes into making a single car part (in this case headlights, taillights, lighting).

Most people have no idea....and everyone from the forum who I've brought in for a tour were shocked at how much work it takes and the scope and size of the operations to make it happen.

This is a great idea!

[Ex-airbalancer]

Still waiting for the story about comparing gas vs diesel , in the same vehicle
eg Jeep GC Hemi vs Ecodiesel,

[tooscoops]

Railton raises a good point.  Autotrader is not in the new car business is it?  I have always thought of Autotrader as a place to shop for used cars.  More used car reviews would be consistent with this.

In fairness, autoTRADER.ca is absolutely in the new car business. We have thousands of new cars on the site, often below MSRP!

The days of autoTRADER.ca being a used-car only site are as dead as the print edition.
...

just to comment on that... you are in the new car business, but not nearly to the degree trader seems to think it is. the thought that your "used only" view is as dead as the print is a very bad way to look at it.... you are still a used site who now can do much more... to start ignoring the used dominance they once had is leaving room for the cargurus and such of the world to bully in and take your market share.

new listings are looked at yes... but more as research and checking stock. i bet a huge portion of those clicks are from other dealers who are just trying to check other dealers pricing...

i get about 200 e-leads a month... a large portion from trader (over half)... last month, there were two new car leads. both garbage leads filled in with incorrect info.

i only mention this so you can bring up some real world info with people there... don't try to increase clicks, try to increase actual usage.

[JacobBlack]

To be clear... Yes, the used car business is trader's bread and butter. I can't speak to that side of the business too much as those sorts of things are outside my scope.  But I know the dealer commitment is strong.
I'm just making the point that we're also in the new-car business and expanding that further. So our new-car content is relevant. 

[tooscoops]

yeah, didn't want to get too off-topic!

for me, i really like the articles, but find unless you get a google search linking you directly, you aren't likely to roam through trader.ca to find it.

if site like honda and all that can handle a quick initial popup to determine if you are looking for cars or heavy equipment and direct you accordingly, maybe trader can do something similar? "car search" vs "vehicle information" or something?

[BWII]

Did not notice this.  So, TL:DR version...what they all said.

And my version - I read the articles I want to read, and watch the videos in the articles on the cars I want to read about.  Saves me time if Pritch or you or whoever reads it for me in 5 minutes, and I get to watch the car in motion.  I got no complaints anyway.  Pics are and have always been one of the strong suits around here IIRC.

I miss the 50l Challenge...I just do.  Would be interesting to use that type of test on more than just bottom feeders though.

[JacobBlack]

We do use a Canadian dictionary. You should never see "favor" or "color" on our site. If you do, we messed up editing.

[Brig]

We do use a Canadian dictionary. You should never see "favor" or "color" on our site. If you do, we messed up editing.

I've seen some articles (written by you) use the term petrol when referring to gasoline or gas, which is what we use in North America.   

[Scaerio]

yeah, didn't want to get too off-topic!

Speaking of topics, your Pacer would make for a fun final drive article.