It's been a little over one year since we went online and the response has exceeded our expectations.
Of course, some things have gone better than others.
OSLE is number one in search engine results for "oversize load escorts", our primary keyphrase. Most search engines return OSLE as listing one on page one. We are delighted to have achieved this level of internet success and pleased that we can use our position to assist you in marketing your services.
Early on, we received a call from one pilot who had recently retired. He requested that we remove his listing from the directory because he was constantly getting calls for work. He told us that, had the directory existed before he retired, he would not have retired.
The directory has been very popular. The OSLE directory is the largest (over 2400 escort companies) overdimensional escort directory anywhere. It's free and pilots are adding themselves to the directory every day. For most users registering as a user and adding their business to the directory has been smooth. For reasons we have not identified, some users have had problems with receiving or responding to the confirmation email, adding business info to the directory or editing their listing. Any ideas on how we can make the process more user-friendly are welcome.
We're sure some listings are obsolete, but short of writing or calling everyone in the directory, we haven't come up with a good way of pruning the listings that are no longer valid. If you are aware of an obsolete or incorrect listing, please tell us at admin@oversizeloadescorts.com. We'll attempt to verify the error and clean up the directory.
The Load Board, which we hoped would be the centerpiece of the site has been disappointing. We have had little success getting carriers to list loads on the board. We continue to market OSLE to carriers as a tool that is, we believe, beneficial to both carriers and pilots.
Some features such as Trading Post, Photo Gallery and Forum have been little used by our members. It may be due to the need for members to register with each feature separately. We have launched myOSLE which combines member web pages, classifieds, chat, forums, photo galleries, instant messaging, event calendars, etc all under one username and password. We're working on making this a seamless registration so that when you register at OSLE you are automatically registered for all myOSLE features.
Other features such as Sunrise/Sunset, News and FAQs have been popular with our members. We've just added a Live Support tool that allows members to chat live with our support personnel.
The link exchange program has been popular. Members who place our link code on their site get a link from our directory to their site, for free. We monitor incoming links to make sure we've added all the links we should. If members notify us about a link, we can add their link sooner. Links are important. Links between sites within the same industry are VERY important. The more links you have to your site, the higher the search engines value your site. The higher value your site has, the more business you'll get when people search the web for your services. AND IT'S FREE!
Some ideas we're working on:
* A clone of OSLE that is compatible with blackberries and other wireless applications
* Instant Messaging between members (Should now be working. Let us know if you have a problem.)
* Consolidating the user registration and the directory listing registration. Users will soon be able to register as a user AND list their company all in one simple form.
Soon after release of the consolidated features, we plan to end the Beta Test. All paid members will begin their 12 month membership at that time.
Let us know what you like or don't like about the site. Let us know what you'd like to see added or removed. Please add your comments by logging in and clicking on "Comments" below.
Everett Cranmer, Jr
Everett Cranmer, III
Patrick Coyne |
