Sunday, August 14, 2005

What's the Difference?

At 360Bikers we've always strived to make a difference in the way you can show-sell-see-buy motorcycles. In that process we are constantly looking at the market to find new ways to feature our site and meet the needs of both our advertisers and our shoppers. A recent market analysis found that we had about 15 competitors in this field. Two of the companies we found had closed. While we like to see the competition behind us, it is always bad to hear of someone's dream coming to a deadend. I'm sure those companies tried to put as much into as they could, but in the end did not have the push they needed. Three more companies advertise motorcycles, but only as a part of their focus. The range went from anything on wheels to anything sports related. While these companies provide services, they are not biker services. They are general services and not the focus of our target audience. Three more companies only dealt with Harley Davidson motorcycles and custom motorcycles. While we love Harley's and customs (especially custom bikes) as much as anyone else, we look at all bikers as part of the community. If runs on two wheels and can do the speed limit, it's good for us. These companies pull in a special group and I have a great appreciation for their focus. We think we over things (mentioned below) that you don't find anywhere else and set our ads above theirs. FIVE companies including ours offer free ads. Now that seems to be competition until you see the limitations on the ads. I'm not saying these sites are good. At least one was quite impressive in design, but still fell short of the features we offer. 360Bikers.com is currently offering a standard ad (see below) for 6 months free. The remaining companies charge anything from $2.95 for a text ad for one month to $99 for a 6 photo ad. The prices of ads surprise me much less than the lack of features. While I would expect other companies to feature 360-degree view options (a 360Bikers exclusive) I do expect them to offer basic features such as slides and more photos. I see many companies allowing large file size photos which discourage low-bandwidth users and consume resources unnecessarily on your computer. Monitors only display 72 dpi. Photos over a megapixel or 70KB don't look better on your computer, they just require you to scroll side to side and up and down to see it. So, the question is "What's the Difference?" There are the basic similarities in motorcycle ad websites. Making a choice ranges from using the guy that's at the top of the food chain today to selecting sites that offer extraordinary value and features. 360Bikers isn't at the top of the chain yet, but it's our dream and the dream of all our competitors. It's one of the driving forces of entrepreneurs. But we do offer things you don't get on other sites. 360Bikers wins with...
  • User sortable results by field headers like price, location, and make.
  • Large primary photo that changes by just clicking on a thumbnail.
  • Up to TEN photos even in the most basic ad.
  • Slide show of photos complete with captions to enhance marketing your bike.
  • Low prices with long terms. You get more time online for much less.
  • 360-degree views that are done through our offices that will be opening across the country.
  • Special show prices. 360Bikers participates in biker events and provides discounted prices at these events.
  • Homemade alternative. A discounted pricing format and instruction package to take your own photos that we will then create a 360-degree view from.
  • High-resolution CD versions of 360-raise the bar another level. These are great to to share or duplicate for marketing. The high-resolution CD is something you have to see to believe.
Take a look at our site. We believe in our features. We believe our services put us that level above the rest. We hope everyone will give us a chance to show that there can be so much more than just those "basic ads" you see everywhere else. Remember, it's about the ride!

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