Ok guys, I need to have a heart to heart talk with all of you. EVERY voice will be heard, and I am sort of talking out loud here, but I am thinking about moving the RCIA Forum. It is just thinking out loud, at this point, but something I am considering.
Why ? Well, because of cost, for one thing! Sometimes, our forum bills are near 200 dollars a MONTH! But if we move, what just happened to you guys will NEVER happen, if I am in control of the Forum. The forum will be DO FOLLOW, and freaking STAY DO FOLLOW, for one thing!
Yes, we will loose our Google Ranking, but only for awhile. I would make the new RCIA Forum a page on my personal website saferoofcleaning.com! Just as my website, (and all you guys cranking out roof cleaning related content daily) has made us number one, it can and will happen again!
Plus, it will make it a lot easier on Gary to keep track of forum dues. In fact, with other forum software, it is automated!
Unforunately, we will LOSE all our posts and threads here, they are NOT exportable. The Canadiens who own Activeboard designed it that way, to Keep their customers (blackmail)!
But not to "worry", this forum will not just "go away". It will simply revert back to a free forum is all, and I will still control it! I would make sure that no one will be able to post promo stuff here, or have signature links, unless they pay.
In effect, our Members will get "double their moneysworth" LOL, because they will have 2 forums ONLY they can make promotional Posts on!
I think this forum will still be hard to knock out of the first page of Google, ever, unless we completely abandon it, and stop any posting here.
Then, we will have a new, up and coming roof cleaning forum, and hopefully have 2 Forums, page one Google!
Guys, I want to share something with all of you. It has hurt me financially by closing this forum. I did it for you guys, my customers, to make you happy. AS far as dollars and cents goes, membership at 100 dollars a year does not provide much profit vs the time I spend here. I mean, I make a little bit, but Gary has to be paid, and so do the forum charges. Certification is where I have any potential to make a few dollars, and that was hurt by the close of much of the forum. The people who used to come here, and freely browse around the certification area have vanished. Charging people, to "protect" you guys has cost me potential income. YOU, my customers, come first, but none of us like to work for free.
Hey Chris, you do what you gotta do man. Probably gonna be some guys wanting refunds I suppose would be one of the issues, unless you stop taking new memberships and let it run its course. As far as losing the posts, so much has changed since it started that alot of the info in the postings is out dated anyhow. Not only that, but I've seen the same questions asked and topics started so many times over the years that it just gets so redundant anyhow,..which is why I come and go so much. I've always liked the idea of "EXCHANGING" information with others,..never really seen the value in helping others learn before they even bought anything or even cleaned one roof. There's always gonna be guys doing it wrong and making it a little tougher for the "good" guys,...the power washing business has been that way and will always be that way as well, teaching a few doesn't help that much in making this service more respectable.
If and when you start another board, I will be there and posting information and answering questions when I can. Because, I too have learned from here over the years and will continue to post because I think that it's fair to give as well as take. And that is what sucks about divulging all of this, just think how many guys start a roof cleaning business because of this site and you never even see them post even once. They get just enough information to be dangerous. But that damage has already been done by all this and all the other boards as well. But it's not a perfect world.
Raystown Roof Cleaning Central PA 1-800-236-0322 wrote:
Hey Chris, you do what you gotta do man. Probably gonna be some guys wanting refunds I suppose would be one of the issues, unless you stop taking new memberships and let it run its course. As far as losing the posts, so much has changed since it started that alot of the info in the postings is out dated anyhow. Not only that, but I've seen the same questions asked and topics started so many times over the years that it just gets so redundant anyhow,..which is why I come and go so much. I've always liked the idea of "EXCHANGING" information with others,..never really seen the value in helping others learn before they even bought anything or even cleaned one roof. There's always gonna be guys doing it wrong and making it a little tougher for the "good" guys,...the power washing business has been that way and will always be that way as well, teaching a few doesn't help that much in making this service more respectable.
If and when you start another board, I will be there and posting information and answering questions when I can. Because, I too have learned from here over the years and will continue to post because I think that it's fair to give as well as take. And that is what sucks about divulging all of this, just think how many guys start a roof cleaning business because of this site and you never even see them post even once. They get just enough information to be dangerous. But that damage has already been done by all this and all the other boards as well. But it's not a perfect world.
I will stick with you if you move. Thank you for all that you do.
Bruce
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Shingle Magician Roof Cleaning 585-301-3415 Roof Cleaning Rochester NY Safe, soft wash roof cleaning Rochester New York area, using a non pressure cleaning solution recommended by shingle manufacturers
Chris, More so that the certification and google boost my page sees, the most important thing to me on this forum is the camaraderie and sense to "belonging" that I get to enjoy with other members here. That being said, I'll go where you go!
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Ray Burke
Spray Wash Exterior Cleaning
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visit our website Soft Washing and Pressure Washing
Will certification certification carry over from here to your new board?
Of course it would ! We are just in the talking stages right now, just bouncing an idea off of you guys is all! There are no definitive plans to move, although I am quite pissed the forum went back to NO FOLLOW when I specifically told the forum people NOT to ever do that to us.
Chris, Do what you have to do. I'll support any decision you make & will most certainly follow this forum wherever it goes. The SEO/posts are great, but that's not why I get on here at one in the morning when I can't sleep or when I need advice on equipment or a marketing idea. Handle your business and wherever you land I'll be standing next to you.
Serving the Pocono and Lehigh Valley(Carbon, Lehigh, Northampton, Monroe, Pike and Wayne Counties), PA community as well as both Warren and Sussex Counties of New Jersey
Thanks so much Guys! I contacted the Forum People today about our missing backlinks! They are working on it, but one said he can't find anything wrong, initially! He installed the same app for google chrome as I have, and did see where in the recent posts there was a no follow section attached to the last posters profile, but he said all else is DO FOLLOW ! This is not good news, for it means we will have to look deeper into why Google is not giving backlinks from this Forum!
He said he will look into it, and call me tomorrow.
Thanks everyone! I am looking into the mystery of WHY Google is not giving any of us backlinks from this Forum. I think I may have found the problem ? The forum was restructured to put the stuff for the homeowners first, then comes the directory of states.
All of these forums are open to the crawlers, but HERE may be the problem. There is NEVER any fresh content in them! What may be happening is this. Google crawls only so deep. If it does not see any fresh content, the crawler stops, and goes away. Perhaps Google is no longer crawling the forum DEEP enough, to detect and index our busy open sections ?
I noticed some time ago that I didn't have back link from RCIA, but I thought I was doing something wrong when looking for them. I'm with ya whatever you choose to do, as well.
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Extreme Cleaning Solutions (410) 980-1053
Phil Rogers
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Roof Cleaning and Pressure Washing in Anne Arundel County, and Howard County, Maryland
I noticed some time ago that I didn't have back link from RCIA, but I thought I was doing something wrong when looking for them. I'm with ya whatever you choose to do, as well.
Something went wrong, very wrong! Hell, I have 6000 posts here, so no one is more aware of this then me. I think we can fix this with a better robots text file. We are working on that right now.