Alex

The new home page has been enabled. Now when you log in, you will see a welcome page with some quick links. The forum can be accessed by clcking on the FORUM ink in the main menu. Screenshots attached. Please post any issues or suggestions in this thread.

I'm in the process of testing a new home page/landing page. When you visit www.autoshopowner.com, you will eventually be directed to a new home page when NOT LOGGED IN, and a new account page when LOGGED IN with some account info and more of a welcome page with quick links, new posts, etc. The forums can be accessed from anywhere by clicking on the FORUM button in the main menu. I had it on briefly this morning for testing. It is now switched off for further testing. If you see it come on, it is because I am testing this feature.

You may have been wondering what has been going on with AutoShopOwner.com this week. Nothing but messages and errors saying that the site is down. Yes, we have been down all week, since Sunday morning. In a nutshell, our server where AutoShopOwner.com resides, had a fatal hardware malfunction Sunday morning. The hard drive crashed and up until now, has been mostly unrecoverable. Fortunately, we were able to revert to a backup of our site that we had. The backup however was also incomplete and from an earlier date, so we opted to wait and do our best to recover ALL the data, up to the point of failure. We are confident that this has now been done to the best of our ability and have decided to open AutoShopOwner.com back up. This is pretty much the worst case scenario for a website, which is why it is so important to back up data. Even with management systems in your shops, you most likely have a backup in place and are checking it periodically. Hard drive failures are unpredictable and can happen any time. You can only protect yourself by having backups of your data. We apologize for the inconvenience and hope that you missed the community while it was down. AutoShopOwner Team

Added "Latest Discussions" block in right side panel. Right side panel can be toggled on and off by clicking on the >> button above the status updae block.

Topic Pinned. Please take a moment and vote.

Bumping this topic..anymore sites? Topic Pinned.

Just wanted to add that AutoShopOwner is on Facebook and Twitter: AutoShopOwner Facebook Page Fan Page: AutoShopOwner Facebook Fan Page Twitter: AutoShopOwner on Twitter

Sounds good.

Thanks for the feedback. You can also use this keyword suggestion tool: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal for adwords or for your website(s). Tells you what is popular.

It's been a little while since I've used adwords... I do have some experience with it. Google adwords is a way for you to bid on select keywords and placement on search engine results and within adsense listing on other sites. For instance, a majority of the ads that you see on AutoShopOwner.com are sites that are using adwords and bidding on placement. Sign up to adwords, it's free. Start a campaign and see what the amounts are for targeted keywords. You will see that the more popular they are, the more expensive they are. When you are on Google, you have 2 types of search results: Natural listings and Paid Listings (from adwords) My suggestion would be to bid on keyword phrases that are not too general.... Too general: car repair, auto repair, auto mechanic (can generate visits that will not convert to customers) More specific: westwood car repair, westwood auto mechanic (adding the town or market you are going for, will help keep it more targetted and save you money on clicks that really will not amount to much.) Get Started Here

Should be working now. Thanks for the heads up.

Pretty much...and lot's of coffee... Added one more: 16. Synchronize FaceBook Account- Added the ability to sync your FB account to Autoshopowner. Go Here

Below are some of the new updates and features that I can remember off the top of my head: 1. Reputation system - Posts can now be rated, earning the author reputation points which can be highlighted with titles and badges. 2. Personal Conversations - Users can now create private topics, accessible only to themselves and anyone else they choose to invite. (replaces the default message system) 3. Mini Profile Popup - Wherever you see on your board (which is just about everywhere a member name appears), it can be clicked for a handy mini-profile popup. Send a PM, check reputation or find posts - without needing to leave the current page. 4. Social Network Icons - Social network icons added to the top of posts, to easily add content to your favorite network. 5. New Live Chat - Integrated new live chat system 6. Blog section Updated - various new blogging features 7. Photo Gallery Section Updated - various new photo features 8. Downloads section Updated - Layout and operation updated 9. Who visited today - Added a section that shows who visited the forum today. Located on the main page of the forum, at the bottom of the page 10. New Text Editor added 11. Log in with Facebook added 12. Status Updates added - Add "what's on your mind" to show on the forum home page and in your profile 13. Forum main page layout - new block additions, recent topics, etc. Right column can be closed or opened. 14. Event Calendar Updated - new features added. Add any events easier. 15. New Main Menu - Added new drop down main menu. 16. Synchronize FaceBook Account- Added the ability to sync your FB account to Autoshopowner. Go Here This is the main list of features and changes as of right now.

Updated thread. Youtube video test. Use the button and enter the url of Youtube video or page url.

Good to hear.

You may have noticed that we have updated AutoShopOwner.com today. The layout is relitively the same. If you run into any issue, please post them in this thread so that we can correct it. We've updated every section, and during the coming weeks, will finalize everything. ASO is back online and running smooth. The updates took around 6 hours to complete. Explore the new layout. We welcome your suggestions and feedback.

Merry Christmas!

Welcome aboard!

You can now add your website into your profile.....in your settings page...... located here: http://www.autoshopowner.com/network/edit-profile-info.html Feature recommended by xrac

Youtube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/righttorepair

Moved to Technician's Corner.