What can we do to promote the site?

I saw on Skuzzles website he can do club dyno days. Maybe if one was organised, then spammed on facebook many (southerners at least) would hear about the forum?

I can haz sticker now yes?

I asked Cleanyourcar.co.uk for a free postage discount code specific to this site but so far nothing has come through - nothing yet but it hasn't been long and I'll keep asking! My idea being that once it was posted in the Bargain Bin thread it might encourage members to ask other suppliers for discount codes for site members. Lots of online suppliers do it so when you're buying something, call them and ask if you can get a forum promo code.

These codes are good because they encourage people to join the forum, but also get the forum name known with suppliers; the more Mighty5s associated business they get, the more they are likely to support us again. May not directly increase membership but it does increase the appeal of joining the forum.

Do we have a twitter / Instagram account? they enable things like "Mighty 5 of the day" posts which can attract a lot of people.

I'd set up the Twitter account anyway, you can link the IG and T accounts so IG tweets for you - very easy. Same for a Facebook page as well. Makes managing the pictorial/video side of things much easier. Adding people on IG will also help drive traffic, lots of MX5 related accounts to go follow.

We the members should also be encouraged to # and @ our MX5 content on social media - I'll let you decide what the # should be though.

One big draws of clubs and forums is the discounts insurers offer too - get a few of the big ones on board (Flux, Performance Direct, Greenlight etc) and that helps.

One thing I really liked about the 2CVGB club was SPOG. No idea what it stands for, but it was basically a crowd sourcing effort to raise cash to go and manufacture parts not easily obtained. You'd buy a share, which contributed to the costs, that gave you the right to benefit from buying the parts being made, then cash raised from the sales got reinvested. If you want to leave you sell your share. Members vote for what parts they have manufactured next. I don't know whether there are any parts you can no longer get for an MX5 but it definitely helped save a lot of cars from the scrap heaps and breakers yards by manufacturing repair panels. Perhaps it could be done for some exclusive members-only parts (e.g. a Mighty5s intake). Probably something to revisit down the line if the club gets to a size where it's possible.

How are the Google search results? Are there any members on here who know modern SEO, as it's no longer a case of ramming a site full of keywords? If the forum can rank more highly you'll find new members.

Let's also set up a LinkedIn group - we have a lot of variety in our jobs as shown by the thread on what we do to pay for our cars, a bit of networking never hurt anyone! I do a lot of work on and with LinkedIn so happy to co-admin that one if it helps.

Which leads nicely in to another idea... If anyone has any expertise they are willing to share for free (to a point of course) then it would be good to encourage either a thread on it or dedicate a section of the forum or use LinkedIn. A good example is the welding thread, but it doesn't have to be car related. My expertise is key account management and client relationships, and I train our lawyers on using LinkedIn to their advantage. I'd be more than happy to answer any questions people have on these things.

Finally from me (although I'll be back if I have any other thoughts) you should stipulate that any free stickers provided to members for their ideas must be stuck to the outside of their car or somewhere prominent so that others will see it!

Brain dump over...

If you're ok with me taking the LinkedIn piece on, I'll get it done tonight. If you could PM me your email address, I'll invite you first so you can review and approve before going live.

Don't know if anyone above has mentioned. Nick perhaps you have a quick chat with Andrew at autolink to see if we could get a mighty5s discount code.

I know they used to do mx5nutz and you got 5% off.

Not a huge amount but it's better than owt and would be a good 'selling point' for new members, I guess.