Board of Directors approves new PCS website

The topic of a new and true PCS owned and operated website has been up for discussion for some time now. It was even a hot button during the last election. As a candidate for President, the question I was asked more than any other related to my stand on a PCS controlled website.

My stance on the entire matter basically boiled down to this:

1. I was in agreement that the PCS needed it's own website...an actual website that educates and entices people through an easily-navigated display of colorful photos, information, and links.

2. I was not in agreement to "take over" or pursue any conflict with Paul Steinberg and the Friends of PCS Website Administration Committee. Paul, Dan, Robert, and Jerry have done a lot of good for PCS; this is simply a matter that we need to move to the next level. My proposal is to work in cooperation with the Friends Forums. Yes, the PCS has a new and official website, but the Friends Forums are still a welcome and important asset to the club. The new PCS website will be linked from the forums in the "About Us" box and the Friends Forums will be linked from the new PCS website.

3. Since Paul Steinberg owns the domain names professionalcarsociety.com, net, and org, we secured new domain names of theprofessionalcarsociety.com, net, and org. I have inquired of Paul if he would be willing to sell his domain names to the PCS and he has chosen not to do so at this time. That's fine, and we'll proceed accordingly.

4. We made a plan, created a new site, and presented it to the PCS Board of Directors in Flint, MI last month. The board approved the new site and we are very excited to unveil it here today! Dennis Goethe, long-time PCS member who excels at online presentations and websites has done virtually all the work on the new site and has agreed to assume the duties of PCS webmaster. Note: During this development, Paul Steinberg noted that he would step down as PCS webmaster due to the creation of this new, PCS owned and operated site.

Again, I cannot be more clear that this entire venture is meant to be cooperative and collaborative! Nothing nasty or underhanded about it. The following is more detailed information about the new site. After you've read it over, please visit the new site and bookmark it in your Favorites. We hope you enjoy what you see and welcome your feedback.

Sincerely,

Tony Karsnia
President - The Professional Car Society

FAQ for the new PCS website, www.THEprofessionalcarsociety.org

Why?
The current web address for the PCS is www.professionalcarsociety.org. This takes you to the
discussion forums. Only by clicking the “About Us” link are you directed to information about the
PCS that is at a different web address, www.professionalcarsociety.info – which is unpublicized. A
more comprehensive website has been developed for the Society. PCS President Tony Karsnia is
committed to enhancing the PCS's web presence.

Why now?
Other major car clubs (Cadillac-LaSalle, LCOC, Pontiac-Oakland, Packard) and hearse clubs (Grim
Rides, Phantom Coaches, PCI, Just Hearse N' Around, Hearse Club) have had websites of varying
degrees of professionalism for many years. They write about their activities - past and upcoming - and
encourage participation in their events. Their websites also list reasons why you should join their
clubs. It's time for the PCS to have a website that burnishes the reputation of the PCS by educating
prospective members about the PCS and what it stands for. A new website also reinforces the
investment in the Society for those who already are members.

Does this replace the current website?
No, It does not replace the discussion forums. The web address of
www.THEprofessionalcarsociety.org provides a link to the discussion forums at
professionalcarsociety.org. The official web address of The Professional Car Society will be
www.THEprofessionalcarsociety.org. The .net and .com domain names are also owned by the PCS.

How much does this new website cost?
A prepaid two-year business plan (needed for the e-commerce option) is $19.54/month. This does not
include renewals of domain names (eg: THEprofessionalcarsociety.org, .com, .net) now owned by the
PCS, or other web addressed owned by others and used by the PCS. Remember that the forums operate
independently from the Society.

What do we get for this price?
Weebly, the website host company, offers unlimited storage, unlimited bandwidth, an e-commerce
solution for the store, real-time site statistics, and the easy to use site builder and publisher.

Who is Weebly?Weebly, based in San Francisco, is a WYSIWYG (pronounced wissy-wig, and stands for What You See
Is What You Get) website creator company. Started in nine years ago by three Penn State students it has
grown to employ about 600 people housed in a 36,000 sq. foot building. Weebly currently powers 25
MILLION websites (about 2% of all websites). Weebly is a PC Magazine choice for best web-based
site builders and, on Feb. 1, 2015, the Website Builder Expert review website picked Weebly as a best
choice for a website builder and host.

Who's idea was this?
President Karsnia, in cooperation with Vice President Skivoloke, invited Dennis Goethe to create a
proposal which was presented to the Board of Directors in Flint, MI in Feb. 2015.

Is it “maintainable?”Weebly is easily updated and maintained, using a web-based site builder that is drag-and-drop. Just
about anyone can do it! Dennis Goethe has agreed to maintain and update the website through August,
2016, if the Board desires.

Is this a permanent solution?
This website can be a permanent solution, or it can be used until the Board invests in having a website
built, developed, and maintained by a professional website creation company.

Where are the website files kept?
A Weebly website is hosted by Weebly and built on-line not using a local web building program (the
old FrontPage, for instance). An archived ZIP file can be created and saved locally. Weebly servers are
based in the USA (presumably in San Francisco). Weebly's up-time is 99.96% and, according to web
statistics, is one of the fastest servers at 3.17 milliseconds to load.

Who can make changes to the website?
The website creator and webmaster is currently Dennis Goethe. Since Weebly is a web-based program
anyone with the user name and password can update, change, and administer the website. Keep in
mind this is different than the forums administrators, who have a different set of responsibilities in
running the forums.

How much has the PCS spent on this project so far?
Zero. An anonymous donor has paid for the registration of the web addresses
(THEprofessionalcarsociety.org .net and .com) through August, 2016, and are currently paying the
website's fees with Weebly.

Is the new website mobile phone, android, iPhone, iPad and tablet friendly?
The website can be viewed on multiple platforms and with all browsers without compromising content
or structure.

www.theprofessionalcarsociety.org

I would like to say "thank you" to Tony, Dan, and Dennis for their hard work in getting this up and running. This is something the PCS has needed for a long time. I'm glad after all these years it has finally come to fruition.

And thanks to Paul for all he has done over the years to maintain the forums.

Onward and upward!

Will there be a annual charge on the new site as a site supporter like there was on the "friendsof" site?

from the information voted on last board meeting the friends site is still the official site of the pcs. the vote was to create a club site for a home page. so that we might be able to do things like make purchases thru the club store, renew memberships. more easily get information on up and coming events links to them links to club sites and our official interactive site the Friends . as it is not a interactive site but for members or the public viewing only a static site.

this would fee up Jeff from the responsibility of maintaining the info site. I would guess that the next step would be to remove the information on it and place a link directing users to the the new site before taking it down completely.

the friends site is still our official communication site for members to interact with directors and board members to interact with members. creation of "the" site did not remove the official status of the Friends site.

like the home page on the CLC site it will simply direct you to other sites while giving out information about the PCS.

the address for the theprofissionalcarsocity.org .net and .com were picked up some tlme in augest of 2014 so the discussion of needing a address owne by someone else was unnessary and I feel not in the spirit of cooperation.
after all the official name of the club is the professional car society. why would be want anything else for our address.

I did vote for this I feel it very important that we have a site to put out our club goals information access to the club store, links to chapter websites and events. and other club functions and services. Jeff has a job to do with membership that doesn't leave him the time necessary to work the web page. Greg as publicity chairman needs this site to direct people to it so that they can view the official stance of the club and be able to access the other sites of the club to get a overall impression of us. Paul is busy with this site keeping up with daily operations to work another one also. so having someone else that is willing to volunteer to do so just makes sense. having them do it in a format they are familiar rather then just take over the info site with the gift to the club of the domain names is a no brainer. the expanse of 20 bucks a month at a time we are in a money crunch was worth thinking about but the money crunch will run it course as soon as memberships get back on course . to wait was not worth it.

now it's up to the membership to use the sites we have. this continued migration of small groups here and there with the exclusion of other members is something that is departementale to the club as a whole. it's human nature to divide into Hennys, MM and CB type groups. just remember to share with the rest of us to keep the big group together.

I would also like to thank Tony, Dan and Dennis for their hard work in launching the new site.

Back in 2002, I was pushing for PCS ownership of the PCS website, but the Board felt it was not necessary. It just makes good sense, that this has finally happened, at least in my opinion.

At the same time, I have always appreciated and enjoyed the Friends of PCS site, it worked for me. To that, I would like to thank Paul and the rest of the Friends website committee for everything they did for us.

John ED Renstrom said:

from the information voted on last board meeting the friends site is still the official site of the pcs.

Click to expand...

To clarify, the new website, located at www.theprofessionalcarsociety.org (soon also .com and .net) is the new official site of The Professional Car Society. A bona-fide website that is owned and controlled by the members of a club is the official website.

As you can see by viewing the new site, it is far more than a "page" that simply provides some information while directing people to other pages. It is a thorough representation of The Professional Car Society, it's chapters, future and past events, pertinent information, message from the President, and related links. This is not a "put it out there and forget it" site. This is a site that will be maintained and updated so people are enticed to return to see what we're doing.

Tony, I know you have been involved for quite some time with the Northland PCS website, which has always been a great place to go for information and pictures. It would be nice to see some of that information incorporated into the new PCS site if at all possible. I would say the same for the archives of pictures on this site, but due to permissions and whatnot I imagine the best that will happen will be to point people here. Perhaps at some point there can at least be links on the official site to individual threads here, such as the Cadillac, Buick and Oldsmobile procar threads.

John ED Renstrom said:

from the information voted on last board meeting the friends site is still the official site of the pcs.

Click to expand...

Tony Karsnia said:

To clarify, the new website, located at www.theprofessionalcarsociety.org (soon also .com and .net) is the new official site of The Professional Car Society. A bona-fide website that is owned and controlled by the members of a club is the official website.

As you can see by viewing the new site, it is far more than a "page" that simply provides some information while directing people to other pages. It is a thorough representation of The Professional Car Society, it's chapters, future and past events, pertinent information, message from the President, and related links. This is not a "put it out there and forget it" site. This is a site that will be maintained and updated so people are enticed to return to see what we're doing.

Click to expand...

what I meant by page is it's is not a interactive site. I can go there look up things and be directed to other things. I can not interact on the site. I would have to get a hold of Dennes to have something put on it. i checked it out today looks good. I have it in my favorites. but we voted to pursue a club website, not to change our status with this one.

Is there going to be a link from the forums pages back to the PCS website? If there is one here now, I can't seem to find it. I think it should be prominent on every page in the forums, since it is still very easy for people searching for information on professional cars or the PCS in general to land here first.

I have asked that the "about Us" link be changed to direct folks to the new site

Update

The new PCS website, located at www.theprofessionalcarsociety.org has been live for about three weeks now and we wanted to give you an update on how it is doing. As of last evening:

624 unique visitors since launch!

2,671 total visits to the site!

6 sales from the PCS store!

$332 generated from sales...money that goes directly to the PCS!

Thank you to everyone who is utilizing the new site, whether it be for casual browsing, seeking specific information, or shopping in the store. Site content is routinely updated, so check back often. Don't forget to "Like" us! Click on the link below the picture of Tom Caserta and I on the main page.

Speaking of Statistics

I thought that the members of the www.professionalcarsociety.org website might like to know what our statistics are. Posted below are the stats for the month of March 2015.

Monthly Statistics for March 2015

[SIZE=-1]Total Hits[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]1,762,937[/SIZE] (The total number of times the website is accessed.)
[SIZE=-1]Total Files[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]1,241,889[/SIZE] (The total number of data files which have been transferred.)
[SIZE=-1]Total Pages Viewed[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]727,000[/SIZE] (Total number of requested pages (.html, .htm).)
[SIZE=-1]Total Visits[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]112,618[/SIZE] (Visits refers to the total number of visits to the site.)
[SIZE=-1]Total Unique Referrers[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]2256[/SIZE] (“Referrers” are number of different sites, from which the visitors arrived at your site.)
Total Unique Sites 22469 (The total of all individual computers (host), which accessed your server during the month. Even when a host of your server visits more than once it is only counted as one visit per month. )
[SIZE=-1]Average [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]Max [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]Hits per Hour[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]2369[/SIZE] (Maximum number of hits during a single hour.)
[SIZE=-1]Average Hits per Day[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]56868[/SIZE] (number of different people coming to this site per day.)
[SIZE=-1]Average Files per Day[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]40060[/SIZE] (The total number of data files which have been transferred.)
[SIZE=-1]Average Pages per Day[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]23451[/SIZE] (Total number of requested pages (.html, .htm).)
[SIZE=-1]Average Sites per Day[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]724[/SIZE] ((The total of all individual computers (host), which accessed your server in a 24 hour period.)




Rank in United States Traffic Rank in Country
A rough estimate of this site's popularity in a specific country.

The rank by country is calculated using a combination of average daily visitors to this site and pageviews on this site from users from that country over the past month. The site with the highest combination of visitors and pageviews is ranked #1 in that country.

Updated Daily

737,654

Global Rank

A rough estimate of this site's popularity.

The rank is calculated using a combination of average daily visitors to this site and pageviews on this site over the past 3 months. The site with the highest combination of visitors and pageviews is ranked #1.

Updated Daily ,

3,229,363 / 674,884 (The rank improved 674,884 positions versus the previous 3 months.)

that money may be best spent in getting the store set up for pay-pal and one click shopping. that would most likely bring in a lot more.

I know Brady has more then enough to do and it would be over load to even thing about him doing more. but if we could get the archives scanned and accessible? something on the lines of Peters EMS site where you could cruise the information and for a small fee down load a large file copy.

this would be a task I would be willing to work on. the amount of stuff to scan would take a few people awhile to do so.

Matt has enough with what he is doing, but it could be a sub department of the store. for ease of keeping track of funding. the ida would be to offset expenses and keep things neutral.

just some random thoughts to consider. the more people willing to step up and help the better for us all to enjoy and get use of the site.

A great big THANK YOU to everyone involved in the new website AND a Huge THANK YOU to paul and the moderators of the Friends Forums. You guys are the best

Rick Franklin said:

A great big THANK YOU to everyone involved in the new website AND a Huge THANK YOU to paul and the moderators of the Friends Forums. You guys are the best

Click to expand...

I second those emotions!