Star Tech

They've Got Their Act Into Gear


Among the emails for my `Blog Cabin' column in mX newspaper, published in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, was this request from two Brisbane students.

Can you tell us if this blog is a good concept and how can we improve the site. Thanks, from John and Andreas.

I'd never heart of a DACOL until I reviewed Rags to Race Cars. But commit this acronym to memory. A deftly-named DACOL is a Dear Awesome Car Owner Letter. Baffled? Don't be. It's exactly what it purports to be. Bloggers see awesome car. Bloggers slip standard letter under windscreen wiper, introducing themselves to the owner in the hope that he or she will get back to them.

It's a great idea and a feature that is characteristic of a good start to a funky site. John and Andreas have given themselves five years to become millionaires, but at the moment they're $999,880 short. Nonetheless, it could be irresistible to follow their progress.

The stated intention is to share innovations, motivating factors and business ventures along the way to financial nirvana. Excellent idea, but all those editorial streams will have to be encompassed into a coherent flow.

The blog has started on the right foot, but there needs to be a conscious balance between text and illustrations. Slabs of text, no matter how well written, are just downright boring. Since both authors are design students, it'd be fairly simple to put theory into practice. There is no shortage of images to ilustrate posts on an automobile blog, and the ``look'' of the site will improve greatly once there are design elements on the pages.

Car-related blogs are great because they transcend state and national boundaries. There's huge potential readership in a blog like this, because you don't have to be a rev-head to read and enjoy a blog of this nature. That's something to keep in mind, when determining the editorial mix as the blog progresses.

I'd strongly advise the installation of a hit counter to show the reader stats. If you want to increase your readership, you have to know who's reading your posts. Auto bloggers, unlike us mere mortals, should be, ahem, driven to succeed.