I’m curious to hear how you guys found XJBikes? This way I have a better idea what works best to spread the word about this community and grow it even more. Site is growing beyond my expectations and monthly statistics keep improving. Long gone are the days where I was dreaming about having 100 site members :D.

If you found us through a search engine, tell me which one and what search words you used. If you came in though a weblink, tell me where from? Provide as much detail as possible.

Did you fill out the How Do You Like XJBikes.com survey?

I came across this site by searching google for "1983 Yamaha Maxim 750", and then sorting through the endless pages for some usefull information. Im glad i stumbled across this place too

I actually googled and found xjowners... made the switch when it happened. I like the crowd and will be hanging around.

I was a mailing list person - got dropped a few times from the list... they are great folks on the list and would still like to keep in touch with them. I just prefer the forum format better...

Best way to improve this forums search rating? Google page ranks based on the quality and number of web links INTO (not from) your website. If all the xjbikes members link to this webpage from their homepage our page rank will go up.

The best way to spread this website, however, is probably word of mouth. I often meet xj's on the road and I always mention this website as a great place to get model info and meet up with other riders.

Woot.

When I bought my Seca, the previous owner gave me a binder of all the info he could find about the bike and the link to XJ Owners was in there. I rejoined here after the switch. Couldn't be happier. This site is basically a dream come true for we XJers with limited mechanical skills (and that's being generous when describing me). Esp when it comes to troubleshooting.

Greg

I came in about the same way as woot. I was googling (is that a word? ) to find out more about my bike, probably used the search term "Yamaha Maxim 650" or something like that, since I didn't know at the time that it was an "XJ". Found the xjowners board about two weeks before the switch. I'm also on the XJ Micapeak list, but I rarely even read it. The mailing list format is just too time consuming for me to go through, especially since I'm on digest mode. I've always been a fan of forums.

Woot, didn't know that about the links deal, I'll definetly have to put a couple links to this page!

I've definetly told ever XJer I've seen about this site, but some people are just not the web forum type I guess.

On links - there is a huge business to be made of it - that is why wikis, forums and blogs are getting spammed by 'bots.

Google essentially looks at a page and looks to see what it is about. Then they look at how many people refer to it. If all net citizens were good, then more links to a page would suggest that it is more valuable or in high regard. The higher the page rank the higher it ranks in searches.

If you search for something and it only finds one page - then it's the top ranked. If you search for something and it finds 100 pages - then it combines the relavance ( how closely the found page matches the search terms) with the page rank - the highest combination of relavance and rank is the first page you'll get in a list.

Knowing this you can of course pick better search terms... and more importantly to us - as this page will have mention of nearly all XJ parts it's relevance to an XJ search will be pretty high. What we can do to improve it's page rank will move it significantly higher up the results page on google... we can improve it's page rank by all putting a link to xjbikes from our own personal webpages or in our profiles on other forums that don't mind.

Common small business tactics are to do link exchanges - I'll link to you if you link to me.

My riding buddy Sammowry told me about this place.

I searched in google xj750 and got the mailing list first. I signed up for that. But it was overly confusing and just plain annoying getting 12 new mails every 15 minutes, each its own bit of info but not really sure what its talking about.


To cluttered.

I was a member of the xj-owners mailing list for a short time, and made the switch when you took over.
Great site and people.

I had googled "Yamaha Maxim" about 4 years ago and found the XJ owners page but was unable to enter it. On a lark back in January, I revisited the bookmarked link I had and was redirected to this forum. Chance really, not much of a story.

Googled xj650 and sorted through junk. I think I bought the xjcd before I even found this forum, so I probably went through a couple of other sites first.... I'm not sure. cat keeps trying to type must go.

Google (/bows down before the great search engine).

I think i used xj750 owners group or such..

I kinda got chased to here...all my Harley buddies are ok as long as I'm ridin' my Custom 1200 Sportster...but if I get on the Seca...thay all snear at me...even as I pass them all in traffic.....
so I joined a few groups at Yahoo and there I found a link to here....this is a good site and the design is very much like a photography site I belong too..(potn)....so the Harley is in the garage and the seca is waitin' for me to go out.....in fact...I'm heading out now.....later...don

Was a member of the XJ Owners forum and got the news it was closing/merging into here.

Also meta tags and web search enabling works wonders for a forum.

Ours has been open for a tad over a year and we got 1600+ members now...

I have been a member of the XJlist off and on for about 6 years. Someone there mentioned the XJ forum and I joined it. Then joined here after SnoSheriff mentioned it on the XJlist. Stayed through the merger and am very pleased with the site now. Some very XJ savvy folks here. Photos are a big plus in explaining carb parts (and others) to people. I also like seeing other XJ's that have been restored and customized. Easy access to XJ pertinent stuff via the links & products forum.