Of all the things I enjoy most with respect to working with MEARS is the editorial content we provide. I can say without a doubt that no similar organization or entity has produced and published as much information as we have. I am not talking about “reporting” events and answering board posts, but actual content. We have provided information for collectors, addressed critical hobby/industry issues, and been very open and transparent about the workings and dealing of our own personnel and organization.
Over the past 2 ½ years we have also held to ensuring that at least two new features appeared each week. In recent weeks we have added a Sunday News Feature that folks have expressed a strong liking for. For 2008, we will stay with at least three features each week with the possibility of adding more items as well. We have also decided to keep these open to the collecting public. We will do a few things different in 2008 with writers and what they will cover.
Dave Bushing: Most people have known Dave as both a dealer and someone who will answer their collecting questions. Seems like an odd combination as Dave has actually been helping collectors find items that he could have bought and made money on. Dave has agreed to write two new monthly columns; Bushing’s Best Buys and Notes in Bushing’s Basket. The Bushing’s Best Buy’s will be a monthly feature talking about items that have been bought in the hobby recently and why Dave feels they are solid buys or undervalued items. The Note’s in Bushing’s Basket will be a role up of the questions collectors have asked Dave and the responses he has provided. Dave figures that if one person has asked the question, others might want to know as well. By doing this in an article vs the previous board response, Dave has the ability to add images that can be searched and referenced at a later date. The search function also works better on the News Archive Section than the message board. Dave will also be providing feature articles on topics of interest over time as well.
Dave Miedema: Dave is going to take over the Sunday News Extra. Many folks like the way Dave covers a large number of topics in small easy to digest bites. We have asked Dave to provide a weekly role up on events and points of interest.
MEARS Staff Members: MEARS Staff Members are also going to begin providing articles, largely focused on things they do on a day to day basis that offer unique insights into process and items they help research and document.
In studying and doing “data mining” for the reasons people come to our site, two things are clear…People are coming to look through the Bushing and Kinunen For Sales Site and the Current News Section. Number or hits or page views are higher for these because they are open to the general collecting public. Our editorial content should focus on what people are looking for and why. In the month of December alone, there were 7,745 new visitors to the MEARS On Line Web Site. We are always interested in hearing from members and non-members alike about what you are interested in or what you are looking for.
As always, collect what you enjoy and enjoy what you collect.
MEARS Auth, LLC
For questions or comments about this article, please feel free to contact me at DaveGrob1@aol.com.