WNY Viability/Purpose of ECCIE?

I have my exit plan in place but for you guys and gals that will be here for the coming months to years, I thought I would throw out an observation.

In talking to a variety of providers, it seems like they don't get much attention from eccie members. It appears that in this area, e com kicks eccie's axx in a way that matters to the providers.

ECCIE should be proud of how quickly the list of showcases has grown to about 28 great Independent providers now flying their flags here.

For perspective, there were three just three months ago.


So what is missing? It "feels" like eccie has a couple hundred WNY guys registered.

What do you think? This is opinion time.

Why is it that the providers aren't getting a sense that eccie is doing much to help them with scheduling visits?

It's time for some lurkers to speak up too by the way.

Or, am I simply wrong?

The providers that are happy with the interest that gets generated by eccie should consider speaking up.

Personally, e com reviews are worthless to me. I've been extremely happy with finding my way around through eccie and it's predecessor.

What needs to happen differently so that the next wave of provider-crazed hobbyists have a home worth coming back to here?

I think it is a "nature of the beast" type of thing. E.com is more of a one stop shopping deal. You login, the menu is there and easily searchable. I do agree however that their reviews to me are almost worthless. ECCIE is for hobbyist who like to do more in-depth research. I think the functionality of searching on eccie is limited, but improving as well as the showcase. Now if you could take the best of both and combine e.com and eccie......

Most of the Provider Ads in ECCIE are viewed 150-350 times. That's great free advertising. The ShowCases give the ladies another web presence. Finally, the reviews here are much more credible and influential than those in E.com.

Speaking for myself, ECCIE is a much more important "consumer guide" than E.com.

I had a membership to e.com for a few months and found it to be worthless .
ECCIE and it's predecessor in WNY are a much better resource.

I think what this site is missing is the volume of showcases. That seems to be changing. I predict more activity in the future. Also, e.com is more mainstreamly named.

I have been told by more than one provider that they get a lot more business out of ecom than eccie. One of the reasons is that the business travelers that are not members of eccie find it much easier to use ecom.
I am a member at both and check both. You are correct, reviews here are much better and a lot more informative. You will know what to expect. I have written reviews at ecom and use a totally different tone of review.
I have also found out that I can not trust the reviews at ecom

Ecom has been around longer and has coverage ECCIE has yet to gain.

Here in the Capital District I have been beating the bushes to try and get providers to sign up, with some success, however not nearly enough.

Hell I just talked a provider from your backyard (Syracuse) into joining. Dont just look in your area, where ever they come, get them here.

Ecom is more popular in not only this area but the entire North East. The ladies use it as their main source, so that is where the Hobbyist goes as well.

We Need more Providers, local, Traveling what ever, get them on here and the hobbyist will follow . Until we get the ladies to use this site it always be behind Ecom in upstate and the N/East , sadly to say.

Get out there and beat the bushes, every Provider u talk to, from what ever site, get then here!!

Iggy

This thread drifted a little.

My observation is that the eccie men aren't providing much business for the providers and that that apparent fact may harm the long-term value of the WNY board.

So the focus of my question is why? Why are eccie men generating much traffic for the providers that are here?

Well in one instance, I became interested in a provider through eccie, but the contact had to be through e.com (BabyChinaDoll)...there may be more situations where the provider has a false sense of the origin of interest. For me, both sites are complimentary...perhaps the message should be that it's essential for providers to have a presence on both....

Well in one instance, I became interested in a provider through eccie, but the contact had to be through e.com

I think this can be an issue as well. I noticed as I was reading a review recently here that contact was through e.com. It may have been Majors. Also, keep in mind for a lot of us this site is only 3 months old. I had my doubts when I signed on after ASPD, but I think the site has made major strides since I've been here.

NB- I may be missing something, but I don't think you can thoroughly analyze this without info that only the ladies have: What % of their mtgs are with eccie members? Profiles of nonmembers: are they from outside of CNY/WNY? Are they frequent business travelers? Do they travel nationwide or primarily to Upstate?
Is eccie more of an intimate, community-like site for us locals, whereas e.com, with its name recognition, appeals more to those who not only visit multiple cities, but also don't spend much time hobbying/researching online? "One-stop shopping" as GP said?
You got me thinking too hard on a Saturday.....

Most of us use both ECCIE and E.com. The label "ECCIE men" seems inappropriate.

Most of us use both ECCIE and E.com. The label "ECCIE men" seems inappropriate. Originally Posted by jackfengshui

Inappropriate? Perhaps not, but clearly not entirely accurate.

I don't really see any viability issue with this at all. The same was said, i think, when comparisons were made about e and aspd - that girls got the majority of their clients from e as opposed to aspd. But that was certainly not what doomed aspd.

I think GP pretty much nailed it. It's simply the nature of the beast. For me, e.com is for nothing more than looking at ads. Period. Here, looking at ads is pretty far down the list of things i do. E is for finding the girls, and eccie is for getting information about them (and even that's only a small part of what we all do here). In large part that's all from the mere fact that the girls have a more continual presence there than they do here, even with the showcases - which don't exactly jump out at ya the way the ads do on e. That, and the fact that there's far more in the way of other items here to keep our interest.

I think even most of us might tell a girl that we saw her ad on e, even if we also told her we saw her reviews here. Leading her to likely get the sense that we came to her through e.com.

E is for finding the girls, and eccie is for getting information about them

Doove, this statement nailed it for me.