Not sure where to put out this query / request!

Simon, first and foremost let me say that having a separate UK site would be much better as the domain wizzley.uk or .co.uk would be better off in the UK search engines and would be preferred against a .com domain and setting your targeted country to UK using webmaster tools.

You say that it would separate the site. I don't see how. Use the same forum for both the sites (Just a link from there to here would suffice as they're both English based). The number of pages of the authors etc can differ (If I have 40 articles here and 10 there, I would be happy to see it like that. I don't expect to see 50 on both places) and I doubt writers would actually bother about numbers when they have better options

This raises even more possibilities. Those of us in the UK are spread far and wide, we each have specific regional knowledge and could cover events, travel, local history etc. etc. All the things that are of interest to the people from the UK as a whole, and each region.

How difficult would it be to knock someone's blogger blog from the 1# position? And product reviews for the UK market are often "made in the US" or just some comment on the Amazon.uk site. . 

HollieT: 05/26/2013 - 06:51 AM

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This raises even more possibilities. Those of us in the UK are spread far and wide, we each have specific regional knowledge and could cover events, travel, local history etc. etc. All the things that are of interest to the people from the UK as a whole, and each region.

How difficult would it be to knock someone's blogger blog from the 1# position? And product reviews for the UK market are often "made in the US" or just some comment on the Amazon.uk site. . 

Where's that 'like' button when I need it? No good telling my good friends in Manchester IN about an event in Manchester UK if there's no means for them to attend or see the event by virtual tour or similar. But, my friends in Manchester UK might be very interested in knowing more, and buying related products from the Amazon.co.uk site. Which would not attract import costs and would not be priced in USD leading to high exchange rate conversion fees.

I can even see an option where two different articles could come from the same basic source, one pitched for the UK market and one for those overseas (US, Canada, Australia, NZ, Europe). Same event, but the one for the UK market telling people how to attend, who to contact, costs, local hotels and so on and the one for the overseas market directing readers to the virtual side: watch this video, read this blog, buy this book and so on.

I already do a similar thing where I cover the same event for my blog (bland, non-techy, fun day out, here's what I did) here (a more formal review with links to event organisers and exhibitors) and a specialist retro-gaming site where I can be as geeked out as I like.

To widen that idea and specifically target UK articles to the UK market on a UK site and work like travel articles to a wider audience on a US site would make perfect sense to me. But then again, things that seem to make blinding sense to me rarely do to others so feel free to disagree.

I absolutely agree. 

I imagine people haven't considered UK web 2.0 site because they're so obsessed with the US market because it's larger- but so is the competition. Also focusing on the US market often means that you're heavily reliant on G.com traffic, and, let's face it, G.com can be really [link snipped]

I'm getting excited about this!

And just to add to that, I can think of some exceptional writers who refuse to use American English and would love to write for a UK site!

HollieT: 05/26/2013 - 07:12 AM

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I absolutely agree. 

I imagine people haven't considered UK web 2.0 site because they're so obsessed with the US market because it's larger- but so is the competition. Also focusing on the US market often means that you're heavily reliant on G.com traffic, and, let's face it, G.com can be really [link snipped]

I'm getting excited about this!

Me too - and I am holding off on my already written Dr Who articles which really do focus on the UK market - I was going to put them on my UK Tardis Blog but if this really is in the works then they will go on the UK Wizzley

 Wow, the possibilities are really endless. There's also other considerations, Zazzle.co.uk, for example! Adesnse whould be far more targeted too, I'd imagine. 

All these are possibilities that had crossed my mind prior to posting this thread. But they are just possibilities, only becoming probabilities IF our wonderful (note the sucking up) Wizzley team agree and put something in place for us.

So, don't get too carried away just yet. Give the guys time to ponder and determine if it is in their interests to implement the idea. Please don't berate them on this - we may think it a great idea, but it may stretch the small team beyond what they can handle - although, since they have already cloned PageWizz into Wizzley, perhaps it is not too great a step to produce UKWizz.co.uk

However, in the meantime, please keep your ideas coming - eventually (should the site be viable), these ideas could become a sticky topic and we could all put our heads together to make it an instant success.

At least we know there would be a solid base of writers ready to unleash their UK articles on the world!

BTW Zazzle already reverts to the country from which the visitor arrives and delivers from that country in that country's currency. Producing a product there makes it available worldwide. Pity Amazon can't do that!

I'd always wondered why this had never been done before. I'd never berate Wizzley- I like them too much. 

HollieT: 05/26/2013 - 07:33 AM

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Adsense would be far more targeted too, I'd imagine. 

By all accounts not necessarily, as the ads should have some visitor geolocation variables associated with them (but not all). That's why taking Adwords value data as a criterion for ad revenue returns is much of a nonsense, especially if you have high non-US visitor numbers.

humagaia: 05/26/2013 - 08:11 AM

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Give the guys time to ponder and determine if it is in their interests to implement the idea. Please don't berate them on this - we may think it a great idea, but it may stretch the small team beyond what they can handle - although, since they have already cloned PageWizz into Wizzley, perhaps it is not too great a step to produce UKWizz.co.uk

That is so very true - the last thing we want is to detract the guys (used in a generic sense to cover all sexes!) to a point that it detracts from what they are providing.  But I know we will all be immensely supportive of them whatever they decide.

Since we are such a small team, and since Google has been quite active with their algo updates, we do have our hands full, most of the time.

However, we're constantly trying to improve our (Wizzley and authors) chances in the market place. So, a big update has been in the works for a while, and will take another few weeks. Your suggestions come at a good time because we may be able to include them in our current update plans.

Anne will be back in about 3 weeks, and only then can we have serious team discussions. Please bear with us until then.   

By all means, keep chatting about it, but we can't really give you any more info until Anne is back.

Thanks for the update Chef, and for your consideration of this opportunity. I do think it will be advantageous for all, especially as I believe there are many UK writers who would jump at the opportunity to be UK specific.

All power to your elbow!!!!

Thanks, Chef, for taking the time to at least consider it.

Thanks Chef for the update and the positive signals balanced with a hint of realism

Just arrived back in from the garden.

Thanks Chef! 

I might also decide to write for the UK and European market because I get a lot of European visitors to my articles about Romania, etc.

By the way, Zazzle US stayed Zazzle US when I ordered stuff to be shipped to me here in Romania. The products came all the way from the US. I also paid customs. I might not have paid that money if it came from Zazzle UK (not sure how that goes, really; we're in the European Union, so technically there shouldn't be a customs fee -- but I don't know for sure: I tend to shop locally, and only order books online).

I ordered a couple of cheap things from my store because I wanted to see how the designs looked. I ordered from Zazzle UK and the postage cost more than the items. But they use standard (I think) Uk postage which is far from cheap when it comes to little packages, but I imagine cheaper than ordering from the US.

I love this idea of a UK specific Wizzley site because no-one currently offers anything like that. I do believe there is a good and growing market for it since I have had some good UK specific sales on articles that have specifically targeted my home country. 

Unfortunately it is such a hassle to make articles for the UK market on Web 2.0 sites - everything is set up for  Amazon.com and eBay.com etc. by default.

How refreshing it would be to have a whole website where we could write in our own tongue - no more having to write pants instead of trousers and favor instead if favour etc. I won't get carried away but if it does happen, I would like to be part of it for sure. 

kinworm: 05/27/2013 - 09:54 AM

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How refreshing it would be to have a whole website where we could write in our own tongue - no more having to write pants instead of trousers and favor instead if favour etc. I won't get carried away but if it does happen, I would like to be part of it for sure. 

So true!  To be able to spell in English would be wonderful and no longer having to explain to family and friends that "yes I can spell but we have to write English with Mistakes" (as one of my friends so charmingly refers to "American English" as)