I think that all the world over, we are looking forward to a better 2012 than the past few years of global recession. While MotoZania has been growing, it is by no means coming close to breaking even financially. That is not to say we have not become a success. We have passed fifteen million total page views and there are hundreds of you that visit the site every single day which tells me we are delivering entertainment that you like. We are also very proud of being able to help hundreds of charities the past few years by promoting their events, capturing the moments in photography, and with financial contributions.
In 2012, we look forward to continued growth, helping as many charity runs and events as we can, and to provide you with the best motorcycle content we possibly can. During the past few years, MotoZania has retained the rights to video motorcycle events. If you know of, or are part of ,motorcycle businesses that could benefit from sponsoring events or need branded entertainment content, please let us know.
We would appreciate it if you use the comment box on the bottom of the newsletter to let us know what you like about the site, what you don't like, and if there is any other content you would like to see. Or, just say Happy New Year. We really do appreciate you being part of the MotoZania community.
How to get your media to go viral
MotoZania continues to add features that help your media get seen by the most people possible. The most recent platform addition included adding your media title to the URL extension. That means your photo or video title is now part of the page title and easier for Google and other search engines to read it. The number one way search engines find content is through the page title.
When you add a photo to MotoZania, instead of just letting what ever extension happens to be attached to your photo, add a title relevant to the picture. For example, let's say you add a photo of your hot girlfriend washing your Harley. (hey, why not) The url extension in your photos files attached by your camera may be something like cdn123_x.jpg If you simply upload the photo, it will get some views on MotoZania because we all want to see your hot girlfriend, but it will not draw any new views once it leaves the Most Recent page. For a title, you would want to put something like .. My hot girl friend washing my Harley. That actually then becomes the title of the page.
The next most important thing is to tag your picture. On the upload page you will see a box marked tags. This allows more than just your title to get indexed. You would want to tag your photo "2011 h-d sportster" "2011 Harley sportster" "2011 Harley XL1200" "girl on harley" "pretty girl washing harley" "bikini bike wash" "biker babe" Adding all those tags or key words now tells Google more what your photo is about.
The description area is yours to use, so please use it. People like to read about where and why your photo was taken. "This is my girl friend Heather washing my 2011 Harley-Davidson Sportster. It was a charity bikini bike wash to help raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project." Well guess what, not only do the people looking at your photo now know you are also a cool dude helping a great charity, but this is another area Google and the search engines look at.
Once your photo has been uploaded to MotoZania, go to your photo and click on it, twice to enlarge the shot. Below the photo you will see a box that says SHARE. Clicking that box will open up a window that allows you to send your photo to 350 other social networks you may belong to. With one simple click, you can send the picture to Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or any other major site. There is also a button that allows you to send it via email to all your family and friends.
Following those few and simple suggestions, your photos will go from a few views, to dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of views.
6,956 Members 37,721 Photos 877 Videos 657 Blogs 5,189 Events listed to date 256 Groups 636 Forum Discussions 28 TV Channels
570,1161 Page Views in December 15,502,676 Total Site Page Views
44,550 Total site visitors in December
Members and Visitors in December were from 150 Countries
Top Ten countries in order of visitors: USA, Italy, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, France, Germany, South Africa, Netherlands, and Indonesia.
Contests
Masei Helmets is sponsoring a helmet give-away every month on MotoZania. For January, we are going to tie the Masei contest with the Bike of the Month Contest.
With over 1300 motorcycle photos added to MotoZania in December, it was no easy feat picking a clear winner. There were numerous motorcycles featured from the NEC Birmingham Show, Las Vegas Bikefest, Chopperfest in Ventura, and International Motorcycle Show. MotoZania also featured world champion race bikes from Kenny Roberts, Mike Hailwood and Roger De Coster.
When it came right down to it, we chose the 1928 Brough Superior SS 100.
The Brough Superior SS 100 was designed and built by George Brough in Nottingham, England.
Every bike was designed to meet specific customer requirements, even the handlebars were individually shaped. Each owner was encouraged by Brough to suggest their own ideas for developing the SS100, which meant that almost all his motorcycles were uniquely hand-built and the design continually evolving.
All bikes had a guarantee that they were capable of 100 mph (160 km/h). The SS100 (Super Sports) was the first custom motorcycle with components chosen from many different suppliers. The first engine (from 1924 to 1936) was the twin-cam KTOR JAP (made by J. A. Prestwich) V twin. Brough developed the features of the Harley-Davidson forks and produced his own version (made by the Castle Fork and Accessory Company) to combine light weight with strength that was to become a feature of the SS100 handling.
The SS100 engineering was developed through competition and wins in over 50 events in the early 1920s and H. Le Vack who worked with Brough on development was the holder of seven world records. In 1927 George Brough and Freddie Dixon both achieved a record 130 mph (210 km/h) for the kilometer on the SS100. In 1928 Brough introduced rear suspension and also in 1928 Brough broke his own record with 130.6 mph (210.2 km/h).
Development on all Brough Superiors was stopped during the Second World War, when the factory had to be turned over to war work.
On 27 April 2008, at the Stafford Motorcycle show, the auctioneers Bonham's sold a 1934 Brough Superior SS100 for £166,500 – a world record and the highest price ever paid for a British motorcycle at auction.
A new World Record for any motorcycle sold at auction was set on 22 October 2010, when a 1929 Brough Superior SS100 was sold at the Haynes International Motor Museum. The bike achieved £286,000.
T. E. Lawrence (known as Lawrence of Arabia) bought one of the first SS100s in 1925 having previously owned three Brough SS80’s. Lawrence's last SS100 (Registration GW 2275) was built in 1932 and was on loan to the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu, Hampshire. It is currently on display at the Imperial War Museum in London.
The 1928 Brough Superior SS 100 pictured here, will go up for auction Jan 12-14, 2012 at the Las Vegas Premier Motorcycle Auction hosted by MotoZania members, Auctions America.
Getting Started
