The Best Way to Write Your Support Request

[JGaulard]

I have a great idea that I think will help the entire CycleClassifieds.US community. We've been offering online motorcycle classifieds since 2004 and since that time, as you can well imagine, we've received hundreds, if not thousands, or support requests. I mean, we have heard it all. From "How do I know which category to post my bike ad in?" to "I don't know how to turn my computer on." Most of the requests we receive are duplicates of one another. Basically, they have something to do with how our website software works or whether or not we offer a certain feature. I generally say that if one person asks a question, there are dozens behind the scenes who are wondering the same thing, but are/were to shy/busy to ask themselves.

Here's my idea. Let's open up a support area where everyone can ask and answer each other. The idea is for you to create a new thread with your support request. You'd create the new thread just like you would post an ad. Ask the question and we'll answer it for not only you to see, but for everyone else to see as well. Of course, if there's anything personal in your question, we'll remove that and make it more generic. So, if you are wondering about how a common task is performed on our site, we can answer that and others can view it as well. The benefit of this is that others now don't have to use their valuable time asking the same question and we don't have to answer something that's redundant.

Besides the benefit of cleaning up and streamlining a support area, our primary concern is that a member or visitor might not be able to figure something out and simply move onto another website to find what they're looking for. That's not good, in my book, so I'd like to make things as great as possible right here.

If you have a support request, or actually any request or question at all, please go ahead and click the yellow "Post Thread" button that's inside the Classifieds Support forum. Then, write your question out and we'll answer it as soon as humanly possible. Here are a few guidelines for you to follow.

• Be super clear with your title: Since others will be browsing through these posts, it's important that we help them find what they're looking for. No one knows what "I Need Help" means, so a much better title would be, "What Category Should I Post My Harley Davidson Trike In?" If someone else has a similar trike, they would zero right in on that thread and click to find their answer. By the way, I'd say either Cruisers or Touring. For the trike, that is.

• Be super clear with your description: When writing out your question, please be as clear and descriptive as you can be. Tell us everything that you think we would need to know to help you out. Again, you saying, "I don't think this is working right." isn't the best use of the description field. A much better question might be, "I've got many different parts that go to a 1974 Yamaha motorcycle that I'm trying to sell. Each part is used, but clean. Should I advertise all the parts in one ad or should I create a different unique ad for each and every part?" Now that's a great question. By the way, I'd say to create a separate ad for each part, since people search the internet for one part at a time and generally not clusters of parts.

Well, I think that's it. If you've got any ideas for this new support forum, please let us know. We're all ears. Thanks!