Over the months since we launched RV America On Line® we have answered a lot of questions for potential clients. For the most part these questions tend to be similar for companies that are thinking about putting their business on the Internet. We have compiled some of the most frequently asked questions and provided answers. It is our belief that there are a lot of companies that have similar questions and would benefit from knowing the answers.

Do I need a computer and modem to be able to put my business on the Internet?

No. RV America has several clients who do not have access to the Internet. We provide a service where we capture e-mail messages and fax those messages to the client in a timely manner. If the client needs to respond by e-mail we handle that as well.

If I wanted to have access to my web site and the Internet, what equipment and services would I need?

You'll need a computer, PC or Mac, a modem with a telephone line and a local access service to the Internet. The computer should be at least a 486 with at least 8 megs of RAM. The computer should have a modem installed which is the way a computer communicates to the outside world. We recommend a 28,800 bps, but you could get by with a 14,400 bps modem. The latest version of modems are 33,000 bps, but since most Internet servers are equipped with 28,000 hookups, the extra capacity would not be utilized; however, it will probably be soon so if you want to go that way, you'll be ready for the faster speeds.

Next, you'll need a telephone connection so you can communicate with the outside world.

And finally you'll need a way to access the Internet. There are a lot of options here in most areas. Some of the most popular are America On Line, CompuServe and Prodigy. While these services do provide access, we don't recommend them if other alternatives are available. The reason is that you are paying for a lot of services that you may or may not need. AT&T, NetCom and other companies offer local access and the price will be about $20 per month. These services include unlimited access (no time constraints) and all the software you'll need to use the Internet, ie, browsers, e-mail programs, etc. But even before you sign on with one of these services check if there are other providers in your local area. Often, the local telephone company has a program or an independent service that also includes all the software you'll need to get up and running.

That's it. Pretty simple and not very expensive.

What is a browser?

A browser is a software package that is designed for the unique language of the Internet. You'll need a browser if you plan to "surf" the Internet. There are a variety of browsers available and most on-line services will give you one as part of their package. The best browers, in our opinion, are Netscape Navigator and Microsoft's Internet Explorer. These take full advantage of the latest capabilities of the fast breaking developments in Internet functions that enhance the user's experience. RV America designs its web pages for Netscape 2.0 now, but we also check our work with a variety of browsers to make sure that most of the visitors to RV America will have access to the information available.

Do I need e-mail?

The communication tool of the Internet is e-mail, and it is quickly becoming the perferred communication tool of business. Yes, we highly recommend you have e-mail capabilities because visitors to your web site are going to leave you messages by e-mail. E-mail is inexpensive and immediate, and users of the Internet expect a quick response from those they communicate with. The e-mail program we recommend is Eudora Pro (retails for about $50); however, most access providers usually offer e-mail software and the standard seems to be Eudora Light, which is a fully functional version without all the bells and whistles of Eudora Pro. It will probably more than meet you current needs.

Once I'm hooked up, do I have to be on line all the time?

No. Your e-mail will be stored in the RV America e-mail post office until you are ready to get it, so you'll not have to be on line all the time. You'll probably want to go on-line a couple of times a day to download your e-mail. Other than that unless you want to check your web site or look for other things on the Internet, you'll not need to be on line.

How do I get my e-mail?

That's a good question because a lot of new users get confused about this function. Basically to access your e-mail you have to invoke your e-mail software, ie, Eudora, by clicking your mouse on the icon. Once that is done, your e-mail has to be checked. That means physically telling your software to go check your mail. A lot of new users have expected the e-mail program to automatically check the mail and have been disappointed that they never get any mail. Once we talk them through the procedure, they are amazed to discover that they did in fact have mail. It's as if you rented a P.O. box at your local post office. If you never looked inside your box, you would never know whether you have mail or not. It's the same with e-mail - you have to check it.As part of RV America's consulting services, we'll help you get your e-mail package set up so it checks the mail in the RV America post office. We also help you with learning how to answer e-mail and other unique functions of the e-mail package.

Is my e-mail private?

Yes. Your e-mail is password protected. When we set up your e-mail post office, you provide us with a password and no one can access your mail without that password so you can have private correspondence. And yes, the RV America e-mail administrator does have your password, but that information is held in privacy. We have had to, on occasion, go into the clients e-mail file to forward that mail to the client because they have difficulty accessing it for some reason - usually inexperience, but other than that we respect your privacy.

What are the advantages of RV America over having my own independent web site?

There are several reasons. First, you won't have to do much more than make the decisions about participation and then "work" your site once it is set up. If you have an independent site you'll either have to hire an expert if the server is in-house or pay someone else to maintain your site if you choose to be on another service. Except for creative costs, these costs are included in the RV America package. And the experts at RV America not only are media and Internet professionals they are also RV industry professionals. We'll not only stay on the cutting edge as far as developments in the Internet, we'll stay abreast of the changing trends within the industry to give you every advantage of using the Internet.

But the main reason for participating in RV America is so people looking for you or your product or service can find you. The rapid growth of the Internet has made a confusing conglomeration of possibilities for people looking for RV information on the Internet.

If someone enters a key word such as "rv" in a search engine, he'll have 10,000 choices - yours' will be one of that ten thousand. By participating in the "umbrella" concept of RV America's service, you'll have a greater opportunity to be discovered. You will be listed independently, but also with RV America.

RV America is attracting some of the best known names in the RV industry such as Fleetwood, SMC, Reese Products, Norcold, Automatic Equipment and others. Names that draw people. And after they are in RV America you have a good chance of people finding you. RV America is like an island in a sea of RV information. It's a refuge and a source for all kinds of information.

The reason for participating in RV America is the same reason why you participate in such events as FMCA rallies or RVIA's California RV Show. People come because there's a lot to see and learn. It makes as much sense to have your own independent web site as it would if you set up your show exhibit in the next town over from where the FMCA rally was being held in hopes that some people might find you. It makes more sense to be where the action is and RV America is where the action is

.Okay, but are the only people who find my site those visiting RV America?

No. RV America is listed on all the major search engines on the Internet such as Yahoo, WebCrawler, AltaVista and others and is easy to find. But you will have an Internet address also (www.rvamerica.com/yourcompany/) and we will be listing your site independently with these search engines as well. And when someone clicks on your site reference, they will go directly to your site without having to go through what we call the RV America front door. Once they have explored your site and are ready to leave, the only "hot link" out is to RV America's front door. When they arrive here, they are greeted with all sorts of new possibilities, information about the RV lifestyle and new companies to visit. And so with hundreds of companies all working to bring traffic to their sites and RV America, the visitor will recognize the value of RV America and bookmark the site so they can return again and again. That's why the RV America umbrella concept works today and will work even better tomorrow as more and more companies join.

Once my site is up, how will I know whether anyone comes?

We believe that the volume of e-mail you receive from interested visitors will give you a good idea of the traffic your site is receiving, but we also offer, free of charge, an independently audited counter for your home page that records each hit or visit to your site.

Why do sites similar in nature get different levels of hits?

Obviously, it has to do with the popularity of the material being presented and the presentation itself. Let's take a dealer site for example. Recently a site that has been on line about half the time as one of the earliest sites up on RV America passed that earlier site in total hits. The older site basically put up a page and left it. Owners of the newer site update the information weekly, changing the used inventories for example, but also adding new features. It's a seven page site opposed to the earlier site which is basically one page. Beyond that, the owners of the new site, "work" the Internet. And by work, we mean for example they answer e-mail questions from visitors even if that visitor doesn't appear to be a primary customer. They also visit the Bulletin Board on RV America where users leave questions in hopes of finding answers. The personnel of the newer site regularly visit the Bulletin Board and provide solutions to people's problems. That encourages visitors to visit the site and pays dividends in terms of selling. The older of the two sites has not generated any sales while the newer site has more than paid for itself for the entire year through sales generated as a result of their web presence. The Internet is like any other marketing medium. It's has to be used effectively to be beneficial.

My company brochure is on disk. Can you put that on my site?

Yes and no. Yes, we can put your brochure on line, but no we can't simply take the files you created for your printed brochure and put it on line. Neither can we simply scan in a brochure and put it on line. We could, but the time that it would take to load would be more than people would be willing to wait to see it. The language of the Internet (HTML) is completely different from that of the print media and while these files will be helpful as a starting point, there's a lot of work that goes into the formatting in order to get the information on line so that it is viewable, interesting, and interactive through the Internet.

My son does some HTML; can he do my site so I can save money?

You can have anyone you choose create your web site and you may save some dollars if your friend or relative does the creation. But we recommend using a professional service that specializes in the Internet for the same reasons why you have your advertising created by professionals. Your web site is your store front and presents an image of your company to those who visit it. You want it to be professional.

RV America provides those services at reasonable prices, but there are a lot of people and companies entering this business who have the knowledge and creative abilities to fully utilize the Internet's potential. Whether we create your page(s) or someone else does, the cost for set up doesn't change. There would be a difference in production charges that you would pay RV America for additional pages, but you probably won't save money because to get a professional job you are going to have to pay someone. Our goal is that your Internet experience be as rewarding to you as possible. And whether we do the site or someone else does it for you, if you are happy with it, then it works for us.

How long does it take to get my web site up after we provide materials?

That depends. Usually we get a site up within a week after we have all the necessary ingredients from you. If it is a major project, such as putting together a product catalog or a lot of pages, it will take longer. And if you have opted for Program 4, setting up your web site and registering your domain name might take more time as well. But if it is a normal site that can be scheduled for production we'll get your site created very promptly.

Typically, how many pages should a web site be?

Again, that depends. It comes down to what you hope to accomplish through your Internet presence. You may only need one page or you might need 50. For an RV dealer, for example, five pages seems to be about right although some are happy with one. Reese Products has their catalog on line so their site is in excess of 60 pages. We are developing a site for a multi-line RV manufacturer that will be close to 200 pages when complete. But I would say that the average site is about five pages.

Are there other services similar to RV America?

Yes, And more seem to be popping up all the time. We know there are other choices as you make your decision about where to be on the Internet. What RV America promises is to work hard for you to make your embarkation on the Internet as painless and as profitable as possible. We bring over 20 years experience in the RV industry as the publishers of RV News and RV Technician magazines, and we are committed to the industry and it's success. We believe that means being involved in the industry and caring about it's future. And we see RV America as an extension of what we have been doing all along. It's not something we started as a sideline business. And we want to share that experience with you.

Does RV America provide "Hot Links" to other RV-related sites on the Internet?

No. RV America has a policy that we do not link out to sites not under the RV America umbrella. We adopted that policy because we believe that since our customers pay for the privilege of being associated with RV America that it would be unfair to them to give, in effect, those same advantages to another company who did not pay for the privilege.

We have a web site on another service; can we participate in RV America?

Yes. RV America has a program especially designed for companies that have a web site somewhere else. It's basically duplicating your site on RV America. We do not encourage clients of other services to abandon that service for ours. But we do make it possible to have an association with RV America through a cost-effective duplication program. If after comparing the benefits of the two services, the client may opt to cancel one program, but that is the decision of the client. RV America respects competition, and we are confident that the advantages of our service will become dramatically apparent through time.

I own a dealership. Can I show prices of new RVs to attract visitors to my site?

We established a policy early on that dealers could not advertise prices of new RVs on RV America. We did that to keep the playing field even.

And while prices on used RVs is permissible, RV America re-quires that the dealer include at least four digits from the beginning or end of the unit's serial number to also be included when a price is published. We want to avoid visitors to RV America having to cope with bait-and-switch artists.

As I look at RV America I don't see a category for my particular business. Why?

RV America is a growing, dynamic and expanding service. At this early stage, not every business category is included; however, as new businesses come on, we will create the category necessary so visitors can quickly and easily find your business.

How do I know whether people using the Internet are our potential customers?

That's a good question. And it's a question we wanted answered too. That's why we conducted an on-line demographic survey of visitors to RV America during May 1996. I'll let you be the judge whether or not the profile matches your potential customer. The visitor is a married man in his late forties who earns nearly $60,000 a year. Chances are he already owns an RV (74%) and spent more than 30 days camping last year. He is willing to buy products and service on the Internet and is specifically looking for information on new RVs, used RVs, lifestyle information, campgrounds, aftermarket accessories for his RV and, oh yes, did I mention that he expects to buy a new or used RV within two years? And when comparing RV America with other RV-related web sites that he's visited, he ranks RV America "very good" to "excellent. (84%)" The complete survey results are available in the July 1996 RV News magazine.

I'm convinced. What do I do now?

Call Don Magary or Dan Holt at RV America (602) 784-4471. We'll get your program started right away.