Blogging about cars

[audi80fan]

I have acquired a website that is a few years old and I'm about to relaunch it.

The trouble is I am not very good at the article writing itself, I just design sites. Also there are a lot of car sites out there so I am not sure where to start.

The main traffic was for keywords relating to 'volvo' and swedish cars and will be limited to German and Swedish cars.

I also can't decide if it is legal for example to write about a car and use an image of a Volvo XC90 for example or would volvo view that as an infringement. How do other car sites manage? Either they know a loophole or pay for usage I presume.

[missfire]

If you take the photos or use photos where you pay a small fee or donation there's nothing illegal about it, you just don't want to go using photos with no permission incase they're owned by one of the big agencies!

Make a site about how, why and which cars drive people mad. Too many sites and shows putting cars on pedestals, make a different one - vauxhall zafira review by ex-owner - absolute piece of cr-*p, bankrupted me, don't ever buy one, etc.

[audi80fan]

Originally Posted by missfire

Too many sites and shows putting cars on pedestals, make a different one - vauxhall zafira review by ex-owner - absolute piece of cr-*p, bankrupted me, don't ever buy one, etc.

on that front - I think both you and I could write a few thousand word essays on Audi allroads!

I'm thinking a "Cars that you want to love but don't love you in return.." category but something more succinct. Also an "almost classic" category, and maybe something like pistonheads shed of the week, trying to think of something along those lines too.

[audi80fan]

..

[audi80fan]

I did a bit about the allroad, probably could have written a lot more but didn't want to pull it to bits completely as I still have a soft spot for them

[Jake Blight]

Just make sure you spellcheck everything prior to uploading, and check your facts if your 'borrowing' info off of the Web.
Always credit the photographer (if you know who they are) if you use pics from sources other than manufacturer.
Be very careful about acquiring photos from the likes of Google as many photographers will send you an invoice if they find you are using their pictures without permission. (They can find out, trust me).
If of course you're purely voicing your opinion then make sure you state it somewhere.

I know I'm banging on especially if it's going to be a personal blog type thing, but if you have any intention of using this type of website as a money earner then you need to be professional about your output.

(My wife is a freelance motoring journalist and has also worked full time for several very well known motoring magazines. Suffice to say she was invited to the Europe to road test a rather tasty Mclaren earlier this year...and No... I wasn't invited).

[missfire]

Yep, image search on google, we did it for our own website photos and found a guy down south using photos of our work on his website, saying it was his work. Assole!

[audi80fan]

Thanks Jake

Originally Posted by missfire

found a guy down south using photos of our work on his website, saying it was his work.

lol. Nice of him. What's that saying about imitation being the sincerest form of flattery.. or something like that anyway

[John.]

Originally Posted by audi80fan

..... imitation being the sincerest form of flattery.. or something like that anyway

I think that's why I drive an RS2r !..........actually it's down to money.

Your words about the all-road were good, complimentary yet there's a few words of warning as well.

Like the Volvos.

[audi80fan]

Thanks John