The enormous success of our Website www.heinsimons.com |
It all started some years ago ! |
The idea to make a Website about Heintje was born from the communal collectors-list, which already exist on the internet. Aleida started with her site in Amsterdam, and Laurie from Australia followed with his site. I also started, in cooperation with my son Kenny, to build a website. As I may call myself the owner of the largest Heintje-collection in the world, the name of the site was chosen very quick : www.heintjefan.be
Some years past, and each of us was doing his best to keep the websites up-to-date . Through the guestbook on our site, we soon received requests for information from countries all over the world, more than we’ve had expected. Back in 2007 I took my son Kenny with me to Hein, during a work-meeting with Thea. My son asked Hein's permission to build an "official" Hein Simons Website. The answer from Hein was very positive, and we could start to make the site. I arranged the necessaries with my Internet-provider Telenet in Belgium, to become www.heinsimons.com , and the new site was born !!!
In the mean time we now are February 2009, and there's a lot changed !!! Due to the large interest for our site, make it one's object, to build-out this site as the "Nr 1 Site" for Hein. Laurie did a hell of a job by making the pages and the site, also Aleida and I contributed our ideas in the lay-out. And very soon the site was bilingual, namely Dutch and English, but since January 2009 we also added the German language, and the site became trilingual. |
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In the mean time we now are February 2009, and there's a lot changed !!! Due to the large interest for our site, make it one's object, to build-out this site as the "Nr 1 Site" for Hein. Laurie did a hell of a job by making the pages and the site, also Aleida and I contributed our ideas in the lay-out. And very soon the site was bilingual, namely Dutch and English, but since January 2009 we also added the German language, and the site became trilingual.
The "new" heinsimons.com went official on the Internet on August 12, 2008, on Hein’s Birthday !!! At the end of the month Aleida added a counter on the Homepage, as we were very curious to know if there was interest or not. And it became evident ; At this moment our Website is an enormous success !! The number of visitors is growing very fast :
As we had in August 2008 only 1 visitor (the counter was added on August 31 !), in September there were 398, October 639, November 791, December 1104, and in January 2009 we could already count 1434 visitors. During 5 months we went to an average of 25.4 visitors per day, or a total of 4,448 visitors over 5 months. The peak day was January 4, 2009, when we counted 263 visitors. They sure are beautiful figures, and I'm sure they will only rise in the near future !!!! |
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From all over the world we receive reactions in the guestbook !!!
People from Germany, Austria, Holland and Belgium, but also from Hungary, Canada, USA, Australia, Japan and China are writing !!!! The interest for the past and the present of Hein is enormous !!! As we also saw a lot of interest from China during the last months, and also because of the re-release of the DVD "Once the Sun will shine again" in 2007 in China, we decide, in discretion with Thea, to raise a division of our Fan club in China !!!
A lovely lady from China, namely Zhang Sheng (Surname Sheng, but English Name : Annie), was willing to take this responsibility. From now on Annie is the Division-Manager of the Chinese Division of the International Hein Simons Fan Club !!!! We truly hope Annie will do a great job from afar, and she can extend the Club in China into a success.
Anyway, we wish her a lot of success !!!
In the future, text or articles from our site will be translated by Annie into Chinese. All these translations will be sent to the Chinese members, but also over the Internet, via the blog of Annie. You can find this blog on the Address :
http://hi.baidu.com/v_fans/blog/item/1a2d04df83682d12632798e3.html |
Naturally this blog is in Chinese language, but if you scroll down, you’ll see the song "Liebe Sonne, lach doch wieder" from Heintje in German and in Chinese language!!!!
To support Annie in China, we will add shortly a Chinese flag on our site, to refer the Chinese visitors to the Link of Annie, to become more information of Hein(tje) !!!
As you can see, we already done a lot of work on our site, and there’s still a lot of work to do !!! At this moment we are adding the lyrics on the site. If you know there are more than 500 songs from Hein(tje), and we must type the text into Word, before we can add them on the site !! The lyrics on the site are sorted alphabetical, or per language. As we work with 3 languages (English, Dutch, German), we have to download each text under each language, and also alphabetical. This means every text has to be linked to each list 6 times. That makes a total of over 3000 Links !!! But we already past more than one half. |
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We will try to keep our site up-to-date as good as possible. In cooperation with Walter Strom, manager of Hein, we will announce the latest data of TV, radio or live performances. We will also keep everybody abreast of newest CD’s, DVD’s and other stuff. Walter already wrote to DA-Music we have the most extensive site of Hein. Let us hope the information of our site will be shown on the CD and/or DVD in the future too. When you use the search-engine Google, and type "heintje" , click on "I make a guess", than our site will be shown on the 1st position !!!!! It was our target to reach this, and we are very proud we’ve made it !!!
In the last resort also a word of acknowledgment to Laurie in Australia, for the unbelievable work he did to build this site !!! Also a word of thanks to Aleida, who also made a lot of work. And of course Thea who, despite her operation and rehabilitation, her help offered. Naturally, also special thanks to everyone who contribute one’s mite (like Walter for the translations to German, or Katja and Alies for the help with the lyrics).
Don’t forget to visit regularly the site for all of us : www.heinsimons.com
Best regards from Nijlen (Belgium),
Marc Mertens |
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My idol, Hein Simons |
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When I was a little girl, my idol was Heintje, still the most famous child-star ever. It began when I heard Heintje for the first time on the radio. I adored his voice. Unfortunately, I couldn't meet him personally, although you're dreaming as a little girl (I was at the age of 10) to meet him or to talk with him.
I wrote letters, bought his records, and bought every magazine with an article of him, and so my collection was growing. Finally, back in 1974, Hein would appear at the Schlagerfestival, and I could go to that festival. I was very happy to see him live on stage, and not just only on TV. It's a special feeling when you can meet your idol live, and even when you can touch him. I will never forget I brought him a bunch of roses on stage, and I also could give him a kiss! I've dreamed several days of it!!!
Of course it wasn't the last show which I've saw of Hein, and after a while, when Hein saw me, he always asked me; "Thea, How are you ?" It's a nice feeling when you can talk with your idol, and we became friends. When I was a little girl, when I adored his voice, I couldn't even dream to sit next to him when he was giving autographs. Once, he didn't have a pen and he asked me if I had one for him. I was very proud he was using my pen!!! I still keep this pen with my collection. If your idol wrote with it, it became more than an ordinary pen.
There are lot of stories like this, and I'm proud of them, as a fan of Hein. Once, Hein gave me a can of Coca-Cola. It is still in my collection, and I wrote the date, when I got it from Hein, on it. I've already drunk the Coca-Cola, but the memory of that day will stick in my mind for ever. |
But most of all I'm very proud to become President of the International Hein Simons Fan Club. This year we've celebrated our 10th anniversary, and I'm still doing it with lots of joy. My dream became true: I can talk with Hein, or call him to ask something for the club. I'm very proud I can work for Hein, and even can visit him at home. Through the years I also met his family. I couldn't have dreamt that before!!!
As you can see, dreams can become true. And still now, when Hein is calling me, I'm still thinking; who could ever think this became reality? The most beautiful article of my collection from Hein, is the promo-CD of his last tour in Germany. Hein gave it to me, and there's a place apart for it. I could never think, when I've started as a fan, to become President of the Fan Club. Now I can talk with Hein as a friend, as he became my friend during the last 42 years!!!
Thea Ramaekers |
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