Another Community, Not Local but Same Platform
It’s been awhile since I’ve updated everyone on how the atFishers.com experiment is going. Truth be told, it is not going as well as I thought; however, things are beginning to look up this month. We started the website in July 2006 and launched the print publication in August. Frankly, we should have waited until November or early 2007 to start printing newsletters…we needed more time to give the website traction. Sales have been essentially flat since we started. Each month we publish 16-20 page newsletters, editorial is not as targeted since we are so slim, and advertisers are mostly coming from the atGeist.com newsletter (surprise here).
Over the holidays, I lost my associate publishers (both atGeist and atFishers) within 24 hours of each other. The job description was too broad, goals and expectations weren’t clear on either side, sales were flat, and the experiment looked as though it was over.
Since the beginning of the year, I’ve made an effort to get out and start networking again…just like the old days of atGeist. Chamber meetings, a new Fishers Networking Group, open houses, and just resigning renewals with old customers in person have given me new insights on how the local portal/newsletter business should be done. I’m also finding out that the 800 lb. gorilla (Gannett) isn’t making much progress in their latest efforts (plural). Advertisers that I talk to that are advertising with their new Fishers Star publication for the most part aren’t getting any response, and in most cases, are buying them at a discount. They are spread too thin with their resources while I’ve decided to focus even more and shore up what I have even more.
The online store for atGeist.com launched in late November, again, not many fireworks at first. The concept is local e-commerce from a trusted brand that is available to local merchants. It’s a little ahead of it’s time, but give me a few years. A week or so ago I seen a need for local charities, schools, and fundraising activities to sell tickets online for them. We’re trying that now for a local church that is hosting a “Fat Tuesday” dinner. I’ll let you know how that goes.
My big update is the debut of a new writers’ community website on my townepost platform: WriteStuffWriters.com. It’s not local, but it is a community. It is complete with an online store for registration, “writer posts” (instead of towne posts), and a “writer directory” (instead of towne directory). Check it out, I think the platform is solid and the cross pollination of traffic will help all the townepost sites.
