Re: The history and future of this list

From: Cliff Kurtzman <moderator_at_o-a.com>
Date: Tue 09 May 2006 09:30:01 -0500

Michael Martinez wrote:

>Consider that high respect for your list, though the activity is not what
>it used to be. The format may be antiquated by today's standards, but
>newer isn't always better. And I say that as a contributor to a Web 2.0
>site (SEOMoz), so I'm not exactly trying to live in the past.
>
>Good luck with wherever you take O-A. I'm not planning to unsubscribe any
>time soon.


And Andy Bourland wrote:

>You've got me curious, Rob. What specifically would i-Legions do to
>help take the 3750 member Online Ads to the next level? Clearly,
>Cliff is interested in doing that.


Thanks for the support Michael and Andy!

Here are some insights into the things I've been mulling over...

It seems to me there are two opportunities that need to be
addressed... the first is the evolution of the discussion forum, and
the second is the evolution of o-a.com as an information portal
related to the online advertising industry. These two things are
related but different. Let's start with the latter and then move on
to the former.

If people are searching for information on "Online Advertising," they
will usually find the o-a.com web site pretty quickly because it is
an independent resource with strong positioning in the search engines
for related terms. That implies opportunities for o-a.com which I
don't feel are effectively met by the current content.

Different people find the site looking for different things... but
finding an email discussion forum usually isn't what is on their mind
when they first arrive at the site. Based on ten years of experience,
I'll hazard to suggest some of the more common things I think people
tend to be looking for, in no particular order:

How to market their product or service using online advertising
Companies offering online advertising products, services, and networks
How they can sell online advertising on their site
Information on how online advertising works
Answers to their specific questions about online advertising
Finding employment or finding employees for online advertising related jobs
Conferences or seminars related to online advertising
Data, statistics, and news related to the online advertising industry
Sources for free online advertising/promotion for their product or service

So the questions then become... how can o-a.com be evolved into a
portal that better meets the needs of people looking for information
on these topics? Where will the resources come from to enable it to
happen? What kinds of partners could get the greatest value out of
what this site might become? And how will sufficient revenues or
synergies be generated to sustain the resource on an ongoing basis
and provide sufficient incentive to make doing it worthwhile?

Regarding the discussion forum itself, I do feel there is a lot that
can be done to enhance the forum through the use of newer and more
interactive technologies.

But there are more fundamental issues that also need to be addressed.
Firstly, the forum needs a moderator that is able to devote
substantive time and energy into actively making the discussion
happen on interesting topics, and who will engage key industry
players to participate on a regular basis. I'm involved in running
three companies right now, including a social networking/engagement
venture that is growing like wildfire, and I can't devote nearly
enough time to moderating the list the way it should be moderated. I
can participate on occasion and provide guidance, but I'm not the
ideal person to be doing the actual moderating.

Experience has shown that the best moderator for this kind of a forum
is a mid-level employee with good writing skills, a deep interest in
keeping up with what is going on in the industry, and who is hungry
to make a name for himself or herself. There have been times in the
past where the sponsorship revenues on this list have been sufficient
to cover the costs of having such an employee on payroll and
performing that function, but right now the sponsorship levels are
not nearly sufficient. It was also a lot easier for me to make
employees available to support the list (both in terms of supplying
content and in terms of recruiting sponsors) back in the days when I
ran an interactive agency that was centrally engaged in the core of
the online marketing and advertising industry, and I had a deep staff
to draw upon with appropriate backgrounds.

Another issue that I recognize is that of getting key people from key
companies to participate and share information in an open
environment. This list has members from the biggest companies in the
online advertising space, and I know that they read the list, but
postings from them are incredibly rare. We have CEOs of $100M+
companies that subscribe to the list and read it, but never are
willing to participate. In the 1990s, (now billionaire) Mark Cuban
used to post along with a lot of other company CEOs. But now
attitudes have changed, companies are much tighter lipped, and while
people are still willing to passively absorb, they are less inclined
to contribute and share their knowledge and provide insight into best
practices and how they deal with industry issues, or even to ask good
questions. We need to find ways to draw out and engage folks from
companies ranging from Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft to ValueClick,
Advertising.com, Vendare, and Adteractive.

These are some of things I've been thinking about and talking about
with others.

--Cliff

Clifford R. Kurtzman
CEO | Moderator
ADASTRO Incorporated | The Online Advertising Discussion List
http://www.adastro.com | http://www.o-a.com
(281) 480-6300




Received on Tue May 09 2006 - 09:30:01 CDT