TechCrunch has just been acquired for a reported $30 million… Demand Media is planning a $125 million initial public offering (IPO)… both companies have large ‘new media’ advertising-driven media businesses… one is renowned for breaking tech news… the other has been accused of running ‘content farms’…
So which of these new media businesses is more attractive to advertisers, and which new media business model is more profitable?
Allvoices.com has claimed success with its ‘automated newsroom performance-based news model’ after achieving record growth in August 2010. The site attracted 7.5 million unique visitors and over 31 million page views during the month.
Allvoices, which bills itself as a citizen media news site, collects incoming reports from users and news feeds, presenting the content in a multimedia format.
Timothy Sykes is a penny stock trader and Internet marketer whose bold, in-your-face marketing earned him around $1.3 million in 17 months from his various business ventures. These include trading penny stocks, selling advertising on his website(s) and selling information products.
Timothy Sykes’ openness about his business – including how he makes his money – is a refreshing change from the various marketers who make big income claims yet rarely explain how they REALLY make their money.
Yahoo is testing a new module for Yahoo! News called ‘Infinite Browse’ which will allow Yahoo News users to view search results related to a given Yahoo News item without leaving the page.
Currently available to a small number of Yahoo News users, Infinite Browse involves the display of a box below an article displaying images, videos, news articles, slideshows and search suggestions related to the topic you’re reading about.
Think you know what business you’re in? Think again. According to marketing gurus such as Dan Kennedy and Australia’s Mal Emery, an accountant is not in the accounting business and a life coach is not in the coaching business. They – and, in fact, all of us – are in the marketing business. Or, at least, we should be.
This reminds me of one of my first jobs. Back in the late 90s I joined the graduate marketing program at Uncle Ben’s of Australia. Uncle Ben’s is now known as Mars Australia and is part of the Mars, Incorporated group of companies. Among other things, Mars sold – and continues to sell – the leading pet food brands in Australia, including Pedigree, Whiskas, Chum and Dine.
As Internet marketers we have much to learn from successful social media game makers such as Zynga. After all, who wouldn’t want customers who are ‘addicted’ to our products or services in the same way people are addicted to social media games such as Zynga’s blockbuster success, Farmville? To that end, what makes social media games so addictive?
The question of what makes anything addictive is fascinating in itself, but when it comes to social media games, we are seeing a new phenomenon at work. Or perhaps an old phenomenon in a new context. In fact, my observation is that, among other things, addictive social media games tap into at least three (3) crucial human needs. They are the needs for:
The New York Times is going into the content management system business with the launch of Press Engine.
Press Engine is a software solution designed to let publishers and media organizations deliver content across such new platforms as those used by Apple’s iPhone and iPad devices.
Demand Media – the company behind such popular information sites as eHow.com and the domain registry eNom – has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) aimed at raising $125 million.
Demand Media’s IPO prospectus indicates the company isn’t yet profitable. In 2009 Demand Media made a loss of $21.9 million on revenues of $198 million. In the first half of 2010, the company made a loss of $6 million on revenues of $108 million.
Once you’ve established your Internet business and achieved even modest success you can expect all kinds of people to start contacting you. This includes freebie seekers.
I define ‘freebie seekers’ as people who want something of value from you for free. This could be one of your products or, as often is the case, your time. Freebie seekers may email you, call you, or come up to you at conferences. In each case, they tend to want more from you than they’re willing to pay for, whether it’s payment in money or in kind.
In other words, freebie seekers want something for nothing.
Demand Media has put together an interesting video explaining and highlighting the technology, process and people behind Demand Studios.
Demand Studios is the division of Demand Media responsible for recruiting writers, copy editors and filmmakers in order to generate content for Demand Media’s how-to information websites such as Livestrong.com and eHow.com.
In light of widespread criticism of the company for being a ‘content farm’ the video, ‘Telling the Story the Demand Media Way: Technology, Process and People’ is something of a sales pitch to creators, audiences and critics alike, positioning Demand Media as a legitimate media company.
Guess what? Demand Media IS a legitimate – and growing – media company. As the huge traffic numbers to its sites – including eHow.com and Livestrong.com attest – the company provides information that people want.
That should be the end of the story, but I continue seeing claims that companies such as Demand Media are undermining journalism.
What garbage. Neither Demand Media nor its competitors have ever claimed to offer journalism, let alone attempt to undermine it. All they do is provide how-to information on topics Internet users are interested in. They have not – and do not claim to – provide news as such.
Check out Demand Media’s video below. If you’re involved in information publishing, it provides some good insights into how Demand Studios works, not to mention being an example of a pretty persuasive video in itself.
Telling the Story the Demand Media Way: Technology, Process and People:
