Web 2.0: In Business and Out of Beta
Below is a (very) rough transcript of what was discussed at the
MinneBar 2007 panel Web 2.0: In Business and
Out of Beta. The panel was supposed to be lead by Aaron Mentele of
Electric Pulp, but he had to turn around en
route from Sioux Falls, South Dakota because his wife went into labor! Dan
Grigsby took over the responsibility for guiding the discussion.
Participants: Dan Grigsby (currently working on a new start up), Bruno
Bornsztein (co-founder of Curbly), Matt Thompson
(editor of Vita.mn), and Ben Moore (co-founder of
Curbly).
NOTE: This is not word-for-word (I can't type that fast). It is
paraphrased. Questions from the audience are marked "Q"
DG: What makes web 2.0 different web 1.0?
We can do big projects with less people (example: Curbly -- two guys, two
months, no office)
How do you get buzz?
BB: Can launch small, but how do we get noticed?
We hired writers to produce initial content, and then used social news
sites like Digg to promote that content.
Q: Do you mark paid content separately?
BB: No. Curbly is a "group magazine". Paid writers create articles, but
users can too. [Note: Bruno later added that Curbly's paid writers are
listed as "featured authors" -- they're not hiding the fact that they pay
people to write.]
DG: There is a difference between paid writers and "astroturfing".
Q: What is Curbly's traffic now? How to monetize/intend to monetize?
BB: Digg traffic is bursty. 50K hits one day, 0 the next. Doesn't affect
over-all growth.
Digg establishes your site. Helps with organic search. 70% of Curbly
traffic is from organic search
We have 350,000 page views/month and growing. [Bruno later mentioned that
the big ad sellers won't even talk to you if you have less than 1,000,000
page views a month.]
Q: Uniques?
BB: 100,000 unique.
MT: Steady growth seems to be a constant across sites. Vita.mn is not
talking to a global audience (so they can't promote it on Digg).
Our equivalent is when the Star Tribune (Vita.mn's parent site) links to
us. Flood of traffic. Some sticks.
BM: Digg doesn't provide a permanent hook. Lifehacker is a great traffic
generator for Curbly, because the audience is similar.
Finding similar blogs who will link to you is good cheap marketing.
BB: Find out what community exists already. There is a huge DIY
community already. It was sasy for us to tie into that.
MT: We're taking something you could do yourself (blog) and making it
stupid simple.
It's the distinsion between Application and Publication. The Star Tribune
is used to doing publications. Apps have a different investment horizon.
Publication achieves success by being entertaining, timely, andrelevant.
Application achieve success by having people put their stuff in your tool.
Your tool powers their publishing.
DG: Let's talk about monetization of a niche.
Example: Guy Kawasaki made $9/day with
Google Adwords, but he can charge $75 per job ad -- because he has a self
selected audience.
MT: The attention economy. Cliche but sort of true. Attention powers the
web 2.0 economy. Vita.mn tries to seize a different slice of attention
than the Star Tribune.
Q: What do you think of subscription based sites?
BB: 37 Signals succeeded because they have a ton of attention via their
blog. Before you can sell something, people have to find you.
Q: Are people willing to pay for content?
Justin Kruger (audience): MySpace (free) versus online dating sites (not
free) offer many of the same features. What are people paying for?
Filtering.
MT: You need two things for paid strategy
- A wedge -- free version to get people to try your application
- A monopoly of a kind. You need a unique application that provides a service that no body else does quite the same way.
Another type of monopoly is a monopoly audience. Dating sites target
specific metro regions, for example.
Q: How did Curbly do word of mouth marketing?
BM: We researched top bloggers and contacted them individually. None
were interested until we launched.
BB: It was very time consuming. You can't send a bulk email. Gotta
personalize it, but it's slow.
BB: We didn't spend any money on marketing. We spend some on contests.
Q: Are you satisfied, or could have done more marketing?
BB: We could have done more, but we're developers.
BM: We maximized leverage. We used the things we didn't have to pay for.
Q: What would you do differently?
BM: I would want a partner with a huge email list (Home Depot for
example)
BB: I disagree with Ben. I would buy much more content right off the
bat. Content drives traffic. I would pay for more original content,
interesting stuff.
When you're just two people, where you spend your time is important.
Q: How important was monetizing Curbly?
BM: We had no monetized strategy at the start.
BB: If you have 50 people working for you, you gotta figure out how to
monetize quick. There's less pressure when you're just two people.
BM: We knew we didn't know how to monetize. But we wanted to get it out
there. Fail fast. Got first version out in a month.
DG: Development process?
BM: We did the least number of features we thought we could get away
with. We knew the site wasn't done. My dad checked out the site a week
after we launched in IE and it was all messed up -- we didn't do any
cross-browser testing! (before launching)
BB: I wanted to wait longer. But it was good to get it out there. Unless
you're 37 Signals, no one is watching you. No one knows when you launch an
application.