KnowAboutNetwork... Make Money Online

(excerpt from the February 2005 edition of the OCNA newsletter)

technology

By Gordon Cameron News Clips Editor

Making money from your web site

Many rural publishers see a presence on the Internet as an expense with no direct benefit to their bottom line. However, the KnowAbout Network out of Peterborough is offering newspapers a way to get themselves online and to make money largely by doing what they are already doing.

The network is a family of community listing sites with each local site owned and operated by someone within the area they serve. The sites make their money through yearly charges for ad space that can vary from a basic listing in the directory to a dedicated full page.

“We are always trying to look at the network from what would appeal to advertisers,” said Rick Teather, who along with Don Hodgson and Michael Bell, a former Eastern Ontario magazine publisher, runs the network. “We come at it from the advertising and publishing end. Some other listing sites which are done by computer guys might look nice or have a slick design but that doesn't necessarily mean that somebody is going to buy advertising on it.”

Teather said that by adding a KnowAbout Network site to the products that a newspaper can offer an advertiser could result in higher cash flow with little extra work as the existing sales staff will be largely selling to existing clients. “Some publishers seem to be under the impression that advertisers are not willing to give up another cent to them,” he said. “It always comes down to the price and value box. If value box is large enough they'll take it.”

To deliver that value to the customer, the suggested ad rates run from a low of $99 per year for a single mention in the directory that includes a business' name, address, phone number and a map link to show people where it's located, to a high of $499 per year which includes mention in five categories, a rotating banner ad on the main page and a dedicated full page that can act as the company's home page. Because everything is monitored KnowAbout sends out an e-mail each month to every advertiser to let then know how many times their ads were viewed.

“To me this is one of real strengths of the Internet,” said Teather. “It can confirm how many people see the advertiser's message. It doesn't matter whether it's 10 people or 1000 people, advertisers really appreciate getting this type of information.”

According to Teather the network's other big strength is that it was designed to appear high up on lists of search engine results. The closer a listing is to the top the more likely an Internet user is to click on it and generate traffic to the local KnowAbout Web site and to its advertisers. However, keeping listings high isn't always that easy.

“It's like hitting a moving target as parameters change on a regular basis,” said Teather. “Right now Yahoo! really likes our software.”

Beyond the potential to increase revenue to a newspaper, the KnowAbout Network sites offer a platform to display articles and photographs giving the paper its own presence on the web.

“We can brand the site KnowAbout whatever the name of the town is operated by the newspaper,” said Teather. “We could also totally rebrand it for the newspaper but we see value in the KnowAbout brand as it offers connections to other sites across Ontario and the world.”

Teather and Bell are offering KnowAbout sites as turnkey operations as they will supply all the manuals necessary to get the site off the ground. And with their virtual office it means that the site can be updated from anywhere.

“Really all you need is somebody in your office who can type to change the content on the site,” said Teather with a laugh.

For more information on the KnowAbout Network you can visit them online at: www.knowaboutnetwork.com

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(excerpt from the February 2005 edition of the OCNA newsletter) technology By Gordon Cameron News Clips Editor Making money from your web site Many rural publishers see a presence on the Internet as an expense with no direct benefit to their bottom line. However, the KnowAbout Network out of Peterborough is offering newspapers a way to get themselves online and to make money largely by doing what they are already doing. The network is a family of community listing sites with each local site owned and operated by someone within the area they serve. The sites make their money through yearly charges for ad space that can vary from a basic listing in the directory to a dedicated full page. “We are always trying to look at the network from what would appeal to advertisers,” said Rick Teather, who along with Don Hodgson and Michael Bell, a former Eastern Ontario magazine publisher, runs the network. “We come at it from the advertising and publishing end. Some other listing sites which are done by computer guys might look nice or have a slick design but that doesn't necessarily mean that somebody is going to buy advertising on it.” Teather said that by adding a KnowAbout Network site to the products that a newspaper can offer an advertiser could result in higher cash flow with little extra work as the existing sales staff will be largely selling to existing clients. “Some publishers seem to be under the impression that advertisers are not willing to give up another cent to them,” he said. “It always comes down to the price and value box. If value box is large enough they'll take it.” To deliver that value to the customer, the suggested ad rates run from a low of $99 per year for a single mention in the directory that includes a business' name, address, phone number and a map link to show people where it's located, to a high of $499 per year which includes mention in five categories, a rotating banner ad on the main page and a dedicated full page that can act as the company's home page. Because everything is monitored KnowAbout sends out an e-mail each month to every advertiser to let then know how many times their ads were viewed. “To me this is one of real strengths of the Internet,” said Teather. “It can confirm how many people see the advertiser's message. It doesn't matter whether it's 10 people or 1000 people, advertisers really appreciate getting this type of information.” According to Teather the network's other big strength is that it was designed to appear high up on lists of search engine results. The closer a listing is to the top the more likely an Internet user is to click on it and generate traffic to the local KnowAbout Web site and to its advertisers. However, keeping listings high isn't always that easy. “It's like hitting a moving target as parameters change on a regular basis,” said Teather. “Right now Yahoo! really likes our software.” Beyond the potential to increase revenue to a newspaper, the KnowAbout Network sites offer a platform to display articles and photographs giving the paper its own presence on the web. “We can brand the site KnowAbout whatever the name of the town is operated by the newspaper,” said Teather. “We could also totally rebrand it for the newspaper but we see value in the KnowAbout brand as it offers connections to other sites across Ontario and the world.” Teather and Bell are offering KnowAbout sites as turnkey operations as they will supply all the manuals necessary to get the site off the ground. And with their virtual office it means that the site can be updated from anywhere. “Really all you need is somebody in your office who can type to change the content on the site,” said Teather with a laugh. For more information on the KnowAbout Network you can visit them online at: www.knowaboutnetwork.com
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