GeoPublishers Conference off to a promising start

Just came back from the GeoPublishers expo in Chicago, put on by the new GeoPublishers association and organized by Borrell Associates.  While it was a small gathering, the presentations were packed with useful, actionable information.  It was encouraging to hear practical advice from successful Geo developers such as Sara Mannix (Saratoga.com, LakeGeorge.com, Albany.com among others)  and Jessica Bookstaff Doppelt (PigeonForge.com, Durango.com and others).

My main take-aways are:

1.  Michael and David Castello’s advice to drill deep.  In other words, to focus on one city, and to develop rich content to be the authority site for that city.

2.  Gordon Borrell’s presentation showed that tens of billions of dollars of local advertising currently spent on Yellow Pages and Direct Mailing is up for grabs as those advertising dollars migrate to the web, and capturing those advertisers should be a focus of geo-developers.  Small business owners are even more confused by the rapid changes in the ad marketplace than we are, so we can add value by consulting with them and showing them how to use new media to their advantage.

3.  Borrell made a strong case that effective advertising is ‘news’ and valuable content.  He supported that claim with a chart showing that for the top five media/publishing sites by revenue (AT&T Yellowpages, AutoTrader, Groupon, CareerBuilder, Yellow Pages Canada) their content is primarily advertising.  He reinforced this with on-point quotes:  “Stopping advertising to save money is like stopping your watch to save time” (Henry Ford) and “Advertising in the final analysis should be news.  If it is not news, it’s worthless” (Adolph Ochs).

4.  Sara Mannix and Jessica Bookstaff Doppelt spoke about how you should put out roots into the community.  Sara has had great success becoming the title sponsor for local events and charity galas in return for publicizing the events.  Jessica interviews local businesses and develops itineraries around advertisers.  Geo sites don’t need, and shouldn’t want, to compete on breaking news stories, but focused content on weddings, happy hours, and itineraries can make your sites the top authority on these topics that attract visitors who are of great value to advertisers.

5.  A major theme was the rise of mobile and mobile advertising.  Paul Wagner of ForkFly.com showed how mobile, and the rise of NFC (Near Field Communication) devices, are a new disruptive force that could disrupt online advertising, even as online advertising is upending traditional media advertising.  Wagner demonstrated the ability of html5 to push apps directly to smart phones (bypassing the iTunes store), and the advertising value of being able to push messages through your own branded app directly to your visitor base.   The underlying message is to make your sites mobile friendly.

6.  Many presenters gave advice on how to build your membership.  Techniques included overlays to request emails, starting facebook pages – even unbranded -for your local area, running contests and promotions to encourage visitors to share email addresses.  Paul Wagner highly recommended that everyone read the American Society of News Editors (ASNE) guide to the 10 best practices for social media.

7.  Spending time with Bill Hammack and Don Jones of NewOrleans.com and David Castello and hearing their enthusiasm for the brand value of dot-com city domains.  They see a tremendous opportunity if geo domain owners can collaborate and, by combining our collective market reach, start bringing on board national advertisers.  They believe that the traffic to geopublishers’ sites is high quality and high-converting.  Once the national advertisers get a taste, they’ll want more.

The GeoPublishers association is a new association for geo-domainers that was started after the prior association, Associated Cities, dissolved amid acrimony between its founding members.  While much is the same, much is new.  Fred Mercaldo of Scottsdale.com and CitiesPlanet.com returns as President.  Jessica Bookstaff Doppelt returns as a Board Member.  Many of the members are the same.   The goal is similar, to share best practices among geo-publishers and to find ways to work together for the benefit of all.

Yet much is different.  Associated Cities was a for-profit group.  GeoPublishers is a non-profit.  Associated Cities was limited to dot-com owners of pure city domains.  GeoPublishers is open to all publishers of geo sites, whether it is a dot-com extension, or a geo-based domain, such as TampaDoctors.com.  The guiding vision is different.  Bill Hammack and Don Jones of NewOrleans.com, who successfully started an association for independent yellow page publishers many years ago, see an even better opportunity in the geo-publishing space now.  My understanding is that it was their initiative that is largely responsible for the establishment of the GeoPublishers association.  They teamed up with Borrell Associates, a top consulting company in the local advertising space who organizes many conferences.  The result was a very informative couple of days in the spirit of cooperating to move our industry forward.

You can read more about the GeoPublisher conference at Michael Cyger’s DomainSherpa.  It was great to meet Michael and to hear about his plans and early successes with his hometown site, BainbridgeIsland.com.  Ron Jackson endured straitened travel conditions to make his way to Chicago.  His report on DNJournal should be out shortly is now available here.