In today's world on the Internet, it is almost to the point that if you have an idea for a web site targeted at a national audience, there is a high likelihood that it is already been done and probably been done by 3 or 4 different companies out there.
If this is the case, where is the opportunity? – The opportunity, I believe, exists in producing and delivering content and tools focused on small localities and regions.
From a national standpoint, there is more content than you can shake a stick at, but on a local level, and especially in medium sized markets, the amount of content available is segmented, many times limited to the local newspaper or television station, and does not have a lot of breadth.
Local internet users are looking for information, articles and content that is useful to them, and many times this means content by and about their area. This is why, even though they are in decline, people are still watching the nightly local newscasts and reading the local morning papers – They hunger for information about their communities.
My company, Midkota Solutions (http://www.midkotasolutions.com), has experience both sides of the equation, both trying to deliver content to a national audience and also focusing on the local group.
Our first major online property was Daycare Manager.net (http://www.daycaremanager.net ) along with My Daycare Search (http://www.mydaycaresearch.com ), these sites was designed as a child care directory as well as built in Daycare Management and accounting tools for child care providers. Unfortunately, our initial idea of how easy it was to gain a national audience was mistaken. Two years after launch, our average traffic still resides around 100K page views per month and revenue growth is small.
We also discovered that advertising nationally to our demographic was much more difficult and expensive that we had imagined, which reduced the growth that we received from every advertising dollar we spent
On the other side of the coin, just recently we launched BismanLIVE.com (http://www.bismanlive.com) – This site is focused purely on the Bismarck and Mandan local music and entertainment scene. Our major draw is a local event calendar and streaming music from local artists.
We have already seen an explosion in growth from the local community – With a little good press, a small amount of local advertising and marketing, our page views are already starting to approach those of Daycare Manager.net with about 5% of the total content and in less than 2 weeks.
At this pace, we expect BismanLIVE.com to outgrow Daycare Manager.net within 60 days at a fraction of the cost of our development and a fraction of the marketing and advertising dollars.
In closing, my main point is this: Look for that local opportunity. It is likely that in your region there is a "content void" somewhere – Create a product or service that fills that void and the chances of success are greater than trying to take on the whole world.
Eric Kubischta
CEO – Midkota Solutions
Bismarck, ND
www.midkotasolutions.com
