The Four Steps to Creating Online Meeting Places

Dear Friend,

I saw a banner ad at Heaven's Gate that opened my eyes.

No, this isn't a religious revelation or even a commentary on that group of Webmasters in black Nikes who left for the mother ship. The media onslaught around this San Diego group created a swarm of people visiting the Heaven's Gate Web site.

One of my Web Consultant mailing lists pointed me to the site. The first thing I saw was a CERFNet banner ad for Internet services. Whether it was in good taste or not is irrelevant. CERFNet was able to show thousands, maybe millions, of people their advertisement because they placed their ad at the right time in the right place.

The site wasn't a commercial or "cool" site, it was news (and ironically, the Heaven's Gate group were in a similar Web designer business as CERFNet). Throughout the Web are sites that generate tremendous traffic for subjects that might not appear to be popular. Don't think in mass media terms of exposure and assuming that millions of people want to hear every message.

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work."    -Thomas Edison

Building online meeting places can be done in four simple steps:

1. Create the online meeting place. Let the audience express themselves via Web Pages, but don't make it chat based.

2. Provide free publishing to increase traffic, exchanging access to content for production time.

3. Forge joint ventures with individuals who provide materials and lighten the development load.

4. Ally with partners to take the cyte beyond the limits of one person into an integrated effort benefiting all.

My cyte is an example of how the Web really works. People aren't just surfing the Web or going to online malls to shop. They are driven by benefits and finding Web sites to meet at, visiting again and again. Techies call these communities, but I think of them as online meeting places driven by the passions and interests of a specific, targeted audience.

What's happening at the Cybrary is happening all over the Internet. People are flocking to online meeting places. Check out this Business Week/Harris Poll:

1. 57% of people online go to the same sites instead of wandering like nomads (me included).
2. 89% of people online use email and one third of those consider themselves member of some "community" online;
3. 42% of those involved in an online community say it is related to their profession
4. 35% say their community is a social group
5. 18% say it revolves around a hobby. (Business Week, "Internet Communities/How They Are Shaping Commerce", May 5, 1997, pp. 66-67.)

Imagine what the response would have been if the survey used a better word than "community"? The Cybrary meeting place model isn't based on sharing anything but a passion for learning about the Holocaust. By creating a meeting place, infusing it with content from a variety of contributors, and allowing a dialogue between the questions of the audience and the answers provided by the Web cyte, a new model appears. This model is based on providing solutions and creating a loyal following.

Imagine visiting a Web site that invited you in, introduced you to like-minded people, and let you express yourself (if you wanted to).

The revolution is happening now, and it's all dependent on one thing:

Step 1. How to Create an Online Meeting Place
Put Hate On Hold: A Message of Peace that Invites Participation

Imagine if people could put hate on hold...

A friend of mind does. He teaches children this message, sharing his book. He lectures, participates in online chats, and donates his time to make sure the message is remembered.

He is a survivor of the Holocaust.

He contacted me in July 1995 at Cybrary of the Holocaust to put up his story. What amazed me about Harold Gordon is that he focused on the future (online at http://remember.org/harold/ ). The past is past, but you can change the future. Harold offered photos and excerpts from his book. He suggested I create the Books by Survivors section which has allowed me to work with several major book publishers. I followed his lead. He changed my future.

Since that time the Cybrary of the Holocaust ( www.remember.org ) has developed a reputation for excellence online, cited by CNET, NetGuide, Wired, the LA Times, and the Library Journal. It isn't the content or design that draws them in, it's the heart. It's the pursuit of peace, of an end to tragedies, of remembering families who were done an injustice and whom history may forget. That's the benefit.

Joey Korn is another friend who put his father's book, Abe's Story ( http://remember.org/abe/ ), up at the Cybrary. Joey moderates the Children of Survivors section, second generation sons and daughters of Holocaust survivors who want to be sure that history doesn't forget. Joey contacted me to put his father's book online, provided a lesson plan and interactive map along with excerpts and photos. He has also been a driving force with his non-profit directed towards Holocaust and environmental education.

Two groups, survivors and children of survivors, now meet at the cyte along with professors, teachers, and students throughout the world. The Cybrary grew around the stories of individuals, not in exploring details and statistics like some expert. The heart and soul of this cyte is what makes it a popular meeting place, where people can voice their viewpoint online. They make the cyte grow out of their interests, their passions.

Most of all, the Cybrary teaches me to surrender control to the audience. They know best of all the benefits they are looking for. And the Cybrary is not alone. More and more people are flocking to certain Web sites, not surfing the Web and plodding through search engines as many believe.

Call it channels or call it meeting places, each individual will choose what they want to see. And most won't choose wandering around. The best part for businesses is that most people are flocking to professional "communities" related to business; finding the meeting place related to your products and services is crucial for success.

In the early days of the Web, newsgroups were places people where met. Actually it was more like they argued, which is the problem with many active dialogues on the Internet. Chat and newsgroups are overwhelming for many because of the noise and strange twists in conversation. Many of these are annoying free for alls.

What people really look for at a Web site is a place where they feel comfortable discussing what they're interested in, that's reliable, credible, and most of all, gives them what they want. Does that mean every site has to become some community? Of course not, but understanding the marketing patterns of the Internet rests on one principle:

The Cybrary has become the resource center for its subject, because it will deal with a variety of subjects and focuses on the stories. I invited the audience in to:

1. Contribute stories, paintings, ideas, and content;
2. Discuss issues and suggest where the cyte should grow
3. Participate in forums where they can post questions, not based on experts and details, but on the primary benefit people get from studying the Holocaust.
4. Spread the word.

It doesn't matter if it was the Holocaust or fly fishing, the primary reason for the cyte's success is the focus on benefits for the visitor, the customer. Service, attention, and a personal appeal make this a cyte that people come back to again and again.

They don't just come back either; they stay for a long time. A very long time in Web terms. The Cybrary's group are educators, teachers and professors who bring their classes in, related to education. The loyalty and bond this cyte has developed with its audience is well documented.

The Meeting Place: Creating a Community of Commerce

Many people dive into the illusion that to create a popular site they must talk endlessly about:

1. Their product
2. Themselves

Nothing could be further from the truth. The customers don't come to meet about you, they meet about their interest. Putting up a simple discussion forum, even a chat area, is a sure fire way to get people to visit, if you encourage their participation.

One of the biggest mistakes is to limit participation to chat centers. Some groups like chat, other demographics don't; I've opened up my own Discussion Forums online ( http://webletter.net/BBS/ ) where I regularly drop in to discuss issues with people. The conversation is directed towards providing benefits by eliciting questions.

That's not content, that's context, as in conversation. Instead of being a site they visit to only receive my message, they are offered a chance to contribute. Plus they help update my site by contributing their viewpoints, their ideas.

Participation is the price of admission online. Remember, they'll likely only stay 10 seconds if they hate your site, and maybe 7 minutes if they generally like it. In that short a time frame, you won't be able to sell them much, unless it's an impulse item like a CD-ROM or flowers.

A way to get them to stay is to let them discuss the relevant issues, trends, local facts, whatever fits your situation.

The Keys to Setting Up a Meeting Place

1. Encourage submissions of original materials and give credit and even a link. Don't be cheap with content, it's really the growth and size of the site that matters. If you let them contribute and act simply as an editorial board, you can generate significant contributions, develop word of mouth advertising, and encourage the visitor to stay for a long time. Web publishing is cheap, use this to your advantage. Let them publish their ideas and act as the editor.

2. Give them a place to discuss the benefits of what you're offering if possible. I recommend discussion forums, often called bulletin boards, where someone can submit a message and be answered immediately or later. This is different than chat, which really taxes a server and can undermine your success more than help. Chat is tough to upkeep and people get rude on it. The chance to leave unwanted messages or arguments is increased.

Discussion forums can and should be moderated. Don't let the discussion be free form, direct it. That's why they're asking the questions.

3. Use a free Web page as an incentive to work with you. It's so cheap and effective. Directory listings are almost impossible to sell, so why not give it away and upsell to your more elite packages. A $200 bonus for visiting your Web site, i.e. a free directory listing, is a compelling reason to visit.

Those who contribute will be your loyal customers, and the others will be grateful you gave them a chance. If you don't want a site to be filled with other pages, then limit it to writing or photographic contributions in one section of your cyte. Whatever you do, give your visitors a place to really voice their opinion. Not in another survey just sent to you, but in a live article printed to help them out. Get outside of your own viewpoint and encourage them to come, visit, and develop the meeting place.

Credibility, authenticity, and a relaxed attitude will do wonders for your business. Perhaps 80% of your business is generated by 10% of your customers. Tailor your site to the needs of the ten percent who drive your business.

The Cybrary's audience wants to remember. A struggle to redefine history to younger generations is going on. Access to information is crucial. But the wonderful museums and resource centers worldwide are dependent on a copyright based system that is threatened by the Internet. They own the information and limit access to it, because that's the way the traditional printing system works.

Bottom line, they can't provide access so the Cybrary does. That's what makes it a meeting place and the center of a new publishing model that distributes Web pages, providing space to those who contribute content. Charging people for Web pages at a cyte like this would kill it; limiting access to educational materials is limiting the ability of teachers to convince their students that it happened.

Most of us learn about the Holocaust through "The Diary of Anne Frank" and some Nazi photos. It seems like fiction when isolated into historical books. A tremendous resource of materials is waiting, but the books, videos, and audios are limited by copyright. They simply can't be distributed.

Content, in old terms, is like a book on the shelf. For 1,000 people to read it, they either all have to read the same book, or buy 1,000 books. Either way, access is limited to owning the physical book. Online content is different because distribution is so simple. Web marketers always talk about content and information like some holy grail. Yeah, all I need is a little bit more information.

It's not the information, but the exchange of information that drives the Web. The down side of this is that anyone can publish any idea, which makes the Internet seem chaotic to newcomers. Once online, people flock to those credible sites that provide new and changing content.

You don't have to own the Web site or have a copy of it to view it. You can read it wherever and whenever you want. Whether printed out or not, content is not something you sell, it's something that's distributed and used as:

1. Marketing Tools; distribute your content and have it act as a marketing tool. Post it at other sites and have people post their content at your site.

2. Advertising by providing solutions at your site. They won't pay for the content, they'll pay for the solution.

3. A Long term process to show people what you know. By process I mean an ongoing, proven method of solving a problem generated by the business. People will pay more to tap into an ongoing process. Sell or distribute materials so they can do it themselves. Provide consulting for those who want to buy the entire process, directed by you.

Money isn't made on the content or copyright; make it on the right to work with the person who provided access to it. Notice I'm saying access, not ownership or creation. Reader's Digest provides an entire magazine from content generated by their readers and contributors. Online, the Utne Reader ( www.utne.com ) is a pseudo Reader's Digest with a new age twist for a specific community. Neither spends money creating the content, they invite contributions and focus on the distribution of the entire package, i.e., the process of generating content.

Provide the Structure and the Tools, then Let Them Build It

If you take 100% responsibility for content development at a Web site, everything will rest on your genius. None of us are that bright or interesting, which is why you should tap into the passions and interests of your audience. Let them express themselves and voice opinions. Moderate it and select the best content.

What separates you from your competition is how many people find you. Does this mean give away Web pages? Not if there is a business interested in developing the cyte. A Web site is a production job. You'll find many more services to add to a Web site than profit from the simple act of production. I found that offering free Web publishing gave me access to an incredible outpouring of information. I provide this to an audience who needs it. It's that simple. Now I have a broad audience base to build on and offer others access to.

At the Cybrary, contributions from talented people like Alan Jacobs ( http://remember.org/jacobs/ and http://remember.org/camps/ ) and David Notowitz ( http://remember.org/carpati/ ) show the opportunities out there to allow people to publish in a meeting place of interested customers. Alan's photographs are simply amazing; his wife and he have created an expression merging the past with the current views through photos. David is a filmmaker who introduced his film, Carpati, to the Internet at the cyte and is given free space to promote his efforts. Best of all, they did all the coding and production work, using the Cybrary as a point of distribution.

Together they form a dynamic creative impulse to the Cybrary which makes it unique. What's most amazing is that when people talk about the Cybrary, they are stunned at how different it is. The difference is, the Cybrary realizes that the audience is the true genius. Generating content online is easy by following these principles:

1. Screen content and identify exactly what you want to allow. Free speech threats have been thrown at me, but as an editor I have the right to show whatever I want. I also must listen to the audience and let them develop this cyte. But don't believe me, go to http://www.geocities.com/. Geocities has created an online community by giving away Web pages and creating small groups of people organized via physical location and what they're interested in. In exchange they are generating advertising dollars for access to these people.

2. It's not your interest, it's the audience that matters. I have one friend who told me that he invited someone to visit the Cybrary. She had no interest in looking at the Holocaust. He told me this as if her refusal showed that I was wrong about the cyte.

The point isn't to appeal to the masses, but to those people interested. I told my friend he was nuts to think that someone would want to research such a difficult subject. If they aren't interested, my cyte can't convince them to get interested. Heck, I get visitors who claim the Holocaust never happened! I don't fight them, I simply tell them that if they don't believe it happened, this is a really stupid Web site for them to visit.

3. At some sites, the profit isn't in selling Web pages, but in building up a huge following by making the publishing free. Web sites are often a good tool to lead with and open up other sales. Many people won't make their money selling the actual Web site, but in providing the services and training, the process, to keep them growing. When people plug into a process, they'll stay. The Web page is a way to get them to plug in.

Check out http://www.tripod.com for another example of content giveaway in exchange for targeted advertising access. Tripod appeals to Generation X'ers by giving them a free Web page to post content, resumes, or whatever they want. An advertisement is placed on each page. Now they have built a targeted market to sell items like music CDs, skateboards, and clothing by providing free Web pages to that consumer base.

Ideas for getting them to plug in include:

1. Generating ideas for a specific topic or period of the year when your Web site is relevant. For marketing and business sites, the focus should be from October to December, the Christmas season when most people shop. Ask people what they want to buy, what the hottest products are, and have a contest.

2. Ask for expert opinions or input for a particular subject. Alan Jacobs' work alone boosted the Cybrary by allowing access to images. His work helped the cyte grow tremendously in traffic, while allowing him to reach a much wider audience with little effort.

3. Select someone interested in the topic to write a column at your Web site giving an insider's opinion. Even better, get them to write 26 articles and send them out bi-weekly to your developed mailing list. That would cover an entire year's worth of mailing for one Web site.

The Cybrary is the driving force behind the entire business model outlined in previous issues of this newsletter. Now that model has taken off in dramatic proportions due to two things:

1. The driving passion of an international audience to remember their families and prevent hatred, i.e., their benefits.

2. The fact that I would let people willing to contribute decent materials publish it online.

These benefits have allowed me to joint venture with a major CD-ROM company, ABC, PBS, and an international network of professors, teachers, students, and others interested in this subject.

The Cybrary got me in touch with ABC and PBS about their recent television special, "The Trial of Adolf Eichmann". Think about it, what more unlikely place to start a business than a Holocaust site? Now that it's taken off, I'm in touch with major players in the media market.

ABC first contacted me about their television special and asked if I was interested in helping them. But they first went to a traditional, mostly off-line Holocaust research center which had a long standing reputation for academic excellence. ABC favored this group because of their reputation. This center told them that no teachers were online.

ABC asked me and I told them if that was true, then the 30 plus emails a day I get from teachers worldwide are just a pack of lies. The Cybrary had tapped into something that famous center couldn't, so they talked about the Internet as something uninteresting. ABC checked out the Cybrary and saw, through the amazing amount of content, that what I said was true.

Inetdesign ( www.inetdesign.com ), my Web consulting firm, was selected to do the show. One last piece of the puzzle remained. PBS, who broadcast the show, naturally wanted it on their Web site. I asked ABC if we could post it at our cyte as well. This request seemed odd to ABC and PBS, but after discussing it they saw no harm in adding educational materials and exposure to the content.

The models I suggested broke them out of their way of looking at things. My access to a wide audience allowed me to recommend an educational writer for their lesson plan, who completed it within three days. I gave them access to a vast network of experts and scholars, completing the project on time and with detailed content that no one Web design firm could have created.

Being part of a community, developing trust over time, is a tested principle of online business. The community element is growing, but what people really want to do is meet like-minded people. Get them to meet at your site and the products will flow through sales to a targeted audience.

But for now, remember that many of the most highly trafficked sites are thought of as communities, or points of sales. No matter where it is located online, the gathering of interested people is what's important. Once you gain this access, joint venture by:

1. Targeting companies who might be interested in access to your audience. Exchange content with them; publish them at your cyte. I'm still amazed at how people think that limiting content to their Web site will help business. That's the old way of thinking.

Remember, Apple Computer limited access to their system, charging high prices, and lost a market. Microsoft distributed their operating system throughout and own the market. Think of it the same way as your content. Joint venture by offering access.

2. Bundle your products or services with other related incentives for your audience. Think of the Microsoft Office model; instead of selling a word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation program separately, they bundled it. WordPerfect kept selling its word processor alone and lost the market. Now they are bundling, but the market has been taken.

A joint venture can allow you to merge the products of several companies into one, turnkey solution. That's what your customers want.

3. The Crazy Puppy Example

Five separate companies, one goal; sounds insane doesn't it? Not if you look closely. It all began with a dog grooming shop getting rave reviews for a shampoo. While the PR was great, they realized that they had a one product sensation. No company could create interesting products repeatedly in such a limited niche. So they contacted other companies selling dog beds, gourmet pet snacks, pet foods, and pet toys.

They created a separate company built on the product line contributed by five companies. Each has separate licensing contract for the items it makes. A percentage of sales of each product must contribute to the company's marketing budgets. Together they have a powerhouse. The same example applies to the Web.

See, it's not the Internet that's doing it, it's business.

Step 4. Ally With Partners to Go Beyond the Limits of One Person/Business into an Integrated Effort Benefiting All

The Web represents a dramatic change in the way we all do business. The power of working together isn't a question of teamwork or fads, it's a necessity brought on by the market.

Competition has gotten much more intense. To take advantage of this, you have to find ways to cooperate with separate businesses. Sounds like a contradiction? Actually the marketplace is challenging businesses not to go alone.

Joint ventures are a rule of the Web. The Cybrary shows this by its marketing efforts. Each month the updates for the cyte are emailed to about 200 people. Several people take the monthly newsletter, add a bit to it, and distribute it to their list. I've got one person sending it out to 700 people, another to several thousand.

It doesn't matter how they get the message or who's name is on the top. What matters is the follow up and attention to the audience.

The Profitable Web Consultant Letter is developing in a similar direction. Inspired by the Cybrary, I work closely with CyberWave Media's Online Marketing Site ( http://www.cyberwave.com ) and Jonathan Mizel to give my customers the best marketing information. I'm working closely with the Success Partnership Network ( http://www.dabrieo.com ), a fitting name for the insights shared by Teresita Dabrieo. Her consulting expertise is invaluable to my business and my customers. I could look at them as competitors, but to my business they are assets. They challenge me to improve and teach me so many ways to profit.

Living in a competitive world doesn't mean you isolate yourself or your Web site. You have to explode those boundaries and ally yourself with strategic partners.

Stop forcing people to visit your Web site to work with you. Reach out and make it easy for them to find you, by finding out where they are meeting. If there is no meeting place, what a great opportunity to create one.

Think of solutions and propose them to your circle of related businesses. You'll be amazed at the results.