How to sell networks on the Web

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Jan, 1999 by Robyn Fontes

Robyn Fontes is a freelance writer based in New York City.

Repackage other sites' content, and profit.

While most publishers are searching for ways to profit by putting their content on the Web, at least one company is trying a different approach-profiting from -content that's already out there. Brisbane, California-based Imagine Media finds existing Web sites on a particular subject, or that target a specific demographic, and then groups them together and sells ad space based on the increased volume of traffic.

Does it work? Maybe Imagine CEO Chris Anderson declined to state the percentage of the company"s $70 million in annual revenue that comes from new media. Imagine has its roots in print, the four-year-old company publishes five computer and gaming titles, and is launching Business 2.0, in place of The Net, in July. and Maximum PC--a combination of Imagine title Boot and the newly acquired Home PC--in September.

But Anderson is clearly sold on the idea Last spring, the company was about to announce its fourth such venture, the digital entertainment network. Its other networks include sites for computer games, self-proclaimed Mac addicts and women under 30 called ChickClick.

ChickClick (www.chickclick.com) is a good example of how the arrangement works. The brainchild of Heidi Swanson, who worked as Webmaster at Imagine's now-defunct. The Net, ChickClick consists of 20 independent sites, all created and updated by individuals outside the company. In her work on the Internet, Swanson spent a lot of time talking to women who were creating Web pages, most of them in a voice not found in mainstream women's magazines or else-where on the Web Convinced that women online were looking for something other than 10 ways to light his fire" and "Better eyelash curling now, Swanson lobbied Anderson to give the woman-powered network a try', it launched in April.

Reduced costs are key

One reason networks like these might break even sooner than traditional Web sites is that they have very low overhead Swanson is one of a staff of lust four charged with overseeing ChickClick. Although generating content is typically time-consuming and expensive, Swanson say's her responsibilities are limited to selling advertising space as well as increasing brand awareness of the ChickClick name itself. All ad revenue is split evenly' between the company' and the independent Web site producer-a big draw for those site creators, since they would be putting in the work anyway.

"The individual sites can concentrate on content, and we do all the rest" Swanson says. She adds that sites are selected based on the quality of the editorial and how frequently they are updated. An overriding characteristic of ChickClick sites (such as RiotGrrl, Bimbionic and Disgruntled Housewife) is the edginess of the writing-which, some observers say, may in fact hurt Imagine in its search for advertising business.

"Advertisers don't want edgy," asserts Jim Nail, a senior analyst at Forrester Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts "They don't want anything that's going to offend."

Swanson counters that she can accommodate an advertiser's specific Concerns. Prospective clients are given a menu-like list of sites on the network and then choose any combination they want ChickClick already has some major advertisers on board, including Procter & Gamble, J Crew and Cover Girl And on the broader subject of Internet marketing to women, Nail is more optimistic. "Women have been slower to embrace the new technology, although now [the male female split] is getting closer to 50 50. Advertisers really want sites for women on the Web".

The networking strategy' is not new-- a company called DoubleClick has a much larger network for independent sites to join together to make their collective volume more attractive to advertisers. But the setup may' work better in one of Imagine s specific enthusiast niches, such as computer gaming. The Imagine Games Network (www.ign.coin) launched in February 1997 and has 30 sites, 27 of which are created by individuals and three that are professionally- produced by Imagine staffers.

For people working on their own sites partnering with Imagine frees them from having to make individual, long-shot pitches to ad clients. "Selling advertising makes you mental,' says Nikki Douglas, a freelance writer in Key West Florida who puts out the RiotGrrl site on ChickClick and GrrlGamer on the Imagine Games Network. 'I felt like a used-car salesman " Douglas had initially wanted to put her Web sites on the DoubleClick network, but doing so requires at least a million page views per month. "Frankly' that's unrealistic," she say's "If I had that, I certainly wouldn't need them, would I?"