170 likes | 281 Views
Dash-Area.Com Presentations. Ralph D. Westfall, Ph.D. June 2, 2000. Dash-Area.Com Concept. Network of 3000 community sites, each with content highly customized to its own community each has unique domain name www.[community name]-[st]-area.com
E N D
Dash-Area.Com Presentations Ralph D. Westfall, Ph.D. June 2, 2000
Dash-Area.Com Concept • Network of 3000 community sites, each with content highly customized to its own community • each has unique domain name • www.[community name]-[st]-area.com • Supported by a central service operation that empowers the local sites to be competitive with major portals
Internet Economics • Traffic (V - unique visitors) • drives revenues • increases revenue opportunities • Revenue per visitor (RPV) • Cost per visitor (CPV) • Net income = V x (RPV – CPV)
Traffic Volumes • Yahoo.com: 49.5 MM/month • AOL.com: 43.3 • MSN.com: 36.9 • Geocities: 33.6 • Amazon: 16.3 • E-Bay: 16.3 PC Data Online, April 2000
Revenue Per Visitor • ZDNet $0.81/month • Times Digital 0.65 • Marketwatch.com 0.42 • Go.com 0.34 • NBC Internet 0.18 Business Week, March 27, 2000
Revenue and Cost Per Visitor • Yahoo: $0.48 $0.26 • IVillage: 0.67 1.85 • About.com 0.17 1.00 derived from data 2nd quarter 1999 data in Silicon Alley News, Aug. 20, 1999
Internet Market Spaces • Global market web sites • serve United States and the world • heavily entrenched competition • Personal web sites • serve friends, families, students • Untapped space in between • local advertising: $66 billion
Dash-Area.Com Market Space • Local communities • small/medium-sized cities • 30,000-200,000 population • communities in larger cities • North Hollywood, Bel Air, San Pedro (LA) • Greenwich Village, Upper East Side (New York) • very distinct identities • typically have their own chambers of commerce
Locally-Focused Promotion • Free web sites to “opinion leaders” • local businesses • local community organizations • “word of mouth” advertising • Free e-mail to everyone in community • Web sites and e-mail use domain name • www.[community name]-[st]-area.com • will appear in their advertising & literature
Content for Repeat Visitors • Local news, updated daily • local sports, events and activities, school news, history, etc. • Supplemented by “feeds” provided by central service operation • national headlines, sports, stock quotes • regional weather, traffic
Low Costs • Local content largely contributed on a self-service basis • passwords issued to local sources • automated submissions of text and images • semi-automated review process • Central site negotiates additional feeds at favorable rates
Local Webmasters • Strong contacts in local communities • Some technical skills • Complementary to existing businesses • web site development services • local ISPs • other involvement with E-commerce • Motivated by share in ultimate cash out
Revenue Opportunities • Advertising • national media buy: whole network • unique market segmentation capabilities • regions, communities, demographics • Local webmasters • buy 2-year memberships via an auction • minimal service charges after 2 years
Competition – Top Down • Yahoo! Get Local • zero content • incomplete coverage of local businesses • Digital Cities (AOL) • limited content • only 60 cities (not growing), mostly larger • 6.0 MM visitors April 2000
Competition – Bottom Up • Community Profile Network • 360 cities (200 in Illinois, 6 in Calif.) • “cookie cutter” content • About.com • 175 communities in US and Canada • somewhat customized local content • relatively static (not updated that often)
CIS 461 Student Teams • Prototype communities • Rancho Cucamonga (E-Systems) • Dunst, Han, Knoefler, Lin, Lo • Montclair (EUtopia) • Jain, Ngo, Taufiq, Tombokan • La Verne (Vanguard Web Solutions) • Fisher, Hsieh, Lee, Sulanchupakorn
Interdisciplinary Consultants • Business plan/financials (GBA 691) • Reymundo • Graphic Design (Art Department) • Wong