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WINDY CITIZEN How not to suck at online publishing and advertising Brad Flora @bradflora @windycitizen
Background ,[object Object]
Prior: Princeton English (‘04), College admissions officer, Northwestern Journalism (’08)
Recently: Won 2010 Knight News Challenge
Find and pass along what’s hot in Chicago
Twitter: @windycitizen
Founded in May ‘08
Bootstrapped company based in Chicago
Niche social network, 10,000 registered users, 100,000 uniques/month,[object Object]
Addressed single-threaded problem
Addressed point of view problem
The Year
Phase 1: The Routine
Phase 2: Ads
Phase 3: Sell, sell, sell,[object Object]
Context ,[object Object]
Not an engineer
No advertising spend
No investment capital
Semi-hostile environment (news organizations not interested in covering)
Mostly done by non-technical people with some guidance but no prior experience,[object Object]
City blogs on the rise (Chicagoist, Gapers Block)
Dozens of young, underemployed writers
Seemed like a no-brainer,[object Object]
Traffic = Money
Content = Traffic
Journalism background gives me access to content
High quality content -> The Google -> Traffic -> ??? -> Profit!,[object Object]
Building a local audience is HARD
Lessons Learned
Lessons Learned ,[object Object],[object Object]
If 1:1 relationship between growth and your effort, you’re doomed.
If single point of failure, you’re doomed.,[object Object]
If 1:1 relationship between growth and your effort, you’re doomed.
No Point of View = Death,[object Object]
If 1:1 relationship between growth and your effort, you’re doomed.
No Point of View = Death,[object Object]
Lessons Learned ,[object Object],[object Object]
No Point of View = Death,[object Object]
If 1:1 relationship between growth and your effort, you’re doomed.
No Point of View = Death,[object Object]
If 1:1 relationship between growth and your effort, you’re doomed.
No Point of View = Death,[object Object]
If 1:1 relationship between growth and your effort, you’re doomed.
No Point of View = Death,[object Object]
If 1:1 relationship between growth and your effort, you’re doomed.
No Point of View = Death,[object Object]
The Internet: Where sane people go to read and experience crazy things.
Lessons Learned ,[object Object]
No Point of View = Death,[object Object]

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