Useful Insights
Portals understand that they have value because they can command the attention
of large numbers of visitors to the E-conomy. But the key point that many
portal owners miss is that they need business partners more than they
need users. The portal site is not the product, instead “eyeballs”
are the product and the portal’s advertisers, E-conomy partners,
and content providers are its consumers.
A portal can’t survive without attracting and retaining eyeballs.
More importantly, it needs to attract the right kind of eyeballs. It needs
to build relationships that keep their customers coming back at a profit.
A sticky site creates customer loyalty by offering the content, the community
and the context.
Allowing a customer to create a website on the portal that talks about
the customer’s specific services is a sure-fire way of ensuring
customer loyalty. “Sticky applications”, like these are where
the customer makes investments by creating individualized content. When
the portal takes such a personal interest in the customer’s business
model it’s bound to have the customer for life.
An online community doesn’t have to be large – both in terms
of its customers and sponsors. This would mean greater investment in hardware
and infrastructure and more costs. The battle should be about the business
of potential advertisers and merchants. This market will be the chief
source of revenue and the relationships that are built within this market
through the portal are what make the difference.
Banner ads and traditional mouseovers don’t work: they form the
traditional advertising method of interruption marketing where the visitor
is interrupted from his focus when he clicks on a banner ad. Buyers are
less willing to give a part of their attention away today. Instead if
they are rewarded for giving away their attention through a contest, a
prize or a game, they just might be interested enough. This is an example
of permission marketing and describes another business model that the
net is breeding today.
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Community software 2004 |