The speed of the increase in use of the Internet is greater than the fax phenomenum that hit the business world in the 1980's. And let's face it, the 'Net, and more specifically, the World Wide Web, will change with the advent of new technologies, but it's not likely to go away in the forseeable future. But like all things, there's a cost involved, both with using the Net as well as with publishing on the Web. And who's gonna pay?
Fortunately, the cost to access a service provider is coming down quickly, so at least surfers are starting to benefit. But if every site used the ESPN strategy of providing basics for free and then charging for additional information, parts of sites, etc., you would not likely access many sites. Fortunately, however, the anarchistic nature of the Net will ensure that there is always free stuff out there if you learn to find it.
TFN is free, and will remain free. Perhaps there is a nominal Entry Fee to our new Fishing Derby, but less than 10 cents on every dollar will be put into the effort required to administer the program, including scanning images to upload, maintaining a leader database, and so forth. The other 90 cents+ will go out in prizes.
So here's the pitch. Encourage your local, regional and national businesses to get involved. Advertising on the net is cheaper per quality hit than any other medium, and the potential market reach is huge. What advertisers have to hear is which sites you visit, so that they gain a comfort level with the thought of using the Net to promote their products, while supporting the medium itself.
Unfortunately, there are too many unscrupulous publishers raving about ficticious statistics that advertisers don't want to base their decisions on the numbers produced. And until someone comes out with a third party accurate auditing system that is free for sites to subscribe to and is paid for by the advertisers, the situation is not likely to change.
But fortunately TFN is well-funded, and is run as a business, with all the checks, balances and control systems in place. After all, TFN actually takes about 180 hours per month just for site maintenance and publishing, not to mention the hundreds of hours put in by our writers. And time is money.
On the other hand, thousands of smaller angling sites are run by individuals, spending 20 to 40 hours per month in combining their two favourite pastimes: computing and fishing. But once they realize that Net Publishing, once started, becomes a necessary chore rather than a fun hobby, they tend to close up shop, or at least their sites, and go on to something else. We know this from our constant battle trying to keep the TFN Net-links page current.
So here's a great idea (if I do say so myself). If you run a small site and would like to off-load the hassles of publishing all the time, why not give one of the major sites the chance to include it in theirs? After all, a site like TFN gets over 1 milliion hits each month, resulting in tens of thousands of user-visits.
I can't speak for any of our major competitors, but TFN would be more than happy to make arrangements with any number of the smaller sites -- an arrangement that could even generate some income for them in the future.
So give it some thought. If you are one of these operators, or know someone else who is, have them email me at
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, and we'll try to work something out.
In the meantime, enjoy the rest of this, our 10th issue of the TFN Magazine, and make sure you enter the TFN Master Angler Fishing Derby - you never know what you'll win!
Until next month...
(tight lines, get it wet, good fishin', see you on the water, etc., etc.).
Scott M. Binnie, Managing Editor
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