Today we’re featuring our interview with Steven Gordon, founder and former sole owner of AllExperts.com. Founded in 1998 and sold in 2000 to About.com (which had already purchased rival site ExpertCentral.com), AllExperts.com was the first site of its kind and grew to be the largest and most successful before About.com took possession in mid-2000.
BACKGROUND
From 1995-1998, Steven Gordon published email newsletters, but back then being an ezine publisher wasn’t easy: distribution carried a pretty hefty price tag and it was tough to conjure up ad dollars. Meanwhile, during this time of writing and publishing, Gordon noticed that people couldn’t get answers to their questions very easily. Search engines were just leading people to more questions rather than answers.
His instinct told him that there was a need to create a solution to this dilemma and that people might be willing to talk about things they liked…and even might do so for free. So in September 1998 he started AllExperts.com. Back then, he only had one subject, television, and he went about recruiting experts to answer the questions his site would be receiving. Pop culture topics like TV weren’t too hard to find volunteer experts for — as his site grew and more topics were added, it became more and more difficult to find experts, particularly in professional fields like medicine and the law. Only 1 in 4 recruits actually joined, which made things difficult on Gordon, as all the while he was working a full-time job. He found himself working 16-18 hour days.
The site caught on, however, and people starting linking to his site because it was a good service and resource for users. At the same time, volunteer experts started joining more readily. Within a year, the site had grown to 1 million monthly page views, and at its peak, AllExperts.com was receiving 4 million monthly page views.
THE INTERVIEW
| Hollis: | What were your goals in starting AllExperts.com? |
| Steven: | None! At first I did it as an “artistic” thing. I thought it was an idea that would attract other people. I will say this, though: I think I was successful because I had something that was unique and, once everyone knew about it, was very needed. |
| Hollis: | Do you think then that you benefited from having a “first mover advantage”? |
| Steven: | Yes. Definitely. |
| Hollis: | How did you position AllExperts.com? |
| Steven: | As “The Ultimate Question & Answer Source;” The Ultimate Encyclopedia |
| Hollis: | So what was your marketing strategy to promote the site? |
| Steven: | In the beginning, I really went after trading links (mostly only text links) with other sites. Since I’m a writer, I also went after some PR. The first write-up I got was in the New York Times, and almost immediately other newspapers and magazines picked up my story. I’d say we got mentioned in about 100 publications all told. I also learned which search engines were important and how to get good listings on them. |
| Hollis: | How did you go about recruiting your experts? |
| Steven: | First of all, I did it ALL myself, which was really tough. To put it in perspective, if the site now has 8,000 volunteer experts, it means that I somehow had to contact about 30,000 people. I did this mostly through newsgroups and web sites. I wrote a very eloquent letter, which at the time was persuasive because we were really creating something new and unique. |
| Hollis: | So the site started as a labor of love. When did you realize that you would have to generate revenue somehow to cover your costs? |
| Steven: | Almost immediately! By the end of 1998, we were getting 1 million page views, which seemed to be the magic number for the ad networks. I was able to sign up with DoubleClick for which we received between $1.20 – $1.40 per thousand page impressions. |
| Hollis: | What was your biggest challenge then? |
| Steven: | Selling the site. I really hated my day job and realized that if I didn’t sell the site, I would be stuck at my day job forever, which was a terrifying thought. My ad revenue was substantial but who knew how long that would last (which, in retrospect, was a smart way of thinking), so in 2000 I started cold-calling companies to buy AllExperts.com. It was miserable, though, because despite the site’s success, I didn’t have any big name contacts (like big venture capitalists). I was snubbed. Eventually, my friend at ExpertCentral, who had sold his site earlier that year to About.com, put me in touch with their people, and I was able to negotiate a sale. |
| Hollis: | Why didn’t you ever get venture capital funding? |
| Steven: | Some came to me, but I turned them all down. First, because their priority was some sort of solid revenue model (like charging people for the expert advice they’d be receiving), but that was not my priority — call it my altruistic philosophy. Also, VC’s want a portion of ownership in my site in exchange for their money, but I didn’t *need* their money, so what was the point? |
| Hollis: | So what was your biggest technical challenge? |
| Steven: | Finding a programmer who could convert our site from a mailto system to a database system and who was willing to work with smaller clients like me. Eventually I was able to find that person, and I still use her today. |
| Hollis: | And where did you find her? |
| Steven: | Through the Web! |
| Hollis: | Based on your experience, what are some of the most important lessons you’ve learned? |
| Steven: | Solid web design and usability are KEY! Do NOT require users to register before being able to access and use your site because you’re just going to turn them away. |
| Hollis: | What intrigues you about upcoming marketing trends or techniques? |
| Steven: | Linking is more important than ever now because search engines are relying more and more on link popularity to rank sites. Also, editorial and advertorial (paid-for editorial) content are good for marketing because people tend to click more when they’re reading about something they’re interested in. (EDITOR’S NOTE: We concur, Steve!) |
| Hollis: | What achievement are you most proud of? |
| Steven: | That I created this huge thing all on my own and was then able to successfully sell it. I’m hoping to do the same thing now with my new site, AllReaders.com, which allows people to find books based on what it is they like about stories themselves like plot, theme, characters, etc. |
| Hollis: | What do you see as the future of the Internet? |
| Steven: | If you’re creating a site to be ultimately sold, now is a good time to be doing so because other companies are failing and there will be opportunities for successful “Intrepreneurs.” On the other hand, if you’re trying to build a site to sell things, and you’re not an existing company with brand name recognition, you’re going to have a tough go of it because consumers are less likely to find you or feel comfortable with you even when they do. |
Related links:
http://www.allexperts.com
http://www.about.com
http://www.allreaders.com
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