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Re: [GWL]: Looking For A Writing Vehicle

Wow - so much to respond to.!  So I'll make a few comments here on funding, audience analysis and
the advantages of the web as an information medium, based on five years of experience both at
Suite101 and with two commercial online sites.

First, Doug Green's comment about reinventing the wheel. Donna's site, Icangarden does have
sponsorship, I believe - but it's not something that hits you in the face. So the natural
suspicion that comes from a blatantly commercial site is negligible there.

At Suite101.com we have no selling at all - I have had to reprimand a couple of editors who
pushed their commercial sites too heavily. We were lucky enough to have the "sugar daddy" that I
think Jeff mentioned - to bankroll us at the start, and now we have investors.  Of course no one
is going to make any money writing for us (and I can always use more writers, too ;-) But at the
moment I'm viewing this from the opposite side of the desk - as a consumer of gardening
information.

What they do have - and this is the way around the over-general regionalized information problem
that Claude points out - are real live people who answer questions. So if someone from zone 10
wants to know if they can grow daffodils there is a live person - hopefully with experience
(since our Daffodil editor is executive director of the ADS ;-) who can supply a relevant and
reputable answer.

Within a community of writers one soon learns who has expertise in what. When someone asks me a
question I can't answer, I have 50 or more other people on tap that I can go to and ask to supply
the needed information. Interactivity is something few other media can supply. Especially when
the responses come quickly. Magazines can post Q&A pieces but the lead time is months. Ours can
be minutes.

I will admit to a certain lack of quality in some areas of our gardening site - who knew five
years ago hat we'd still ne around and that we would have created a fairly substantial resource?
At first we accepted many people simply because they had an interest in gardening and were
willing to wrote for a pittance. We are getting much more particular now, trying to get rid of
the deadwood and go for quality.

As Claude says. the material on a truly useful site needs to be vetted initially  - or if that is
too much, at least the writers need to be carefully screened. A few weak spots can drag down
public perception of an otherwise wonderful resource. But from experience I know that after a
while one gets the sense of who can be relied on and who we need to watch and continue to try to
push to better quality work.

Another advantage on the web is the ability to write on several levels. An article aimed at
beginners can also, through hyperlinks to sites with in-depth information - include something for
those with higher levels of expertise. There is no need for huge. magazine length articles when a
few well chosen paragraphs with links can give the same information in depth to those who care to
follow the links. In a sense, we web writers are human search engines who take care of that for
the reader.

One of my regular jobs involves answering questions for a commercial site - questions that come
through e-mail. I've pushed for a bulletin board for two years so that I don't have to answer the
same question over and over but can be available as a resource - and which customers with
expertise can contribute to as well as I can. So far no luck. But what I have learned from the
experience is that Claude is very right - people do not seem to know how to use the search
engines. Most of the questions I get that I can't respond to off the top of my head can be
answered by typing a keyword or two into Google - but not only don't the people e-mailing us seem
to know that - neither does the company's customer service staff.

Just a few of my thoughts about online resources. Not even worth Claude's $4 black coffee - but
based on 5 years on the web.
Carol
--
Virtually Gardening
http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/virtually_gardening
CURRENT ARTICLE: "Where Have All the Gardeners Gone?"
http://suite101.com/article.cfm/virtually_gardening/75804
Enter the FIFTH ANNUAL TACKY YARD ART CONTEST! GET THE SCOOP AT
http://suite101.com/contest.cfm/75/402

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