Duluth News Tribune article of FM.com

[Steve Foss]

Hey all:

Travel to the BWCA-Duluth-Range board and look at the article that includes a lot of comment from FM.com folks.

It appeared on today's outdoors page in the Duluth News Tribune.

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"I still miss my ex-wives, but my aim is getting better!"
Steve Foss
[email protected]

[Guest]

Great to see Rick get some Press, always good to see.

A few years back I was chatting with some guys from a very well know and respected fishing magazine. I told them, ya-best thing interactive on-line, and fast, or these forums things may sweep ahead of printed media.

Naaaa...never happen, they said.

Their joint skepticism was largely due to one big issue. How do we make it pay? Bottom line thinking, very understandable really in any media industry, needs to pay them bills too Eh. Advertising has been in package form for years, why change? Well, change is good, yup-yup.

What I said then has fast become true. I still foresee many magazines not hitting the snail mail soon, and will be downloaded to disk by subscription. I'm sure that is very near.

I am convinced one of the driving forces in this interactive media change is the "Forums Concept". The 24/7 sportsman’s connection is today’s bite today. The “24/7-availability concept” of information is a very appealing prospect to anglers, and draw.

Rick and a few others seen this trend and ran with it, very wise for sure. I now see a momentum building with industry advertisers, they are also noticing this trend. The big boys in the industry are scratching their heads, and working on new marketing strategies, the "forum concept" is a big factor they are considering. Just check their web sites once, new forums pop up daily hoping to lure anglers away from other forums, such as FM.com. Ya know, they most likely will not succeed, but they still have to try, right.

As long as forums do not get overly exclusive, limiting content, pigeonholing sponsors, the forums will continue to grow. Some sites that have had a good following in the past, have now changed into exclusive "Mickey Mouise Clubs" and scare off advertisers, and valuable forums reader/contributors.

I am happy to see FM.com remains open and growing by the day. Things will just get bigger and better, yup-yup that is my prediction now.

Keep up the good work Rick and team FM.com!

Ed "Backwater Eddy" Carlson

[email protected]

[This message has been edited by Backwater Eddy (edited 02-23-2003).]

[Guest]

It is also in todays Pioneer Press.

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651-271-5459 http://fishingminnesota.com/millelacsguide/
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[Steve Foss]

Yep, Duluth News Tribune and St. Paul PiPress are both owned by the same corporation (Knight Ridder), and they share stories a lot.

If the STrib wants it, they'll have to hope the Associated Press moves a version, or they'll do their own story.

Any way we cut it, I think the exposure is a good thing.

[rascalP]

Saw it in today's Pioneer Press. Pretty neat to see the names of people I've been reading about for over a year now. Stfcat, when did you know they were going to do a story? Hope the celeb status of those mentioned does'nt change 'em. ST, Stfcat, and the rest requiring a credit card number to read their post's maybe?
Good job all!!

rascal

[jigglestick]

naw, credit card numbers and all that would just confuse me. i'm more like the organ grinder with a dancing monkey holding an empty(emphesis on empty) hat
cool article!!

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keep a firm grip on your jiglestick!!....jigglestick....

[Steve Foss]

Well, S.T. and I and a few others Sam talked to knew about it a few weeks ago.

I was one of the newsroom assigning editors and worked with Sam at the DNT before my job was chopped a month ago, and we talked about doing that story. He'd planned to come to the Burntside gathering to get some pics to go with the story, but something else came up.

Too bad, he would have gotten a good pic of 13 guys collapsing the floor in Chunkytrout's permanent. Darn beer. Northlander was angler No. 13, though he disclaims responsibility.

Sam did a good job on the story. Didn't quote Surface Tension enough though.

[This message has been edited by stfcatfish (edited 02-23-2003).]

[LaVoi]

It's great to see FM getting the attention it deserves.

[Wobbler]

Great article Rick! It was also in the Grand Forks Hearld!

[Guest]

Great little article... Rick, you have a great site going... Thanks for the hard work you put in. James also has a great site for those river rats...

[Rick]

Thanks all.

It was nice of Sam Cook to recognize a growing trend and write such an informative article.

I'll tell you, there are some companies who have poured millions into the forum concept and failed miserably. As a matter of fact, I passed up the biggest on the Internet in January with respect to number of users. They are one of those who poured millions into TV and radio ads.

FishingMinnesota.com is now the #1 Fishing Site on the net. We moved from #3.

The big boys and traditional marketing media will have a tough time figuring out what it really takes. There are many pieces to the puzzle and you can't be missing even one of them.

Many think it's an easy trip they just have to pour money into. Unfortunately for them, it doesn't work that way.

They'll spend big money on TV advertising that has a relatively low short term profit potential. It's an ok return on their investment.

Any sponsor here who pays close attention to their return on investment sticks with us. They just don't leave if they have a quality product/service and they pay attention to their return.

That leads to what I'm missing. That is the advertisers to pay for the site. It is slowly starting to change as savvy business are figuring out what a bargain it is.

As we go, we continually look at new ways to enhance the value of their marketing dollars.

Our goal is to give a lot of bang for the buck.

I also have to thank many of you who have talked to potential advertisers about FishingMinnesota.com.

You are the ones who have made it possible to continue offering what we have here today.

Thanks also goes to our current sponsors. They have supported us and you have supported them in return.

So, the real Thanks goes to all of you who have actively supported FishingMinnesota.com over the years.

We here appreciate you