Out With A Bang

Given the fact that we’ve charted the rise and – potentially – impending fall of many an old media empire on this blog, it would be a bit rich if we didn’t mention our own death in the family.

Openness, transparency, honesty, humour, warmth and humility – these are the kind of words that here at OWAB and MFW, we feel have come to define the new way that the web should be lived; our audience is one from whom no secrets should be hid…

So, in that spirit, www.myfootballwriter.com/colchesterunited has ceased to be. It is an ex-site; we brought the curtain down yesterday.

No, it’s not an ex-site. That’s wrong; it’s just having a rest, a breather. But it has closed down. For now.

Why? Well, the reasons are many and varied, but mostly financial.

Traffic-wise, it’s been a good summer; in that same spirit of openness and transparency everyone can see the numbers for themselves; that’s what www.twadservices.co.uk is all about… letting both punters and advertisers alike see which way our numbers are head.

And courtesy of a long and busy summer on the transfer trail and a steady organic growth of MFW that continues to defy our current nil marketing spend, we’re on course for a third million ad impression month in a row… divide by three or so for the number of page impressions and that’s somewhere round about the 350,000-400,000 page mark; around the 70,000 uniques.

Editorially, MFW continues to kick ass. As it should; deadline free, geography-lite, big, sticky, web-savvy reads… yep, we continue to spark informed conversations among our network of passionate niche communities.

A network that till Tuesday extended down the A12 to the mighty U’s. Who – I have to say – have been as good as gold; not a hint of a Hartlepool chairman to them at all.

And with our Nick being straight out of the top drawer writing-wise, that was a good little site.

Alas our local advertising network never caught up; never made it that far. In fairness, it hasn’t got too far into Ipswich either; we’ve employed three different sets of ad sales teams – none of whom have delivered either the contacts or the commitment to the MFW cause that we need.

In fairness to them, advertising – even of the bright, new, shiny digital variety – is hardly hanging off trees these days. It’s tough enough with a grizzled, 25-year veteran up your sleeve in Norfolk; for ‘clean skins’ and new products in Suffolk and Essex, it’s even harder.

Which is why we pursued a tie-in with at least two regional newspaper groups this summer; local advertising already in place; local football reporters in place… it’s just a re-route-our-existing-content job into a more elegant network; one that starts to break those old, geographical barriers down…

There were, of course, other discussions to be had; hopefully, every bridge remains intact; we’ve be mindful of saying our pleases and our thank you’s lest anyone should have a change of heart.

So we came close. Very close. We proved that the network opportunity is there; that if you can do one, you can do two, you can do three… but me, Neil, Kev and Ian can’t do 24 from our respective kitchen tables. We need bigger friends in the media to turn the full-blown dream into a digital reality.

If we can’t find them, then it’s down to private individuals; too small for VCs; too beyond NESTA’s ‘expertise and experience…’; too, er, anything for the banks, it’s a minefield out there. And one just went ‘Bang!’

Did we roll-out too soon? Should we have waited for the baggage column that is the ad dept to arrive alongside us before pushing headlong into North Essex suburbia? Possibly, but you have to have a ‘live’ product to sell to an advertiser…

He’s got to see the horse before he’ll stick his brand on the cart. He wants to see numbers; traffic; there is a need to speculate to accumulate – or, rather, speculate in the hope that you’d catch a passing media empire’s eye.

But, heh-ho. Time to review, re-think and, basically, dig in for a long, hard winter.

The fact that our Nick has an offer to travel the world this autumn with his best mate makes the parting slightly easier; he insists he’s enjoyed the ride – it’s given him a platform, a responsibility and an opportunity that few 24-year-old’s are granted.

And, in fairness, he rose to the challenge superby. The kid’s good; he should have a bright future ahead of him – provided any of us have a job left to offer him come the spring.

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