Dan Gill, Founder & CEO of Huddler, shares best practices for fostering a more personal internet experience. This presentation was given at ForumCon Chicago on September 27, 2011.

1. DAN GILL - CO-FOUNDER/CEO HUDDLER.COM
MAKE IT PERSONAL
Fostering a more personal Internet experience through advanced
user preferences, relevant advertising, and unique browsing
experiences based on content and expressed user interests.
Make it personal.
FOSTERING A MORE PERSONAL INTERNET EXPERIENCE 18M unique visitors per month 6.5M ongoing conversations 8.1M members and growing
Monday, October 3, 2011

2. 3 USERS WALK INTO A BAR
FOSTERING A MORE PERSONAL INTERNET EXPERIENCE 18M unique visitors per month 6.5M ongoing conversations 8.1M members and growing
Monday, October 3, 2011

3. LURKER LOGGED-IN POWER USER
FOSTERING A MORE PERSONAL INTERNET EXPERIENCE 18M unique visitors per month 6.5M ongoing conversations 8.1M members and growing
Monday, October 3, 2011

4. WHAT IS PERSONALIZATION?
THE DESIRE FOR
PERSONALIZATION
Yahoo serves 6 MILLION
versions of its homepage daily.
IS NOT NEW, BUT Facebook’s personalized activity
feed is the most popular page
THE INTERNET in the history of the Internet.
LETS IT SCALE We can find, write, or curate
great personalized content to
grow our communities and
stimulate our users.
FOSTERING A MORE PERSONAL INTERNET EXPERIENCE 18M unique visitors per month 6.5M ongoing conversations 8.1M members and growing
Monday, October 3, 2011

5. WHAT DO I PUT IN THE BIG, EMPTY BOX?!?!
FOSTERING A MORE PERSONAL INTERNET EXPERIENCE 18M unique visitors per month 6.5M ongoing conversations 8.1M members and growing
Monday, October 3, 2011

6. INDIRECT FEEDBACK
FIND CONTENT INSPIRATION IN
FORUM ROOT (10 SECONDS)
LEVERAGING GOOGLE ANALYTICS
LET THE CONTENT OF THE PAGE
BE YOUR GUIDE
Monday, October 3, 2011

7. INSPIRATION IN 10 SECONDS
CHECK YOUR
FORUM ROOT
FOSTERING A MORE PERSONAL INTERNET EXPERIENCE 18M unique visitors per month 6.5M ongoing conversations 8.1M members and growing
Monday, October 3, 2011

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ANALYTICS - WHERE IS YOUR ACTIVITY?
Entrances
8.1M members and growing

9. VIDEO CONTENT, GEAR, THREADS, AND MORE
RELATE YOUR
CONTENT
FOSTERING A MORE PERSONAL INTERNET EXPERIENCE 18M unique visitors per month 6.5M ongoing conversations 8.1M members and growing
Monday, October 3, 2011

10. DIRECT FEEDBACK
LET USERS TELL YOU
WHAT THEY WANT
ENABLE THEM TO
REQUEST MORE WHILE
BROWSING
LEVERAGE INCENTIVES
Monday, October 3, 2011

11. ASKING YOUR USERS
WHAT DO
THEY WANT?
Ask.
FOSTERING A MORE PERSONAL INTERNET EXPERIENCE 18M unique visitors per month 6.5M ongoing conversations 8.1M members and growing
Monday, October 3, 2011

12. CONTEXTUAL RELEVANCE
RELEVANT EMAIL
UPDATES
FOSTERING A MORE PERSONAL INTERNET EXPERIENCE 18M unique visitors per month 6.5M ongoing conversations 8.1M members and growing
Monday, October 3, 2011

13. LET THE USERS BRING IT TO YOU
THE CONTENT
THEY WANT
Reputations systems at their best.
Users are incentivized to not just contribute, but to contribute
content to get others to participate.
Structure around formatting and quality of news submissions.
Users want to be the first to post interesting content.
FOSTERING A MORE PERSONAL INTERNET EXPERIENCE 18M unique visitors per month 6.5M ongoing conversations 8.1M members and growing
Monday, October 3, 2011

14. CREATING A WIN-WIN
PERSONALIZATION
IN MONETIZATION
Understand your users’ motivations and create a win for
both users and advertisers.
FOSTERING A MORE PERSONAL INTERNET EXPERIENCE 18M unique visitors per month 6.5M ongoing conversations 8.1M members and growing
Monday, October 3, 2011

15. POWER
USERS
Arguably, don’t
monetize them - let
them participate with
as little friction as
possible.
Alternatively:
Premium Memberships
Gear & Schwag
Monday, October 3, 2011

16. MODERATE
USERS/REGULARS
Leverage the site’s brand in
your sponsorship.
Be as relevant as possible.
Focus on engagement.
Monday, October 3, 2011

17. SEARCH
VISITORS
Target campaigns based on
content to improve
performance and justify
premium pricing.
Lead generation/Affiliate
Marketing
Monday, October 3, 2011

18. SOMETIMES YOUR FRIENDS DON’T
HAVE ALL THE ANSWERS
QUESTIONS?
Monday, October 3, 2011