Agoracom

I am very pleased to announce that AGORACOM has hit a major milestone this month, our 1 millionth visitor! If a picture is worth a thousand words, this snapshot from our Google analytics is worth 1,000,000 words:

[CLICK ON IMAGE FOR LARGE, CLEAR GRAPH]

As you can see, the actual number of visitors is 1,109,628. We surpassed the 1,000,000 mark on July 25. With respect to dates, we started counting on October 5, 2007, when we we announced the launch of our wiki-powered “Investor Controlled Discussion Forums”.

When we made first made the announcement, we set out to destroy the stock discussion forum status quo that we have all come to hate over the past 10 years thanks to unrelenting spam, profanity, stock bashing, stock hyping and assorted noise. Many thought it could not be done because we could neither change habits nor unseat the incumbents. We not only knew we could, we knew that we would. Now, more than lip service, the following numbers speak for themselves:

THE TALE OF THE TAPE

(Figures for October 5, 2007 - August 27, 2008. All figures reported by Google Analytics)

• Unique Visitors 1,109, 628
• Visits 6,764,163
• Page Views 90,633,470
• Pages Per Visit 13.40
• Avg Time On Site 10:04
• Number Of Countries/Territories 205
• Top 10 (Canada, USA, Germany, Netherlands, UK, Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland, Austria, Mexico)

The numbers look even better when you consider

• We built our model on quality vs quantity. As such, this is pure discussion. No spam, flaming and bickering traffic.
• We are only focusing on small-cap and micro-cap stocks …for now.

THE STATUS QUO IS CRUMBLING

We are very happy to see the data back up our theory that investors deeply desire the ability to amalgamate and discuss individual stock investments in a civilized community. investors are no longer willing to accept the unacceptable.

Until now, the trash has ruled the day, forcing the masses to abandon discussion forums and conduct due diligence either on their own, or in small groups. It is inefficient but it is the best option we’ve had for nearly a decade.

Eventually, the market corrects inefficiencies and AGORACOM has set its sights on correcting this one.

By refusing to sacrifice quality for quantity, AGORACOM is attracting and will continue to attract smart and conscientious investors that understand the wisdom of crowds. Eventually, quality begets quality and a massive community that both generates its own content and moderates itself will replace the status quo.

HAPPY TO SEE A HAPPY COMMUNITY

Despite the plethora of great data illustrating our success, nothing makes us happier than reading the reaction of our members. Here are just some of the raving testimonials we’ve been able to pull from the site so far.

While we’re talking about our members, I want to take this moment to thank each and every one of them for believing in our model, spreading the word and breathing life into it. Without them, this would be one hell of an application with no users. A special thanks goes out to all HUB Leaders that abandoned their former communities at Stockhouse, Raging Bull, Yahoo Finance and others in hopes of a better experience. I’m glad our promises to you have been fulfilled.

BLOGS CAN NOT REPLACE DISCUSSION FORUMS

With the advent of financial blogs - and some pretty great ones that include Paul Kedrosky, Barry Ritholtz and Mark McQueen to name but a few - some might argue discussion forums are no longer necessary, even outdated. Don’t make that mistake. Blogs are great for insight into the most important economic issues from a wide array of great minds. However, they rarely stay focused on a particular topic for more than a day.

Stock discussion forums, on the other hand, provide investors with an ability to exchange ideas and analyze one particular stock 24/7/365. You might read about macro events (i.e. sub-prime or Apple earnings) on a blog but figuring out the ongoing impact on your specific stock investments requires an extended micro discussion that blogs can not provide.

CONCLUSION

This is Wiki meets IGC (investor generated content) at its finest. There are bigger communities to be sure - but can you find another vertical in which the need for a drastically more efficient model is needed more? Trillions of dollars are at stake. People’s futures are at stake. The implications of inefficient or imperfect information are severe.

Stock discussion forums are vital to the lives of so many people. I believe we are about to witness a paradigm shift that makes them valuable once again. Stay tuned for more.

Regards,
George

AGORACOM is very proud to announce that our story covering the Aurelian Resources Online Shareholder Revolt has taken the top spot on Yahoo buzz today.

As of 7:40 PM EST the story is ranking as follows:

#1 in Business Category with 118 votes (#2 = 60 votes)

#9 in All Category with 118 votes (Only 164 needed to get to pass Obama/McCain story in spot #6)

This is an incredible achievement and full credit goes to the entire Aurelian Resources self named “Crew” on AGORACOM. After posting the story this morning at 6:50 AM, the Crew mobilized, spread the word and began to the story.

This also serves as another example of the power of community. Specifically, a properly fun financial community in which investors are given the opportunity to amalgamate and communicate the pro’s and con’s of a company within a moderated environment free of spam, profanity, bashing and hyping.

Finally, this achievement is truly special because it took place on the very first day that Yahoo buzz was opened to all publishers. We’re going to relish this one!

Regards,
George

p.s. For those of you wishing to vote on the story and buzz it up on Yahoo, please find enclosed the following instructions that we posted to the Aurelian HUB:

================================

Good evening to you all. Yahoo Buzz! is a brand new feature released by Yahoo (just last night) in which users are able to submit stories.

The power behind the system is that the most popular stories are promoted to the FRONT PAGE of Yahoo, bringing millions of eyeballs to the story. If everyone votes up the story, it could provide greater attention than anything we’ve done to date.

I submitted the Aurelian story this morning and it is now the #1 “Business” story on Yahoo Buzz with more than 120 votes. It has graduated to the actual “Top Buzz” page as editors at Yahoo authenticated the story.

As such, I ask that each and every one of you (that have not yet already done so) to vote for the story. If you already have a Yahoo ID, it is as simple as the green thumb votes here on AGORACOM. If you don’t have a Yahoo ID, please take 2-3 minutes to create one and vote on the story.

Look for this button when viewing the Aurelian story and click on it to register your vote.

Spread the word!

Regards,
George

Gold got whacked today and finished at $US 820/oz, its lowest point of the year. I actually think know this is a good thing for small-cap gold stocks. Why? Gold’s move above $1,000 was largely based on a US economic catastrophe caused by one or a combination of the following:

• Banking Failures
• Real Estate Crash
• Inflation
• Stock Market Crash
• The Village People Reuniting (Would Have Taken Markets Back To 1978 Levels…aaaaaah!)

Any one of these events would have been good for gold prices but terrible for stocks of junior gold companies. After all, if the market is crashing south of the border, would you be buying blue-chip stocks, let alone juniors? The answer is no.

Thus, $1,500 gold and a crushed stock market is in very few people’s best interest. If you need any further proof of this, just take a look at the carnage in the junior metals sector over the past 6 months. Sky-high commodity prices were simply no match against the threat of a possible market collapse.

On the other hand, today’s drop in gold was based on renewed confidence in the US markets over the past several days. The US still has a boatload of problems to deal with and any one of them could still turn ugly - but for now people are feeling as if the US can navigate the rough seas without sinking.

CONCLUSION:

At the end of the day, investors in gold/silver/copper and other precious metal stocks are better off with prices at $750/$14.50/$3.50 and a stable US stock market. This provides the markets with the best of both worlds - economic commodity prices and panic free stock markets.

Spread the word…happy days are coming back to the junior metals markets.

Regards,
George

The shareholder revolt at Aurelian Resources continues to gain momentum, with the Calgary Herald picking up the story today.

Hats off to Aurelian shareholders for showing the world how a stock discussion community can be used in a powerful and constructive manner.

Regards,
George

The shareholder revolt at Aurelian Resources is picking up an incredible amount of steam, with Peter Koven at the Financial Post covering the story today. Here is a snapshot of the story, which is a great read:

…….continue reading full story here.

Hats off to Peter and FP for covering the importance of this story and the important role of online shareholder communities. Until AGORACOM came along, online stock discussion forums were overrun by spam, profanity, bashing, hyping and flaming. Our Web 2.0 model of combining a reputation system with Wiki and IGC tools (Investor Generated Content) has eliminated 95% of the noise while maximizing constructive and informative discussion.

Hats off to Aurelian shareholders for showing the world how a stock discussion community can be used to enrich investors.

Regards,
George

On September 7th 2007, I posted a story on this blog titled “The Empowerment Of Online Investors - It’s Here For Good”. In that story, I stated the following:

“What does this mean for small-cap and micro-cap CEO’s?

Online investors have almost as much power as you do when it comes to the future
of your company. Unhappy investors are no longer relegated to the vacuum of “harsh”
e-mail and letters to express their discontent. Today, investors can rally in short order
via video, blogs and online forums to challenge you at your next AGM, oust you from
your position or even elect their own slate of directors.

In fact, not only is this possible, I’ll go as far as predict it will actually happen in the
next 12-24 months as investors make Web 2.0 a part of their daily investing lives.
I’m the biggest proponent of great small-cap and micro-companies but we all know
there are still many companies out there deserving of being the first target of an online
shareholder revolt - and I’ll be the first to applaud it.”

APPLAUDING SHAREHOLDERS OF AURELIAN RESOURCES

Well, here we are just 11 months later and the first real small-cap revolt is on courtesy of the shareholders of Aurelian Resources. Moreover, AGORACOM is the vehicle allowing shareholders to unite. A proud moment for us indeed.

I said I would be the first to applaud it, so bravo to all of you for your efforts. True to my word, I want to congratulate “The Informed, Educated Aurelian Resource Investors” group for its activism efforts.

By amalgamating all shareholders for the purpose of educating, communicating, sharing and analyzing all aspects of this potential acquisition, you have given yourself the opportunity to generate greater shareholder value through:

* Rejection of this offer
* Sweetening of the current offer
* Attracting a better offer

This ordeal is long from over, so don’t give up. Continue to push for a better deal if the majority of you truly believe the Kinross offer is insufficient ….and let AGORACOM know if there is anything further we can do to help the cause.

Best Regards,
George, Paul and the AGORACOM Team

If you are a Canadian Small-Cap CEO that still doubts the power of the web as your primary IR tool, then consider the following facts released by eMarketer very carefully:

1] More than 22 million Canadians will access the Internet regularly in 2008, over 67% of the nation’s total population.

2] Over the next four years, user numbers will rise by about 1.5 million annually, passing 25 million in 2012, when penetration will reach almost 73%.

3] Broadband is more prevalent in Canada than in many other countries, including the US. Broadband penetration is also growing more quickly than the online population.

All of this data prompted Karen Von Abroms, Senior Analyst at eMarketer and author of this report to say:

“The combination of a relatively small population and the country’s large
size may encourage Canadians to make the most of online communications.”

CONCLUSION

You have an entire nation with a vivacious appetite for consuming online content. Their consumption is not selective. Canadians will search, research, communicate, purchase and invest through the web. As such, your audience currently stands at 22,000,000 + potential investors and growing by 1,500,000 new potential investors per year. Moreover, when it is all said and done, 75% of this audience will be consuming rich content (video, audio, webcasts, podcasts, etc.) via brodband.

If you don’t think 22,000,000 - 25,000,000 potential investors warrant your immediate attention, sorry for the interruption. You can now return to your previously scheduled, old-fashioned, outdated IR strategy that is going to leave you sucking the wind of Canadian listed companies that built their IR strategy around an online strategy.

We are in the midst of an unstoppable shift in communications. Companies that adopt a long-term strategy to Target, Amalgamate, Communicate and Convert potential investors via the web will win and win big. Companies that fail to do so will find themselves out of touch, out of favour and too far behind an insurmountable gap.

Regards,
George

Hat tip to Tech Blogger, Mark Evans, who first covered the article.

GlobeInvestor.com and ReportOnBusiness.com are the online business and investing arm of the Globe & Mail, Canada’s national newspaper. That is significant because GlobeInvestor brings in about 950,000 unique visitors per month, though we’ve heard the number is bigger.

As some of you know, AGORACOM has been the exclusive provider of small-cap resources and energy content to Globe for several months now, including a gateway from the front page of both GlobeInvestor and ReportOnBusiness.

However, as AGORACOM continues to grow and gain a wider global audience of investors, bloggers and media, it’s important to repeat it on our blog every once in a while. To keep it fresh, I’ve included images with links.

Have to admit a certain amount of pride to know that little ol’ AGORACOM is making its mark with the biggest and most respected name in Canadian business media.

Regards,
George

FRONT PAGE - GLOBE INVESTOR

FRONT PAGE - REPORT ON BUSINESS (ENERGY)

[NOTE - Though Some Data Is Specific To The Resources Industry, online research and usage data is applicable to all small-cap companies]

Throughout the first half of 2008, AGORACOM surveyed over 850 small-cap retail investors at each of the following 4 major resources conferences:

• Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC)
• Cambridge Conference Vancouver (January)
• Cambridge Conference Vancouver (June)
• Cambridge Conference Calgary

The purpose of the survey was to gain further insight into the online investing, research and community habits of small-cap and micro-cap investors. The surveys were conducted offline by design to avoid skewing of the results.

This survey represents a continuing series of surveys from each of these events since January of 2007. The results from each individual conference are posted on the AGORACOM blog within 30 days. In addition, the consolidated survey results are posted to our blog in early July. Both the individual and consolidated survey results can be found on the AGORACOM blog for you to review.

Given the speed at which the internet is moving and impacting investor relations, the results of these surveys are invaluable to CEO’s and investor relations departments of small-cap and micro-cap metals and mining companies across North America.

This is especially true for companies headed by older, less agile management teams that continue to overemphasize the value of traditional investor relations and under estimate the importance of online investor relations. Investors of such companies should also take note of these results and relay them to management.

AGORACOM has always understood the power and cost-efficiencies of search engine marketing, community building and multi-media communications. However, in order to go beyond theory and bias, we had to objectively prove it via empirical evidence.

SURVEY RESULTS

Upon reviewing the results and comparing them to 2007, we can unequivocally conclude that online research, collaboration and discussion are heavily utilized by small-cap investors and dramatically increasing. Frankly, the results were more dramatic than even we imagined and clearly point to the overwhelming need for an online IR strategy that goes beyond your website.

With approximately 850 investors surveyed, we were able to extract some extremely valuable information that will be of great importance to small-cap and micro-cap companies. The information will have different implications for each one of you, depending on your primary metal/mineral, market capitalization and online strategy. As such, though I’ve provided some tertiary comments following some of the results below, the final analysis will be your own. To this end, we’re happy to provide you with the following results:

HIGHLIGHTS

• 81% of Investors Prefer Small-Cap Resource Companies over Large-Cap.
• 48.4% of Investors were most Bullish on Gold compared to other minerals and metals.
• 73% of Investors Conduct the Majority of their Research (75%+) into New Stocks Online. This is a dramatic 18.65% increase over 67% of respondents in 2007 and serves as proof positive that an online investor relations program is critical if you want to reach new investors.
• 48% of Investors Conduct All of their Research (95%+) into New Stocks Online. No online IR program means you immediately miss out on 48% of all investors.

• 60% of Investors Use Discussion Forums For Information and/or Research.

• AGORACOM brand recognition amongst retail investors has risen by 360% over the same period last year. With 95% of our market budget allocated online, we are an actual case study about the power of online marketing to small-cap investors.

(more…)

AGORACOM is pleased to once again provide the results of our small-cap retail investor survey from the Vancouver Cambridge Conference held on June 15-16, 2008.

The results of this survey are invaluable to small-cap metals and mining companies across North America.

Given the speed at which the internet is moving and impacting investor relations, one of the most important things we continue to accomplish at the conference is surveying investors in order to better understand their online habits and preferences.

In comparing these results to 2007, we can unequivocally conclude that online research, collaboration and discussion have increased dramatically. Frankly, the results were more dramatic than even we imagined and clearly point to the overwhelming need for an online IR strategy that goes beyond your website.

AGORACOM Surveys Over 1,000 Investors In 2008

In addition to both Vancouver Cambridge Conferences, AGORACOM also surveys investors across the country at different events including PDAC in Toronto and the Calgary Cambridge Conference.

Response to the surveys has been overwhelmingly positive from executives that have found the information to be incredibly helpful.

We post the results from each individual conference within 30 days on the AGORACOM blog. In addition, we post the consolidated survey results every summer. Both the individual and consolidated survey results can be found on the AGORACOM blog for you to review.

AGORACOM SURVEY RESULTS - 2008 VANCOUVER CAMBRIDGE CONFERENCE

With approximately 100 investors surveyed at the Vancouver Cambridge Conference (June conference), we were able to extract some extremely valuable information that will be of great importance to all of us. The information will have different implications for each one of you, depending on your primary metal/mineral, market capitalization and online strategy. As such, though I’ve provided some tertiary comments following each of the results below, the final analysis will be your own. To this end, we’re happy to provide you with the following results:

Highlights

• 86% of Investors Surveyed Prefer Small-Cap Resource Companies over Large-Cap.
• 79.5% of Investors Surveyed Do the Majority of their Research (75%+) into New Stocks Online. This is a dramatic 18.65% increase over 67% of respondents in 2007 and serves as proof positive that an online investor relations program is critical if you want to reach new investors.
• 55.9% of Investors Surveyed Do All of their Research (95%+) into New Stocks Online. No online IR program means you immediately miss out on 56% of all investors.

• 62.4% of Investors Surveyed Use Discussion Forums For Information and/or Research. This represents a 14.8% increase over 54.4% of respondents in 2007 and further supports our contention that you need to take control of your message online, or risk having it taken from you by potentially unscrupulous investors.

• Almost Half the Investors Surveyed (48%) were Bullish on Gold compared to other minerals and metals.
• AGORACOM brand recognition amongst retail investors has risen by 360% over the same period last year. With 95% of our market budget allocated online, we are an actual case study about the power of online marketing to small-cap investors.

(more…)