AGORACOM Small-cap Investor Relations Blog

Good morning to you all.  As most of you know, I like to share AGORACOM traffic data on a regular basis and today is no exception, especially given the fact we are in the dog days of summer.

Please find enclosed a Google Analytics shot of our traffic in H1 2010, compared to H12009 (Click on the image for a larger version):

I’m pleased to report that the number of visits (3,600,000) and visitors (547,000) to AGORACOM remain very strong.  The strength and YoY increases can be attributed to the following reasons.

1. Social Media

We have really turned on our social media efforts in 2010, which have resulted in:

• ~ 1,300 followers on our main AGORACOM Twitter Account.  In addition, we’ve also created successful Twitter accounts for our following content channels:  @AOL Small Cap Show (183 followers); @SmallCapTV (300 followers); @YahooSmallCap (91 followers); @SmallCapCEOshow (70 followers); @TopSmallCapNews (109 Followers)
• Our Facebook Fan Page now has over 440 Fans thanks to the great content we are feeding into it on a daily basis
• Our YouTube initiative is in full gear with 3 channels now delivering laser targeted videos on a daily basis.  I don’t think any other small-cap investor relations firm can match the following:  Main AGORACOM Show (925 videos);  AGORACOM Small Cap Gold and Resources TV (160 videos); Chinese Small Cap TV (214 videos)

Furthermore, we’ve worked hard at cross-promoting our social media channels AND providing different content on each.  If you’re a small-cap company that is simply creating accounts to post duplicate press releases across each, you are simply wasting your time.  Cross-promote and differentiate so that investors have options to consume what is most important to them.

2. Great Content

We recently introduced a “News Flash” feature that allows us to provide investors in every corner of AGORACOM with breaking/important news as it happens (both small-cap specific or macro-market related).  As a result, investors that may be focused on a particular HUB or group of HUBS on AGORACOM now feel as if they aren’t missing important news.  Click-through analysis shows these are a big hit with AGORACOM visitors and a good reason to both keep returning to the site and consuming our content.

3. Great Platform

Small-Cap Investors continue to flock to AGORACOM thanks to what we believe is the best small-cap community platform on the web.  By providing Wiki and UGC tools to our members, we’ve put significant control into their hands and that has benefited the entire community.  From adding/editing/updating content, to self-policing their own HUBS, members have created a small-cap community that is more informative and cleaner than any other small-cap site on the web.  It isn’t perfect – but it is as close to perfect as you can get using today’s technology.

What is perfect is the level of member satisfaction with AGORACOM.  We thank all of our members for fully embracing our platform and will continue to reward your efforts by improving on what we do.

DECREASE IN PAGE VIEWS

On the flip side, we did see an 8.46% decrease in page views that can probably be attributed to two items. First,  one of our busier HUBS was Freewest Resources which was acquired by Cliff’s Natural Resources in Q4 2009, so we haven’t had the benefit of page views for one of the prominent players within the Ring Of Fire.  Second, as a result of our OSC matter, several of our high-profile HUBS have been put on hold.

Nonetheless, we are extremely pleased at our ability to register gains on the visits and visitor front, while holding firm on the total page views.  This points to very positive prospects once the matter has passed.

CONCLUSION

Overall, the increases in visitors and visits are more important to both our clients and ecosystem as they will drive page views as more news develops within the small-cap industry. Going forward, we’ll be adding further fuel to the fire via the following exciting initiatives:

* Our upcoming mobile push in H2 (iPhone, Viigo and of course our Blackberry partnership)

* An expanded content push in H2  (Holding our cards close to our chest)

* A greater social media push (Look for Facebook and Twitter announcements in H2)

Thanks to our great clients and members for continuing to make AGORACOM the best community platform within the small-cap industry.

Regards,
George