Sample News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 5, 2000 Contact: Francie Ward chef@ideacafe.com 541/474-7912 IDEA CAFE'S SMALL BUSINESS COMMUNITY MOST ACTIVE ONLINE MEDFORD, OR -- In a recent quantitative survey of top small business website community areas, Idea Cafe (www.businessownersideacafe.com) consistently attracted the greatest user participation. The survey's sites were selected because of their recent top ten rankings by Cahners In-Stat's "Online Business Center (OBC) Report, 2nd Half, 1999", or by Inc. Magazine's "Best of the Web for Small Business." In addition, two small business magazine-related sites, Inc.com and EntrepreneurMag.com, were included. Over a six-week period -- February 1 to March 14, 2000 -- Idea Cafe's CyberSchmooz(sm) interactive forums received more user traffic than community areas for the small business audience at other sites. ....................................................... Community Participation at Small Business Site Forums: (Average User Discussion Contributions Per Day) IdeaCafe.com 69 About.com 29 Inc.com 13 Onvia.com 9 EntrepreneurMag.com 6 Office.com 4 AllBusiness.com 3 EntrepreneurialEdge 3 SmallOffice.com 2 Entreworld.org 2 ZDNetSmallBusiness 2 SmartOnline.com .002 DigitalWork.com no forums
AllBizDepot.com no forums Workz.com no forums SBA.gov no forums Source: On-site quantification February 1, to March 14, 2000, totaled for the period, then averaged per day. When explaining why Idea Cafe's CyberSchmooz had such high daily participation, Idea Cafe's CEO, Francie Ward, said, "Idea Cafe's 'Fun Approach to Serious Business' has clearly struck a chord with the small business audience. Why? Because Idea Cafe provides a friendly place to work on ideas. Every business starts with an idea. The idea -whether original, copied, or purchased -- comes first and is the continuing constant throughout the life of the business." "Idea Cafe is reaching the most rapidly growing segment of the small business market -- new small business owners and SOHO entrepreneurs," Ward continues. "Idea Cafe, by focusing on the idea, welcomes these new entrants to the small business audience. We develop a relationship with them, even before they show up statistically in market demographics." Idea Cafe(R) The Small Business Channel (http://www.businessownersideacafe.com), known for its branded "Fun Approach to Serious Business"(sm) features expert advice, information, interactive tools, and peer networking on starting, financing and running a business, plus stress-busting business-related activities. Cahners In-Stat independent research ranked Idea Cafe #1 Content, #2 Lifestyle Content, and #10 Overall as an Online Business Center (OBC) serving the small business market. Idea Cafe is also repeatedly named as a top site for small business by the press, such as Kiplinger's Personal Finance TV, The Wall Street Journal, PBS-TV's Internet Cafe, and most recently listed in the top ten "Best of the Web Offerings for Small Business" in Inc. Magazine's April, 2000 issue.