Slide 1: Sparklebox Uses Website Syndication to Realize the Power of the Long Tail
When Samuel King created his website called Sparklebox in early 2006, he had no idea what it would become. "I was a teacher and I saw a need for low cost or free teaching tools. Nothing like that existed at the time." Two years later, Sparklebox has grown into a company with 4 employees and 50,000 daily visitors from the U.K., U.S., and Australia. Sparklebox has been so successful in fact that King, who previously charged a nominal fee for some materials, has made everything on the site free.
"This toolbar is not only convenient it also has resources that teachers couldn’t get anywhere else. This has been an absolute winner for Sparklebox!"
Samuel King Sparklebox
King’s success is a testament to the power of the website syndication for so called long-tail organizations. He was able to turn unprofitable customers into profitable ones by providing exactly what they want at no charge, and leveraging the popularity of his site to make money through online advertising.
Sparklebox Community Toolbar Puts an Entire Website in the Browser Window
King built a community toolbar using the Conduit website syndication platform. It includes dozens of links to every section of the Sparklebox website, downloadable tools, and exclusive resources. King also included a few of the many gadgets that Conduit provides, including a newsfeed for Sparklebox updates, email notifier, radio, and a search bar powered by search.
You can get the Sparklebox community toolbar at www.sparklebox.co.uk
Community Toolbar
Conduit Solution
• Sparklebox Community toolbar: the best of Sparklebox can be accessed right from the browser, including its most popular teaching materials and exclusive offers. • Sparklebox u-Page: Customizable home page keeps Sparklebox top of mind when users open their browser. Users are introduced to new products more quickly. • King is able to make his teaching tools available at no cost in part because he is able to monetize his toolbar by extending the reach of his current promotions and participating in the Conduit Rewards program.
"I am a teacher, not a technical guy, but I was able to easily create a great toolbar. And after I launched it, it was easy to maintain. Conduit helped me with marketing and analytics."
u-Page
Slide 2: Sparklebox is the UK's top early years teaching resource website.
"My audience loves the Sparklebox toolbar because it's the fastest way to get updates and new materials. They get addicted and check it every day." As part of the features offered by Conduit, Sparklebox also has a branded start page that includes all of the information and gadgets on his toolbar. "The u-Page gives me more floor space to introduce new products. As soon as my users open their browser, the see what’s new. Sparklebox gets more attention each day because they can set my Sparklebox u-Page as their home page."
Daily Brand Recognition Drives Excellent Retention
Evesham, United Kingdom www.sparklebox.co.uk King credits word of mouth for attracting new customers and his community toolbar for helping to retain them. "Right from the start this [Conduit community toolbar] seemed ideal because people could have Sparklebox with them no matter what web site they are on. I thought it would hook them and help me keep them and that’s exactly what it did."
"When I first learned of the Conduit platform, I thought this is too good to be true. It's exactly what I need to talk to my audience everyday and its free. Naturally I was skeptical, but here it is, 2 years later, and my business keeps growing and the toolbar is still free."
Business Results
• Unique visitors increased 343% in one year. • Double-digit increase in traffic from new geographic markets, including the U.S. and Australia. • 75% of visitors return to the site. • More than half of repeat visitors regularly use the community toolbar.
Community toolbars built with the Conduit website syndication platform are branded by the web publisher and then live in the browser window below the menu. Any content or application can be added to a toolbar. The Sparklebox toolbar includes the best resources available from the site and so was a valuable tool to teachers who reference it each day. "The toolbar helps keep people hooked to the site and we see better uptake of our new resources because of it." King attributes his excellent growth to having marketing tools previously only available to the largest brands. "Just like Google and Yahoo!, I have a branded toolbar," he said. "And I can send alerts right to teachers’ desktops when I have new products or timely information. Sparklebox is always top of mind."
Dependable Revenue Stream Keeps Teaching Resources Free
Samuel King was a teacher for a short time and started Sparklebox because he saw that teachers need access to free teaching materials. With time and increasing popularity, Sparklebox became a significant source of revenue for King. With the addition of ads on his site and revenue from his Conduit toolbar, King not only has a staff, but can now continue to offer his site for free. "I wouldn’t be able to keep everything free without the income from the toolbar. Almost half my visitors are toolbar users. The same people who are addicted to my toolbar are the ones who drove the income on my site. My community toolbar is 100% integral to Sparklebox."
Conduit provides website syndication solutions for web publishers that increase site traffic, revenue, and brand loyalty while simplifying access to the content, communities and applications that subscribers care about most. By creating a direct, always-on connection between publishers and subscribers, Conduit opens new channels for real-time communication and commerce. More than 180,000 publishers have joined the Conduit network worldwide, including major brands such as Fox News, Lufthansa, Major League Baseball, Greenpeace, TechCrunch, Softonic and small and "long-tail" organizations in 120 countries around the globe. Web publishers who become part of the Conduit network have the opportunity to syndicate their website content and applications directly to the browser by allowing subscribers to add them as simply as adding an RSS feed. To create a community toolbar for your website, visit: www.conduit.com.
Conduit • 71 Stevenson Street, Suite 400 • San Francisco, CA 94105 • www.conduit.com • info@conduit.com • +1.866.338.1306
