October 2004
Best Practices: Power generator

Penton’s online trade show produces steady stream of leads for a handful of exhibitors

By Cathy Chatfield-Taylor

Launched in December 2003, Power Design 365 (www.powerdesign365.com) is an online trade show with no physical counterpart. And it’s already profitable. Penton has packed the site with enough free content to attract 18,000 unique visitors a month, generating a steady source of 500 to 1,000 new leads for exhibitors, who pay from $1,250 per month to $11,000 per month to be in this space.

Power Design 365’s four exhibit halls house dozens of displays where electronics engineers can pick up spec sheets, white papers and presentations on the latest products and services. But only a few exhibitors have paid to be there 24/7, 365 days a year.

“We have about seven or eight paid exhibitors on Power Design, plus directory listings,” says Erick Shanfelt, Vice President, eMedia Strategy for Cleveland-based Penton Media Inc. “Those paid sponsors receive the benefits of their contract. The other listed companies don’t get the leads.”

Content derives from Penton Electronics Group publications, most notably Electronic Design, which has 144,000 readers and 72,000 subscribers to its e-mail newsletter. The searchable Learning Center includes more than 400 article reprints, original Webcasts by the editors, vendor white papers and industry news releases. Visitors register once to get free access to these resources, as well as the online exhibition hall.

By registering, visitors give Penton permission to pass along their contact information to paid exhibitors in up to five areas of interest. Exclusive hall sponsors pay $90,000 to get the registration information for every visitor to the hall. One show-wide sponsor pays $132,000 for access to all registrants. Branding on the Web and print marketing materials is included in these packages.

Exhibits are built from micro site templates that give companies the flexibility to update their information as often as they want. A monthly call from Penton’s client services team reminds them of the opportunity.

“We don’t want to replicate advertisers Web sites. Our goal is to get enough information in there to create a robust experience for the user,” Shanfelt says. “Sponsors have learned that the more active they are in keeping their presence up to date, the better suited they are to solicit inquiries.”

Penton takes a three-pronged approach to traffic building for the site. First is advertising in six Penton publications and their affiliated Web sites and e-mail newsletters. Announcing live Webcasts on hot topics is a key driver. Visitors must register to view a Webcast.

Search engine marketing is perhaps the most significant source of traffic. Penton estimates that there are more than 275,000 searches each month on keywords related to power design. Pay-per-click advertising on Google.com and Overture.com returns a Power Design 365 ad with search results on keywords that Penton has purchased.

Finally, search engine optimization raises the ranking of the Power Design 365 site in natural search results, so that it comes up near the top of the list. Deep, keyword-rich content that is constantly updated makes the site especially attractive to search engine spiders.

Power Design 365 is powered by WebEvents Europe Ltd., which pioneered the online exhibition model in Europe. Penton pays an annual software licensing fee and shares 30–50 percent of exhibit sales revenue in exchange for building and marketing the site.

Despite its initial success, Shanfelt sees Power Design 365 becoming less of an online trade show and more of a vertical community like its newer sister site, Embedded 365 (www.embedded365.com).

“We let the trade show look and feel go and have more of the portal look,” Shanfelt says. “I believe a year from now the Power Design 365 will be significantly different from what you see now. We will morph it to help readers get their jobs done.”