In new-media culture, relaunching a Web site is standard practice, a quick way to breathe life into a familiar destination. For The Mining Co., which is celebrating its first anniversary this month, a new version unveiled this week marks the site's latest attempt to become a leading, full-service Net guide.
The Mining Co. created a buzz last April when it was launched, offering a human spin on the ordinary search engine. Rather than relying on an automated database, the site recruited 185 webheads and turned them into "guides" responsible for maintaining their own special-interest areas from dating advice to geography. After graduating from a special online training program, guides worked at least 10 hours per week to receive a small monthly stipend, plus 40 percent of ad revenues.
Today, Mining Co. founder Scott Kurnit says the company employs 600 guides who manage more than 11,000 subject areas. Therein lies the challenge; it's one thing to generate such a vast amount of content and another to create an interface that allows surfers to find it. The new, streamlined site reflects Kurnit's mission to create a more dynamic and easily navigated environment. For example, weekly features that had been buried within the back pages are now linked directly from the front page.
But behind the facelift is a more ambitious plan: "We are moving towards syndication deals with every significant content site," Kurnit says.
One of the first deals is with NBC's Interactive Neighborhood, home to the network's affiliate Web sites. The sites would include Mining Co. sections designed to blend with the design and interface of the host.
Of course, Kurnit's master plan is contingent upon the quality of his guides. Since it launched last year, the company has received more than 3,000 applications, but only 25 percent make the final cut. To get hired, guides must update content according to specific templates, as well as pass a 12-week "post-graduate" program of editorial supervision.
Though Kurnit says that some guides make "several thousand dollars per month," few seem to be quitting their day jobs. Paula Eisenberg has been a guide for the skiing section since the company began. She still spends about 10 hours per week working on her pages, but has given up on any plans to do it full-time. "I never expected to get rich," she says, "and that certainly doesn't look like it will be happening any time soon."
The Mining Co. has relied instead upon its guides' passion to find an audience, not a paycheck. Boise Matthews, a new guide who manages the New Mexico section, puts in up to 80 hours per week. "Even if I didn't get paid full-time, I'd still do this," she says, "I love New Mexico and any chance I have to tell other people about it."
According to RelevantKnowledge, a Web measurement service, people are listening. A recent report by the service listed the Mining Co. among the top 50 Web properties for March, with 2.2 million unique visitors.
Though counting such visitors is a slippery science, the Mining Co. aims to crack the top 20 mark by year-end. To do this, they're making the popular leap from content site to community, with an emphasis on bulletin boards and chat. Chat is already the second most popular destination on the site, Kurnit notes.
Rounding out the most visited sites in the Mining Co. stable are video game strategies, men's erotica, and Christian teens. "I'm always surprised by the diversity," Kurnit says.
