steve outing's blog

I've been pretty open about what's going on with YourClimbing.com and our efforts to keep it going. (I think it will, one way or another -- though I can't make any guarantees.) We could really use your help.

As I mentioned in an earlier note, the Enthusiast Group, publisher of the site, is going out of business soon. We want to hand over YourClimbing.com to another company that can not only keep it alive, but grow it.

The site is fantastic (in my humble opinion); the community is fantastic; the passion that everyone shares through their photos, videos and blog posts is fantastic.

read the rest

Hey, everyone. As you probably noticed, we (Enthusiast Group) have announced that we're shutting down at the end of this month. But we are trying to keep this website going. If you care about YourClimbing.com, here's how you could help:

1. Buy a t-shirt (really cheap) so I can get the boxes out of my office!

2. Send a note to the publisher or editor or your favorite climbing magazine, telling them that this website is cool and they should buy it in order to keep serving the community -- and because you like having a place to share your voice. (Have them contact me at steve@enthusiastgroup.com.) ... Yes, I've made contact with them; hearing your voices might spur them to action.

Thanks! Let's keep YourClimbing.com going. For that, I could use your help. Thank you.

Steve
Founder and publisher
YourClimbing.com / Enthusiast Group LLC

Hey, gang. I have the sad news to report that the Enthusiast Group, parent company of YourClimbing.com, is closing its doors at the end of November. (Don't panic! We're expecting to keep the site going -- probably with new owners.)

Among my tasks is getting a couple boxes of (very cool) YourClimbing.com t-shirts out of my office. ... Please help!

I've bumped the price down to a bargain-basement $6, plus shipping. (They originally sold for $20.)

There aren't that many left, so order now if you want your size.

ORDER HERE

(I'll keep you posted about the future of the site. Think good thoughts for us!)

Steve
Publisher and founder
YourClimbing.com / Enthusiast Group LLC

Dear YourClimbing.com members:

YourClimbing.com has fallen on some hard times. No, we don't expect to close the site down. But we could use your help, creativity, and possibly referrals to get us through.

Here's the deal: YourClimbing.com has become a thriving and active online community for climbing enthusiasts. Around 5,000 people have registered to be members of the site, and it gets around 100,000 pageviews a month in traffic. While those are respectable numbers, they do not (yet) make a sustainable business.

We know that lots of you really like the site and would hate to see it go dark, and lose your connections to the people who make up this great community. So we're asking for your help.

1. We believe that the best way forward for YourClimbing.com to continue and thrive is for it to be acquired by an appropriate media or brand company, which can bring in new members and build it up to the point of being a sustainable business.
Many of you probably have contacts in the climbing and outdoors industries. Can you recommend any companies that would consider YourClimbing.com to be a good fit? Do you know the CEO and can introduce us?

Maybe one of you is a prospective buyer?!

2. Perhaps there's a way forward that we haven't thought of. The impetus for YourClimbing.com has always been the power of all the people assembled online here, who share of themselves. Do you have ideas for us to keep YourClimbing.com going? What creative solutions should we be thinking about?

3. Tell your climbing friends about the site. Support our advertisers. A grassroots push from all of you could grow site traffic enough to turn the site into a viable business.

4. We've created a webpage with info about the sale of YourClimbing.com. Feel free to forward it to individuals that you think might be interested:
http://www.enthusiastgroup.com/yourclimbing_com_is_for_sale

Thanks for your ideas, and referrals if you've got 'em.

Steve Outing
Publisher and founder
Enthusiast Group LLC / YourClimbing.com
steve@enthusiastgroup.com
303-543-7810

read the rest

Ever wonder who makes the decisions about which photos get featured on the homepage of YourClimbing.com? Which ones get picked as "Post of the Week"? And what criteria we use?

read the rest

Hey, everyone. The YourClimbing tech gnomes have been hard at work making the site better.

In recent days they rolled out ... MAPS ATTACHED TO STUFF!

You may have noticed these already on some photos, videos or blogs. When someone posts content to YourClimbing.com, they're now given the option of identifying on a map where the content belongs physically.

read the rest

Katie's star seems to be rising even outside the climbing world. She's in the business section! ... That is, Katie Brown's Rock Talk blog here on YourClimbing.com got a mention this week in the Wall Street Journal, in Keith Huang's Blog Watch column.

I'd point you to the article but it's behind a "subscription wall" at WSJ.com. So I'll excerpt Keith's item here:

Professional climber Katie Brown, 26, has been scaling rock faces since she was a teenager, making an early name for herself by winning titles in the U.S. and in Europe. She says her blog helps readers "get an idea of who I am as a person, rather than just an image."

Your vote:

Current rating:

1

2

3

4

5

read the rest

comments (1) | email | report

Hey, everyone, have you noticed our new program for getting YourClimbing members in to climbing events and competitions for free in exchange for covering the event?

There's an event this coming Saturday in Wisconsin that's offering up several free entries to anyone who wants to be a correspondent and post some pics and blog items about it here on YourClimbing.com.

The event is the Chimney Rock Park Climbing Challenge, and it's near Friendship. Looks from the map like it's not too far away for climbers in Minneapolis, Milwaukee and Chicago.

Time's running out on this one, so if you want to go to this event for free this Saturday, fill out the application form.

read the rest

Hey, everyone. Quick question for you: Do you Twitter?

If that made no sense, Twitter is an amazingly cool website or a complete and utter waste of time -- depending on your point of view. The idea is that if you "Twitter," you use the site to post really short announcements on the web of what you're doing.

You can Twitter from your computer, or from your cell phone. For example, you just spotted Dean Potter climbing a public sculpture and getting arrested, so you post a sentence to Twitter saying that you witnessed that. Some folks Twitter through the day, leaving a public log of their activities.

read the rest

So here's a funny question:

What companies would you like to see sponsor YourClimbing.com, give away prizes, etc.?

I ask because:

1. We need to attract additional sponsors to fund the operation of YourClimbing.com.

2. Since you are a climbing super-enthusiast (why else would you be reading this website?!), you may have connections to climbing-related companies that would value reaching out to the YourClimbing.com community.

The spirit of YourClimbing.com, of course, is that it's your online community. (We at HQ are here to develop and manage the technology -- but otherwise get out of the way and let you have fun on the site.)

read the rest