Marketing & SEO Discussion List - LED Digest

The Dawn of the I-Sales Era 

Closely following the formation of I-Sales was Adam Boettiger's I-Advertising list. Boettiger, who had worked with John in the early days of MMG, possessed a quick mind and the ability to perceive marketing solutions that worked, even when the industry was still in its infancy. Boettiger's list was an attempt to gather colleagues in a moderated forum who were interested in the online advertising space. I-Advertising, more than any of these historical lists, was the special refuge for many agency representatives from Silicon Valley and other influential centers of ecommerce. Boettiger, a consultant in Portland, Oregon, reminisces about the history of I-Sales and I-Advertising:

"I remember getting into online marketing around 1992 through AOL and CompuServe, and I remember meeting and working for John in 1996. In fact we met through the I-Sales list before I came down to work for him from Washington state. By and large, MMG was responsible for my moving to Oregon... he and I shared the same fondness for online communities and moderating in general. I think Glenn, John and I all played off of each other at times. I can recall modeling some of what I did off of I-Marketing and I-Sales. I used to adopt what worked and abandon what did not. Still do and it works well."

I-Advertising prospered and grew, and from its start in 1996 as a small collection of colleagues the list managed to reach over 13,000 well-qualified subscribers by 2001. However, in tandem with its rising popularity was the closure of much of the advertising industry depending on I-Advertising, and the dotcom bust took its toll on the list. Eventually subscribers fell off as corporations were closed and domains expired. Relic email accounts left behind by layed-off employees littered lists across the Web. Business was still being done online, but it was the exception rather than the rule, and those few who succeeded during the hardships of the Internet collapse were leveraging powerful connections or working twice as hard. The I-Advertising list would see its final days by 2003.

I-Sales and I-Advertising (as well as several other prominent lists, including the LED) were being published alongside one another for several years. While many subscribers were members of both lists, topics rarely directly overlapped and each list had its own specific character. Boettiger's email forum was geared more to the advertising industry, while I-Sales catered more to marketing theory and small business. John's secret was the marketing intention behind the I-Sales list. While its method as an email discussion list was important in its own right, a deeper purpose was in building a business platform on which John could leverage his marketing agency, MMG. John knew that the 'Net was about relationships and connections, and so while I-Sales was an efficient promotional tool, it also fulfilled a more important purpose: as a networking tool. Colleagues from around the world could gather at I-Sales and make connections and business dealings, opportunities John was well aware of himself.

One of the most successful I-Sales subscribers was the founder of AudioNet, Mark Cuban, who went on to sell his company (as Broadcast.com) to Yahoo! for $5.7 billion. Other heavyweights subscribed to I-Sales as well, and discussions would at times transition from the brass tacks of ecommerce to more theoretical concerns. If the discussions on I-Sales were at times lofty, it was indicative of its founder's philosophical leanings. However, that perspective, while performing a crucial communication channel for active participants, also opened the door for other lists wishing to address more practical topics.

An important early subscriber to I-Sales was Tony Hsieh, cofounder of the celebrated LinkExchange banner network, and client of John's marketing agency, MMG. Tony was impressed by the quantity of knowledge shared by the I-Sales community and the convenient and efficient format of moderated discussion lists, where one's time is rarely squandered reading poor or off-topic posts. Already enjoying great success with LinkExchange, Tony entered discussions with John to offer his banner network a similar resource, but directed towards more pragmatic concerns than I-Sales. As Tony wrote in the first issue of the LinkExchange Digest (or LED), published in January of 1997:

"Our hope is that this list will become a valuable resource for everyone. I've personally been subscribed to a number of other mailing lists, and it's amazing how much you can learn from other people that are interested in the same things you're interested in.
"One of my favorite mailing lists is the I-Sales mailing list, moderated by John Audette... which is why we've invited John to moderate the LinkExchange Digest."

The LinkExchange network turned out to be wildly successful. It was always highly regarded for its customer service and amiability; offering an email list enabled Tony to further coalesce a feeling of community among LinkExchange users. Soon after its inception the list had over 100,000 subscribers.

John was now in charge of two email discussion lists, each one published Monday through Friday. The time commitments in this scenario must have been staggering, and John spent many late nights putting together issues of I-Sales and LinkExchange Digest for his faithful communities. However, building a company and running two active discussion lists was too much, and John needed relief. I entered the picture to act as the LED moderator in the summer of 1998, after much tutelage from my father. Having been a subscriber to both I-Sales and the LinkExchange Digest, I felt confident I knew the ropes. If I only knew what I was getting myself into...

Next: The Rise of the LED Digest