Hello

After a conversation with erik (http://forums.asp.net/737110/ShowPost.aspx) it got us thinking about the best way of announcing new modules and the most effective means of targetting the correct people who would be interested in them.

It would be nice to have a central area (with an RSS feed!) where users could submit their news items in a couple of pre-defined, relevant categories - perhaps "Module Update", "New Module", "New Skin" etc. This would reduce the number of posts in the Forums here (and start driving traffic to DNN which in turn builds the brand I believe!) and only those people who were interested in the particualy category would need see it.

This should be a moderated news list, in order to ensure it is not abused so that meaningful information does not slip down the page over the course of a few hours (as tends to happen in the Forums). The Custom Modules forum here does not fit the need as there are loads of custom module dev questions, beta announcements, bug raising requests and other such posts. How many people ever page back more than 1 or 2 pages on the Forums anyway?

A user/developer/noob or whoever could quickly and easily browse the latest custom module releases in the last week - at the moment the forums are the only real way of announcing a new module. I know you can post an item for submission to the Custom Modules page on DNN, but this is not the same as the Latest Modules or updates. Any comments? I realise this would require some effort from a moderator, but I believe the gains outweigh the cost in this case.

Like i said in the thread Rodney means, what would work for me is at least an rss feed on the current non-core module repository on DotNetNuke.com. And indeed, maybe there should also a non-core skins repository at DotNetNuke.com ....

Of course, a moderated news item would also be great. Maybe this could just be a forum in the dnn forum section ....

cheers,

erik

Sorry erik - didn't mean to incriminate you ;)

Any comments from the DNN webmaster on this suggestion? At the very least it would be nice to have the RSS feed...

For what it is worth, we are going to start an announcment services on www.dnngurus.com for DotNetNuke professionals, module developers, skin developers, etc.  We will be moderating it.

Thanks!

Noel Jerke wrote:

For what it is worth, we are going to start an announcment services on www.dnngurus.com for DotNetNuke professionals, module developers, skin developers, etc.  We will be moderating it. Thanks!

Hey Noel.  That's a great idea, but these things have been tried before *outside* of the dotnetnuke.com area.  It's hard to maintain it, and how you gonna make money?  At some point every single site that has done this in the last year (except one I think though I can't find the darn thing anymore which is a whole 'nother problem. ;-), has lost interest, or people forget the danged URL.

My vote would be for a portal at dotnetnuke, where all registered users could add their modules...hopefully using the Subscriber Model, so us users don't spend weeks tracking down what's gonna be upgraded and what isn't, and how much it's gonna cost, and if they've set it up right on sc, and if I can figure out which thing I'm supposed to download, and....well you get the idea. ;-))

Hi Rodney... this is definitely a good idea.  There are a number of ideas for revised content and administration that we are discussing in various degrees.  This will be one of many topics at our Board of Diretors meeting at TechEd... ping back on this topic in about 10 days.  OK?

Now thats a result ;)
Thanks Scott - will keep an eye out for it!

Hi - Well I understand your concern.  I can certainly appreciate the frustration with a site here or there that promotes it self as a clearing house of info and then dissappears. 

First, let me start with a little background on my self.  I have been working in the Internet arena since the mid-90s.  I have been a part of three successful (e.g. they weren't dot bombs - LOL) start ups in that time and written over 10 books on Internet technology.  Many times through out that period I felt that there was something missing in the marketplace of building web sites, portals, intranet, extranets, etc.  There wasn't a unifying platform for small to medium size organizations to harness the power of the Internet cost effectively.  There were/are a lot of one company type solutions that aren't open and are usually expensive.  Low and behold a year or so ago I ran across DotNetNuke and got intrigued and started to follow it.  Along about DotNetNuke version 2.0, I got on the bandwagon.  Now my company is routinely building sites on DotNetNuke, building some modules and yes we decided to launch DNNGurus.com.

So - why DNNGurus.com?  My belief is that it will be very important for the success of DotNetNuke that the third party market become mature and reliable.  Just ask Microsoft and I am sure they would agree :>)  In fact, I just read some posts about how people are getting burned buying modules that have no source and are no longer supported.  A key part to developing the third part DotNetNuke market is that several reliable and stable clearing houses of information about the market develop.  For example, today Snowcovered.com and DotNetNuke.com and perhaps a few other sites fill that role. 

For the long haul our goal at DNNGurus.com is to build a site that will become a reliable resource about the third party market.  We will seek to provide solid reliable information about third party vendors.  I feel this is something that only a seperate entifity from a retailer (Snowcovered.com) and the big daddy (DotNetNuke.com) can do.  As part of this endeavour, we also want to provide a vehicle for serious DotNetNuke skin developers, module developers and third parties to be able to promote their services.

Now with regards to how we will make money.  If we are going to build a business on DotNetNuke, it does have to make some money in the process to at least keep the doors open.  Basically our strategy is pretty simple (and you can read it on the site).  We are going to charge for banner ads, we make referral sales off of snowcovered, and we have featured listings.  The good part is that anyone can get listed with all their products for free.  We also have a few ideas for in the future.  One example, with the permission of the powers that be in the DotNetNuke community, is to have an attractive set of DotNetNuke logo products with a % of each sale going directly back to the DotNetNuke core team.  In fact, we intend to donate regularly to the core team from our revenues.  We are out to make a ton of money on the site, we want to see the community of third parties grow and be successful.

Finally, why would some one want to list with us?  We are going to be promoting the site aggressively.  If you go to Google and search on DotNetNuke there is a good chance you will see our ad show up.  We are also going to be advertising on DotNetNuke.com.  So, in short more exposure for the developers products.  Also note that we provide a forum for non-module and non-skin developers to get listed as well.  Take a look at the quote on the top of the site.  I know folks are already getting leads. 

Our long term goal for people/companies listed on the site is to give them a sophisticated promotional panel that will give them options for linking to the products on snowcovered, selling directly via PayPal, linking to a purchase screen on their site, supporting subscription services, managing ads and feature listings, etc. 

We are also going to be adding services for gurus to show off cool sites built using their products (site showcase).  We also want to add in an annoucement service. We are also completely open to additional ideas and feedback.

That is enough of my rambling.  We are very commited to building this site and making it successful.  Our traffic continues to climb daily.  We have had very good response from Gurus getting listed.  And, frankly we are darn excited about it! 

We are pumped about the future of DotNetNuke!  We are thankful to the core team for all their hard work!

Thanks for reading!