As evidenced by my infrequent blog updates the past couple of months, it's been obvious that I've been extremely busy with work of late. Last week we officially launched the Targeted Advertising Consortium (TAC), a partnership between CADwire.net and five other CAD industry sites, to co-promote and market our network of sites to both users and advertisers. We expect it to be a win-win situation for all involved.
You can now see common ads being displayed on several member sites already, along with a partner bar at the top of the sites to make it easier for each site's audience to get to the other consortium sites. Although we're still getting up-to-speed, we're already seeing positive results among members.
The other founding consortium members are...
- AECnews.com
An architectural technology publication edited by my colleague Randall Newton. - 3DCADTips
An online index of 3D MCAD tips and tutorials run by Don LaCourse. - MCAD Central
An MCAD user community site started by Jason Turk. - Click4Links
An online directory of CAD resources founded by Neeraj Billa. - Engineering Process Journal
An engineering and design technologies publication written by John Krouse.
I couldn't be happier to be aligned with such a great group of people.
If you visit the TAC website, it's obvious we still have lots of loose ends yet to take care of, but I'm proud of the job we've done behind the scenes getting the heavy-lifting behind us. The technical preparations to support this venture were challenging to say the least, but bringing Mike aboard has been a huge help. It's hard to believe that it's been a short 11 months since we decided to pursue this venture, and just over a year since I began really considering the concept. Although the time has flown by, when I really look at all that's transpired since then, both personally and professionally, it seems like a lifetime ago.
With COFES 2005 nearly here, I can see relief in sight. Finally I'll be able to turn my attention to the countless other responsibilities that have been backing up in my life.