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Company: The Crack
Project: The Crack

http://www.thecrackmagazine.com

Dates: Apr 2007 to Jan 2009

How did the project start?

The Crack online was an exciting and cost effective way to get our content to a wider audience. The potential to increase our readership and to provide thousands of Internet savvy readers a quick, free and accessible way to find out about cultural events and entertainment in the region was the impetuous that kick-started this project.

What options did you consider?

The main consideration for this project was to get The Crack content online - providing a comprehensive searchable culture and entertainment guide to the region. This comprised of an extensive events database, searchable by geographical, event type, or keyword. Whilst also providing in-depth and informative editorial of key events and happenings in the region. The site also provides the opportunity to have our yearly City Guide book available online 365 days of the year. Crackslist is the sites community forum which enables our readers to network, collaborate and advertise for free.

What help and expertise did you receive?

Sumo and SIS systems built the back end, UI and design.

Did you face any challenges or learn any lessons?

One of the biggest hurdles for the development of this project was converting our existing hand coded postage SQL database into a more compliant MySQL database. As the migration was in progress we realised that this was huge task and in hindsight may have been easier to re enter data in terms of time and cost.

What are the outcomes and how has it improved your business?

The site has doubled its traffic figures since its launch in March resulting in a huge increase in Crack readership and visibility. We are now in weekly contact with our readers with the launch of our continually growing eletter "Little Crack" providing a weekly digest of events coming to the region.
Our many cultural tentacles have their suckers juicing the goodness out of what’s happening in the arts, which we then squirt back at our readers in a manner, which we see fit. This includes what is happening in Music (from rock and pop to jazz, classical and all manner of local bands); Art (from blockbuster shows to maverick happenings); Stage (including dance, comedy, theatre etc); and Clubbing (underground, overground, whatever). We also have a take on the Gay scene in the region; like to stick our oar into fashionable pursuits; have plenty to say about the best festivals around; tip you the wink regarding Restaurants and Bars; and offer a heads-up when it comes to the sweetest (and sourest) Books, Albums, Singles and Films Oh, and we still manage to find the time to offer up strident independent opinions on what’s been getting our goat and also flag up anything – anything at all – that we think our loyal community of readers may be interested in.
The Cracks role as cultural informer has widened with its online presence, providing an arena for our readers to submit listings online and also as a forum for our readers to network, collaborate and advertise.

What are your plans for the future?

Develop user generated content (reader reviews/recommends), implement a ticketing system, improve search facility, develop more content for podcasting section.