Once upon a time, I managed what was once touted as the world’s second largest motorsports website. Transitioning from the venture capitalist web boom, which was little more than a web blister generated from astute entrepreneurs rubbing a genie bottle, and into the web blister burst, I quickly realized the benefits of the most bustling facets of a successful website in the offroad industry.

There is the editorial segment, which draws upon the authority of the writers, editors and its adept coverage of the intriguing and engaging elements of the industry. Then, there is the readership, which is an archaic term that has long gone to the wayside, as has most printing presses. They are not merely readers but the community. Among them are many but above all one viral enterprise of content delivery and grass roots marketing mayhem.

And finally, there is the revenue stream. The market was once much different than it is today. Some 10 years back, advertising was a tough and intangible sell to guys who still have yet to acquire computers and still take great pleasure at sitting on the can and flipping through the pages of their favorite dirt bike magazine, only to hand it off to the next in line at the shop commode. Today, the advertising revenue stream is equally as dismal in many respects, especially when you rely upon ad networks for your revenue stream. The return on investment (ROI) for your web real estate efforts are quite dismal and virtually worthless, from my perspective.

Therefore, out of necessity, I developed a business initiative to overcome the void outlined by numbers crunchers and rogue spenders of the corporate loot. The strategy was quite simple. Merge the two greatest assets to the existing website into an emerging revenue stream, which I then referred to as editorial e-commerce. It works.

Pursuing alternative revenues streams for a client and enthralled by emerging market trends, I navigated ad network opportunities and how they might be adapted to meet project circumstance.  In doing so, I landed upon the following websites and thought it wise to share. A brief overview and real life application of the elements reveals that perhaps industry-based ad networks ought to be considered. For one, I realize that at least a few website publishers in the powersports and off-road industries are jaded by all the tree hugging-laden advertising that are filling the void between actual paid advertising. Several friends of mine in the skateboard and action sports industries have earnestly discussed the viability of such an endeavor. Myself and a former employer have long discussed such and endeavor for the off-road and powersports industries.

The business model is conceptualized as is the marketing initiative but the necessary start-up capitol is yet to become available until certain individuals are released from their contractual limitations.

Is it possible that some large corporate enterprise take reigns on such a concept and deliver their best effort? Absolutely. But as these corporate enterprises consider such quests, they ought consider the failure of all those who have attempted to apply cookie cutter methodology to a bastard child of an industry, specifically speaking of the off-road industry. Two relatively decent examples of failures are The Enthusiasts Network web and print initiatives (Truck World magazines / Truck World websites which now go by the name of Enthusiasts Online Network) that delved deeply into the dirt as well as the Advanstar web and print efforts (Off-Road.com / Dirt Sports). So yes, they may very well scoop such concepts and deploy them but with their limited knowledge of the industry and extraordinary resources, they will be in over their head before they realize their tactics just won’t work. And like all cookie-cutter deployments these industries have seen, they are likely to only further disenchant and further jade an extremely jaded industry of investors involved in a relatively somber slump.

Amid the many reasons why the average corporate marketing clown would miss the mark on any such off-road endeavor is quite simple. They know not the dynamics of a rogue industry made up primarily of rugged individualists. They have little fortitude for conceptualizing the crux of this lifestyle industry. The more basic principles the industry holds dear are scoffed at with sneers and simply seen as unimportant attributes serving as road blocks to their return on investment (ROI). For a latte sipping snake oil salesmen of marketing, they simply fail to realize that road blocks, whoops, mud, rocks, raging torrents of mud aren't merely obstacles but the trail we prefer to trod. For us such, it is merely Modus operandi for our way of life and its industry.

Here's a simple example of a pitfall that has had its way with imported marketing mavens.

When it comes to advertising, one of the greatest concerns is to keep environmental idiots from infecting our ranks. Therefore, a hard core 4X4 or rock crawling website with public service announcements, which touts fraudulent environmentalist marketing campaigns, is simply a slap in the face of its following. There is nothing more that destroys the credibility and integrity of hard core individualist websites such as Pirate 4X4 than to publish eco-freak ad campaigns. Web publishers such as Pirate 4X4's Lance Clifford know this well and maintain a wealthy clan of loyalists amid his forum's ranks because of a solid understanding of such principles. It's not hard when the individuals who make up the ranks of this ragtag mass actually live the lifestyle.