GORDON editor-in-chief Batsman: Articles eulogizing Putin and his regime are an extremely profitable business in the West
By Inga Lebedeva, Journalist
It was exactly a year ago, on November 22, that the public and political edition GORDON appeared on the Internet. The founder of the project was the famous Ukrainian journalist, writer and TV presenter Dmitry Gordon, who has headed Gordon’s Boulevard weekly for almost 20 years.
The first material of the new e-edition was an online report from Euromaidan that had just started then. GORDON ranked among ten most popular and frequently visited Ukrainian electronic resources for one year of existence in the media market. According to the founders of the project, no money was spent on advertizing or on additional promotion of the site – hitting the top-10 of Ukrainian mass media was possible thanks to the readers' interest.
The most difficult thing was to gather a team of professionals who would provide high-quality information product without any breaks
– The Internet edition turned one year, I congratulate you and your team. What results can you sum up?
– GORDON has occupied leading positions among Ukrainian political e-resources for one year. We are among ten most popular Ukrainian mass media according to Hamburg assessments. Every day 200 to 300 thousand users read us: unlike other resources, we do not hide our counters intentionally so that any person can check my words. Our readers come from 163 countries apart from Ukraine. Our exclusive reports are constantly republished by a number of other editions. It is especially pleasant when they do not forget to cite the source when doing so.
– What was the most difficult thing when creating a new e-edition?
– To gather a team of professionals who would provide high-quality information product without any breaks.
– I expected you would say to outperform other e-resources...
– When we were only developing the concept of the site, I shared ideas with my colleagues. Many of them assured me that all niches in the Ukrainian media space are occupied, and enormous financial injections will be necessary for promotion of a new resource and brining it among the leaders of the market. But the reality proved that everything is possible if there is a purpose, desire, professionalism and a cool team.
A year later the guys, who convinced me of hopelessness of the idea, admitted that they were wrong. One famous Internet marketing specialist, a top manager of a large media holding told me that, when he delivers lectures on startups, he cites GORDON as a unique example how it is possible to started and break through into top ten with a modest budget.