Some things about Michael Cascone are not what you might expect from a guy in a corner office.
He studied English and comparative theology before launching a career in business.
As the tech boom became a bust, he kept looking for work with Internet companies.
He has a huge stash of KISS memorabilia he started collecting during childhood.
But maybe Cascone's range is appropriate for a chief operating officer at a company whose mission is explaining everything from how to install a toilet to the right way to treat a snake bite. (Don't try to suck out the venom.)
HowStuffWorks.com was started in 1998 by a professor in North Carolina. Today, its chief executive officer is Jeff Arnold, the Atlanta entrepreneur who created WebMD. It is owned by the media company behind the Discovery Channel, which bought the Web site in 2007 for $250 million. Last year, HowStuffWorks made its television debut with a 13-episode series.
Cascone started with HowStuffWorks in 2006. His job is to ensure the Web site —- which drew 17.5 million unique visitors in May —- offers the quality and quantity of content that stays ahead of competitors such as About.com, eHow.com and Wikipedia, the nonprofit site that competes for eyeballs, though not for advertiser dollars.
Q: You often peg your content to the news. How do you keep your niche and avoid looking like a news site?
A: It is a fine line. . . . We may use headlines or tags to pique the interest related to news but then dive users right into our content, effectively, what is behind the news. How do foreclosures work? What is a recession? What is inflation?
Q: What are people searching for today?
A: With the whole shift in the market —- the correction or the great pinch we are in —- there are a lot of people just seeking knowledge about it.
Q: How does this play into your business model?
A: Where it begins to get really interesting is when people are asking questions that aren't in the news but are on their minds. Getting a business loan. How does revolving credit work? ... We can create editorial packages around that. . . . And we can go to advertisers and say, "Here is the demand we are seeing in the marketplace. This is on the mind of consumers, and you ought to be there because we are naturally aggregating these audiences."
Q: How do you determine what content to provide?
A: We try to write about things that people aren't talking about yet and be there when the demand hits. . . . I would say that the mix, because we have to sell that content, is roughly one-third cutting-edge. The other two-thirds is for known demand and to satisfy our advertisers. . . . We take down a big advertising deal for a few months to a year and then write against that.
Q: How is your business doing?
A: Advertising on the display side, with big, premium advertisers, is actually up year-over-year and doing well. . . . With Google AdSense (advertisements administered by Google that generate revenue for Web sites based on clicks), advertising is down somewhat. That's happening to everyone in the market. . . . But net-net, we are growing revenues year-over-year.
Q: How are you selling ads when so many others are having trouble doing that?
A: We are editorially vetted, high-quality content that is now in partnership with Discovery Channel, and it's a great story. . . . That's the kind of content that advertisers want to be next to in times like this because they know they can trust it, they understand it, and it makes sense to them.
Q: Is the search feature of your Web site attractive to advertisers?
A: Those people searching on our site are super-targeted and are looking for very specific information often related to their [advertisers'] products.
Q: So, why did you study English and theology if you knew you wanted to dive into finance?
A: I'm a big believer in a liberal-arts education and having a wide perspective. That's probably from my father. . . . He kept saying, "Just study the liberal arts. Everything else will take care of itself."
Q: Wow, that's some father to have!
A: I said to him, "Are you sure, Dad? I know [William] Faulkner, but I don't have a job." . . . In my last year of college, my father finally said, "It's time. What are you going to do next?"
Business
Meet Michael Cascone
Age: 35
Hometown: Atlanta
College: Georgetown, Emory (MBA)
Current residence: Atlanta's Morningside neighborhood
Family: Wife, Susanne; daughter, Isabelle, 4; and son, Jude, 2
Hobbies: Inshore fishing, classic cars, and playing guitar
What he's reading: "Hot, Flat, and Crowded" by Thomas Friedman and "How the Irish Saved Civilization" by Thomas Cahill
Favorite travel destination: Le Marche region of Italy
Favorite movie, recently watched: "Fog of War"
Favorite movie of all-time: Any movie with Anthony Michael Hall as a teenager
Favorite thing about Atlanta: Quality of life living intown
About the Author
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
