For the past year teen site gURL has been successfully driving traffic and raising brand awareness by doing a series of Yahoo! chats. Laurel Wells, gURL’s Director of Marketing told us other women’s sites should approach Yahoo, “they’re great to work with. They’re not just interested in numbers -- they’re interested in diversity which is a breath of fresh air in this market.” gURL’s chat costs are low, just the salary of a full time chat producer who books guests and manages events. Yahoo (which owns all content generated by the chat) takes care of all hosting and any legal issues. Chats raise gURL’s profile, traffic and profits in two main ways:

- Yahoo gives gURL a percent of all revenues made against their chat content, plus rotating banners and other links on their teen events network. Many teens learn about gURL for the first time via Yahoo!

- Celebrities often save a unique news tidbit or perspective to share at chats. When major press (such as MTV news) pick these items up, they give gURL great publicity.

Aside from celebrity chats, the most popular subjects so far have been health related -- body issues, teen sexuality, female anatomy, etc. Chat events last for an hour, during which the average participant stays on for 22 minutes (this is an unusually long time.)