Turk along with Katie Harbath briefed us on the new and improved GOP website and other online activities set to launch in a few weeks.



Some of the new online features will include:

- Combining GOP.com and GOPTeamLeader.com into one website

- Increased focus on online advertising through niche marketing

- Online voter registration drives connected to offline efforts

- More opportunities for candidates to interact with supporters



Realizing that many supporters do most of their work for the RNC on the ground, they hope to empower every offline activity with accompanying online resources.



Turk is a veteran in the online world, and previously served as eCampaign Director for the Bush-Cheney’04 campaign. 



Since Ken Mehlman took the post of Chairman of the RNC, online activities have gone from being a piece of campaigns to the very infrastructure of all operations. So much so, that Mehlman made the decision to elevate eCampaigns to a senior staff position



Turk like Mehlman, believes that there is nobody better to spread the agenda for the party and the President than the individual activists. The goal the new website will be to keep supporters engaged and give them all the information they need to be effective.



Voter registration is a big part of this coming campaign season for the RNC, and will be a test on the effectiveness of the new online activities.



One of the ways the RNC will try to register new voters is through online advertising. Turk admits it’s a challenge to breakthrough to people who are exposed from anywhere to 3,000-5,000 messages a day stating, “People don’t go for generic messages anymore.” He believes the best way to reach new supporters is through online niche marketing. Turk recalled how niche marketing worked well during the ’04 campaign season when the Bush campaign targeted moms online with ad by the First Lady Barbara Bush. Not to mention that last year Yahoo and Google combined had more ad revenues than the three networks



Turk is also working to unite Republican communities online. He doesn’t believe that Meetup is an effective model for people who don’t spend that much time online, and said the RNC will try other methods.



Turk also had some thoughts on why Democrats seem to be better at building communities online. Many Progressives view blogs and other online communities as the place where they can go to talk about issue. This is their chosen avenue where they can interact. However, Republicans have had talk radio for years and continue to use this as their focal point because its still effective. Conservatives use talk radio to engage in the debate, democrats use comments on blogs.



Turk also emphasized that Republicans can build effective online communities, but the communities tend to be smaller and more spread out, which why he’s so excited about the website features at GOP.com -- because it will allow for the first time, the ability for these small communities to connect.



Thank you Michael Turk for the time spent with PoliticsOnline.

Visit GOP.com: http://www.gop.com/