Using the Net to Preserve Our History


(And Keep People Shooting!)


Terry Martin set out to document some of archery's history on the Internet, and has ended up influencing how bowhunters and target archers share information on the latest models.

The Martin Archery Vice President early on saw the communication potential for the Internet. At his urging, Martin was one of the first two bow companies to have a presence on the World Wide Web. "I remember Dad and my brother Dan saying, 'Well, no one's going to see it. You have to have a computer in order to get on the Internet and access the site.' And I said, 'Yes, people will have computers in their homes. And they will do it'."

In his role as head of marketing and sales for the half-century old firm based in Walla Walla, Washington, Terry began to monitor the text-based messaging groups that focused on archery subjects. It was a great way to see what was on the minds of Martin customers and its many potential customers. But the ability of the Internet to broadcast helpful shooting tips and equipment facts meant it was just as quick to spread rumors and misinformation.

"Some people from our industry were putting on stuff that was all wrong about the origin of the single cam bow," Terry said. "It turned out where they were getting the information was from some college term paper over in England that had been put on the Internet. One of the main guys from Hoyt was adamently supporting some things as fact. I put on the correct information as T. Martin. I was trying to nicely explain that Martin Archery had the original Dynabo, and that we had a year-long exclusive contract to produce it with inventor Len Suber. This Hoyt guy bounced back with an argument. I said, 'Okay, I was there! I did it.' I'd had enough."

Terry figured the only way he'd be able to prove those claims and see that other archery pioneers got the credit due to them was to start a web site devoted to archery's history, where he could show pictures of early bow, accessory and arrow designs. They say "A picture is worth a thousand words." On the Internet a picture could be a million words, if it established and dated truly ground-breaking designs like the twin-pylon Delta-V Bear Archery was building back in 1981.

Martin Archery owns over a hundred early compound bows and has a library of thousands of archery magazines, all of which could be mined for data and photos for the new web site. But Terry was hop[ing to cast a wider net, getting other archery companies to dig into their archives and encouraging bow collectors to share photographs of rare models they owned. So instead of setting up the site as coming from Martin Archery, he dug into his pocket to launch the site known as ArcheryHistory.com.

Terry was already familiar with how the Internet worked and what it took to set up a good looking web site. His long-time hobby of collecting and trading movie memorabilia evolved six years ago to a home-based business, Time Machine (at www.timem.com) that today operates web sites where 70 Hollywood stars, past and present, can sell autographed photos and trading cards. Thanks to Terry Martin and Jim Easton, who shared some material from Easton's archives to help launch the site, ArcheryHistory.com today allos you to access bow photos and ads and tournament records from all the compound bow's relatively short history.

But Terry's interest in the Internet extends beyond using it to settle arguments about who inveted what or whether some "innovation" has already come and gone in the marketplace. Even as he was building the ArcheryHistory.com site, he kept his finger in the other sites where archers could debate equipment issues and share shooting and hunting tips. Terry thought it was great that someone who was struggling with a bow they might have bought from a Mart or garage sale could just post a question about the problem they were having and experience shooters would rush to reply. And eh figured those same answers were benefiting many other archers who were reading the sites but hadn't bothered to register so they could post their own comments.

Archer's Retreat was one of the most popular sites a few years ago, attracting up to 1,800 hits a day. But Terry and George Ryals, who heads up the Martin pro staff and works with Terry on marketing and bow design, became alarmed when the owner of the site announced to users he was going to start charging a fee to access it. Martin Archery was benefiting from having tournament pros like Dee Wilde and Ryals and Dave Cousins answer shooter questions. Pro staff shooters for several other bow companies were also frequent contributors, effectively promoting their brands as theyshared valuable information. As a vice-president of Martin Archery, Terry didn't want to lose the ability he had to "listen in" on the exchanges between archers, by following the threads of their posted copy. He felt that had become a great way to research consumer opinion about archery gear. And from both a personal and business basis, he didn't like to think about the novice archers who might drop out of the sport if they didn't have a handy free source for getting advice on improving their shooting.

"I used to assume everybody knew the basics of how a bow and arrow worked," Terry told ArrowTrade when we visited him this September at his Walla Walla home. "Then I saw a guy who'd come in to shoot on an archery lane. He was shooting his compound off the shelf because he'd taken the stick-on rest that came in the box with it and was using it like a pin sight. Needless to say he wasn't doing very well, and we got him some help. Now I don't assume the people asking questions on the web know anything about archery."

"These web sites were great for Martin Archery," George Ryals confirmed, "because we could participate and provide a type of on-line customer service. Say someone was talking about a quirky little problem with one of our bows. If I suspected they had a broken part, I could intervene and tell them where to get service and what the dealer should check for."

"Or we could sit back and read reviews of Martin Products," George said. "Is mass weight a problem with our models, is the brace height? What's the hot new camo in the marketplace? What's the hot new accessory item? Sometimes I don't know what we did without the Internet. The Archer's Retreat was a good online forum. But once it announced it was going to start charing users, there was backlash. When Terry saw the site floundering, he said, 'This guy's going to kill this thing. Why don't we set up a site? We'll provide a free place for everyone to share information about archery.'"

Again, Terry dipped into his own pocket to fund the project, which was launched as ArcheryTalk.com in July of 2001. Most of the work to set it up was done out of Terry's home. The nerve center is the same computer-packed office where Ken Melhus and Lindsey Stimpfle work on web-based projects that go under the TimeMachine.com banner for veteran actors like Frank Gorshin and Virginia Mayo.

Banner ads are sold on both ArcheryHistory.com and ArcheryTalk.com and many prominent archery manufacturers, that recognize the value of the resource, have placed an ad on the site. Terry set the charge for the ads at $360 annually, much lower than what sites with similar traffic charge. He said all he's looking to cover is the expense of leasing the servers and the bandwidth it takes to operate the sites. "The whole goal of ArcheryTalk.com is archers helping archers, and for everyone regardless of equipment style and brand to have free and unfettered acccess to the site."

Amazingly, for sites that combined get 14 million page views per month, it takes just a few hours per day to operate them. Software automatically deletes bad language, but Terry and George also monitor disagreements between archers to try and maintain some level of civilty. Archers can be passionate about their equipment choices, and when tempers flare, administrators ask respondents to cool it or they will block their access to the site. The nock travel controversy (which ArrowTrade explored in depth in its July issue) was the subject of thousands of postings. Fans of Mathews SoloCam models and Hoyt's new Cam & 1/2 debated the marits of the different systems and whether Mathews Inc. was right to question Hoyt's advertising claims, while pro shooters for both brands sought to influence public opinion.

And bow hunters don't always stick to archery topics. When the Iraq war was being fought, there was so much criticism of the nations that wouldn't back the U.S. coming into ArcheryTalk that administrators set up a separate forum for that topic. The main site draws many users from Eruope, and that way some French or German target shooter who logged on to discuss archery wouldn't see their nations dammed by U.S. or British shooters, unless they chose to view that information.

Unlike a printed publication such as ArrowTrade, where everything is written or edited by the staff, information is posted on ArcheryTalk by the users. That's one reason why interesting sites can quickly gro to include a huge amount of information. George showed me a survey someone had posted a few days before to chart satisfaction with the after-the-purchase customer service offered by different bow companies. The Martin brand happened to be doing well in that survey, but no one at the Martin offices had set it up or could influence it. Each registered user of ArcheryTalk could vote a single time, and the survey page kept track of the results and would be there to provide them to anyone who cared to view it.

Terry showed me a second reader poll, from a hunter asking what combination of shaft and broadhead viewers of that page would be using to hunt with. "Let's see. There have been 126 votes today and on this survey the carbon shaft tipped with a conventional blade broadhead is leading in popularity."

At least I assumed a hunter had posted the survey. It could have been developed by an archery retailer who was trying to decide what type of shafts and broadheads he needed to keep in inventory for the fall rush. Or it could have been put there by an arrow shaft or broadhead manufacturer trying to play for their 2004 production needs. One attraction of the Internet is the anonymity it can provide. To be able to post information at ArcheryTalk.com or ArcheryHistory.com or the newest site, ArcheryChat.com., you need to provide just a user name, password, and email address.

(The emaill adddress is never used for marketing purposes: it's there in case site administrators need to contact you about objectionable material you're posting. Knowing it is also how they can blcok your access if you continue to try to post obscene or slanderous material.)

When he's at the National Archery Festival in Las Vegas, George said people with concerns about Martin products are pretty tactful. Either because they are intimidated by his official role with the firm or by his National Champion status they don't necessarily tell him what they think about a new model or a new direction in the company's ads. "On the Internet, they don't hold back."

When Terry clicks on the site and follows a thread or exchange about a Martin product, he knows he's reading the site users' honest opinions. "This is really great for me in terms of marketing research. It's like I'm standing there, invisible, and listening to two people talking about my stuff."

Consumers benefit when they can use the site to get product releases before printed publications can carry them, Terry said. He was proud Hoyt introdcued the Cam & 1/2 System and its 2003 line on ArcheryTalk.com before printed catalogs were available to consumers. Martin Archery charges a few dollars if a hunter wants a printed catalog mailed out, but every page can be downloaded free from the company's website when you click on the included link from ArcheryTalk.com.

Many manufacturers are using the site now to post press releases, George noted, but what he's doing is showing viewers partial 3-D renderings of new products Martin is introducing in 2004. The viewers can manipulate the images on screen to vew them from all angles, then read what gueses others have posted. It's a way of using the graphic and interactive features of the Internet to raise interest above what a standard press release might garner.

Already ArcheryTalk and other sites like eBay have changed the way that bows are being sold, George said. When an archer can put up last year's target or hunting bow and expose it to thousands of other archers, the chances of getting a good price for it are much higher than if you'd advertised it in a local paper.

Terry said advances are coming so fast in the computers and Internet services that soon users of the ArcheryChat site should know when friends have logged on. They'll click a few keys and be ready to trade hunting stories or set up a redezvous at a weekend 3-D shoot, just as if they'd picked up the phone and made a call.

In a couple years, Terry said it may become commonplace that bowhunters will read several on-line equipment reviews before they shell out the money for a new bow. But predicting how the Internet and sites like ArcheryTalk will affect the industry further down the line is too difficult, he said. People who know how involved he is in the medium sometimes ask him what he thinks of the latest development. Comparing the electronic frontier to the settling of the Old West, he'll say, "Well, the wagons have just left Missouri."

Editor's note: To arrange for a banner ad, contact the site administrators through the link provided on the home page, or email George Ryals at george@gdr4.com.