It's me again, live from the Nonprofit Technology Conference, in a workshop about doing outreach to niche communities. Panelists include Duvetter, Executive Director of WiserEarth and Danielle Brigida, Social Media Operations Coordinator of National Wildlife Federation.

You create great networks when you focus on your audience. Ning is an example of a very flexible tool that allows you to create your own niche community. But there are many others.

A few audience-based networks that you may not have heard of:

kirtsy.com is a social bookmarking site for women (kind of like Digg).

Govloop.com - you can run a a social network and get the same functionality as ning, but is aimed for the government community. over 25,000 participants

Tudiabetes.org - an interest-based network who connects people with diabetes, caregivers, and others touched by diabetes

Wildlife Watcher (WildObs.com) is an interest-based network for people who track wildlife.

WiserEarth.org is an interest-based network meant to bring visibility of eco issues and bridge the nonprofit and for-profit sectors. Has a directory of over 10,000 organizations working towards sustainable and social justice initiatives.

As you build your niche community, you're going to need to do outreach to them. Outreach to your community means...

1. Better traffic quality
2. Enthusiastic participants who listen to what you are saying
3. Relevance to your topic; greater impact of message
4. Easier way to find leaders

How do you define success with your online community? Some would say it is numbers, other say number of people helped, number of returning visitors, or how much money is raised. Share your comments below.