BY VICTORIA HURLEY-SCHUBERT
Staff Writer
JEFF GRANIT staff Yan Feldman, project manager for RussianMarlboro.com, discusses the Internet Web site in his Marlboro office. MARLBORO – You have probably seen the signs along area roads: RussianMarlboro.com.
The political-style signs that are placed along local roads, nailed to telephone poles and held by people on weekends are part of a marketing blitz for the new site targeting the Russian-speaking population in the area, said Yan Feldman, project manager for the Internet Web site, which is supported by 2-year-old Universal Systems Group, a medical software development firm.
This buzz: “What is it all about, why Russian Marlboro, what does it mean? Russians taking over Marlboro; or Rus-sians electing a mayor; or Russians moving to Marlboro?” has generated millions of hits, or people clicking onto the site from the Internet, Feldman said in a thick Russian accent.
It is a portal-style Web site that leads users to other sites on the Internet. One of the main features of the site is a calendar loaded with Russian, federal, religious and school holidays. It also has real-time traffic reports, music streaming from Europe, Russian entertainment items and local events.
The site has been operational since February, when it had 2.1 million hits, said Feldman. Since then, it has had 4,000 unique, or new, visitors per day in the following months. Feldman estimates that more than 10 percent of Marlboro’s approximately 40,000 residents are Russian immigrants who have come mostly from Brooklyn, N.Y.
The quality of the local school systems is a large attraction for the approximately 3,000 Russians in Marlboro and Manal-apan, said Boris Shumahur, an agent at ReMax Central, which advertises on the Web site.
More than $14,000 has been spent on a marketing campaign for the site, said Feldman. The majority of marketing has been with signs and people holding signs and balloons on major roads in town.
“(We) strategically place people on Route 9; thousands of people see them,” said Arthur Kulnevsky, marketing director.
As a local resident, Feldman wanted to create a comprehensive local Web site and began the process last November.
“You have at your disposal Google, Yahoo, America Online, but you want something local and have everything at your hands,” said Feldman. “You want to know what is going on today in Marlboro, you want to know when my kids have school vacation, when are the sales at the local stores, what is the name of local pizzeria.”
The site cost between $200,000 and $300,000 to construct and the majority of the programming is done in the Ukraine, said Feldman. The servers are in Marlboro and Chicago.
The Web site is supported by advertisers who pay between $11 a week for a classified advertisement and $92 a week for a homepage banner.
RussianMarlboro.com can also act as a Web master or host for the advertisers’ Web sites.
“It is a beautiful platform to advertise because it has the name of a locality,” said Feldman.
Next month, Feldman plans to launch MarlboroTown.com, which will mainstream local information.
He said he hopes the site will become a political forum for residents to connect with candidates in the upcoming municipal election and a place for local businesses to advertise. The new site will have the same format as RussianMarlboro.com, which has served as a test version for the new site, which Feldman hopes all 40,000 Marlboro residents will use.
There are also plans to launch other town sites in the future.
“Any small town in New Jersey, we are creating the Web site,” said Feldman.