If success on the web were really this simple:

Building out a domain? Read these tips.

There are basically three things you can do with a domain: Monetize it, build a mini-site or take the time to develop a full-blown Web site.

Although time-consuming, building sites for your domains can be very lucrative. Content attracts traffic and traffic adds value.

1. Start with an attractive template and relevant content. This could include RSS feeds, videos, social bookmarking, partnerships, a forum and/or products.
2. Add a Content Management System like WordPress®, Drupal® or Joomla®. Visitors love these.
3. Build in revenue generation by subscribing to services such as Adsense® or Clickbank®.
4. Optimize and host your site.
5. Submit your site to Google®, Yahoo!®, MSN®, DMOZ and Bing™ both manually and through an SEO service like Search Engine Visibility.

Once your site is live, be sure to update the content daily. Then watch your numbers rise.

Good points - but there’s definately more to it than that.

And #2 - “Visitors love these” - WTF?

That’s just silly. I really doubt that anybody cares about the content management system we are using.

Over time I have dramatically simplified the recipe and method while the resulting bread has gotten better and better. No more honey or milk, butter, oil, buttermilk, herbs…whatever.  In fact, all of the above breads have the exact same ingredients (white baking flour, yeast, salt, water) in the exact same proportions - the only thing that varies is the raising and cooking time and method.

I have also found over the last 20 years that the same thinking can be applied to brands. Stick to the basics, pare it back as far as you possibly can and the resultant message will be clear and compelling. As Bill Bernbach said “Give me the freedom of a tight brief.”

Bread anyone?

Bob

Our process

• Began with a kick-off meeting where we gathered everyone’s input.
• We codified that input along with the agency’s already established brand direction into a web development creative brief.
• We developed our web site architecture.
• We got started on design (which was quick thanks to Mina, and a stellar brief).
• We rewrote the copy based on the new architecture.
• We built the site and tested the heck out of it.

All in all we are very happy. We think this new site really captures who we are as a brand. If you like it, chances are you will like us to.

As a Thunderbird and a global citizen, I promise: I will strive to act with honesty and integrity, I will respect the rights and dignity of all people, I will strive to create sustainable prosperity worldwide, I will oppose all forms of corruption and exploitation, and I will take responsibility for my actions. As I hold true to these principles, it is my hope that I may enjoy an honorable reputation and peace of conscience. This pledge I make freely and upon my honor.

While this written Oath of Honor was not in place when I graduated from Thunderbird in 1991 - it has certainly always been there in spirit. And now some 18 years on as I head up Bracco HPF, I see that that vision has traveled with me. My hat is off to the class of 2004 - good job in codifying the spirit of T-Bird into an oath of honor.

You can catch up with our crew at Conergy’s Solar Success training event. A two-day training marathon designed to give Solar Installers the tools they need to be successful.

Aside from the usual hobnobbing, we will also be getting final input on our next venture – one designed to help…(wait for it)…Solar Installers. More on that, soon.

This is actually an easy one. Have one of your clients present a success story. At trade shows the one person attendees will listen to is another person like themselves. So if you want people to pay attention to your presentation instead of the spring rolls, let your client demonstrate how your product solved their problem.

As a general rule:

• 80% of the presentation’s focus should be on your client, the problem they were facing and how they overcame it.
• 20% (or less) of the presentation should focus on you and your solution.

Also:

• Make sure your contact details are visible (and easily to jot down) at the end of the presentation.
• Optimally if your client is willing, their details should also be readily available.

Lastly:

• Announce a time that your client will be in your booth and will be available to answer other attendee’s questions.

At your next trade show, take it easy and let someone else do the work of presenting for you.

Now admittedly my first experience with Aardvark produced mixed results. To give it a whirl I asked the question “How can I track all the tasks I need to manage?”

Aardvark replied with “Got it. I’ll find someone in your network who knows about **sports**, and send them your question now. I’ll send you an answer in a few minutes!”

Sports? Who said anything about sports? Ok, that little glitch aside, seven minutes later Aardvark replied with the following IM “(From Niko C./M/NYC,NY, Re: **sports**) check out rememberthemilk.com; you can sync it to gmail also.”

Fair enough. RememberTheMilk is a good answer (not as good as SharedStatus mind you). Neither I nor Nico were able to figure out the sports classification in the end.

Aardvark (http://vark.com) has great potential as a search application (but it is not nearly as much fun as Let Me Google That For You). As a social media platform Aardvark looks to be a great way to disseminate “Expert” opinions (albeit one recipient at a time) and thus should be part of your arsenal. And let’s face it - twitter is starting to feel so yesterday.

My friend Jennifer Kaplan over at Greenhance offered up this great commentary from her upcoming book “Greening Your Small Business” (Penguin Group, November 2009).

“Green certifications and eco-labels are two ways of verifying the greenness of a product, service or company. Proceed with care. It’s not always easy to distinguish to the good from the not-so-good.
In order to establish credibility and gain access to valuable resources, you may want to consider obtaining a third party certification. In a competitive marketplace these kinds of third-party endorsements can serve as valuable tools for improving your qualifications, expanding your offerings and differentiating yourself from the competition. Caveat emptor: Not all trade certifying organizations are created equal. Some provide fewer benefits than others. As a general rule, the more consolidated the industry, the less likely they are to have a green credentialing group of any worth—because the big boys generally don’t need assistance, technical or otherwise. For example, the restaurant industry (not particularly consolidated) has a stronger green credentialing group than the hospitality industry (consolidated). Other industry organizations that promote green practices may be the offspring of manufacturers or trade alliances seeking to promote green products and services rather than implement sustainable practices. Look at the membership list to see who is represented and feel free to call a few random members to ask their opinion of the group.

About Eco-Labels. “…the sheer number of [eco-labels] can be enough to make your shopping trolley spin. Marine Stewardship Council certified fish. ENERGY STAR electronics. LEED certified buildings. Standards. Criteria. Verification. Assurance. We found ourselves asking who’s deciding what’s green, and what do these labels actually mean?”

—Ecolabelling.org homepage
Eco-labels—third-party seals and logos indicating that a product has met certain environmental or social standards—are popping up everywhere. Eco-labels are the topic of some debate. On the one hand, government regulation of eco-labels has been lax, which has led to skepticism among consumers as to the value of them. On the other, eco-labels are viewed as a valuable way of disclosing environmental information to consumers. Many eco-labels adhere to strict standards, such as ISO 14000, and hold products to meaningful degrees of quality. Meaningful standards put pressure on businesses to maintain levels of excellence. In other words, if your competitors live up to a certain environmental standard, you will have to as well in order to stay competitive. Do eco-labels really affect consumer behavior? Eco-labels can influence consumers by establishing green criteria at the point of purchase and providing a point of comparison based on green standards. However, research suggests that that not all eco-labels are created equal. In fact, consumers indicate that they are more likely to make green purchase decisions based on widely recognized eco-labels such as the recycling mobius loop and the ENERGY STAR logo. Whether you are manufacturer (and have to decide whether to qualify for an eco-label) or a reseller (and have to choose products to sell that have eco-labels), it makes sense to know about the labels in your industry. The key is this: Know what’s what, and use only eco-labels that are issued by independent third parties and recognized as valid. The Consumer Reports® Greener Choices Eco-Labels Center provides everything you need to know about eco-labels. The site features search by label, certifiers and product functions, a glossary and excellent information about what makes a good eco-label. Another independent guide to hundreds of eco-labels can be found at ecolabelling.org”

For me the most dramatic representation of energy savings that can be had was this photo as presented by William Millar, President of the American Public Transportation Association. Come on, there’s still time to get on the energy savings bus.

THE BAD.
It looks as if this organization (in this case a research company) is leaving posts on relevant sites (like mine) and seeding them with keywords (in the name of the alias they use) so that when you click on the alias it links back to their organization. The two reasons that I believe this is spam is one; because the syntax of the posts looks like it was created by a machine (or someone with very bad English skills - which wouldn’t make sense for an organization like this)...

...and two; because of the ‘keyword-seeded aliases’ (tracked from other posts by this ‘individual’ on blogs that like mine use the Disqus posting plugin):

All of these posts refer back to http://www.userinsight.com/ so I will send them a note as soon as this post is up to get their input. Who knows, perhaps it’s not actually them and some random but altruistic spammer wants to send them traffic, or perhaps they have employees with very bad english skills (which would be even more worrisome).

The Good
This page (IMHO) does a great job of engaging the user and communicating the benefits of what they bring to the table. Before I knew it, I had watched their entire flash presentation, all 2 minutes 25 seconds of it - that is very unusual. I have to congratulate them for the great content and simple well thought out presentation.

It still begs the question: Have I been gamed?

If your organization hasn’t yet embarked on a socially responsible program to conserve more and waste less, don’t start today - start tomorrow. Spend today (or this week) benchmarking your starting point. This way, when you do make progress toward a more sustainable future you will be able to quantify just how far you have gone. That’s valuable information - and its cost to you? Nothing.

Benchmarking is one of those fundamental steps that so many marketers overlook. Perhaps because it is such a simple thing to do it doesn’t seem to have value - but this couldn’t be farther from the truth. Without benchmarking it is nearly impossible to measure the success of any marketing initiative. While I wish every campaign was a blowout, the fact is that most gains in awareness, perception, penetration and sales are small and incremental. By benchmarking and measuring progress along the way, you begin to build a good picture of your return on marketing investment. And let’s face it, who doesn’t want to be able to quantify the value of marketing?

The value of sustainable and green programs are even greater than those of traditional marketing because they begin to impact society at large - so step back and assess your programs and take credit for your actions.

Here’s how to measure the value of your programs in seven steps. 1 - Benchmark your starting point 2 - Document the changes you have put into motion 3 - Measure the cost of your inputs and actions 4 - Measure (benchmark) your ending point 5 - Determine your ROI (Return on Investment) 6 - Take credit for your gains - let people know about it 7 - Repeat the cycle and continuously, incrementally work towards your goal

If you have specific tools you use or programs that work well for you, please be sure to share them with us.

As any sales pro will tell you, the secret to selling is listening, not talking. As we listen we learn about what it is that matters to our audience, what gets them excited and what turns them off. Exactly the type of information we need before we open our mouth or send them our latest “offer”.

Given that most of our competitors are now online with us, have a decent web presence and are probably engaging in some form of inbound marketing, our true edge will come (as it always has) in the form of better competitive information - which has always come from listening (it just used to be restricted to focus groups and surveys).

If we take it to the extreme, do you think it would be possible to market (sell) simply by listening?