10-20 Media, Inc. is an Internet Publishing Company with specialized knowledge in Database Development and Search Engine Marketing (SEM). We have specialized knowledge in the green industry.

The 10-20 Media, Inc. mission is to be the authoritative aggregator of fragmented green industry data and utilize the Internet to deliver structured data to the trade and to consumers so that the industry may grow, and consumers may know, that we realize the full potential of the industry's environmentally beneficial and mentally stimulating products and services.

Internet Publishing Company - we publish several web sites serving the green industry

   ~ www.LawnandGardenSearch.com - a directory of Lawn and Garden consumer products and services

         ~ GardenViews - a blog network about lawn and garden topics for consumers and businesses

         ~ BrandMAX - a unique advertising that places brands in local search. Here is an example.

   ~ www.GreenIndustrySearch.com - a directory of Green Industry trade products and services

   ~ www.VirtualPlantTags.com - a searchable database of plants

Database Development

   ~ All of our web sites are database driven. That means that the pages are created on the fly by a computer.

   ~ Our databases are developed and published using the Microsoft platform.

Web Site Design – Our award winning web site design team has the creative knowledge to make your look good and deliver the message needed to develop relationships with customers.

Search Engine Marketing

   ~ We Search Engine Optimize (SEO) web sites using our graphic design department and our technical design department.

   ~ We act as a SEM agency on behalf our clients to give them visibility in the search engines. We are an authorized reseller of the Google Adwords™ program.

Specialized Knowledge of the Green Industry

Data Fragmentation - We have specialized knowledge in the green industry (lawn and garden). Our services aim to address a severe fragmentation issue found in the green industry. For example, each plant has a Latin name (Example; Acer rubrum 'Red Sunset'). The same plant has a common name (Example: Red Sunset Red Maple). Then the same plant has a trade name or patent name (Example: Franksred Maple). Fragmentation can be aggregated using computer databases by standardizing and structuring data.

Company Fragmentation - Companies in the green industry may have multiple profit centers under one roof. It is entirely possible that one company could do the following: Landscaping, Landscape Design, Landscape Construction, Nursery, Greenhouse, Garden Center, Lawn Maintenance and Arborist Services. Some might include paving and pool installation as part of their portfolio.

Missed Opportunities From Fragmentation - The Yellow Pages Association has 5,000+ categories that make up their Yellow Pages books. When a company advertises in the Yellow Pages, they have to select the categories that best define their company. The Lawn and Garden category (is not really a category in YPA data) is broken into 11 categories across 5,000. If you were to aggregate the 11 categories together and call them Lawn and Garden, Lawn and Garden would be the 7th most popular category with 296,000,000 (two hundred ninety six million) look-ups annually - ahead of the Automotive category. That is a huge number of eyeballs looking in just a few categories. Categories that are absent from YPA data are one's like Annuals, Perennials and Shrubs for starters. Then there's Hydroseeding, Lawn Renovation and Erosion Control too. Bottom line is the language of the industry is missing from the data structure.

10-20 Media, Inc. uses its industry knowledge to create and manage categories that truly represent the fabric of the green industry. This data is then stored in databases and blended smoothly into web sites that are user friendly and advertiser friendly.

Business Model

Our business model (revenue) is earned by advertising a company at the right time and the right place (when the Internet user asks for it). We do not charge a fee to those who want to use our site for information. There are no barriers to entry such as user names and passwords. Use our web sites all day long for FREE. Fees are paid by advertisers only.

We currently use a flat-fee subscription model on the trade web site and a performance-based model on the consumer web site.

Since 1998

We started this journey in 1998 as Green Industry Online, Inc. We then became Green Industry Yellow Pages, Inc. in 2001, and expanded into 10-20 Media, Inc. in 2007.

The changes we've made along the way (including our names) are many. However, the changes have been made with the sincere desire to provide products and services that are easy to use, affordable and effective.

Steve

I sit here in the Marriott Residence Inn in Mountain View CA tonight in preparation for a visit to Google Headquarters tomorrow.

10-20 Media is an Authorized Google Adwords Reseller. That means that 10-20 Media (me) is receiving 2 days of training from a team of Googlers on their home turf.

I feel like I am representing and industry tonight. I wonder how many other pure-bred green industry genentics have been in the door at the GooglePlex?

This is a big deal for this reason: The power of an aggregator.

You see, Home Depot and Lowes can build sophistecated web advertsing applications and deploy them across the enterprise at a low cost per location. Need a materials calculator? Sure, they have it on their home page. Use it and then contact your local store.

A message board - sure. Ask the Big Box expert, get the answer, and buy locally the solution.

One critical part is missing though. Relationship.

The web is interactive. The Big Boxes are not using the web to build relationships with their users (atleast not that I can tell). And I don't mean "Sign Up For This Newsletter". That is one directional.

So 10-20 Media and our Lawn and Garden Search site is an aggregator. An aggregator of many, many localized small businesses that have lots of knowledge and willing to share. They also have LOTS of products (how many plant names are there? Whew!).

There is no way that your local garden center and nursery is going to be able to build a page for every plant and product that is worth selling and search engine optimize it. Ain't happenin'.

So Lawn and Garden Search, as the aggregator of said information, can build content and commerce pages and send the searcher to the local business for the information. It is a practical reality and a need within our industry.

To tie this thought together, this visit to Google is going to fill my head with the means to bring the local searcher to the local enterprise to find exactly what they need, and build a relationship with the customer along the way. Great things ahead for this industry of ours.

This is no small task, but I'm up for it.

Starts tomorrow.

Steve

We finally got it right. It's only taken 7 years. (:P)   www.GreenIndustrySearch.com is working.

We've had 24 companies sign up today. They get it. The industry is supporting the notion that our industry needs ONE database that aggregates what is fragmented, at a "no brainer" cost of $99.00 per year to subscribe, and FREE to use (no passwords).

Here is how we got to this place:

In 2001 we launched a web product called Green Industry Yellow Pages (www.GIYP.com). It was way ahead of its time in regards to Internet Search. We had trade-only businesses on the site and could not keep the consumer out of it. Wholesale businesses being contacted by Harry and Henrietta Homeowner looking for a pretty tree. Yikes!

Then, in 2004 - 2005 we partnered with a magazine publisher in an effort to provide a web product that integrated content and commerce, at the same time closing off the search engines (consumers) from finding the site.

Well that didn't work either. The magazine sales team had no interest in selling interactive and couldn' speak the speak, so it sat on the shelf of the magazine. The Green Industry Yellow Pages customers suffered.

We decided that we owed our GIYP customers something, so we extended their listing through 2007 to make up for "our bad".

During 2007, we changed our corporate name to 10-20 Media, Inc. (from Green Industry Yellow Pages) because the Yellow Pages mindset was "I don't use it or need it, and it's too expensive". We were pigeon-holed into a yellow door stop.

So here we are kicking off 2008 with www.GreenIndustrySearch.com, a search engine for green industry trade products and services, at a low barrier to entry, in an effort to create a true resource for finding products and services on the Internet.

We have recently opened up an opportunity for trade shows to sponsor their exhibitors for FREE, as the shows are the existing marketplaces where a friendly smile and a handshake still counts.

For those exhibitors who want to add text and links (called a Standard Listing) to their listing, it is as simple as filling out a form.

Here is an example of what a Standard Listing can be.

I appreciate the words of encouragement you have given me along this journey. I want you to know that I listen to your praise and your constructive criticism and take both seriously.

Thank you green industry friend,

Steve

I had a fascinating 2 weeks in December as I traveled to Los Angeles for the Kelsey ILM:07 Conference and then to Chicago for the Search Engine Strategies Conference.

Without question, there is a growing movement of the SMB (Small-Medium Business) to the Internet. At ILM:07 one of the speakers (CitySearch) noted that they are finding that marketplaces with advertisers that traditionally spend little on advertising, are finding that Internet Advertising is an effective channel for them.

Well H-E-L-L-O.

For the first time ever, there is an affordable vehicle for getting your advertising message out to the "local masses". Every form of traditional media is invasive - it interrupts your mission. Watching TV ? - Interrupted by advertising. Reading a magazine ? - Interrupted by an ad.

Internet Search is totally different. So I go online and search for something to address my (immediate) need, and behold, there are potentially advertisers on the page that can address my need (at least that is how it should work).

Enter niche content, or vertical publishing or however you want to say it. Bottom line is that now there are web sites out there that address a theme, hobby, interest, business etc.

While the big search engines fragment into their "universal search" experience, the niche players refine - creating silo's of information that meets the very need of its users. Cool.

There is an unprecedented opportunity here for brands and local companies of all shapes and sizes (and budgets) to be heard.

What are you waiting for?

Steve

I recently attended the Search Engines Strategies Conference in Chicago and learned a ton.

One of the take-aways was the fact that consumers are increasing the number of searches they are doing at the rate of 17% a month.

One gentleman said that their web site had an 84% increase in product quieries on Black Friday over the same day last year.

In store transactions makes up 95% of retail sales (eCommerce is only 5 percent), and that number is holding steady.

This has huge implications for your lawn and garden business:

~ Is a garden center / nursery web site able to give the user the product information they are looking for? Or will the user have to search for the brand, only to be lead away to a store locator (possibly a dead end)?

~ Does the garden center / nursery have a means to communicate in a timely manner about the product or service they are looking for?

~ Does the garden center / nursery have a mechanism in place to take the online order and have it picked up in the store?

The answer needs to be yes to all the questions above in order to provide a satisfactory experience to that customer.

Garden Centers and Nursereis that do not embrace the new shopping paradigm will be struggling with one arm tied behind their backs.

What are you waitning for?

Steve

Have you looked for yourself lately. You may be lost.

You may be lost in the search engine world, while others are being found in your place.

Go to a major search engine and do a search for one of your high margin products or services and see if you show up. Add a geographic qualifier if / when necessary and see if it helps.

The more keywords you add to a search string the higher the odds are that you should show up.

If you don't show up, you're lost. Lost in on the web. To get out, or to be found, you need a plan, or a map of keywords and pages that are 100% relevant to what you are searching for, and the pages will have to be Search Engine Optimized.

First things first, make a list of words you want to be found for, then do some searching on the web for them. Take note of who is being found first for the query, and take a look at the pages to see "why" they are showing up first. Can you do the same. Can you beat them with some good creative?

Time to start learning how to do this now, as it takes a few months to get results.

Steve

A couple snippets from Website Magazine worth noting (and understanding).

"The Department of Commerce estimated total e-commerce sales for 2005 at $86.3 billion, an increase of 24.6 percent over 2004. Total retail sales in 2005 increased 7.2 percent over 2004, with e-commerce sales accounting for 2.3 percent of total sales. "

That means that 97.7 percent of retail sales in 2005 happened in stores or catalog's.

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"Most people don’t buy right away; they like to shop and compare. The study found that over half of online holiday buying activity occurred in subsequent Internet sessions. This shows a strong trend known as latent buying and the importance of search marketing."

This really tells the story of how people use the web to do research online and then go to the store to buy.

If you think about the perishable products of our green industry, I would estimate that MOST of the green products are sold in store because the buyer wants to physically touch what they are buying.

They'll ask: "Does it have any flower buds on it? Any broken branches? What kind of container is it in? Is it a bio-degradable container? Is it rootbound? What kinda bugs does it get?"

We need to serve the web audience the information they are looking for so that they WILL come to the store.

Otherwise, we'll lose out to those descretionary dollars to another category.

For the full article from Website Magazine, click here.

Steve

Brian Wool wrote an interesting article today at ClickZ.

It is titled: Is One Good Web Site Enough for a Local Business?

The thinking behind it is that there are many opportunites to list your business in different directories, and many have profile pages that showcase your business.

As a business person, you should make the profile page as robust as you can make them.

Here is a snippet from his article:

"I don't think these profile pages are meant to -- or can -- replace a well-built Web site. But for some business categories, where in-depth product details, services, or inventory are necessary, profile pages can help drive traffic."

Click here for the full article.

Steve

So what in the world does Brand Search is Category Driven mean?

It means that consumers don't normally start their search on a search engine with a brand name, they usually start it with a generic category-like term. Here is an example using the travel industry.

Search 1: Vacation

Search 2: Caribbean (search completed some time after search 1)

Search 3: Carribbean Cruise (search completed some time after search 2)

Search 4: Carnival Cruise (the brand)(search completed some time after search 3)

Here are some real examples using categories and keywords from our green industry using a popular search engine.

Plants - is a top tier "generic" category keyword

"Plant" got 126,007 searches and "Plant Nursery" got 23,194 searches. "Plant" wins.

Shrubs - Another category keyword, but would expect to fall under "Plants" in the scheme of things

"Shrub(s)" got 10,789 searches. The numbers are getting smaller. "Flowering Shrub" even smaller.

KnockOut Roses - Here is the brand. Currently the most popular rose in the marketplace.

"KnockOut Rose" scored a total of 2,203 searches at the same time "Plants" did 126,000

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Just for information purposes, here is the data on "Roses".

Man there are a lot of "Lover's" out there searching for a handful of roses. It is almost IMPOSSIBLE for a local garden center or nursery to buy the keyword "Roses" in the search engines. WAY too expense a keyword.

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So here's my point.

If you are a brand, and you have a store locator. That is great. Keep doing it. There are those who will drill down far enough to find you. When they do, make sure your store locator is really good.

However.....

Don't rely soley on your store locator thinking it is THE answer. Invest in other web publications that move traffic through top tier keywords. They can drive traffic to the points at which your brand is sold, and in some instances, can introduce your brand.

Steve

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BTW, I understand this concept because our Lawn and Garden Search dot com site introduces brands at top tier category levels. We will be serving brands into the local businesses with the keyword "garden center" over 500,000 times this year. Not to blow my own horn here, but show me another web site that does that and I'll buy you a rose.

The Purchase Funnel

Above is the classic Purchase Funnel diagram that marketers have been using for years. It has been a tried and true model of the decision making process of the buying consumer.

Not any more.

The "old" purchase funnel diagram does not take into account the influence of the Internet.

The change to the model is happening in the middle tiers of Opinion and Consideration.

Search and the social aspects of the web are making the the center of the funnel bulge. Time to re-stack the funnel or maybe even throw it away, because when using search, the user gets to the tier that says "One make/One model intention" and the funnel comes apart.

Why?

Because brand search is category driven. (I'll address this in tomorrows blog)

What happens now is that when someone searches on the web, their consideration set goes from one to many, as many brands are introduced on the web search. So the funnel gets MUCH wider in the middle.

Maybe we need to start calling it something different:

The Purchase Droplet

See you tomorrow.

Steve