On the flight home from the ANLA Management Clinic 2008 I was reflecting on what had just happened.

For 3 nights in a row, Andy Hull (acting as Vanna White for the evening) and I interacted with just short of 200 people, and reviewed nearly 150 web sites for message and Search Engine Optimzation techniques. All 150 web sites failed the examination.

So the thoughts on the plane ride were along the lines of :

"How are these green industry businesses getting this information ?"   

"Well they aren't !" 

"Is a once-a-year conference going to be enough to make a difference ?"

"Nope."

(Note I was not actually talking to myself - well, atleast not audibly)



So then came the Ah-ha moment. I need to transorm my "ranting blog" into an informative newsletter and blog combination that allows for education and discussion.

So here goes friends, the first thread in what is now:

Dot Common Sense - Internet Advertising Insight for the Green Industry.

There will be a newsletter covering assortied topics as part of the Dot Common Sense offering. Each topic in the newsletter will be covered here as an opportunity for discussion.

Please chime-in.


See you online.

Steve

Having just returned from the ANLA Management Clinic 2008, I have to shout out that the event ROCKS !

Where else do you see 1,000 decision makers gathered to share, laugh and hoot-n-holler?

Hat's off to the ANLA MC 2008 Team for an outstanding job well done.

Already looking forward to the ANLA Management Clinic 2009.

See you there.

Steve


www.10-20media.com

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

 

 

"The Increasing awareness about the personal, community and economic benefits of choosing local, independently owned businesses FIRST."
~~~~~~~~~~~

The combination of 'Big-Box Influence' and 'Organic Influence' is creating an awareness of the importance of buying local.

I think there is a real opportunity to sell landscapes where the plants are locally grown (and I don't mean locally distributed).

I have sat through a number of consumer focus groups that say they are willing to pay a higher price if their 'purchase power' positively influences the local economy and the environment.

The day is coming when the consumer will ask for (or we graciously offer) a 'Carbon Footprint' value on the products supplied.

We as an industry need to be able to provide the answer, as well as the 'Oxygen Footprint'value as an antidote.

Steve

The Carbon Footprint drum is beating louder and louder. Do we really hear it? I read an article this weekend in a green industry trade pub that makes me think that we are.

I think we need to have a consumer marketing campaign about our industry and call it Oxygen Footprint.

www.OxygenFootprint.org

Oxygen Footprint is the antidote to Carbon Footprint. It is about plants. Sure, but more.

It is about clean water. Abundant water. Water run-off. Recycling. Sustainability. And yes, plants.

Oxygen Footprint.org is a parking lot for an idea. Let's grow it out and make it a kitchen table term like Carbon Footprint is.

What'ya say?

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