Any advice for promoting a new site?

[STI]

We recently launched OneBillionBulbs.com. The goal of OneBillionBulbs.com is to educate people about the cost-saving and environmental benefits of compact fluorescent (CFL) light bulbs.

In terms of promotion, I'm assuming that we'll try to do obvious things like directory submissions, DMOZ (if it ever comes back) and the like.

I'm wondering if anyone has any other creative ideas. Here a few areas in particular I'd like feedback:

- Promotion though MySpace - I've read that some people do promotion through MySpace. I guess there are even auto-friend adders. Do you all think this is a legitimate way of reaching an audience?

- Press release - Does anyone have experience with issuing press releases? Since our site touches on the issue of global warming, perhaps there's a story angle we could pursue. One concern is the issue of timing. Does it make sense to try to do press releases early on even though we currently have very few active partipants for our site? Or should we wait for the site to get some traction before trying to do a press release?

- Promoting custom calculators and banners - We developed some promotional tools that we hope will interest website owners, bloggers and so on (see http://www.onebillionbulbs.com/Promote). Do you have any suggestions for how we could promote those tools?

Any helpful hints or suggestions would be much appreciated.

[Chris]

Nice idea for a site.

Definitely a press release, also, consider trying to get blog mentions. Find some environmentalist blogs and ask if they can mention you in a post. It'll only take one popular one, then all the others will find out, trackback, post too.

Honestly, once you get the ball rolling I think promotion will take care of itself, rather the difficulty I see is in monetization. It will be a hard site to profit from.

[STI]

Thanks, Chris, for posting your thoughts.


Nice idea for a site.
Honestly, once you get the ball rolling I think promotion will take care of itself...


I sure hope so.




....rather the difficulty I see is in monetization. It will be a hard site to profit from.


In some ways, monetization is a secondary concern for this particular site. Our first goals are to educate people about the benefits of CFLs and get some momentum behind the idea.

If we're able to achieve those goals, our thinking is that we can invest a lot more in content in the future. Also, when people sign up for an account, they can opt in for a newsletter with energy saving tips and so on. Our hope is that with additional content and a list, we'll have some monetization options in the future.

Does that approach sound reasonable to you?

[STI]

...also, consider trying to get blog mentions. Find some environmentalist blogs and ask if they can mention you in a post...

Do you have any recommendations on the best way to do this? Do you think it would be best to post comments to relevant blog entries or should we try to send private emails to blog owners?

[Chris]

Well if you don't hope to profit then worrying about it is silly.

Though, if you get large with national media attention, which is possible considering the current social climate on alternative energy, then you could possibly work on a sponsorship deal with Homedepot, Lowes, or the like.

Something like they put a downloadable coupon on your site for $x off a package of CFLs. It is advertising so you can get paid for it, but it helps your users so they won't think you've sold out.

Or, if Lowes or Home Depot do not bite, you could try to work out a deal with a bulb manufacturer to offer a manufacturer rebate on their brand. The person downloads the form from your website, and the manufacturer agrees to pay you a $1 or whatever for every form mailed in (if not just like say a flat monthly rate for the advertising).

[Chris]

Do you have any recommendations on the best way to do this? Do you think it would be best to post comments to relevant blog entries or should we try to send private emails to blog owners?
I would try the email route first, the other route can look like spam.

[STI]

Chris,

Thanks again for your insightful feedback. I think your suggestions about trying to work out a deal with a retailer or manufacturer are spot on.

With respect to monetization, I didn't mean to suggest that there are no revenue goals for the site.

One issue is timing. Without blog or media mentions to drive traffic, we won't have anything to monetize. So, in that sense, our first goal is to educate and build momentum (traffic).

In addition, we're sensitive to the issue of creating the perception that we have, as you put it, "sold out".

In the end though, it will be absolutely critical for us to monetize the site. If there were no hope of generating revenue, it would be hard for us to justify committing the resources required to build, improve and promote the site.

[Chris]

I registered on your site and added some bulbs I changed in the past year.

But, I would recommend NOT doing email confirmations for the new accounts unless the person signs up for your email newsletter. Requiring confirmations is necessary if you will be emailing the person, but if not you're taking a big hit to membership levels for no real reason.

[STI]

Thanks for signing up and recording your bulb purchases.

We debated whether we should have an email-based activation step. For the initial rollout, we decided that the activation step would be good in that it might discourage people from posting bogus purchases. (Of course, one could still post bogus numbers even if there is an activation step, but it takes more effort).

That said, there's no question that the activation step could be an obstacle for some. I think we'll probably remove it the next few days.

Thanks for you feedback.

[KelliShaver]

Thank you for taking the time to change 16 lightbulb(s). Your total annual savings are estimated to be $241.68. Your actions will help prevent approximately 4,677 lbs of greenhouse gases from being spewed into the atmosphere each year.

Hey, that's neat.

The sad part is, I still have 11 bulbs to change. I have a lot of lightbulbs in my house. With my eyesight, I need everything to be well lit. :D

[STI]

Kelli,

Thank you for your participation and for "lighting up" Kentucky on our map. If other websitepublisher members decide to participate, perhaps I (or Chris) could sponsor a websitepublisher group.

[Chris]

Not a bad idea:

http://www.onebillionbulbs.com/Group/WebsitePublishers

[STI]

Thanks Chris. I joined your group. If Kelli joins too, you can claim top spot in our group list on the home page.

[KelliShaver]

*joins*

[Blue Cat Buxton]

Nice Idea; shame you are excluding all no US based bulb changers :(

[STI]

Hey Blue Cat,

I can see why you would come to that conclusion. We plan on adding a world map to the home page in the next week or two (after we implement a few other enhancements).

In any case, we welcome participants from all over the world. We're all set up to track stats from literally any country. In fact, someone from the UK just signed up today and recorded the purchase of 3 bulbs (see http://www.onebillionbulbs.com/Stats/Country/GB).

So, if you'd like to join, we'd love to have you. The best way would be to join through Chris' group(http://www.onebillionbulbs.com/Group/WebsitePublishers)

BTW - Kelli - thanks for joining the other day.

[cinemaeye]

This is a great idea for a site. Once people find out about it, they will spread the word.

I actually think MySpace would be a good place to promote a site like this. Just do it in a clever way and people will tell all their friends. Try to get some kind of viral thing going.

[s2kinteg916]

enviromental myspace groups maybe ?

[STI]

We got some Digg action the other night. A little before midnight ET on Tuesday, traffic starting coming in droves. I think there was even a short time during which we were the top site on Digg's home page. It was exciting while it lasted.

Based on log files, we're starting to see some traffic from FaceBook and MySpace. Given that these seeds have already been planted by others, do you think word will spread naturally from here?

[Chris]

There is a very good chance.

Give it time, and instead of worrying about promotion make sure your site is as efficient and usable as possible and that there are no problems lowering your coversions.