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In my opinion, Yahoo!Shine is simply Yahoo!’s attempt to attract more women and then sell them stuff.

Last month Yahoo! launched Shine, a site focused on the issues they feel women today think are important. Categories include fashion and beauty, parenting, food, at home, healthy living, entertainment and culture, work and money, astrology, and love and relationships. In a recent press release they state the aim of Shine is to “create a better experience for women on Yahoo!” However, in the next breath they go on to admit what this is all really about:

“[Shine] provides Yahoo! advertisers with a single lifestyles destination to reach this coveted demographic. . . the female (age 25-54) audience, which Yahoo! has designated as “Chief Household Officers,” is a highly sought-after demographic for advertisers. It is made up of heavy Internet users, who are frequently the household purchasing decision-makers. Yahoo! Shine creates an opportunity for advertisers to reach this audience in an environment that is relevant and meaningful to women.“

Relevant and meaningful? That is questionable. A blogger introducing themselves on one of Shine’s initial posts explained better than I can:

“I spent a good deal of time on Shine, today. It feels like SOOOO many of the other online, girlie sites. What’s so special about Shine? Where are the sports, stock tips, tech reviews?”

Shine claims they will “avoid all of the buckets that advertisers or marketers tend to put us in,” but I disagree. The site is a bunch fluff slapped together so there is one more place in this universe to sell things. If Yahoo! truly wants to expand the “experience” for their users they will have to come up with something better than this.

Yahoo! needs to concentrate on creating innovative verticals like Yahoo! Finance or the numerous products of Google’s that are skyrocketing in popularity. Until then, don’t sell me a mule and tell me it is a thoroughbred.

With plans of building a new house within the next few years, I’ve been researching green construction. The idea of the green movement is to promote sustainability, so naturally, it made me think about how to build a green - or sustainable - presence on the web.

Here are some sustainable building principals outlined by Jake Jacober, a contractor in the Roaring Fork Valley (Blizzard’s home) who’s been coloring his projects green for over 35 years, along with my thoughts on how they can translate to the internet.

Location
Your domain is your location on the web, so choose your URL wisely. While redirects are possible, starting with a good domain name will facilitate your online marketing efforts for many years to come.

Permanence
While there are people who are on the internet to make a quick buck, most of us want to create a sustainable internet presence that will last well into the future. We want to keep the Search Engines happy, so that our pages get into the indexes quickly and stay there. We want to boost our branding, increase targeted traffic and build a base of happy customers who return frequently and rave about us to their friends. By creating a solid foundation and continually strengthening an online business with incremental improvements, it can become a permanent part of the internet ecosystem.

Functionality
In a website, this translates to usability. Create a site that works well for both searchers and the Search Engines. Remove obstacles and provide clear navigation paths that enable visitors to move unhindered throughout the site.

Flexibility
The useful life of a website, like that of a building, is extended if it can be easily modified instead of having to be replaced when changes are needed. Choose a content management system carefully, but do choose one. You need to be able to add and rewrite content, change links, swap out pictures and graphics and include gadgets and widgets quickly and easily. Websites that require major code work to make changes are already dinosaurs and are well on the way to extinction.

Aesthetics
We have hundreds of millions of web pages to choose from, so if you want people to look at yours, they need to be attractive, interesting and fresh.

Safety
You need a host that can keep your website and email safe from hackers and spammers and insures optimal uptime for your servers.

Visitors to your site must feel, safe, too, in all of their interactions with it. They need to know that you’re a legitimate business with a decent reputation, that you won’t spam them or share the information they give you with anyone else and that their online transactions with you are secure.

Community
Use the web to become part of the communities that are (or can become) important to your online business. Position yourself for discovery on Social Media sites. Join the conversations. Engage with visitors to your website using blogs, surveys, tags, polls, bookmarks, widgets, wikis, forums and things that have yet to be developed.

Comfort
Once all the above green principals are applied to your presence on the web, your potential customers will feel comfortable doing business with you. You’ll have an attractive, easily found and easy-to-use website that’s bolstered by the trust from your branding, online reputation and the security features of your site.

You’ ll also feel much more comfortable investing your time, energy and money contructing a web site and internet presence that’s built to last and is sustainable well into the future.

Construction photo by Tengis

Computer photo by hyku

With just the clothes on his back, 50 pounds of camera equipment, a harmonica and a trusty Leatherman multi-tool, one man is set out for seven days to survive on his own without food or water.  This man’s name is Les Stroud.  In each episode of “Survivorman,”  Les places himself in a unique survival situation and demonstrates how to survive in a remote location with minimal supplies until being rescued.

Surviving in a wilderness is slightly the same as a website’s survival online.  It is important to understand the essentials to a web site’s success in order for you to benefit the most from website ownership. So here are a few survival tips to prepare you for the pitfalls you may face online.

Living off of the Land

In the woods:
Being able to eat off of the land is priceless in a survival situation.  It is important that you locate a decent food supply from your surroundings and be able to build a shelter to protect you from the elements.  Dining on wild animals and plants can be your only chances of getting out alive.  But be aware that not everything edible is safe to eat.

On the web:
Traffic is the food for your web site.  Although there are many forms of traffic online, it is important to know that not all of it will help you.  Make sure that your site is setup for your targeted audience.  If you are offering vacation rentals in Florida, you would most likely want to get traffic from vacationers and not someone planning their camping trip in South Dakota.

Rabbit Starvation

In the woods:
Feasting on rabbits and rabbits alone can lead to death.  An exclusive diet of lean meat, of which a rabbit is a practical example, will make you sick due to the lack of fat.  It is important to have a variety of edibles in a survival situation.  This is a great example of how overeating can kill you when you are starving.

On the web:
Relying primarily on off-line advertising and word of mouth to promote your website will eventually lead to a decline in your site’s visitors.  By investing in a search engine marketing firm to provide you with pay per click advertising and search engine optimization, you will increase your overall website traffic, since it will be coming from different sources.  It is better to have a variety of traffic sources as opposed to just one, because if one stops working, the other sources will still pull in site visitors.

Shelter

In the woods:
Having a sturdy shelter is imperative to protect you from the elements.  Whether in rain or snow, your shelter should be able to hold up and keep you safe.  A good shelter should have a thick roof and at least three protected sides.  It should be able to be used as a wind break and also provide a sense of comfort that you most likely wouldn’t get anywhere else.

On the web:
By having a good hosting provider that can protect your site from viruses, hackers and server crashes is a valuable asset.  Make sure that your host provides 24/7 network monitoring and response and a 99% uptime guarantee.  You should have a peace of mind knowing that your web hosting is being taken care of by a decent provider, because if your site goes down, no one can buy from you.

Staying Found

In the woods:
Knowing where you are at all times is critical to getting out alive.  If this becomes difficult, you can draw a map of where you have been to avoid further confusion.  It is important that you have your head straight in this crisis so that others can find you.  You can signal for others to find you by shouting, shining a piece of mirror or reflective metal or by using smoke signals from your fire. 

On the web:
Know where you stand with your current customers.  Returning customers are the key to your success online.  Let them know you are still there by sending out email newsletters, blogging, offering new special offers or even hosting a contest.  The more informed they are, the more likely you will get the sale.

So there you have it, four survival tips for the website owner.  Being able to be prepared for whatever is thrown at you is priceless.  Be sure to remember that traffic is great, but targeted traffic is even better.  Utilizing only one traffic source can be deadly and you should have a variety of sources of traffic.  Picking a sold web hosting provider can mean life or death of a successful website and that returning customers are essential to your success.  You can never be over prepared when it comes to the success of your website.

International travelers from the US are apparently NOT looking to hit Europe this summer. This is largely due to the weak dollar and the poor exchange rate for US dollars into Euros. As of this article - $1 converted to just .6433 Euros - pretty dismal.

US Dollar to Euro Exchange Rate - 3 Month Trend

So where are people headed for an international destination? Look to areas where the dollar is still fairly strong, the Caribbean, Mexico and South America are experiencing fairly strong exchange rates. In Argentina for example - $1 converts to 3.1745 Argentine Pesos. Travelocity’s summer bookings to South America are up 13%, Mexico’s share is up 47%. For the most part, Mexico offers SOME of the amenities a European trip might offer, ambiance, cuisine, warmth, and beaches - at a much more reasonable price.

US Dollar to Argentine Peso Exchange rate - 1 Year Trend

How can US hospitality operators take advantage? Offer a guest who might have otherwise chosen an overseas trip some smokin’ deals - with the luxury and ambiance an international destination might afford. Partner with area nightclubs, restaurants, etc. to ensure guests are gaining an experience in their vacation, not just a “trip.”

Euro to US Dollar Exchange Rate - 3 month trend

The other opportunity here is that of the European travelers flocking to the US. Exchange rates into Euros aren’t very good, but flip the switch and turn 1 Euro into $1.5543 - this means a European vacation budget of €4000 converts into $6,218.60 - pretty good value. Check out my previous article “Weak Dollar Could Mean Strong European Bookings.”

For more details on the USAToday article - access the printable version here (no subscription needed)

Last week in Houston, a group of online marketers held the first of its kind conference, Small Business Marketing Unleashed. While most Search Marketing events provide information and sessions to appeal to a wide cross section of marketers, this one focused completely on effectively and efficiently marketing small businesses on the internet.

The emphasis was on how to balance the time and effort spent promoting your enterprise with actually running it and how one must zero in on results, not rankings, to measure success. The two day event included both informational sessions and hands on workshops.

Read Jennifer Laycock’s article Focus on Ranking Improvement, Not Domination, then check out the collection of Small Business Marketing Unleashed Videos at WebProNews to see what you missed.

Copywriting is truly an art form. It is the art of communicating. It is the art of influence and persuasion. Copywriting can turn a skeptic into a believer and a reader into a customer, or it can repel just as easily.

Common knowledge within the sales and marketing world holds that the majority of purchase decisions happen at an emotional level. Therefore, if you are writing sales copy that fails to communicate with the reader on an emotional level, you will not be successful in selling much of your product (you may even convince them to go with your competitor). It doesn’t matter if you’re selling vacation accommodations, vacuum cleaners, or a political candidate. You MUST speak to your target audience at their level and with a style that triggers positive emotions.

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In order for an advertising platform to be successful, it must provide value to both its advertisers and its users. This is what the yellow pages industry has done for close to a hundred years.

It’s pretty much a given in the marketing world that small business people do not buy advertising. Instead, it must be sold to them. Even though local enterprises truly need to be represented in the Yellow Pages, which is THE local business directory with which everyone is familiar, many of them would never change a thing in their listing if their rep didn’t come around once a year and remind them of it.

About 40% of businesses that purchase advertising in the printed Yellow Pages also purchase advertising on the an Internet Yellow Pages (IYP) website. This is because the Yellow Pages representatives are selling it to them. This ubiquitous sales force is the major impetus for local enterprises all over the country to move into marketing online and they’re moving them into marketing online using their services, not the services of Search Engine Marketers.

The IYPs are bundling together their own pay per click, pay per call, enchanced listing, preferred placement and website creation and hosting. In addition to ads appearing on their own directory sites, the IYPs are partnering up with other publishers to widen their distribution. These ad networks enable them to come closer to providing small to medium sized businesses with a comprehensive package of online marketing, which can often include ads on Yahoo, Google, MSN and important local websites. They also put these pieces together in an easy to manage package with simple monthly billing.

Are the Internet Yellow Pages destined to be the preferred Search Engine Marketing agencies for small, local businesses? Perhaps they already are….