27th July 2007

Organic Farming in Costa Rica - How Very Cool 1 reply

Organic Farming in Costa Rica - How Very, Very Cool
by Laura Thieme

As some of you may recall, earlier this summer, I wrote about starting my first organic garden.  I’m fascinated by this, as I’ve now had at least 60 days or organic gardening and haven’t had a lot of luck with this.  My exciting green organic pepper - well, it died, rotted from the bottom.   I have red peppers growing just fine - those are about the only thing that looks like it has potential.  My organic eggplant - well it almost looks too rude to post here - and my tomatoes - well it’s too soon to tell on those.

So, I have a lot of respect for people who know how to farm, and on top of it all, know how to produce organic products.  Collin Street Bakery, a search engine optimization (SEO) client of mine, and world-famous for its fruitcake, has a 3,000 organic and non-organic conventional pineapple plantation/farm not too far from La Virgen, Costa Rica.

This past Sunday, Darlene of Collin Street met me in Miami and flew with me to San Jose, Costa Rica.  We had a driver take us two hours north up through La Virgen, to the Collin Street Bakery Finca Corsicana pineapple farm.  On Monday, Danny Acuna took us on a tractor-led tour through the 3,000 acre pineapple farm.  Collin Street uses the organically grown pineapples for their Harvest Grove pineapples, and the candied pineapples in their world-famous fruitcake.

I learned about some cool things regarding organic farming - like they put plastic underneath all the organically grown pineapples.  Acres and acres of plastic for each plant - all I can think of is “back pain”.   These farmers are well taken care of at Collin Street Bakery, however, regardless it’s a difficult life for a farmer.  Machinery has made it easier, but it’s not easy to bend over and pick pineapples or plant them, I imagine, for hours per day. 

The pineapple you see above is actually not organic.  How can you tell?  The color - as best as I’ve learned thus far.  This pineapple is likely to go to Dole, either for its golden color for fruit, or possibly if it’s too golden, it might be used in their pineapple juice.

20th July 2007

Day Spa Pet Peeves 1 reply

Spa Pet Peeves & Other Things -
Part Two of a Two-Part Series on Massages, Pedicures & Spa Treatments

To finish off my SpaFinder blog series, I wanted to write about my spa pet peeves and a few other closing remarks about spa treatments.

Here are my spa treatment pet peeves:

Other challenges about going to the spa:

The latter two are probably my biggest challenge about going to a spa.  Being the type A actually makes it difficult to relax.  I was at Kenneth’s the other day, and found myself guilty of the second to the last challenge - I was wondering if the lady would move off my back.  It seemed like she had worked for so long on my back that I wondered if she would have time to get to the other parts.  However, then she focused on a particular part and it was divine.  When it was time to flip,  I could tell that I was thoroughly “cooked” and felt flat as a pancake.  It was good, very good.  I want to give her credit for a great massage.  Kenneths is the only remaining Columbus spa that I’ve ever been to that knows how to on-board you for a massage.  They walk you into the locker room area, suggest a hot mist shower (with eucalyptus - watch out - I’m allergic to it), offer you ice water, and lead you into a well-lit seating area. 

My only complaints - limited seating in the seating area - doesn’t allow for peak times for multiple people to sit in that area.   Personally I’m for dimly lit spa seating, cozy, warm, after all I’m walking around in a robe.   I asked for a pedicure and a massage, and there was 30 minutes in between treatments, and then they were 10 minutes late.  Otherwise, my treatments were great, and all of the masseuses I’ve had thus far have been great.

Read SpaFinder’s Spa 101 and Spa Etiquette - everything you need to know about scheduling a massage day spa treatment, calling ahead, what to wear, etc.

17th July 2007

A Little Pampering - Spas, Massages & Pedicures

When Was the Last Time You Had a Massage? A Pedicure?  Shiatsu?
by Laura Thieme

Do you know what Shiatsu is?  I didn’t several years ago, but now love it, in addition to many other types of spa treatments I’ve received over the years.  As mentioned on the Bizresearch search marketing blog post today, I just landed SpaFinder magazine and met with them in New York yesterday.

I mentioned having deep tissue massages when I trained for the 26.2 mile Columbus Marathon in 1995  - these massages hurt like hell, really bad.  You will detox after the intense pain of a deep tissue massage so it’s strongly encouraged to drink lots of water afterwards.  Don’t go out dancing and drinking if you want that $80 to work for you.  There is absolutely nothing relaxing in my personal opinion about a deep tissue massage.

Swedish massages and aromatherapy massages are all good - relaxing, and always interesting to get different massages in different parts of the world.  I can actually say I’ve had a genuine Swedish massage in Stockholm, Sweden.   In 2004, I was at the SES Stockholm conference speaking on web analytics to a group of about 100 companies.   After long trans-Atlantic flights I tend to need some natural detoxing, so I always elect massage, or shiatsu shortly after I arrive.  I stayed at Sheraton Stockholm.  Always inquire ahead about massage, shiatsu or other spa services before you travel.  Even if their website does not indicate spa services, email or call ahead of time.  Stockholm is such a super cool city.  Their airport has hardwood floors - how cool is that?  Sheraton has in-room massage services.   They’ll bring in a massage bed, but typically it’ll be a mat on the floor.  50-90 minutes of genuine Swedish massage.  What a way to detox from jetlag!

When I travel to London (yes, the UK, not London, Ohio), I stay at Landmark Hotel.   I have spoken there at the SES London event three years in a row.  I did not speak there this year, or last year, due to pets and business responsibilities.  That said, in the previous three years, I fell in love with the Landmark.  I of course indulged in their spa services.  Let me tell you something - masseuses know things about your body after they’ve worked on you.  They know things about you, whether you like it or not.  I find this fascinating.  I am a bit of a talker, but I love letting the masseuse figure out what’s up with me from my body.  I’ll never forget the masseuse at the Landmark Spa.  You HAVE to check out their website - they know web design and merchandising!  I had the aromatherapy massage.  Divine.  She told me I had something going on with my kidneys - who knew!  The chiropractor at the Stockholm Massage & Spa facility off of the Promenade in downtown Stockholm - she was young, hip, divine, inspiring, and good, very, very good.  She knew stuff about me too - I denied it, of course.

I took my mom to Sonoma Mission Inn a few years ago, which is a an hour or two from San Francisco.  I didn’t know it had become a Fairmont property.  The Sonoma Mission Inn was one of the most romantic places I’ve ever been to in my life.  I also had spa treatments that I talk about and now write about to this day.  I had an herbal treatment, combined with reflexology at the same time.  Wow - that’s all I can say here.  If you’ve ever had this at the Sonoma Mission Inn, you know what I’m talking about - whew!!!!! Amazing, amazing, amazing.  However, try finding their spa services on the Fairmont Sonoma website - ……

The most interesting massage I’ve ever had - well that was in Ft. Worth Texas.  I was working on-site at Pier 1 Imports on a search marketing project.  The stress was kinda intense, with research and presentations.  I got dizzy one day and turned to a local massage parlour not far from downtown Ft. Worth.  It was interesting - and divine - and well, ya gotta go there to find out.  A Perfect Touch.

The worst story I ever heard on a massage - was in Las Vegas.  I heard from my in-room masseuse about servicing execs in Las Vegas - I was there for a conference.  Turned out the woman was from Columbus, Ohio.  Wild small world.  She worked at one hotel where you are not allowed to say no to anything on the weekends.  Anything the guy or gal wants - he or she gets.  I can only imagine what people are asking for in Vegas.  They don’t call it the city of sin for nothing.  As a Christian girl, that city is way too tempting for even the best of us.  What an emtpy world - fantastical - but nothing good that comes of it.

In Columbus, I get massage and shiatsu.  The latter I turned to a few years ago after buckling from the pressure of travelling worldwide, speaking in front of hundreds, sometimes thousands of people, preparing presentations, research, analysis and having to be the “it” girl in front of mostly men, highly intellectual, etc.  I refused to take a “drug” for health, so I asked my doctor for alternative solutions.  He suggested therapy and shiatsu.  I elected the latter.  Well, yes, I had a couple of therapy sessions but the day the doc didn’t show for my Saturday morning session, that was it for me.  So, shiatsu - now this became a weekly obsession of mine for over four years.

I love shiatsu.  You keep your clothes on, get pressure applied (accupressure) in various spots on your body, all of which tell you and the practitioner if you have something going on in your body that you didn’t even know about.  Feel pain on a particular pressure point?  Well that’s because of something toxic in that part of your body.  I’ve been going to Patricia Bright for years, although not as much recently due to schedule.  Some of the cranio-sacral work that Patricia has done has been amazing.  I’ve turned friends on to Patricia and they’ve adopted her religiously as well.

I typically go to Mario Tricocci for day spa massage, but recently I’ve been going to Kenneth’s at Mill Run for a few reasons.  I love their spa, although neither of these are part of the SpaFinder gift certificate program, but perhaps I can change that. I’m all about the entrance - how are things when you first walk in to a spa?  Now, granted, I would say that the entrance at Kenneth’s could use a little improvement in terms of spa feelings.  But the spa itself, is enjoyable.  You walk into the spa area, and it has that subdued, quiet, traditional spa feeling.  You can’t describe it - but you know what I’m talking about if you’ve experienced the spa feeling before.

Today I had a massage and a pedicure.  The massage was great.  The biggest challenge with getting a massage?  Well, tune in tomorrow night - I’ll add some more juice to this story.

10th July 2007

Current TV Ecospot - Cameron Diaz and Al Gore 1 reply

Request for Video Ads - 15, 30, or 60 second ecospot
by Laura Thieme

http://www.current.tv/ecospotcontest and http://www.climateprotect.org/

In my social media craze, and desire to blog about electric cars, I found this recent blog opportunity.  Create an ad for the site, as an ecospot, and one of the ad opportunities is the Toyota Prius.  If you win the video ad ecospot, you get a Toyota Highlander Hybrid.  Now, I have a problem with this despite being a Toyota Rav girl.  Why a Highlander? 

Here’s a great video:

http://www.climateprotect.org/ah12

It illustrates black balloons as our CO2 release into the environment.  Very cool and somewhat morbidly cool at the same time.

7th July 2007

Electric Cars & Plug-In Hybrids: Funding Demand 3 replies

Electric Cars & Plug-In Hybrids - How do we fuel and fund demand for these type of cars?

I’ve got the electric car and plug-in hybrid bug.  It started at the SEW Live Columbus search marketing conference, where I spoke on a panel regarding paid search marketing and measuring sales and profitability.  WebProNews covered the panel and interviewed me afterwards.  An East Coast auto dealer that sells electric vehicles, amongst more well-known popular brand cars, solicited my search marketing services.  I’ve been trying to get close them for three months.  A recent concern expressed regarding electric car stability (manufacturer or the company selling them) - which I’m not surprised by, the more I learn about electric cars. 

A couple of weeks ago, I set out to test drive electric cars and blog about my experience.  I had two companies contact me regarding my desire to do this, within 48 hours of my blog post.  I’m having a hard time closing this deal because either the companies don’t get search or the power of the Web, or aren’t convinced I should get paid for doing this.  I see no sense in commenting further on the former or the latter.  However, I do think using the Web to market electric cars is an interesting topic.

There are over 50,000 electric car keyword searches every month on the Web.  Fewer people look for hybrid cars on the Web, far fewer, like 6,000.  There is hype right now on electric cars, alternative fuels and hybrids.  Look at the success of the Toyota Prius hybrid, definitely well-advertised.  But is it as good as other all-electric cars, and what about a modified Hybrid Prius to a Plug-In?  Google has enjoyed recent press about funding development in plug-in hybrids announced recently through Google.org Foundation.  

There is one car that I think would be super cool in electric car form:  the Mini-Cooper - how about a plug in hybrid or electric car version?  I want to test drive every single electric car that’s still on the market.  As I’m preparing to do my test-drive PR & social media experiment, I’m reading up on electric cars.  I read an interesting article contribution on CNN by Alexandra Paul on electric cars.  She’s a founding member of Plug-In America.  She owns a Toyota Rav EV, no longer in production.  I bought the DVD “Who Killed the Electric Car?” from my local Borders tonight.

The more I learn about electric cars, vehicles and plug-in hybrids, the harder I realize it is to actually buy one of these cars.  Why is that?  Paul makes reference to this in her article on CNN.com, and says that electric vehicle manufacturers basically spend no money on advertising for their electric cars.  I’m experiencing this as well.  The only EV company that I’ve seen thus far that truly gets the power of web search, traditional PR, and advertising, is Tesla Motors.  Tesla shows up in the top ten search organic search results for electric cars.  I’ve read the write-up in Vanity Fair on Tesla, and with purchase endorsements of George Clooney and Google’s Page and Brin, what more advertising do you need?  Their press is phenomenal.  And it is a beautiful car.  It’s Hot!  Hot!  Hot!  I’d drive it, if given the chance.   However, will this car suffer the same fate as previous EVs that actors and actresses endorsed?  And, since it can not be afforded by the average American, have we not progressed further than GM’s EV1?  Perhaps not.  If you watch the movie, and you know anything about the Tesla, perhaps it won’t suffer the same fate.

Other electric car dealerships and their vehicle manufacturers unfortunately do not understand the power of search marketing or affiliate marketing per my recent experience.  Yet they will spend thousands of dollars on traditional TV and print advertising in some cases, for other car types they sell.  It’s a proven fact that search marketing costs about $8 per lead, where as direct mail costs $70 per lead.  Electric car manufacturers and dealerships - learn the power of search, invest in advertising online, social media and PR.  Learn from Tesla - they’re doing many things right.   Zenn, Miles, Sparrows, or other electric vehicles, none of them are showing up in the top ten organic searches for “electric cars”.  Zap does - and also pays for it.    They get search but I have to receive a call from my stated interest in their affiliate marketing program and the car.  I filled out the form two weeks ago, and resubmitted yesterday.

Marketing & Advertising For the Electric Car:

Try to promote an electric car yourself.  Good luck.  I’m having the exact same type of problems creating hype for electric cars myself.  One Tennessee politician offered to arrange an electric car race with Robert Redford and Paul Newman many, many years ago.  But the person who set it up realized there were no electric cars in the showrooms.  Even if hype were there, how would they handle demand? 

One senator comments in the movie - you never saw a good lookin’ woman or man draped over an electric car - that’s how they sell cars.  That’s true in my experience.   Will Clooney, Page and Brin change that?  Of course, have you seen the Tesla?  It’s EVMcSteamy.  I seriously doubt we’ll see Tesla advertised during Everybody Loves Raymond on TBS or FOX.  HBO maybe, but the question is would Tesla advertise?  And, as of tonight, they just lost their organic listing.  Would they invest in paid search and organic?  Their page titles need to be optimized.  I could help them…. 614-846-7560.

Marketing - it’s all about demand -

Who Killed the Electric Car movie references the story behind zero emissions mandate in Californie, and the history behind the GM EV1, the Impact, and a waiting list for their electric cars.  GM initially had actors and actresses drive the car, because no one else could afford the car.   Reference is made to producing four cars per day.  The auto manufacturers sued the California Air Resources Board.  As of July 2004, all GM EV1s were off the road.  No actor or actress could in fact re-lease the EVs.   Most of these people loved the GM EV1, but they couldn’t get the car.  They were going to Mesa, Arizona - 50 EV1s crushed at the GM - Ouch - I just watched a seriously bad moment on the movie.  GM is interviewed - says that every single EV will be re-used and recycled, and hardly crushed.  But they were crushed. 

Toyota RAV4 EVs were also tracked down, and they were being crushed as well.  Perfectly good cars.  Honda’s EVs were also getting shredded.  You have to see this movie.  The cars get shredded into a million pieces.   GM’s Burbank facility had about 70 electric vehicles remaining.  Alexandra Paul watched over the parking lot where the EVs were being stored, as part of a protest.  EV activists asked if people would buy out the remaining leases - they offered $1.9M to GM to put the cars back on the road.  GM did not respond, according to the movie.

Car makers say that consumers weren’t demanding the car.  Most of us never even knew about the GM EV1, or the Toyota RAV4 EV.   How many advertisements did you see for the electric car? 

Batteries - Stan Oshinsky who has over 200 patents to his name - manufacturered Ovonic batteries for the electric car.  GM bought controlling shares in the company.  Then GM sold to Texaco.  Interesting.  An oil company buys controlling shares in the batteries that fueled electric cars.

I just read that Think, previously owned by Ford, sold to Norwegian investors, has bought interest in Tesla Motors batteries, to the tune of $43M.  So GM buys Oshinksy batteries, sells to Texaco.  Ford sells its Think electric vehicle to Norwegians who buy batteries from Tesla Motors.  Hmmmm.  Almost humorous.

In March 2005, GM had police escorts arrest the EV1 protestors, including Alexandra Paul.  I’d have been proud to have been arrested on that one.  The last EV1s were taken away and destroyed.  GM disabled the one that is at the Petersen Automotive Museum, but #99 remains. 

Personally, I’d like to meet Stan & Iris Ovshinsky, and get involved with Plug-In America.  I still want to test drive lots of electric vehicles and document my findings here and on Bizresearch.  The Web feeds grass roots efficiently and enables word of mouth through social media. 

1st July 2007

Green Executives: Sustainable Office Possible? 1 reply

Can Executives Be Green & Create the Sustainable Office?

At Bizresearch, we reduce, recycle and reuse when possible.  The biggest opportunity is paper reduction, waste reduction, recycling, bottled water, air conditioning and lighting.  Does your AC run when you’re not there?  If it does, can you schedule the office to be warmer when you’re not there, just enough to keep computers and equipment cool enough to operate safely?

Do you have recycling bins in place?  Do you use both sides of your paper?  Encourage double-sided printing and reuse paper when possible.  

I also fly a lot, which is another concern - you’ve probably heard about airplanes and con-trails.  I need to do a separate post on that topic - and will try to do so in the coming month.    Do you really need to do that meeting in person, across-country?  Can a teleconference suffice?  I have alot of frequent flyer miles, on American Airlines.  I love the frequent flyer program, which is also contributing to global warming in its own way.  We love to fly to get the mileage, and to get the gold, platinum status.  I’ve finally achieved gold and wish I could get platinum.  But that’s a status issue and hardly something for environmentalists to be proud of.  I’m guilty as charged. 

So, it’s interesting to get a newsletter dedicated to the sustainable office by Regus, which has come to me as a result of my American Airlines exec gold status.  But it’s got some interesting research you might enjoy.  And, as executives are typically leaders in some way, in their respective offices, it’s up to us to lead our employees to a better, sustainable, office.  Not only that - we should encourage others to do the same, including our property managers, mayors, and chamber execs.

30 Days In An Electric Car? 2 replies

Is It Possible - to Survive/Drive 30 Days in an Electric Car?
And Why Would I Want To?

A week ago, on a Saturday morning, I decided to blog about my desire to test drive electric cars for 30 days.  By Monday morning, I had two companies calling my office asking me for details.  I am likely moving forward with both companies in various ways.  I’ve been asked by both companies and others, why I would want to do this?  What’s in for me, for them, and others?

Personally, I’m interested in electric cars, hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and alternative modes of transport.  Gas went up to $3.18 a gallon, or thereabouts this week, which was timely as I was driving to Mackinac Island for the Bizresearch Search N Spa event preparation (in August), which is about 450 miles each way from Worthington, Ohio.  It’s also timely as this is peak time for driving vacations.  It’s the week of the 4th of July.  No better time to up the gas prices, right?  I think gas prices are going to have to peak more, unfortunately, for people to strongly consider alternative fuels, or decide to drive an electric or plug-in hybrid.  But quite frankly, all of us are hearing more about electrics, hybrids and plug-in hybrids, if we’re tuned into the environment, global warming, and the news. 

Curiosity as stated above, environmental awareness and civic stewardship is a main driver in this initiative.  I’m a search marketing agency exec, so marketing & PR is the other key driver for all parties involved.  I don’t blog for the sake of blogging, I blog for the sake of educating others and to get my thoughts on “paper”.  I like to see incoming links and reviews from other environmentalists, TreeHugger, search marketers and others who are curious about electric cars or any other topic I choose to cover.  I want to increase awareness about social media, PR and search, and how these mediums can drive traffic and sales for all involved.

Most people, including myself, have noted that blogs drive traffic, but as of yet, are not great in terms of sales or revenue builders.  I do web analytics, and speak at the major search engine marketing conferences on this topic.  I spoke in New York about blog analytics, at the SES conference in April, and talked about how we used three different web analytics programs (NetTracker, Google Analytics, and ClickTracks Pro) to see whether or not people were staying on our site, or progressing to leads as a result of coming to our site, via a blog entry.

Typically, myself and others are saying that blogs do not convert people to sales.  Therefore, for those who’ve asked, if you’re wanting traffic numbers on blogs, that’s not a good indicator of sales potential.   Blog traffic and sales do not typically match expectations.  The conversion rate and actually, bounce rate, might be high for a blog entry.   But my goal here is not just to drive traffic, I’m working on increasing awareness, using social media as one medium to document my work, but actually coordinating everything offline with my PR agency, news media, local contacts, government and chamber execs, and environmentalists.

I plan to coordinate the 30-day event with all my solid contacts in the areas stated above to create a story that people want to know about - not just environmentalists.  I think people need to know about the value of an electric car but its limitations as well.  People appreciate knowing benefits and limitations before they buy. 

Here are my goals:

*Bizresearch is a full-service search engine marketing agency, serving clients with services such as a Competitor Market Assessment & Online Marketing Strategy ($20-$65k), paid search services (approximately 10% of ad spend or retainer), organic search (retainer), and web analytics services.   The fees assessed our potential green marketing agencies are not a main “driver” of Bizresearch’s revenue.  However, they do cover our expenses and marketing initiatives as stated in the blog entry below.