Choosing a Domain Name and Title for a Web Page or Blog

By now, hopefully everyone knows what a URL is. It is the thing that looks like http://www.californiasprings.com. It is the address of your website. Your domain name is the part after the www. The Title is discussed far less, but is very important. It is the information at the top of the page on your browser window. Mine says "Selling Promotional Products." It is also what will show up in your customer's bookmark or favorites menu if they should bookmark your site. They can change that if they wish, but most folks leave it the way you have it. The Title has nothing to do with the text on your page. My headline is also Selling Promotional Products, but that is text. The Title is part of the HTML in your header.

Strategically, the decision regarding domain names and titles plays out in similar ways for both. You have two audiences for this information. One, your customer or potential customer. Two, the Search Engine Spiders. You want the domain name to be easy to remember, but also help with your placement on the search engines. You want the title to be descriptive of your site when your customer is looking through their bookmarks and you want it to help your placement with search engines.

The domain name choice is somewhat limited because many of the best ideas are already taken. When it comes to titles, however, you can do anything you want.

Personally, I would put the most effort into the URL. However, one strategy (and one that we use) is to have multiple Domain names that point to your main site. So, in addition to CaliforniaSprings.com, we also have Waterbottles.com. Currently, these two sites are mirrors. In other words, they have exactly the same content. We have not worked to build up the activity at Waterbottles.com, but it just creates one more way for people to find us. We are in the process of making it slightly different than CaliforniaSprings.com, with the goal of increasing activity in the search engines.

Because our industry is so large and there are already so many great domain names taken, you might use the following approaches.

1. Niche yourself. AdvertisingSpecialty.com is taken. But I'll bet you that AdvertisingSpecialtyofNebraska.com isn't. How about PromotionalProducts-best.com

2. Don't use .net, .bus., .info. For now .com still rules.

3. Hyphens are actually a benefit in your domain name (For search engine optimization.) If you can't get your actual company name, try it with a hyphen. So Joe'sPromotionalPRoducts.com could be Joe's-PromotionalProdcuts.com.

4. Shorter is better, especially for your e-mail address, which springs from your domain name. However, I'd rather have a longish name that helps me with the search engines and customer memory than a short one that means nothing.


This is getting to be a very long post. I will give the best ideas I know of regarding titles by Thursday.

Setting Up Your First Blog in 15 Minutes

I am the proud owner of 5 blogs. Two of them get postings almost every day. The other three are waiting for their day in the sun. With all that experience, I am not an expert on setting up a blog. I am actually an amateur. However, if you are just starting out, I am the perfect person to get you started. I will also list various places you may want to visit on the web that will broaden and deepen your understanding.

1. Who to use as a host? With 50,000,000 blogs already up and running, it may not surprise you that there are lots of folks who would like you to be part of their blog hosting program. The largest is Blogger. You'll notice that my site is a Blogger site. If you click on the little blogger thing up in the left corner, it will take you to a place where you can register your blog name and URL, set up a template, and start posting in about 15 minutes.

I like Blogger because it is easy, free, owned by Google, and will likely continue to offer the best easy site management available. However, there are many other choices.

Many of my blogging friends use typepad. http://www.sixapart.com/typepad/ It is also supposed to be easy (maybe not quite as easy) and potentially offer a few things Blogger doesn't. It costs a small amount per month.

Here, for instance, is a recent article with several of the best tools listed.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4737671.stm

How do you pick a name and URL. Come back Tuesday for some ideas.

32 Miles Straight Downhill

I'm sitting here trying to think of a way to turn this post into solid advice for selling Swag. Sorry. Just thought you'd like to see a picture of a perfect stranger that could be me going down the steepest 32 mile road in the world. You start out at the top of Haleakala Volcano, and a couple of hours later you're at the seashore, having only peddled for 1/4 mile. It is commonly 32 degrees or so at the top and 85 at the shore.

Next time you're in Maui, do this. I've gone 3 times, and can't recommend it enough. Sell, Sell, Sell!! Then you can go do this. (I couldn't help myself getting in a little salesmanager language.)

Ideas till Death Do Us Part

Here is a really great blog. Check it out. A recent post to whet your appetite.

Above others, one question I'm asked is, "where do all your ideas come from?"

Life, silly.

Open your ears, your eyes, your moods, emotions, memories, and noses to the world around you and simply start bumping into the ideas all around you.

Do you remember how she looked when she opened the door that first evening of that first date?

Do you remember how you felt waiting for him to arrive?

Did you wonder what she said to her friends after it was over?

Do you remember the first kiss? Did you happen to notice that 80-year-old couple walking hand-in-hand down the street?

When you went to that last ballgame, did you notice the 8-year-old with the sticky-outy-ears and the big hat covering his head and the even bigger glove on his hand?

Did you ever see your own face in your father’s? Remember the moment you realized your parents were human?

Ever curious what your pets are thinking?

It always strikes me as funny that people act as though I’m some magician because I can continue to keep coming up not just with clever little ideas, but ideas that resonate with the ability to persuade.

It’s so easy. Just be curious. Be aware. Listen.

Ideas are everywhere around you. Start getting in their way.

So, there are some idea starters for you.

VACATIONS - I LOVE VACATIONS

I could have resisted the temptation to tell you that right now I'm likely resting on some beautiful beach in Hawaii. But Noooo. I will rub it in. Vacations help me by letting the gray matter do its thing while I rest or recreate. Last time I was here, we did one of our favorite things and took a snorkling adventure on a Zodiac.

I was snorkling in deep water when the coral put me in a bad place. In my effort to get away from the coral I gulped some sea water. In my effort to breath I managed to gulp more water. Yep, full-fledged panic. Tour leader had to come rescue the old man. My kids think that has cured me of deep water snorkling. Time will tell. It hasn't cured me of riding on Zodiacs. That's a certainty.

Take a vacation. You too might almost drown. But you'll come back pumped with ideas.

Advantages of Multiple Print Locations

If you've been in the business for about 1 week, you may have already figured this out. So, please excuse me if the following is obvious. I can assure you of this - it is intended as a blatant advertisement that will also hopefully inspire you with a good idea or two.

California Springs Water Bottles have 2 to 4 print locations. Each bottle has two sides (thanks, Randy, for that), and our tall bottles have 2 additional print locations on the neck. So, for instance, a major national company with offices across the country could put their logo on one side of the main body, drop in the local information on the other side, use the neck on one side to show the web site address, and the other side for the 800#. Also great for co-op programs. Many national firms split the cost with their agents or dealers - some pick up the full tab!

Maybe you have an organization who wants to sell space on their promotional product. One side can be for your clients logo, the other side for the advertiser or advertisers. Same thing on the neck. Plenty of space for web sites, phone numbers or just fun art. We've had as many as five different logos on the bottle for all the sponsors of an event.

Another approach is to use one side for the logo, and the other side for sales info on one product or service, or for other important information. We are getting more and more requests for that second side to be schedules, rules, or other lists.

Bicycle water bottles aren't the only product which offers this kind of printing versatility, but it is one of the few. And besides, when you buy California Springs Water Bottles, my kids can get new shoes.

Tips for E-Mail Blast Contents

Your e-mail blasts are getting opened at a higher rate now that your "From" and "Subject" lines are better. However, since your prospect can now identify the email as coming from You, he can choose to Trash before opening or even permanently deposit you in the Junk. Why would he do such a thing? Why do YOU do that to some blasts you receive? (Not California Springs, of course.) Because after you've opened some of them once or twice or a few times, you see they are not for you. In this industry that would be saying a lot, since there are very few things that would never be "for you." But the copy is dull, or the specials aren't, or the material is not forwardable to your own list.

So, with your own experience as a receiver in mind, how can you make sure your prospects keep opening their e-mails after they once give you a try.

Only send e-mails that make a good read. Every e-mail won't apply to every client. Some will never buy a pen. Some will never buy a water bottle (well, that's not as clear.) But, even if the product or idea being presented isn't likely to be exciting, the email needs to be.

Once again, go to our and review some of the great ads my partner, Terry Brown, has produced. They are alive, colorful, packed with ideas, and show something you may have never thought of before. Now think about the vast majority of the blasts you receive. Product picture, three words about it, price grid. You send me three like that, and I'll mark you as Junk.

I would make 1/2 to 1/3 of my blasts primarily text. Of course, in a perfect world, I would recommend using those text e-mails to drive customers to a blog like this. But if you don't have a blog, use the text email to drive folks to your website. But it needs to be fun, cheeky even. You need to use some of that old hype to get them to make another click. As easy as it is to click that link, people resist. Make the reason irresistible. If they don't go, they won't find out about . . .

So ends our short series on improving your blasts. Subject line, From line, Content. Say it with me Subject line, From line, Content. P.S. (Notice up above how I drove you to our specials page. Heh Heh.)

Tips for E-Mail "From" Lines

Last time we talked about the "Subject" line. The other half is the "From" line. I get 20 e-mails a day that have much more intriguing Subject lines than any of the supplier Blasts I've seen. Of course, they have the advantage that they can be complete lies. They aren't planning to do business with you. They just want one order.

You can't compete with those come-on subject lines, so it is important that your "From" line is inviting. You will likely be sending out your blasts to the same list every week. You want them to recognize the source of the e-mail. For most of you, I would use your own name. For some, you may want to use the company name. You could spice it up a bit. I considered using Cpt. Kirk. My son uses Kirk-e. Maybe you have a nickname that would make it fun, but still professional (that professional part is why I did not go with Captain.)

Wise choices on the From and Subject line should really increase the number of e-mails that get opened. But what if the content stinks. Stay tuned.

Tips for E-Mail "Subject" Lines

"No Way - How Can You beat . .

"For Current Customers ONLY"

"Expires Friday"

"$50 Instant Rebate This Week Only"

Most who are reading this blog learned about it through an e-mail subject line like those above. When I first started sending out e-mail blasts, the subject lines were: "Summer Sizzling Special," or "EQP on all Classic Bottles." Notice something about those subject lines. A. They're boring. B. They look just like every other subject line in the 40 blasts you get every day.

One day I was reading a blog about copy writing and it hit me. E-Mail headlines need to by full of hype, wild and crazy, suck folks in, stop readers cold, and be filled with intrigue. And while doing all of those things, it still has to be truthful. If the subject line says "For Current Customers Only, you know it is going to cause non-customers to see what they are missing. But, once they open the e-mail, there has to be a darn good special, and non-customers can't have it.

Since we changed our subject line approach, our openings rate has gone up dramatically. Feel free to copy the ideas here or from previous or future e-mail blasts we send you. But that is only half of the story. Tomorrow there will be an article about the "From" line.

Value Added Helps Volume, Margins, and Commissions

Our company is privileged to have the best head of customer service of any supplier in the country. Many who read this know Peggy and would probably agree. (You can send her a love note by hitting the comment button below.) She's not only good at making sure your orders get done right and on time, she has a good marketing head as well.

At the SAAC show the other day we had a brief pause in the action. Peggy said: "We need to start pushing our value added items more." Do you ever have one of those moments when you hit yourself in the head, because you're not taking care of a core principle.

We make the very best basic bottles in the World and more of them than anybody. But there's plenty of competition for those. That drives down prices and margins and profits. Then we have a giant list of bottles where we stand completely alone. Not one competitor. Solar color change bottles, lenticular bottles, baby bottles, 9 oz bottles, custom molded bottles, PVC Bike bottles. The list is long. That's just the beginning. In most cases they cost more, which increases volume. In most cases they have more margin, which increases profit. Any salesperson selling them, whether they are paid commission on sales volume or profit margin would be better off to sell those.

To make it even more interesting, in the Promotional Products business, everyone is always looking for something unique. So, if you look down the right margin on this page, you'll see that I have a picture of our transport bottle (only we make it), and our solar color change bottles (ditto.)

Doesn't this make sense in many of the lines you sell. I'm sure there are some factories who are selling items that your competitors wouldn't even think to show. We talked in an earlier post about making a totally custom product with a custom mold. That completely shuts out the competition.

So, Peggy. Thanks for the tip. And now your tip might be spreading joy in the future paychecks of all of us.

Trend Towards Experience

One of the things that I try to do for you, gentle reader, is scout out all the news and ideas you might not otherwise run into. As part of that effort, here is an amazing report that rings so true, but had never occurred to me. I also can't recall seeing a single thing in print that even suggested such a trend.

A report published today reveals a huge shift over the past 40 years in the way people spend their money.

While spending patterns in the 1960s were characterised by fulfilling basic needs and in the 1980s by materialism, the trend now is towards personal fulfilment and emotional happiness.

"Gone are the days when dinner party talk centred around what car or what consumer goods we own," the report says. "Now it's all about where we have been, what holidays we have taken, what we have seen or read."

Think about this first in your own life and conversations. Does it ring true? If yes, what does it portend? Here is my take. We have all the junk we could ever need or want. Kids have to throw away toys to make room for new ones in their toy boxes. Really poor kids are paying $90 bucks for Nikes. Most adults I know are commonly throwing away perfectly good clothes, furniture, and appliances just to get the latest greatest.

So we have all the material stuff we need, and we're feeling empty, lonely, like "is that all there is?" Now we are trying to fill the hole some other way. Experiences might seem like the next best thing.

If this is the trend, how do we turn our promotional products into experiences? In our product line we have the Solar Active bottle that changes color in the Sun. When it is given away inside, it creates quite an experience the first time it is used outside!!

Another idea would be to use the product as part of a contest. We have had customers buy 1000 bottles in one color, but only 25 in another color. The 25 are sprinkled throughout the boxes and contain a special prize if that's the one they take out of the box.

How about using a bottle as part of a "free with" promotion that keeps on giving. Say, for instance, that the bottle comes free with a branded sweat shirt. Inside the bottle is a coupon for another product in that line. On the bottle is an advertisement for the brand.

So, think experience when you are making your pitch. You'll be ahead of the curve.

The Perfect Promotional Product

If you were to sit down and design a brand new product for the promotional product industry, what would be its attributes. Here is the list I came up with. Do you have other things to add?

1. Demographics. The more groups that use the product the better for the most part. If everybody uses it or wants it, then it fits almost everyone's plan. There are plenty of times when I would want to have a product that was perceived to be demographically specific (a ladies item, or something for kids,) but that might be able to be done with color or the message on a product with broad appeal to various groups.

2. Utility. We all know the joke about what we sell being CPS (Cheap plastic stuff.) However, even within the context of low cost swag, if I were designing a new item I would hope for maximum utility. When they get it home (if they get it home,) where, how, and how often will the product be seen so that the ad can be viewed.

3. Other eyeballs. A plus for this new perfect promotional would be if I thought it would get seen or be used by someone other than the intial recipient. When it is used, will it be seen? Is it cool enough to show off? Will others in the household use it?

4. Pallet. The more possible colors the better. Having a low MOQ (minimum order quantity) for custom colors would be a nice touch.

5. Fast turn around. Need I say more

6. Large area for art. The larger the better. Of course, there are applications where the client wants their logo or design to be subdued. The larger the billboard is to begin with, the more that a pretty large logo still doesn't appear obnoxious.

7. Four color art possible. Even better would be if the product can also be printed with multiple spot colors beyond four, so that cartoon art, or several logos with different PMS colors can be used.

8. Multiple locations for the art. Two is better than one and almost always adequate.

9. Small and ships easily. For the first time we have an element that is conflicting with other goals. (Small, but large billboard.) But maybe it is an item that can be unfolded.

10. Perceived value compared to cost. Wouldn't it be nice if you had in your bag of tricks an item that the average person would look at and think was $10 in the stores, but you could sell it to your client for $.90 (c)? That doesn't happen often. In fact, maybe never. However, the perfect promotional product would have a very high perceived value compared to its cost.

Those would be the main elements, I think. I would love to hear from you in the comments or by email if you think I've left some out. Hopefully this exercise will help you as you help your customer make decisions about product. That was my main goal. I will admit to a subliminal goal. Nine of those ten elements apply to bicycle style water bottles. Check out this page to see how.

The SAAC Show

We have just spent the day over in Long Beach, CA., which conveniently sits about 20 minutes from our factory and 20 minutes from my home. Our goal this year at SAAC was to find out how folks are responding to this blog and to our new Website.

I want to thank everyone who came up with such nice things to say about the blog. Sometimes it gets a bit lonely typing away, and the only way you know that anybody is listening is by the hit totals, and the e-mails. There were also plenty of positive comments on our website which I truly believe is the best supplier website in the industry. (No bias, of course.)

We always have a very good result at the shows, because we are very aggressive about getting folks into the booth. So we were pleased by both the turnout and the response today.

However, as we reviewed the day, we badly wanted to take a survey. We would have asked these questions.

1. How long have you been in the industry? We know that some of the folks that come by have been in a long time, but we suspect that many are brand new.
2. Are you full-time, part-time, or some-time?
3. What percentage of your business is promotional products? What percent is printing or something else?
4. What are your goals at the show? This is especially true of those who hit the booth, get their badge swiped, and then jet on down the aisle.
5. What would you like suppliers to do at the show that they aren't?
6. Should we show our whole line or just what's new?

The really big question is what do shows do today that you can't get on the internet? I know that one answer is touching and judging garments where you can't possibly get samples of everything. But with California Springs line, it is all hard goods, and free samples are pretty much unlimited. Just wondering.

50 Million Blogs - Do You Have One Yet?

I don't want to be seen as a shill for Wired Magazine, but it is the only mag I still receive at home. I read it cover-to-cover as soon as I get it. Nowhere else do I find so much new and useful. This month's issue contains an amazing cover story on how much things have changed in just 10 years because of the Web. You can read the whole story online, but here are just two paragraphs that explain, once again, why every Promotional Products Professional should have a blog.

What a shock, then, to witness the near-instantaneous rise of 50 million blogs, with a new one appearing every two seconds. There - another new blog! One more person doing what AOL and ABC - and almost everyone else - expected only AOL and ABC to be doing. These user-created channels make no sense economically. Where are the time, energy, and resources coming from?

The audience.

I run a blog about cool tools. I write it for my own delight and for the benefit of friends. The Web extends my passion to a far wider group for no extra cost or effort. In this way, my site is part of a vast and growing gift economy, a visible underground of valuable creations - text, music, film, software, tools, and services - all given away for free. This gift economy fuels an abundance of choices. It spurs the grateful to reciprocate. It permits easy modification and reuse, and thus promotes consumers into producers.


For more information on how to set up your own blog, see the earlier articles here, here, and here.

Blogging Tips

If you are now blogging or intend to, you will create more interest if you use some pictures or other visuals. I am not as good at this as I should be, so don't go by this site. But it is my goal to put up more pictures.

There are 1000's of free pictures on the web to help with this chore. Google "pictures" or "funny pictures." Maybe you are looking for a specific thing like baby pictures. You can get all you need.

Marketing to Women - Part 1. Interview with Andrea Learned

RK: Andrea, it is my opinion that in personal services industries, you have to stand out from your competition at a personal level. The product looks like everybody elses. You want the customer to want to buy from YOU. What is one thing that differentiates you (personally and/or as a company) from others?

AL: My expertise is the 'perspective of the people,' I'd say - and that does differentiate me from other consultants. This approach works so well for me because I am a very low-key, non-corporate person who loves to examine and analyze what is going on in marketing to women efforts across the world and share that with my readers, audiences or clients. My "on-the-ground" surveillance allows me to help companies develop an authentic connection with women that goes beyond expected and stereotypical marketing techniques to create relevant and lasting relationships with customers.

RK: So Andrea, you've done a bunch of homework, checking out the territory where your customer lives, carefully evaluated and analyzed some elements that might help your customer, then offer the package to them at a price. Great strategy.

Do you have a favorite sales book, motivation book or tape or marketing book that you would recommend to our Promotional Products Professionals.

AL: My latest favorite book is Dan Pink's "Whole New Mind," because he defines and describes how people can train themselves for this new conceptual age we are heading into (since we are moving out of the information age). Everything he talks about and suggests are things that come naturally to me (information and data are not my thing - I am much more likely to be pulling together a huge variety of facts and ideas and happenings, turning them around and around in my head, and figuring out a few new ways to connect the dots ). As I read the book, I just kept thinking: "the way I am/work is the new way of doing things! Yay!" I'm looking forward to this societal transition, and look forward to seeing how it affects the marketing world.

RK: It is easy to see how this book dovetails with your first answer. In the promotional products business it might mean knowing the customer's customer and how they are likely to respond to a promotional idea.

What will be "success" for you? Will you know it when you see it?

AL: I"m in my early 40s and I have long since realized I can't take life too seriously. Figuring this out so early on feels like success to me. I am very happy to have landed where I am now, career-wise, and I am excited to see how the tapestry continues to weave as the years go by. I’m happiest with an organically-flowing life of work/fun and have been making that balance better and better ever since I left my last job in 1996 to do my own thing. Success is here for me now because I follow my passion in work and play.


RK: What are a couple of your prognostications on the future of marketing to women?

AL: I think the whole topic will cool down once businesspeople realize that marketing to women isn't some "big new thing" - rather it is a re-mix of plain old good marketing. I'm happy that there is some heat behind it now, certainly, as much of my work is speaking engagements and the like. But, I would not try to make it a greater and more cumbersome proposal than it is in order to keep myself in this work for ten more years. Marketing to women will evolve and businesses will get better at marketing "with" women, just as they are already, according to the business press, getting wise to customer-driven marketing and product development today.

Tomorrow, we will continue with the interview. For more on Andrea's specific thinking as it relates to marketing to women, visit her blog here.

For the rest of the interview, go here