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Jet Blue: Web Deal – Where?

Elliot Silver
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I am going to go on a bit of a late night rant – my apologies. When I see a good marketing campaign, I do my best to point it out, so others can emulate it. When I see a poor marketing effort, I try to point out the flaws, so improvements can be made.

Before I start my rant, I have to say that Jet Blue is my new favorite airline. For the past few months, I’ve tried my hardest to only fly Jet Blue, which is difficult since they don’t fly everywhere I fly (yet). I love the fact that they have televisions on their aircraft, and their employees are always super friendly. One thing that has always bothered me though is their online reservation drop down menus. They ask for departing and arriving cities, the date of travel, and the number of passengers, which is all pretty standard. My question is why does the # of passenger drop down menu default to zero passengers? Wouldn’t they assume that at least one passenger is flying? I’ve been booted back to the main page for forgetting to change this one too many times. While minor, this is a frustration that can easily be eliminated by thinking like a passenger rather than a marketer.

You are probably asking where is the flaw in their marketing effort rather than their reservation system. Today I received an email from Jet Blue, touting their new wireless access on one of their airplanes. I clicked through to their homepage and saw this: “Featured web fares: $69 each way New York, JFK to West Palm Beach.” Unfortunately, there wasn’t a clear mention of when this is applicable, and I just spent the last 10 minutes searching various travel dates with no luck. I am sure I could call, but I would probably get a “sorry, that’s a web deal only” answer. It’s just frustrating when a company presents an offer but makes it very difficult to find the offer. It’s one thing if they stated the travel dates and you can’t use the tickets on those dates, but it’s annoying to have to scour the website to find it (with no luck).

One company that actually makes it easy to find the special web deals is Greyhound Bus Lines. They offer a link to the special web deals page where you enter the date of travel, and you get the advertised fare. Print your tickets and get on the bus. Piece of cake.

When a company makes a great offer and makes it easy to redeem said offer, they’ve done a great job. The point of direct marketing is to generate a calculable ROI. Jet Blue was able to elicit a response from me, but they made it very difficult for me to book a reservation, so I went down as an unconverted lead instead of a sale. Marketers should think like consumers, and they should make it as easy for the consumer to respond as possible.

Hybrid Development: Increase the Value of Domains

Elliot Silver
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While some domain names have high paying keywords, frequently the traffic isn’t significant enough for this to make a major impact on the name’s value. When the name is parked, you may generate a decent amount of revenue from targeted type-in traffic. However, unless something out of your control happens, there really isn’t much of a way to increase traffic to the name with a parked page.

One way that may boost traffic, increase revenue, and consequently increase the value of your domain name is to build a stripped down website. This is a hybrid development project where you add limited (but relevant) content, which should help you with your search engine placement. As a result, more people will find your website, and they may be more likely to click on the Adsense links, generating additional revenue. The more you continue to update your site, the more likely it is that people will find you and return.

In my opinion, the key to this is developing these hybrid sites in areas that are of interest to you. This will encourage you to post more often than if it was a mundane topic or something you didn’t care about. The more passionate or knowledgeable you are about a topic, the more likely it is that people will find you. The job of Google, Yahoo and other search engines is to present their users with the most relevant website based on their search query. If you are able to provide this, you will be placed higher. Of course there are things that make this more complicated, but that is the general idea.

Penthouse Invests in Friend Finder Network

Elliot Silver
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According to a report in the New York Times, Penthouse Media Group just invested $500 million into Various, Inc., operator of 25 social networking sites, including Adult Friend Finder and its related Friend Finder Network websites. Combined, Various’ companies have a reported member base of more than 260 million consumers, with about 1.2 million paying consumers.

The purchase shows how bullish a company like Penthouse is in the Internet marketing channel. As the Internet continues to mature, magazine and newspaper publishers have struggled to maintain viewership, and they’ve had to put out a strong web product to keep their customers satisfied. It will be interesting to see how Penthouse and the FFN leverage each other’s assets and industry knowledge to create a stronger company.   It will also be interesting to see if they work under one company name or if they maintain their own brand identities.

At the recent TRAFFIC auction the FFN network paid $1.8 million for Seniors.com.

Protect Your Brand!

Elliot Silver
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Greetings from my father’s store in New Hampshire. I am in the region doing some research for my Lowell.com website which should launch in a couple of months, and I am spending the day with my parents (Happy Birthday, Mom!!) Of course, my mind is always thinking about domain names, and that was clear when I walked into the book shop next door to buy a birthday gift.

At the register, I noticed that they were directing people to their website, which wasn’t close to the exact name of their shop. Knowing the manager, I asked if they had tried to acquire the generic .com for the store (a generic word + Bookshop). He said they had, but it was too expensive. Ironically, after coming back and researching, I saw the generic name is owned by a friend of mine, and I know my friend develops all his names (hence the reason for the high cost he quoted).

I also asked if he bought the actual name of the book shop, as that would also have been an even better choice. He said he hadn’t, but when I searched, I saw it was registered back in August and is now a PPC landing page. Unfortunately, the owner has privacy protection on his Whois so it won’t even be possible to ask if he would sell it, leaving them with the choice of either maintaining the status quo or filing a UDRP. The name of the store is fairly unique and the only Google references for the term together are for this little shop.

The shop has been in business for over 15 years, so there were plenty of opportunities for them to buy the name, but they didn’t have the foresight to do so. They are lucky the current owner has a book related PPC landing page rather than adult-related material. The moral of the story is to spend $8 to register the name of a potential new business or idea. The cost of acquiring it after someone else buys it can be financially restrictive and time consuming.

Would You Like a Coke with That Ipod?

Elliot Silver
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At TheDomains.com, Mike talks about his experience buying an Ipod from a vending machine. Although the experience wasn’t as good as expected, its neat to see this type of POS buying opportunities.   Some day, Mike won’t even have to swipe his credit card. He will aim his cell phone at the vending machine, push a few buttons, and voila, a new Ipod!

5 With… Jessica Bookstaff, PigeonForge.com

Elliot Silver
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Jess Bookstaff.jpgWith hard work and determination, Jessica Bookstaff has become a successful Internet marketing entrepreneur, owning popular geographic websites such as PigeonForge.com and Durango.com among others. Clients, partners and colleagues love working with her because of her contagious enthusiasm and bubbly personality, coupled with her intelligence in the geographic marketing space.

Since acquiring PigeonForge.com in 2000, Jessica has been developing the site with a firm belief in original content, electronic newsletters, visitor interaction and satisfaction. She believes that one of the keys to success in the city.com industry is a clear understanding of customer and market needs. Jess and her websites are ambassadors for the cities they represent, and she does a fine job at that. Clearly she is onto something, as the site has grown 1,400% since she took the reigns.

Jessica has been active in the Internet industry since 1998 managing marketing and public relations efforts for a mature start-up company. She enjoys the challenge of implementing effective site design and content management with a goal to increase overall revenue. She is actively involved as a board member of CASA of East Tennessee (Court Appointed Special Advocates) and a board member of Associated Cities. In her spare time, she is a volunteer with Junior Achievement and the Boys and Girls Club of the Smoky Mountains. Jessica lives in Knoxville, Tennessee with her awesome dog, Jackson. She enjoys running, biking, and the occasional dance-off.

EJS: 1) For geographic domain names, is .com considered the king, or are other extensions just as good if the intent is development? Is it worth paying a considerable amount more for the .com over another extension?

JB: “I am a purist. I truly believe that .com is the best extension by far, and I believe this will always be the case. .com is branded just as Coke, Kleenex, or Xerox are branded. It has become a generic term used describe and entire industry. This being said, it is absolutely worth paying considerably more for a city.com domain. I have passed on purchasing many other city names with alternative extensions. Saying this, I would never discourage anyone from developing their domain be it a .com, .net or .whatever.”

EJS: 2) If you had the opportunity to acquire a phenomenal geographic domain name, but you had no interest in that particular geographic area, would you buy it and develop it, buy it and resell it to someone else for a profit or pass on it?

JB: “Casting my emotions aside, as long as a) it were a sweet name and b) there was viable business potential, I would buy it and develop it – Absolutely!”

EJS: 3) What are you three favorite geographic websites, and why (other than the ones you own)?

JB: “There are so many I like and for different reasons, but if I must, I will only give you three …

Saratoga.com – I love the design and creativity they put into their sites. They are aesthetically appealing and user intuitive.

NewYorkCity.com – An amazing job developing the site using user generated content. This really gives the site a “community” feel.

SanFrancisco.com – as well as the other Boulevards sites using this design. So clean and organized yet packed with information a visitor or local resident could use.”

EJS: 4) To date, what are you most proud of in your business?

JB: “The relationship and reputation I have with my clients (250 +). They believe in my product and goals. I have personally met about 95% of them which is sometimes rare in this business. They are really like family!”

EJS: 5) Who has been the most influential person in your career, and what was the best piece of advice that person gave to you?

JB: “I’m picking two – my dad and brother. They have both given me so much advice and encouragement. One thing that sticks out in my mind my dad said, Just do your best and give it a try (referring to the purchase of PigeonForge.com in 2000). Thank goodness, I listened! Blake, my brother and possibly my biggest fan, always challenges me to look at everything from a different perspective. It’s really important in decision making and gaining clarity on issues. My dad did tell me Men are like streetcars – one comes along every 15 minutes. That’s stuck, too.”

***Bonus Questions!!!

EJS: 6) Aside from the camaraderie with like minded people, what other advantages are there to joining Associated Cities?

JB: “Besides hanging with me? Just kidding! Seriously, I am amazed at each member of Associated Cities. All the members are so creative and full of ideas. What I have found most interesting is that everyone has a different business plan with their sites. No one does it the same. All the members are so encouraging and willing to give advice and share their experiences. I am always learning so much!”

EJS: 7) What is a better bijigity moment: acquiring a great domain name, finishing the development of a great domain name or closing a large deal?

JB: “Just the thought of acquiring a new domain and closing the deal makes me bijigity. I love it!! I never really consider a domain finished in terms of development as it’s continuously changing and updating.”

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