Zen and the art of websites
Trying out the latest spa offerings -- caviar wraps, coconut oil and honey masks, brown-sugar body scrubs -- is a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it.
That’s the thinking of Chill Out LA founder Erin Mahoney-Harris. She launched the website, at www.chilloutla.com, three years ago to focus on uncovering affordable spa deals in Los Angeles for health and beauty devotees.
Though the perks are great -- weekly massages, anyone? -- the pay has been minimal.
Revenue at the business may hit $20,000 this year. That level was fine when Mahoney-Harris pulled in a full-time paycheck as an editor at Citysearch. But she quit her day job last spring to jump-start her online venture.
“The readers love us; the businesses love us. I know the potential is there, but I need somebody with the business acumen to take us to the next level,” says the 30-year-old new mother.
Her focus has been first-person reviews of local spas, yoga studios and Pilates classes. Businesses don’t pay for reviews, but most of them offer an exclusive deal to Chill Out LA visitors and the 4,600 subscribers to the site’s weekly e-mail newsletter. She charges her business clients $150 for short, paid advertorials that run below the first-person reviews.
That formula has worked to an extent. The website, which grew out of a failed book proposal on affordable spas, now gets 25,000 page views each month, Mahoney-Harris says.
Traffic and revenue are growing, but more slowly than they had been. So the sole proprietor is dreaming of a site redesign with enhanced functions, possibly snaring national advertisers and perhaps parlaying her chic polar bear logo into a line of related products
To do it all, Mahoney-Harris has $15,000 to $20,000.
Internet marketing expert David Towers was enthusiastic about Chill Out LA and offered a broader vision for the online effort and a more targeted approach for its owner. Towers, vice president and managing director of the Los Angeles office of Avenue A/Razorfish, reviewed Mahoney-Harris’ operation with the help of his creative team at the Internet services firm.
“We loved the concept. She’s definitely on the right track,” says Towers, a former vice president of e-commerce at retailers Liz Claiborne Inc. and J. Crew Group Inc. “But there are some things to consider.”
First, the health and beauty site needs a little polishing. Adding images to the site is also crucial, Towers says.
“Being able to communicate the look, the feel, the beauty” of the spa experience “is kind of fundamental. We all thought that was the No. 1 thing.” Think spa colors, sexy photographs and a Zen-like appeal, he suggests.
In addition, Mahoney-Harris should concentrate on what visitors to the site are getting rather than focus on national advertisers and revenue sources, Towers says. That would include taking a fresh look at why users go to her site and then developing content and functions to meet their needs. Improvements to navigation, aesthetics and overall site design also would help. The goal is to create a personality for the site and a loyal user community.
“It’s all about interacting with people, developing something people want to see and want to use and want to interact with,” Towers says. “You do that right, and the revenue will come.”
Towers also suggests that Mahoney-Harris downplay the discount and deals aspect of the site. Instead, she should educate visitors and subscribers about local offerings and then let any discount be a bonus.
His point: A visit to a spa or a yoga studio is not a commodity item in the eyes of users, unlike, say, DVDs or groceries. Although there is a price element, it’s not the overwhelming deciding factor for fans of beauty, health and fitness services.
“Be local to L.A.; that’s your advantage,” Towers says.
Mahoney-Harris was surprised by Towers’ advice because she considers the hunt for deals to be the heart of her site.
“I agree that it shouldn’t be the sole focus, but I want to continue to offer that type of content because I think that is a differentiator and I know that my readers value that,” she says.
To help achieve the local focus, it’s essential to add the ability to search by neighborhood, Towers says. A mapping function can then be used to show location details and directions.
Once a user has found a nearby spa, Chill Out LA should have deep content about it: images, contact information, hours, descriptions, bios of the staff, as well as the treatments offered.
The key is to add personality to the site and to create a community of users, Towers emphasizes. Let visitors know who you are and what makes you an expert on L.A. spas and yoga.
Mahoney-Harris and her two freelance writers “should be the Charlie’s Angels” of Chill Out LA, he says. Users will more readily bond with the site’s writers when they know they are interacting with real people, not a machine. Along those lines, he recommends that Mahoney-Harris create a profile for herself and the site on Facebook, MySpace and other online social networks. She should also add a blog so she can talk directly with her readers.
That personal touch is crucial.
“The Web is just a channel -- a communications channel,” Towers says. “What’s important are the ideas, the content, the message and, most important, the person behind the channel. As much as you can let yourself and your expertise and who you are shine through, the more successful you will be.”
He also recommends that Mahoney-Harris not worry about chasing after national advertisers for the time being. She’s just too small.
Better to stick with her current outside ad source, Google AdSense, which Towers considers a great foundation for the business. The free service uses special formulas to find and post ads on a subscriber’s Web pages that reflect the content of each page. The subscriber earns money each time visitors click on the ads.
“It’s a great way to let the market decide what kind of ads to carry on your site, what works and what doesn’t,” Tower says
Mahoney-Harris also should put her efforts into expanding relationships with her partner spas and local fitness studios, health and beauty businesses, he says.
One idea: She could charge a bounty for each lead she sends to a partner business. Or she could ask it to post a sign about her business, or award a “Best of” certificate it could hang up that would build awareness for both parties.
Co-sponsoring events, sharing e-mail lists and offering premium listings and tiered-cost placements are also potential steps she could take. She could consider making the home page an exclusive advertising vehicle for brands, by charging a premium to let advertisers own all the advertising possibilities there for a day, he says.
Most of those offerings would be inexpensive for both parties, but if she can line up 100 or 200 clients at $50 to $100 a month, that’s $5,000 to $10,000 a month in new revenue, Towers says.
“Then you’re on your way,” he says, “to a pretty stable business.”
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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
Chill Out LA
Owner
Erin Mahoney-Harris
Business
Online publication about Los Angeles health, beauty and fitness deals
History
* Founded: March 2004
* Start-up funds: $5,000 from personal savings
Company snapshot
* 2007 revenue: $20,000, estimated
* Employees: Two freelance writers
* Customers: E-mail newsletter recipients; local health, beauty and fitness firms
Problem
How to increase ad sales, add revenue sources and improve the usefulness of the website
Goal
To more than double subscribers to 10,000
Recommendations
* Understand why users are coming to your site
* Improve site navigation and aesthetics
* Focus your revenue-generation strategies
* Make weekly e-mail more powerful and relevant
* Add personality and encourage community on the site
About the consultant
David Towers is vice president and managing director of the Los Angeles office of Avenue A/Razorfish, a leading interactive services firm whose clients include Nike Inc., Walt Disney Co. and Ford Motor Co. Previously he was vice president of e-commerce for Liz Claiborne Inc. Before that he was vice president of e-commerce for J. Crew Group Inc. Towers also has worked in marketing management at American Express Co. and Diagnostic Research. He has a bachelor’s degree from USC and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin.
