Sea Weeds
 

I have just joined this forum today after reading the forum topics for 2 days and i thought it was an excellent source for information for a person to start a business or just get motivated.

I have a question for you all. Does anyone know how you can make sea weeds washed on the beach into a useful product. May sound wierd but than again could sound interesting to the knowledable person!.

What you say? Any one can point me in the right direction?

Re: Sea Weeds
 

Welcome to SowPubs. :)

Try using some of the following Free Keyword tools...

Play around a little with SeaWeeds and related Keyword phrases...

All kinds of ideas will Pop out ready for Googling and Searching out the Possibilities...

And any other Niche or micro niche for that matter.... ;)

http://www.keywordworkshop.com/pages/Free-Tools-Listing
http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/

Definitely some interesting SeaWeed ideas & stuff if you have Free Access to SeaWeed like some of us Do!

Phil

Re: Sea Weeds
 

Wikipedia shows that seaweed has 3 uses:

1. Food
2. Medicine
3. Fertilizers

2 & 3 may be harder to get into. But 1 is not that hard to start on your own.

Go here:
http://www.macrobiotics.co.uk/seavegetables.htm
Order that book.
Try creating some recipes.
And sell the dish to restaurants and delis.

Re: Sea Weeds
 

There's a woman that started a small company on the west coast of Vancouver Island (Vancouver, BC, Canada) basically harvesting seaweed on her shoreline that has since grown into one of, if not the largest seaweed suppliers in the world for their niche.

Sorry, short on time, but you might want to search "Seaweed Vancouver Island"
"Seaweed Harvesters Vancouver Island" "Seaweed Exporters Vancouver Island", etc., and it should come up.

The story was also in the Vancouver media about some development that could effect the harvest.

Good luck,

Rod

Re: Sea Weeds
 

Here's the company Rod's referring to...

Almost my neighbor...

Just goes to Show you, that all you Need is a Niche and a little Creativity. ;)

http://www.outercoastseaweeds.com/
http://www.outercoastseaweeds.com/Ne...ne_Reviews.htm

Phil

Re: Sea Weeds
 

Thank you gentleman.

I thought this was a straightforward venture but it seems you need to be a marine biologist to make this into a commercial venture. I read through a lot of research paper last night.

i will keep at it ans see what comes out fo it/

Re: Sea Weeds
 

Thank's Phil,

Here's one more report on the "Seaweed Lady":

http://travelvideo.tv/news/more.php?id=A8833_0_1_0_M

What's interesting to note (actually pretty amazing) is she
makes $35 PER PERSON by giving SEAWEED TOURS!

I don't know how many people she can run through each 2
hour tour, or how many tours she does each day and each
week, from May to Sept., but it look's like a very nice gig in
addition to her other revenue streams.

(Being a NW coaster thats gotta be right up there with
the folks that figured out how to cash in on slug tours here
in the rainy NW)

So, maybe the question shoudn't be, "How can I make
money harvesting and selling this stuff on the beach?

But, "How can I make money showing people this stuff
on the beach?

PROMOTIONS could be your best angle.

Maybe something as simple as developing local seaweed tour
packages to sell on eBay to start.

Or, taking some time to study how the Seaweed Lady does it,
and/or your local Bird Watching Travel industry. And applying
some of those same techniques.

Basically twisting and shaping your own ideas like Phil is so good
at pointing out.

Good luck,

Rod

How about..
 

Seaweed tours BUT, promote the "select your own fresh, quality seaweed"?

Maybe the hook of being able to gather their own seaweed?

You might even supply them with bags to collect their seaweed that have your logo, etc., on them.

Pete

They've quit laughing, and started buying! Better late than never.
DST-Update

Re: Sea Weeds
 

Thanks Rod,

Diane Bernard, the Seaweed Lady's business has Grown...

In 2004, she already had a staff of 5 so using the multiple streams of income model within a Niche has worked well for her business and I'm sure unlimited tours & packages...

She has marketed her Niche Extremely well, so her business model is definitely worth studying.

Which brings up the another Great topic that Rod touched on that holds all kinds of business ideas and opportunities...

Ecotourism... depending on what your particular area has to offer and marketable interests of Consumers...

Walking Tours, Eagle & Bird watching, Mushroom Hunting (seasonal), Tree Identification etc. etc.

Think Social networking/People interests...

A few Quick links...
http://www.ecobusinesslinks.com/ecotourism.htm
http://www.google.ca/search?q=Walkin...ient=firefox-a
http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&cl...Search&meta =

By the way...

Talking about Slugs, some Collect tons of FREE shells on Beaches...

Hammer and then package them into Slug Killers, Slug Off. :)

The Sharp edges Hurt!

Yes! There are Bucks in Slug marketing. ;)

Gardner's Love putting them around Plants where Slugs eat their leaves...

Phil

Re: Sea Weeds
 

Thanks Phil,

Again, you raise some excellent points.

Travel and Tourism is the largest industry in the world.

And Ecotourism, by its very nature, offers fewer barriers to entry and less overhead then most other related ventures.

Let me kick another tire within it that offers endless opportunities.

Namely, working with local tour operators to conduct front-end PROSPECTING and back-end FOLLOW-UP marketing campaigns.

Prospecting, for example, by:
1.) Picking a specific geographic area to farm (say Texas)
2.) Compiling a list of likely prospects in Texas to contact (say subscribers to Outdoor magazine, with three or more credit cards, $75,000+ income, who travel 3+ times a year)
3.) Developing a shared ad campaign (Postcard, Brochure, Booklet, etc.) to mail three to six times to your list.
4.) Charging local tour operators to be a part of your mailing.

(Here in the NW a friend of mine with vacation rental homes does a lot of business each summer with folks escaping the heat in Texas)

Following-up, for example, by:
1.) Creating a series of thank you, referral, birthday, and holiday cards to the new customers that resulted from your mailings to reel them and their friends back in.

Taking this basic formula you could bore down into virtually endless local to international markets.

Right now, I’m actually working on a project like this to promote a region in the south of France here in the U.S. and, hopefully visa versa with Air France starting direct flights to Seattle.

Which brings up another related niche – simply TRANSLATING tourism packages.

Ok, that’s enough tire kicking for now.

But I think I might contact a local oyster farm to see what they are doing with their ‘slug’ shells - excellent idea!

Cheers,

Rod

From Sea Weeds to Local niche & PROSPECTING ideas...
 

Rod,

Great post on Local niche Tire kicking and PROSPECTING ideas. :)

In case you're Not into PPC or don't Track particular Experts...

Here's a real Gem! for you and interested SowPubbers...

Just Apply it to Google, MSN & Yahoo...

Don't miss out... Before it's Too Late...

We all Learn by Sharing, trial, errors and then comes Success! ;)

Make sure your speakers are On...

Light Bulb Moments With Perry Marshall
Sharon Odom Fling
http://www.geolocal.com/public/643.cfm

Local Search Boom Forecasted by 2011
http://www.imediaconnection.com/news/13944.asp

Phil

Re: From Sea Weeds to Local niche & PROSPECTING ideas...
 

Phil,

Excellent audio interview recommendation!

One opportunity that really stood out to me was using PPC to capture and SELL local leads to contractors, roofers, insurance agents, etc.

By capitalizing on your own LOCAL knowledge and CONTACTS that the big lead services could have a hard time competing with.

One idea that comes to mind for me is to essentially copy (so to speak, not literally!) the landing pages and forms of the big sites and to LOCALIZE your own PPC AD COPY and DOMAINS.

For example:

PPC Ad Copy:

Title: Richmonds Most Trusted Local Roofing Company
Text: Lifetime Richmond resident shares cities most trusted local roofing company
URL: RichmondsBestLocalRoofing.com

Other Domain Ideas:

GetLocalRichmondHealthInsuranceNow.com
GetLifetimeRichmondDentalProfessionalNow.com

Ok, the copy needs work, and I haven't tested this idea yet.

But, you get the idea. And I don't see why this couldn't potentially help anybody to sell all kinds of different leads to a rapidly growing local search market (estimated 20%-50 of all searches).

Anybody care to share results from this approach?

Cheers,

Rod

Re: From Sea Weeds to Local niche & PROSPECTING ideas...
 

Rod,

Everyone is just making Too much Money in their pajamas Doing this. :)

But as with So many business opportunities, Few will Take Action!

Fortunately and Unfortunately, many Think PPC is just Too Risky & Costly with click fraud etc.

Just like all the “Hype” about Affiliate link theft and other discouraging news...

Business and Life is Full of Risks and PPC will continue Making people Rich and it's only Going to Get Bigger & Better... ;)

To add to Light Bulb Moments With Perry Marshall and Rod's examples...

There are So many Quality Specialty products online, Local and Worldwide, many with No Affiliate program and Weak marketing departments just waiting to be Approached regarding...

Finder Fee and PPC marketing opportunities to Grow their businesses...

PPC Joint Ventures & other investment wheeling and dealing...

PPC AD marketing campaign Help & Repair...

Newspaper, Magazine, Yellow page Advertisers that are Spending Big Bucks and Want someone to Tell them...

Why are you Paying $10,000+... for those Ads when I can Get you Online Leads, business and Sales for Small Bucks!

Let's Share that $10,000+ between Us...

Here's just one Quick example and there are many ways to Turn this into a Great business!

Google makes push to take Prada ads from Vanity Fair
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/busine...leprada08.html

And there's No reason that you can't “Chattel” Boats and all kinds of Luxury stuff through PPC...

Definitely, an interesting topic...

Phil

Re: From Sea Weeds to Local niche & PROSPECTING ideas...
 

Phil,

I skimmed the Light Bulb Moments interview you presented and will have to pick a time to go through all of it again.

As PPC is an amazing tool with endless opportunitites.

Think about it.

The geograhic targeting capabilities allow you hone-in on seaches originating from virtually any particular city block and/or worldwide, immediately!

As you point out there is an incredible amount of advertising that is simply wasted. Like throwing darts over a cliff.

And, an enormous amount of ad dollars being diverted FROM offline yellow pages, magazines, newspapers, and other sources, TO PPC because of this fact.

And, that most anybody that can demonstrate an acceptable ROI with PPC could go out and grab a fair share of their own.

A good, FREE place to start is to become a Google Adwords Professional.

Combine this knowledge with a good understanding of the geograhic and/or demographic market for the products or services you choose to work with, and a PPC Ad Agency could become a viable business option.

I really like the "Why are you Paying $10,000+... for those Ads when I can Get you Online Leads, business and Sales for Small Bucks!" approach.

However, I don't know if it would be best to charge, say, a flat 15% commission of the actual client PPC ad spend. Charge a monthly fee. Charge a minimum monthly fee and/or commission. Take accounts on-the-fly and charge, for example, 25% of the monthly savngs based (or not) on a certain ROI?

What do others recommend?

Yes, definately very interesting...

Rod