Our First Award.


Friday, February 2, 1996

I've been out publicizing the Page to all sorts of companies; my background is marketing afterall, so it's very easy. An enticing message and my URL is emailed gently to all awards providers telling them, "Although it's winter outside, it's always warm and tropical in my spacious greenhouses at http://www.gdnctr.com and first-time visitors get free eye flowers and can pet the kitty." What the hell are "eye flowers"? Dunno, but it works every time.

Monday Morning.
When I opened email to get my messages, the Ground Zero Cool Pick award notice was first to come out. I couldn't believe it. It was like winning the lottery. Actually, I wouldn't know; I've never won the lottery, I don't even play the lottery. Whatever. It felt like someone out there recognized a very elegant page on The Web. I was positive that the best was yet to come.

What's Next?
I couldn't stop there, I had to go out and market the site to two main groups: 1) The Award Givers, and 2) The Horticultural Community. The Award Givers can get the masses, raw numbers if you will, to visit the Page. They can create big traffic for a site. If you go to my Recognitions Page, you'll see what recognitions we've received since we went on line. Each of these sites has a link back to me. The Horticultural Community is comprised of focused, like-thinking institutions (universities with horticultural colleges) and business-related sites. If you go to my Search Page, you'll see what I mean by looking at the links I've put up. Each of these sites also has a link back to me.
Since I market rare, unusual and hard-to-find plant material to a very upscale clientel (it's a vertical market as opposed to a mass-oriented horizontal market), I had to find key people who would link me to their audience, a ready-made client group. Individuals with an interest in gardening who have horticulture-related Pages is another sub-group to link with. They're all good people on the InterNet who like to help each other out in cyberspace. I found lots of friends out there on The Web, and most of us still correspond on a regular basis to this day.

Lead On McDuff.
To date, we've received a lot of recognition for the Garden Center's Pages. And we're very thankful and humbled by all the wonderful people on The Web. Whether it's Site of the Year, Month, Week, Day, Hour, Minute or Second, it's all appreciated and we salute those who bestow.



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