Website Aims to Link Organic Industry
Published: Saturday, September 01, 2001
The site, AllOrganicLinks.com, provides a B2B directory highlighting companies in the organic foods and natural products industry.
In the few months it has been live, the site has attracted more than 1,400 links in 19 categories.
The site is the brainchild of Tom Foerstel, president and creative director of Foerstel Design in Boise, Idaho.
Foerstel says the catalyst for starting the website was frustration at not being able to find a centralized source of information on companies in the industry. “We realized there wasn’t a good source to link out for information,” he says.
The directory gives Internet users listings of companies with a brief description of each one’s goods and services as well as a direct link to the company website. “If a company doesn’t have a website, then we can’t post it, but we do offer to build a page that has a URL and contact information for about $250,” Foerstel adds.
Foerstel Design is a graphics design company that focuses on Web design, packaging, promotion, advertising and brand-identity development. Posting company information on the site is free. Foerstel estimates that his company’s initial investment was between $30,000 and $50,000 and consumed about 300 to 500 man-hours during the first six months. Employees who maintain the site now spend only about 30 minutes to one hour per day, he says.
“Sponsoring this website gives us the opportunity to talk with people in the industry,” Foerstel says. “Long term, if we help the industry grow, then our business will grow with the industry.” In addition to the free listing, the website is offering a free trial banner-ad for those who sign up in order to raise their “click throughs,” or the number of hits they get on their link.
“We had done work for companies such as Heinz and Ocean Spray, and one morning I realized that I was helping people who make foods that are unhealthy and unsustainable. We made a commitment to learn about the industry, and I spent a year researching the industry, taking tours of companies, going to trade shows, talking with people. Then we started actively seeking work,” Foerstel says.
Foerstel hopes that in the future the website will allow for more sophisticated types of interactions, including advertising. “I would imagine that as bandwidth becomes more available, we will allow some sort of paid advertising by people who want to put a commercial or a promotion on our site in a special spot.”
For more information visit www.
AllOrganicLinks.com; or call 208.345.6656.