Q&A: Michael Neu of Neptune Ventures, Lahaina.com
Posted on Apr 2nd, 2009
Associated Geos: How were you first introduced to the GeoDomain business?
Michael Neu: I have been working with my brother, Conor Neu, on other domain business concepts (international domains). We kept hearing about GeoDomains. We understood the value of generic domains like these with natural, targeted traffic. We decided to look into GeoDomains further.
We then persuaded our stepbrother, Jaime Irvine, to move out to Santa Monica, Calif. and help us grow our businesses. The more we analyzed GeoDomains, the more it made sense to us from a business perspective. We had trouble finding a city dot-com we were all passionate about, we liked the business model behind and we could actually acquire.
Eventually we got in touch with the original owner of Lahaina.com and were able to secure the domain. As we have past relationships in Hawaii from living and working there, it seemed to be a natural fit. It also didn’t hurt that we would have to spend a significant amount of time on Maui!
AG: What is your biggest initiative for 2009?
MN: We have a long list of projects to implement, but being a new site, one of our biggest initiatives is to build brand awareness around Lahaina.com in Maui and to increase the stickiness of our site through social tools for both tourists and locals alike. We also plan to focus on creating as much quality content as possible so we can rank No. 1 in both the mind of the end user and the search engines.
SEO will be very important as we create much more content for the site. The tourist industry on Maui is massive and there is plenty of competition. However, especially in these times we feel we have a great competitive advantage with our cost-effective advertising option built around the name of the biggest tourist destination on the island.
AG: What are the advantages and challenges of operating within a network like Associated Geos?
MN: Like others have mentioned before, the advantages are obvious. An enormous amount of time can be saved by learning from the successes and failures of others. We have high hopes for this association. It really is a unique situation where you can share cutting-edge business strategies with each other.
As the association continues to grow, I would like to see more use of the forum as a resource. It makes it easy to search for useful information by acting as a tutorial for new members and a wiki for current members.
AG: What type of day-to-day operational responsibilities do you have?
MN: I split my time between overseeing Lahaina.com and working on our local marketing businesses with Neptune Local. I work closely with my brothers (Jaime and Conor).
As we are a small company at this point, we all wear a lot of hats and have had to teach ourselves some things I never thought I would be doing a few years ago. I generally focus more time on the marketing, design and the business development side of our sites.
AG: What balance do to you try to work out between handling sales and marketing versus innovation and procedures?
MN: I try to keep it split equally. As both are essential, I try to divide my time as evenly as possible to drive new business while maintaining an innovative service that our customers are happy to purchase.
AG: What are the primary sources of revenue for Neptune Ventures?
MN: Our primary source of revenue now comes from our growing Neptune Local business. We create and manage an online small business presence by creating their Web site and online directory listings and managing their social media profiles and online marketing.
However, our goal is for Lahaina.com to become a substantial portion of Neptune’s revenue over the next 18 months as we start selling business listings and other advertising. Fortunately, the two businesses overlap and we can provide Maui customers with either service.
AG: What kind of relationships do you have with other local media Web sites for Lahaina.com?
MN: At this point, we don’t have any relationships with other local media Web sites primarily because we didn’t want to reach out to anyone until our site redesign was complete. While time will tell how this pans out, we will have our own writers and bloggers. We continue to build more local relationships.
AG: What challenges are unique to Neptune Ventures as compared with brick-and-mortar businesses?
MN: Many people still seek comfort in the “tangibility” factor like the Castello brothers and others have mentioned. We see this in our marketing side of the business with people more willing to cough up money for traditional advertising with extra costs just because they can hold it in their hand.
As there tends to be a lack of understanding of online marketing among small business owners, our sales pitch is often more of an educational session. Though most businesses understand they need to embrace the Internet, they don’t always know where to start. We know things are moving in our direction. It all takes time.
AG: What are your plans for evolving the Web site business over the next five years?
MN: The list grows every day. I’m sure it will only get longer after the conference in San Diego. There are a few areas in which we know we need to spend more time. As activities are huge in Hawaii, we are in the process of expanding this section of our site.
I am also a big believer in the role that social media will take in GeoDomain sites. The opportunities these social sites will provide as advertising and marketing platforms allow us to engage people by very specific demographics. As people continue to broadcast their lives online, it creates an opportunity to connect with these people before they visit your city or as they live within it.
We believe new opportunities will continue to present themselves as these platforms mature. Those of us who embrace them will have a competitive advantage. We also like the idea from both an environmental and business perspective of giving local businesses the opportunity to keep their advertising cost effective and “green”.
I think to some degree this will outweigh the tangibility factor in the future especially as mobile advertising grows. It will definitely be interesting to see how GeoDomains continue to evolve over the next few years and the place they will take alongside other media and travel resources.
AG: What activities spark your interest outside your Internet work?
MN: I live in Venice Beach right now and try to surf, get to the beach and generally enjoy the great weather here as much as I can.
Being from Seattle originally, I’m still not used to the amount of sunny days we get down here. I’ve always loved to travel, see new places and try new things. My latest challenge has been to expand my cooking skills outside of the good-old BBQ. It has definitely been a work in progress.