Celsias – a website to warm eco-friendly hearts

Celsias, a website that encourages people to take actions to help stop climate change and to lower the impact of their lives on their environment, has built a global community of thousands and – last year – was named one of New Zealand's top 10 business start ups.

A group of New Zealand-based business acquaintances who met through other environmental projects created Celsias as a blog aimed at addressing climate change and sustainability.

They wanted the information to be targeted at ordinary people who would appreciate it and who could act on it. Their idea was to create a space where quality information about climate change and the sustainability sector was neither polarised nor politicised – the two roads these issues usually took.

The website today is based around the original blog, but another key to its success is a range of Web 2.0 tools that let people share information about eco-friendly projects and tasks that individuals can take to boost sustainability in their lives.

The site has captured the imagination of many and is host to thousands of users around the world, as well as more than 300 New Zealand and international companies.

Strong community is the foundation

Having built a strong community, the business is now focusing on leveraging that strength to develop revenue.

The business model is, simply, advertising. Companies will pay for different types of advertising on the Celsias site, with the cost dependent on where the ad is displayed.

The advertising business model has been chosen because the companies who advertise there know their ads will be seen by an enthusiastic and educated community passionate about the eco-friendly causes on the site.

“The media advertising model suits us because of the number of users and the amount of traffic at Celsias,” says Nick Gerritsen, Celsias's chairman. “It gives our advertisers brilliant coverage and we keep the users coming back by providing the right information, tools and encouragement in the sharing of ideas.”

Keeping the community growing and vibrant is, then, a key task for the Celsias team.

Constant fresh content and articles (including many from George Monbiot, a world-leading ‘sustainability’ writer) and the online communication tools that let people around the world share ideas about green activities in a fun and relaxed way are the main attractions.

The shared information, projects and ideas prove to be very diverse. Projects listed by individuals and companies range from the most popular, ‘Letter From Antarctica’, a voice for people who choose to live in the harshest climate on earth to the least popular, ‘Dream Green India’, www.poolmycar.in, about car pooling in India. Personal pledges range from the most popular, ‘eating more vegetables’ to the least, ‘working in a community garden’.

Online won’t work for all business ideas

While the internet has proved a viable environment for the Celsias concept, Nick cautions that “not all business is suitable or meant to be online”.

“For example, if you’re spending a lot of money on campaigns to generate traffic (to your site) that doesn’t mean you’ll get your entire investment back. It’s content that you need to generate. Content is what keeps users coming back and telling their friends about you.

“It’s all about quality engagement with our visitors,” he says.

With 120 contractor writers around the world that they can call on to contribute, Celsias easily creates content to help boost that visitor engagement, and the site has recently appointed an editor to help organise it.

The people behind the site have been hugely successful in raising its profile. The Times Online in 2008 has labeled Celsias one the world’s top five eco blogs, and the Wall Street Journal claims to read it every day.

Now the challenge is to turn that success into income.

To become a member of Celsias, visit www.celsias.com

Nick’s e-business tips

For new ecommerce businesses:

• Keep the idea fresh. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel and it is perfectly acceptable that some businesses will fail online because they’re just not suitable for the Internet.
• Generate revenue as soon as you can. The sooner the better. Remember you’re running a business and the sooner you are making money the faster you can grow.

For website design and technology:

• Don’t back yourself into a corner or put yourself under pressure. Seek help, ask for advice and think/plan ahead.
• Don’t spend a lot of money on design. In New Zealand, too much money is spent on design. Content is far more important.

The beginnings of Celsias

The history of the business begins with four founders: David ten Have and Derek Elley, owners of the online business www.ponoko.com that makes one-off custom-designed products; and Hamish Macfarlane and Vicki Buck, experienced businesspeople with a background in cleantech.

They hired a Wellington team of IT experts to build practical and cost effective tools for the site.

Today, the growth of the business is steered by a board of four: Nick Gerritsen, a business start-up expert (www.crispstart.com); Paul Roussell, an IT specialist; Accountant Murray Jago, who was involved in the early beginnings of Celsias, and has interests in other cleantech businesses; and Vicki Buck.

Have you thought about mentoring services?

While Celsias is fortunate to have the guidance of some talented and diversely experienced business people, not everyone has access to such quality human resources. But what is easily available for many small businesses are professional mentors, often with similar strengths to the teams mentioned above, to work alongside you and guide you in your business.

In New Zealand, there are many ways to find a mentor.

1. Since we live is such a small country the simplest way is just to honestly approach a business person you admire and ask, paid or unpaid. Most people will be flattered and will quickly advise whether they can help or not, and if they can’t will point you in the direction of someone who can.

2. Contact Business Mentors New Zealand. They charge a fee of $100 + GST and you must have been trading for at least 6 months with less than 25 fulltime employees. They pair you with a suitable mentor who provides their time, expertise and knowledge for free.

3. Te Puni Kokiri offers information and services to assist with developing and strengthening capacity within Maori communities.

4. Also try The Institute of Accredited Business Consultants (New Zealand) as they have paid mentors available who’ve been put through a rigorous evaluation and approval process to ensure you get what you pay for.