We Swear, It Was Thissssss Big

If you’re looking for a big fish story, don’t flounder around the Net. Swim on over to Trout Unlimited (www.tu.org), an organization-and Web site-dedicated to the pucker-faced fish and the people who hunt them. Trout Unlimited’s motto-similar to the L.A.P.D.’s-is “to conserve, protect and restore North America’s coldwater fisheries and their watersheds.”

Crass capitalists that we are, we typically cover in this space e-commerce Web sites launched by money-grubbing marketers. But Trout Unlimited’s effort, a sort of school (get it?) for fly-fisherpersons, is a good example of a fine nonprofit Internet presence. And it does-thank goodness-offer product opportunities, which we’ll get to.

Trout Unlimited boasts over 100,000 members in 450 local chapters nationwide. These fishy activists lobby, monitor legislation, conduct research in trout and salmon management and engage in stream restorations. Most members are fly-fishers.

The site runneth over with useful stuff: chapter search by area code, state or URL; chapter news from the locals’ newsletters; a library of documents to help leaders run their chapters; a password-protected area for the aforementioned leaders to exchange ideas with similarly situated leaders; an activist network for-what else-activists; a threaded message board with topics like “Brown Trout Books,” “Fly-fishing New Jersey” and “Fly-fishing Software” (huh?).

And the group has a new cable presence, Trout Unlimited Television, or TUTV. (Why not? It worked for music.) The site tells you what’s on the show each week. (If you must know, it “airs”-cables?-on ESPN2 Sundays at 7:30 a.m. and Wednesdays at 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.)

Now here’s the really interesting and instructive thing about this Web site: its member services. Members can type in their information (name, address, member ID) to make sure it’s right and, if there are any errors, they can correct them via e-mail.

Members can also check whether Trout Unlimited has received their renewal or membership payment (think: FedEx’s system for monitoring package delivery).

Trout Unlimited accepts enrollment and payment online. A regular membership is $30, but the site also offers the same premium deals (the product opportunities!) as in Trout Unlimited’s direct mail. Want an L.L. Bean fishing backpack? That’ll be a gift of $250. Want an upper-class trout rod? That’ll be a gift of $1,000.

Kenny Mendez, chief operating and financial officer, says the site accounted for 15% of new member revenue in September and October.

Trout Unlimited also has an angle (get it?) on lead generation. The site’s guest book has “Send Information Now” and “Maybe Later” options. Since January of this year, TU has mailed a total of 3,485 names who wanted information right away and has converted 380 (a nice 11%) of these inquiries into memberships, according to Mendez. At the same time, it mailed a total of 2,172 “Maybe Later” names and converted 103 into members (4.7%).

“We’re dealing with a very limited list universe of available fly-fishermen, so this opens up a new recruiting avenue for us,” says Mendez.

Narrative Communications Corp., Waltham, MA, the folks who brought us the Enliven banner ads that allow purchases to be made right in the banner, are at it again. They’ve released Enliven 3.0, a new version with some neat features. First there’s (previously announced) audio and video streaming to add sound and action to an ad. Then there’s improved reporting capabilities, so advertisers can track a campaign (broken down by publishers’ sites, creative and other categories) daily at a Narrative extranet site. Formerly, reports were weekly and offline. And the feature with the most razzle-dazzle: “Enliven Expand,” which allows users to stretch the size of a banner across the page and which Enliven says it developed at the behest of Procter & Gamble Co. Marketers can use the space to enhance ad messages or include an order form. The feature can work either when the cursor waves over the ad or only when the user clicks on the ad.

We’re a little skeptical about the appeal and profitability of auction Web sites, but just to keep you informed we’re telling you about a new one. Krause Publications, which puts out a treasure chest of collectors’ periodicals, added an auction function to its Web site (www.collectit.net) last month. Sellers will incur no bidding fee-Krause charges a commission only if a winning bid is received. Sellers can automatically extend the time of an auction if bidding activity is heavy. For buyers, the site has a feature that allows bids to be placed on multiple items from a single screen. The collectit.net site also has a large classified advertising area linked to most of Krause’s 36 publications, which cover antiques, limited-edition collectibles, coins and paper money, toys, comics, music, sports cards and memorabilia, stamps, collector cars, firearms and knives. Krause also has a corporate Web site at www.krause.com.