What I do for Fun...

What would you expect a person like me, who thinks that 3-D, organotypic in vitro tissue models are "really cool", does for fun?

Sky dive? Hang glide? Of course not!

What I do for fun is build Web sites! How I got hooked on this “hobby” is an interesting story, at least I think it is!

In the mid-1990's, I was the Marketing Communications Director for a company that produced analytical instruments, primarily for the water/wastewater treatment and chemical manufacturing markets. We prided ourselves on the technical support we provided to our Customers via an 800 number technical support group and printed materials. It was just around that time that I started to hear about something called the Internet, especially the World Wide Web portion of it.

As the Marcom Director, I took it upon myself to investigate the potential for using this Internet/Web thing to enhance Customer communications. In particular, I was intrigued with the potential to cost effectively reach Chemistry students and their professors at colleges and universities around the world. Historically, it was Chemistry department graduates that ended up being the supervisors in the type of labs that purchased most of our instruments and supplies, so it was important to reach these decision influencers as early as possible in their Chemistry careers to imprint our brand on them. Servicing these college Chemistry departments was always a challenge because it just was not cost-effective to have our field sales force spend a lot of time at this type of account.

Once I figured out how to get on the Web (not an easy task in those days!), the first thing I did was try to find out how many colleges and universities had a presence on the Web. What I found still amazes me to this day. Forget about colleges and universities – of course they all had Web sites. What I found truly amazing was that 200-300 college Chemistry DEPARTMENTS had their own Web sites!

Long story short, I built that company’s first corporate Web site nights and weekends. After about 4 months, my boss at the time was so impressed with the amount of information that we could make available to Customers, prospects and our network of distributors via the Web site, that he decided to emphasize the existence of the site by adding the Web site address to ALL offline marketing collateral – catalogs, print ads, data sheets, instruction manuals, etc.

Ever since that experience, I’ve been hooked on how powerful online marketing is, especially as it relates to small companies selling their products and services to other companies. From that point on, I’ve also tried to stay knowledgeable about the "nuts and bolts" of Web site construction and maintenance, as well as how best to market a company's products and services on the Web. To that end, I stay involved with a number of Web sites, including:

Dave Ingalls – this Web site – my personal stop on the Internet/ Web.

MatTek – my employer’s Web site. I’ve made significant content additions to this Web site over the last 6 years. Again, it gives a small company like MatTek an “unfair” advantage versus its competitors, if taken full advantage of. And we do!

Here's a link to information about a typical MatTek in vitro product application - measuring the skin irritation potential of a new cosmetics or cleaning product and/or of that new product's ingredients.

CYBL – my hometown recreational basketball league for 2nd through 12th graders. I’ve added significantly to this site’s content in the years I’ve been the volunteer webmaster. We’ve even partnered with a company to provide online registration with a pay-by-credit card option for our players and their parents.

Captain Tom Curran Foundation – I developed and maintain this Web site for the foundation. The foundation was created to honor Captain Tom Curran of the Chelmsford Fire Department, and in its 20-plus years of existence has provided college scholarships to hundreds of deserving high school seniors.

FREE Internet Marketing Course – I started this free online Internet Marketing Course a few years ago (original name, "Web Marketing Tutorial") to keep myself current in the various emerging Internet marketing techniques. It’s done that and more!

Internet Marketing Blogger – one of the latest Internet marketing phenomena appears to be the blogosphere! I’m not sure where it’s all going, but any online marketer (and politician!) who doesn’t understand the potential for this latest online marketing medium could be in for a big surprise – from a competitor!

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