bGreen Joins 1% For The Planet

We're really excited to announce that bGreen has become a part of the 1% For The Planet program.



1% For The Planet is an exciting program that has a really simple mission:

1% for the Planet exists to build and support an alliance of businesses financially committed to creating a healthy planet.

While 1%'s mission is really simple, the organization itself is much more complex.  At the time of this writing, 1% FTP is a global movement with 1236 companies that donate 1% of their sales to a network of nearly 2,000 environmental organizations worldwide.



At bGreen, we are committed to doing our part to help people live in an environmentally friendly way.  Our vast selection of home and lifestyle products enables everyone to do their part to be green.  With our forthcoming building brand, you'll be able to take your green living one step further, and make your home the best eco friendly environment possible.



Going forward, we'll be donating 1% of our online sales from all home and lifestyle products to the 1% For The Planet program.  We look forward to watching our contributions to the program grow along with our business.



You can read more about 1% For The Planet or join their organization here.

bGreen & F. Rock on Gear Patrol

This past Monday one of our favorite products, F. Rock Custom Bags, was featured on Gear Patrol. If you're not familiar with Gear Patrol, it's a great site, claiming to be "the definitive resource for the ever-evolving man." We read Gear Patrol every day, and were delighted that a product we often feature on the bGreen site was written up. It's a testament to the quality product that Nicole' Keane produces.



[caption id="attachment_431" align="aligncenter" width="137" caption="F. Rock on Gear Patrol"][/caption]



You can learn more about F. Rock Custom Men's Carryalls on the bGreen site. You can also completely customize your bag and place an order in less than 5 minutes! Oh, and since we're so psyched about the Gear Patrol write up, use code GEARPATROL10 to get 10% off your F. Rock order at bGreen.

Top Sellers Through 2/21/2010

We've had a great two weeks at bGreen, and the response to our newly redesigned website has been great!  We're continually working to bring new and unique green and eco friendly products to you, at the best prices around.  You can always find great deals on the bGreen Weekly Deal site, and keep up with our newest products here.



Top Sellers Through 2/21/2010:

1. Klean Kanteen Wide Insulated Bottles



2. Twist Naked Sponges



3. Recycled Glass Pitcher



4. Blooming Lotus Liquid Soap



5. Green Toys Trucks

As a thanks for being a loyal bGreen blog reader, you can save 10% on your next bGreen order using code BLOG10 at checkout.



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The Best Gift Ever - Green Toys

Looking for that perfect gift for that perfect little guy or girl in your life?  Try Green Toys.  These great kids toys are made from recycled materials, in most cases recycled milk jugs.  The toys are green, safe, made in the USA, and totally awesome.  The two year old versions of ourselves are entirely jealous.  For more information on Green Toys, visit the Green Toys section of our site.  Don't forget to take 10% off your order with code BLOG10 at checkout.







If the video above does not load (like in Internet Explorer), click this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgC2uViv9-s

Jeffrey Cutler

So I decided to take a break from Chatrouletting and write the post I promised on our meeting a few weeks ago with a young entrepreneur who is a friend of a friend. Our good friend Brian Kramer, who handles the PR responsibilities for bGreen, works at Fama PR, a high-tech public relations firm in Cambridge, MA. Brian works with Jeffrey Cutler, who serves as Director of New Media at Fama. Brian hooked us up with Jeff, and we got together a few weeks ago to talk bGreen, entrepreneurship, and business. The meeting was great (although my buffalo chicken fingers left a little to be desired).



A little bit about Jeff. Jeff was part of the original team at Going.com, which was acquired by AOL a short time ago. If you read the reports (which we have), they were bought for something around $10 million, after a VC investment of around $5 million. Whether it's true or not, we have no idea. But Jeff is out and about pursing a ton of different opportunities, and that's what we were really interested in. Jeff has expertise in sales, marketing, SEO, web design, new media, etc etc etc. The list goes on, but needless to say, he's got a ton of experience, and we're always grateful to anyone who will talk to us. You can read more about Jeff at his website JeffreyCutler.com.



So we wanted to meet with Jeff basically just to pick his brain. We wanted to learn his thoughts on SEO, our website, and our business concept. It's was pretty eye opening, and a lot of what we've been working on the past couple weeks has been based on our meeting with Jeff. Our website re-design, which was coming at some point anyway, was really sparked by Jeff's comments. He pointed out several elements we were missing that we've since incorporated into our site. Search, professionalism, and security were key topics of our discussion. You can see this reflected in our site, with a new design, prominently featured search, and security features displayed, like our Network Solutions SSL certification. Jeff has knowledge about what online shoppers are looking for, and we wanted to make sure our customers have a simple and secure shopping experience.



There's a lot of back-end work happening with our website that our customers will never see. However, we want to make sure that if you Google "klean kanteen" or "eco friendly trash bags" bGreen is one of the top results. We're making changes to our site to ensure this happens. Jeff runs a website, allwhitekicks.com, that has some great technology and SEO built in, and we've been taking some cues from his site to help with ours.



Finally, one of the main suggestions Jeff made was to just get out there and sell. Sell, sell, sell. Promote bGreen like crazy. We're doing this, and are about to ramp up our efforts around town. With our bGreen Mobile Showroom, Square, and plenty of events coming up this Spring, we're certain bGreen will become the leader in green and eco friendly products in Boston and on the web.

Square

We got a Square.  It's awesome.  Really really awesome.  Please watch the video below for a quick demo, starring Square and the bGreen team.



If you're in Boston, and would like to catch a glimpse Square in action, get in touch via email or follow us on Twitter.







If the video above does not load (like in Internet Explorer), click this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_UYu5GysiQ



Square is based in San Francisco and was founded in February 2009 by a very talented team, including Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter.  Square is backed by Khosla Ventures, and a team of angels including Marissa Mayer, Shawn Fanning, and Kevin Rose.  You can view the entire Square Team here.  We think they're all great, and thank the Square team for allowing bGreen to participate in their beta program.

bGreen Building Project #1 - North End Kitchen

The spring is almost upon us and at bGreen that means we are gearing up to launch our building brand. We have some really cool concepts that we can't wait to share with everyone. We thought a perfect way to kick off this new bGreen venture would be to start with a project in one of our own homes. So project #1 will focus on changing out the counters in Barry's (bGreen co-founder) kitchen. We are fortunate enough to have a head of building services (Matt) who has 20 years of experience and is LEED AP certified. He knows everything there is to know about home renovation and making it green. In fact, Matt's own home is going to be LEED certified shortly.



Scope of the project:

• Replace Formica counter tops with green alternative (Richlite, Paperstone)



• Replace sink and faucet, adding a water filtration system



• Finish back splash with white subway tile reclaimed from an old project



• Extend existing counter top bar area into living area to create dining and workstation area (Plyboo)



• Recycle old counter tops, sink & faucet (Building Materials Resource Center)

Below is a project introduction video we put together, as well as some rough sketches of the kitchen area and proposed new dining area.  Enjoy, and if you're interested in greening your own home with bGreen, please email us here or call us at 617-910-0880.







If the video above does not load (like in Internet Explorer), click the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4_J5eV6rDk



[caption id="attachment_380" align="aligncenter" width="296" caption="bGreen Building Project Kitchen Sketch"][/caption]



[caption id="attachment_382" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="bGreen Building Project Dining Area Extension"][/caption]

A New Look

It's been a busy few weeks for bGreen.  We've been working on a website re-design, and if you've ever attempted one of these things, you'll know it's no easy task.  One change leads to 50 others, and so on and so on.  It just never ends.



There are many reasons we opted to re-design the site.  We received some great feedback from our valued customers and friends.  We searched the web to find sites we really liked, and adopted some of their design elements.  We received advice from some a successful web entrepreneur (more about that in the next post).  The result is what you see today at bgreenlifestyle.com.



We wanted to make the shopping experience easier, safer, and more dynamic.  Now, at the top of the page, you can find easy ways to contact us, log in to the site, get at all your account info, and view your order history.  Search is where it's at, so we've prominently featured a huge search box at the top of every page.  Search away!  We've highlighted our top sellers right in the header of the page.  As we always say, if other people love an item, well, it's worth taking a look at.  All your shopping categories are easily accessible in the left column of every page.  Navigate around - we're certain you'll find some great green products you'll love.  At the bottom of the page, you can still follow us all over the web, easily navigate throughout the site, and visit our blog (which has a new address: http://blog.bgreenlifestyle.com).



We're really excited about these changes.  We think it's makes shopping with bGreen a much better experience.



Over the next few weeks, we'll be rolling out more features, like a featured brands section, some top search info, and a blog re-design to match the new site, so be sure to check back often.



Oh, and we almost forgot to mention something.  As a "thanks for being patient while we crippled our site for a few days preventing you from shopping" we're offering you 20% off your order using code RELAUNCH at checkout.  This coupon is good through next Monday, Feb 15.