We saw a huge spike in our traffic on Monday, so I knew someone, somewhere had written about our service.  A little investigation showed a huge volume of traffic coming from our friends at Yahoo!  The Yahoo Finance Team published their Fabulous Freebies 2008 list.

So as I scrolled down the page past free TV & Movies, Free Directory Assistance, Free College Savings, and Free Shipping. I found our listing…. right next to the Dunkin Donuts ad.

Thanks Yahoo!

PC Magazine, the independent guide to technology, recently released its list of the top 100 undiscovered web sites.  We are honored to be in the list.  Here is their short review.

How did we get in the list?  That is the first question I asked.  Kyle Monson, associate editor at PCMag.com and author of the article explains the process in the lead article.  Here are the key excerpts:

For our Undiscovered Web Sites list, we pick those that capture the best of the trends and memes swirling around the Web. Some of these “undiscovered” Web sites are surely known to you, and may even have large Internet followings within their particular niche, but the list’s broad range of sites and categories means there’s plenty of new stuff here for everyone to discover.

This year’s selection committee was headed by Associate Editor Kyle Monson and also included Software/Internet Senior Editor Sean Carroll, Senior Writer Eric Griffith, Lead Analyst Michael Muchmore, Associate Editor Brian Heater, and Intern Jared Preusz.

When judging a Web site, we look at its content, update frequency, design, innovation and usefulness or entertainment value (or both). We compare similar sites with one another, but we also look for a broad range of topics and categories.

The top 100 sites are also organized by category. You will find Catalog Choice listed under Shopping.

… that is the conclusion of Mike Kraus’s article titled “Catalog Choice - A Benefit for Retailers?“.  Mike tells the story from his perspective in his article published at Allbusiness.com.  Here are the key excerpts from Mike’s article.

The great news is that nearly a million people have signed up, opting to cut down their junk mail and more importantly, send a signal to retailers that they are wasting the planet’s natural resources by sending out the catalogs to people who don’t want them anyway.

…

It doesn’t matter how you sum up Catalog Choice, the fact is that people love it.  And it continues to grow.  And the retailers that take part gain credibility as being environmentally conscious and in tune with their customers, or potential customers’ needs.

I know I opted out of Hammacher Schlemmer six months ago and just yesterday, I received a catalog.  Do I think poorly of Catalog Choice for not being able to strike a deal?  Nope.  I think poorly of Hammacher Schlemmer who isn’t listening to me, who isn’t concerned about wasting resources, who is too self-centered to realize that they are having a negative impact on my perceptions of their company.

…
All I know is the halo effect around retailers such as Grandin Road, allposters.com and Relax the Back is heightened due to their desire to listen to their customers by not sending catalogs when customers don’t want them.  Hmmm.  Listening to what customers want and need.  That’s a concept every retailer can learn from.

We are pleased to have the following merchants signed up to the service and starting the process of honoring our members mail preference request:

Deva Lifewear, Inc.
Schnee’s
Kacey Fine Furniture
DharmaCrafts, Inc.
Hammer Nutrition
Bavarian Autosport
Back to Basics Toys
Santa Fe Greenhouse, Inc
Potpourri Group
Computer Gear
C.C. Filson Co.
Utrecht Art Supplies
Thompson Group
Medals of America
Seeds of Change
Wayside Technology Group
Overton’s
J. Marco
Fair Indigo

There are several others whom we have delivered large files of names to who are starting the process of honoring your mail preference but have elected to not be listed on the Bravo Merchants page at this time.

All in all, progress is being made.  One step at a time.

People often wonder how Catalog Choice pays the bills since our service is free to consumers and merchants.  The answer is simple - our service is funded by a series of foundations that support our mission of consumer choice, reducing unwanted mail and providing innovative measures to promote sustainable consumption and production that benefit the environmental.

We would like to take a moment to thank our foundation sponsors the Overbrook Foundation, the Merck Family Fund, the Kendeda Fund, Weeden Foundation and Mead Foundation.  Without their support, we never could have developed this innovative service.

We are starting to explore ways to expand our sponsorship program to include Corporate sponsors.  In much the same way services like National Public Radio are funded, in part, through the generous support of sponsors, we are considering the addition of corporate sponsors at Catalog Choice.  We will not litter the site with banner ads, but rather tastefully include an area on the page that highlights our sponsors.

We would like to hear from you, our loyal blog readers, about your thoughts on an expanded sponsorship program.  Any thoughts on who would be good sponsors?  Have other ideas that we should consider?  The comment string is open.  Let us know what you think.