Cover Story: Finding the Perfect Balance

Selling Without Selling
As for the integration and conversion process of the two sites, "the primary purpose of the GaiamLife site is to educate; the secondary is to sell," Marshall says. The thought process goes as follows:

1. Devise an idea for an article, making sure it makes sense for the Gaiam brand and its customers.
2. Write the article, checking internally if there are any products the company sells that relate to it.
3. Down the right side of the GaiamLife.com page on which the article appears, display a DVD and, say, a yoga mat for a yoga-related article — both products that link to the Gaiam.com site.

"We don't want to turn this into an infomercial, and we don't want it to be like an advertorial," Marshall is quick to point out. "We've never wanted to cloud or obscure the education process by being over the top with selling."