Brian Koles is the founder of Chicago based GreenTechBuyer.org, a one stop shop solution for home owners, property managers, land owners and anyone that wants to learn more about going green and making their properties more energy efficient.
“Everyone- home owners, property managers, land owners, everyone wants to go Green,” said Koles, “most people don’t understand their options. They hear all the talk, get frustrated and then feel lost and do nothing. GreenTechBuyer changes that and makes it easy,” said Koles.
At its core, GreenTechBuyer has (other than a great looking site) three main areas: the home page, the resources page and the buyers page for people looking for information on buying Green building services.
Since going live in September 2010, GTB’s traffic has doubled monthly and maintains a newsletter with several thousand subscribers.
“Our main revenue driver is lead generation for Green services vendors,” said Koles. “Traditionally, the lead generation space is distrusted by most consumers,” Koles went on, “but we have a sense of community at our site. We have white papers and a blog that people have really responded well to along with a discussion forum.”
When a consumer decides they want to install something Green (say Solar Panels), they fill in their information and then vendors working with GTB contact them and compete for their business. The vendors pay for the leads from GTB.
“It has gone really well for us,” said Koles. “The vendors have been burned by less than reputable lead gen companies in the past, and my record speaks for itself.”
Koles said the biggest thing for people to think about is that its not the huge things that make the most difference. “Get a home energy audit, they are cheap. Buy some weather stripping; unplug things when they aren’t being used. It’s the little things that really add up; duct tape can save you money on your energy bills.”
