XenonPrime

About the Client

BNI Manhattan 29 was XenonPrime’s first BNI chapter! Although we’re located in Northern Virginia, we were interested in tapping into as many geographic areas as possible — especially one as successful as New York City. That’s why we joined this unique chapter in mid-2024.

Most BNI chapters meet in the morning, but BNI Manhattan 29 is actually an evening chapter that meets on Tuesdays at 6 pm ET. While most of its members are NYC-area professionals, a few are from outside the region and one is even from Australia!

Background & Challenge

Shortly after joining, we approached the chapter’s leadership about designing a website for the networking group — and they enthusiastically agreed. Together we chose the domain manhattanbni29.com, and XenonPrime handled the domain and hosting management at wordpress.com.

The main challenge was creating a website that was informative and persuasive, describing to visitors information about BNI and the chapter while also encouraging prospective members on how to join. To accomplish this, we quickly outlined a need for the following pages:

• Standard homepage to serve as a “table of contents” for the rest of the website.
• About BNI page to describe BNI the global organization broadly.
• Chapter info page to explain key details of the chapter (number of members, dollar amount of business passed, etc.).
• Member directory to showcase the chapter leadership and each of the member seats.
• Blog to highlight posts written by members using their exemplary credentials in their field.

The end goal was to create a website that was not only informational but also served as a recruitment and credibility tool for this distinguished networking group.

Our Solution

In designing the chapter’s website, we wanted to stay true to BNI’s global branding aesthetics, while also emphasizing a uniquely NYC touch. As a result, we stayed with BNI’s distinctly red theme and included iconic images of NYC, such as the Statue of Liberty, Times Square, and the One World Trade Center (the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere). Pexels.com served as a key repository of free yet exceptionally attractive images.

Another solution we provided was for the chapter members’ images in the directory. A handful of them were of low resolution, so we utilized AI tools like ChatGPT to upscale them. Now the chapter members’ images all look sharp and position the chapter as one comprised of dedicated professionals.

Lastly, the content and copy were written in an SEO-optimized fashion, providing ample internal links to different pages, as well as external links to the canonical BNI website, bni.com. This effort was ultimately successful, as the website ranks exceptionally high for the key phrase “BNI manhattan 29” in Google’s search results.

Conclusion

The BNI Manhattan 29 website offered some unique challenges — specifically, how to balance staying true to the BNI brand while also incorporating details that are unique to the NYC region. As the developers of the website, we provided a robust content strategy that not only outlines the group’s membership in an aesthetically pleasing and easy-to-understand way but also encourages and educates prospective professionals on how to join this dynamic and highly successful chapter.