Got a press release about Discover Financial Services new financial information portal Discover Edge:

"...an online resource dedicated to helping consumers become more savvy when it comes to managing their time and money. Designed to help Discover Cardmembers stay in control of their finances, Discover EDGE provides consumers with everyday financial advice to help them get ahead - and stay there.

Discover EDGE content is written by an independent team of experts, led by nationally-syndicated columnist and best-selling author Ilyce Glink. Consumers will find helpful articles covering a variety of topics, including shopping, travel, finance, home, technology, book reviews and more. They also will find regular features such as Ask Ilyce - an insightful Q&A in which consumers receive answers to questions they submit regarding their own personal finances.

The site will be updated twice per month.

I looked at Discover Edge and thought it looked just fine. Original articles, well-written. But the question I always have about a project like this is: who's going to read it? Who is going to rely on Discover to give them tips on DVD players and last-minute spring break trips, especially when new information only shows up every two weeks? Would anyone choose Discover Edge over, say, Yahoo Finance? Not that I can imagine. So why do it?

Remember when the Web first started gaining traction but no one knew what to do with it? You'd have cereal companies trying to make themselves the hub of all content for kids, or banks creating crazy games that no one played. The Web designers got a lot of money out of it, but the companies didn't. Discover Edge looks like one of those ideas that sounded good in a meeting but no one had the courage to say "Who the hell's going to read this?"

I don't mean to pick on Discover, because I actually think their offering looks good. But if you are a company trying to increase your profile, don't create general content that sits on your site in a vain attempt to get people to come look at it. No one will believe that Discover is the best source of unbiased financial information, even if the content has nothing to do with credit cards.

Here's what I would've done if I was Discover: Create a site called The Financial Edge Blog or Money Discovery or Genius Shopper. Then, use your significant dollars to create lots of great content and build up the site's traffic. Then lo and behold have all the ad space feature Discover products and services. It would be right to put a disclaimer at the bottom of the site saying it is owned by Discover Financial Services for transparency's sake. You could even have some of the blog posts say "Today let's talk about Discover's new credit card, since it's our site for gosh sakes and we deserve to toot our own horn once in a while..."

Bottom line: Create an independent Web site that is not just an offshoot of your current site. Update it frequently (not twice a month), then plug your company along the edges. Who knows? You might even build a new, valuable brand along the way.

I could be wrong. But that's how I'd do it.

(In fact, Discover or any other financial company listening, throw about a million bucks my way & I'll be happy to create your financial portal for you. I'll write content like a madman-although I won't use politically-incorrect words like "madman.")