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Boxer Haus Is Up and Barking!!!

ShowboxersShowboxers subscriber Posts: 3
     FINALLY!  After many late nights and hours of work, BoxerHaus.com is Open For Business!!  The store went live on Wednesday and in just 3 days has already resulted in numerous entries into the Customer Database, almost 800 visitors averaging 9.5 Page Views, and generated over $400 in sales!!  These results were captured mainly through Whisper Campaign and Viral Marketing alone!! 
        I am very pleased with the results and am very thankful to the following people for their help:  TJ Graff for his countless hours of personal time giving me advice and guidance - I was blessed to have found you!, Jay Jones of AllMediaNet.com  for his talents in web design, Vince Creazzo of Spads.com for his wonderful Apple Cart design, and to the members of SUN who offered their opinions and assistance on my forum posts!! 
        Boxer Haus is off to a great start and I couldn`t be more satisfied!  I wanted a website that was rich and easily functional and I was able to garner exactly that!  The store offers a variety of Boxer dog gifts, collectibles, and art and I keep adding new products almost daily!!  Boxer Haus features items that use templates designed for personalization and customization.  The store also has a unique Gift Certificate program that the customer can opt to receive via e-mail or snail mail.  You can check out my Boxer Haus store at www.boxerhaus.com</A>
    And the best part is that with just under a $3,000 investment....BoxerHaus.com became an online store just as I had envisioned!
     To show my thanks to SUN members for their help in making my vision a reality, I want to offer a 5% discount to all SUN members any time they shop at my store!  Even if you don`t have boxers, you may know someone who does or you can still utilize our custom artists, such as Marty Gordon, to paint your own dog on the merchandise of hers that Boxer Haus carries!  To get the discount, go to http://www.boxerhaus.com/store.htm</A> and register into the Customer Database.  In the comments section, notate you are a SUN member and your SUN member log in name.  After membership in SUN is verified, I will input the 5% discount into your Customer Profile and notify you - after which time the store will generate the discount for you ever time you shop at Boxerhaus.com 
       Thank you again to everyone and wishing you great success in your own business ventures!!!

Comments

  • iouone2iouone2 subscriber Posts: 14
    Congratulations Beth! I am so happy to hear everything is off to a good start. Also, thanks for the 5% kick back. That`s great!
  • ChristinaChristina subscriber Posts: 6
    Congratulations on your new venture! I hope it continues to be a success
  • MaryMary subscriber Posts: 2
    Beth,
    Great Site! Good Luck to  you. I am a dog lover but mostly mutts.
    Looks like you are on the right path.  Congratulations may all your hard work pay off quickly!
    Best of luck
    Mary
  • LogoMotivesLogoMotives subscriber Posts: 15
    Congratulations on being "open for business."  I think everyone here knows how hard you have worked to make this a reality.  All the best - J.
  • EricEric subscriber Posts: 8
    Beth,
    Fantastic! What a difference!  I think it`s going to be a hit. You`ve asked all the right questions. You followed advice. You made it happen. Such methods are proven to lead to success again and again. You should be proud and excited.
    Great job!
    ~Eric
  • VCVC subscriber Posts: 0
    Congratulations on your new site and venture!
    It has been a pleasure working with you, and I hope I have been helpfull in answering all of your questions.
    God knows you had a ton;-)
    I wish you every success, and may god bless you and keep you in the palm of his hand!
    Good Luck, Beth!!
    Vince...
  • SethSeth subscriber Posts: 2
    Totally cool! Next to bugs, boxers rule! Awesome site, easy to navigate, and  friendly. You mentioned that you had over $400 in sales and 800 visitors in 3 days. I am jealous. What did you do to get the traffic so quickly? What is a "whisper campaign," and what advice would you give to over ecommerce startups? 
  • ShowboxersShowboxers subscriber Posts: 3
            Thank you to everyone at SUN who sent words of congrats and good will!  Sales are still generating well for this time of year and although I have a long way to go to make a profit, I am confident it will happen and feel I am on my way.  Can`t wait for the Christmas rush if this is a taste of what is yet to come!
            To answer TJ, the search engines HAVE picked up on BoxerHaus already with my alternative domain that I bought www.boxerhouse.com</A> is registering on Yahoo as #8 out of 1,810,000 hits with a search term for boxer dog products and #18 out of 1,500,000 hits with a search term for boxer gift products! 
           Seth, you asked about Whisper Campaign and how I generated the traffic so quickly, which by the way remains consistent in the number of hits my site is receiving.  Whisper campaign is what generated the traffic. Fortunately, for the last 12 years or so I have been very involved in showing boxers and am a member of the American Boxer Club, Maryland Boxer Club and active with assisting Boxer Rescue.  Therefore, I had several outlets at my disposal and took advantage of all of them.  Whisper Campaign is merely the act of "whispering" the message of BoxerHaus.com as being an entity and persuading, without being pushy, people to come check out the site.  I e-mailed several boxer lists that are composed of close to 1,000 or more members combined as well as all of my friends, boxer and nonboxer.  Nonboxer friends are sure to know a friend with a boxer and are just as likely to help spread the word of Boxer Haus.  Many friends wrote back saying they loved the concept of BoxerHaus.com and the store and said they forwarded my message to everyone in their address book.   And just as simple as that, the word was spread and people started coming to my site. 
           My next move was to e-mail friends about a week later and ask them to add BoxerHaus.com to their boxer website or any website they may own on their link pages.  I additionally added BoxerHaus.com on the front page and the links page of my own boxer website at www.amityhallboxers.com</A>   Tracking the activity regarding where referrals are coming from to my Boxer Haus site has proved links from other websites to be an avenue of some of the hits I am receiving.
          Now I have a boxer rescue group in Ohio as well as  boxer club in Florida asking me to donate something for their respective fundraiser and show.  Of course I will donate and put my business card on the product to spread the word even further.  I plan to develop a brochure soon that I can also send with donations.  I figure the money spent in donations will come back tenfold in advertising this way.  My Database also allows me to create Gift Certificates that contain my logo and name so these will also make great donations that will surely bring people to my store.
         Another plan I have for generating traffic is through advertising in dog show catalogs and the Boxer Ring which is the #1 boxer magazine in the USA.  And I also plan on registering soon, key words with Google and Yahoo to up my rankings on those search engines.
         Just standing by with a website for your online store and waiting for people to find you is not going to generate traffic quickly to a new site, you need to go out and "pound the pavement".  Marketing your site with what ever avenues you have available to you is imperative as a start up and being creative as to what is possible in getting the word out will give you an even bigger advantage.   That is what is working for me and I am constantly thinking of new ideas to market from, the logic being the more people who hear about your store, the faster your store will be successful! 
  • SethSeth subscriber Posts: 2
     Thank you for sharing the things that are working for you to drive traffic. I know everyone who has, or is planning, an online store appreciates your insight.
    You are 100% right about going after every available outlet at your disposal. I call it planting seeds. I drop one everywhere I go and leave one with everyone I meet. Now I just need some sunshine!
  • ShowboxersShowboxers subscriber Posts: 3
      Would that be seeds you are planting Bugmaster or bots?  Sorry, I couldn`t resist....
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