Name of your website?Prom Shoes Boutique
Your name?
Rick Anderson
Your Location (city, etc)
Weston, FL
Please give us a short summary of your website?
Prom Shoes Boutique is a unique site offering a niche catalog of dyeable and evening shoes catered to the prom market.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
Working retail and owning stores for over 20 years gave way to reaching a larger market via the web It makes it easier to target your niche customer.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
My first website, www.discountbridalshoes.com, was launched in 2000 and after one year did more volume than my retail store!
How did you decide on a name for your website?
The name says it all. DiscountBridalShoes.com is just that while my new site, www.promshoesboutique.com, is all about prom shoes.
What makes it different from other, similar offerings?
We concentrate on two brands that ship from the same warehouse. This makes processing orders much faster as many shipments leave the same day as they are ordered.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
Our goal is always to satify the customer and want to continue to do so in our small specialty end of the market including bridal and prom.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
Ha Ha! Time is money. You have to invest the time to make a go of it but so far so good!
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
As a small business owner there is not unlimited funds but with a bigger budget I would make the site nore interactive (blogs etc.) and even more customer friendly then it already is.
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
Absolutely! My vendors do the shipping while we take care of customer relations.
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
Nothing unexpected cost wise. Headaches are the changing ways search engines tweak their criteria and hoping you don't go from the penthouse to the outhouse!
What has been your biggest challenge?
Woring on a small business budget while battling competitors who are big players and no longer the "Mom & Pop" operations.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
Just great quality user friendly web sites. Excellent content leads to good placement where I do only very minimal paid advertising.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
It has exceeded all expectation and is very rewarding professionally.
How long have you run the site already, and how long will you continue to keep it up if you don't enjoy big gains in traffic, income or popularity?
My sites are my direct source of income, however, I can always do something else and still run my web sites even if sales and profits wane.
If you were not a web site operator what would you do?
Win the world series of poker & play everyday - LOL!
What is your website address?
Prom Shoes Boutique
