Name of your website?Amish Direct Furniture
Your name?
Jason Cheney
Your Location (city, etc)
Utica
Please give us a short summary of your website?
We provide heirloom quality solid hardwood furniture handcrafted by the Amish of Ohio and Indiana.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
The need to expand my customer base to a nationwide/worldwide level and a way for local customers of my retail store to browse our selection from the comfort of their home.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
The name we originally settled on, Amish Direct, was taken. So we figured since we do sell furniture directly from the Amish, Amish Direct furniture was an acceptable second choice. This actually proved to be a better choice in the long run for SEO.
What makes it different from other, similar offerings?
We are one of the oldest Amish Furniture websites on the Internet and have long established relationships with over 180 builders. Many of which we have been with since they started. The vast majority of our furniture can be customized to some degree or another but we excel at getting the customer exactly what they are looking for, outside of the standard options.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
Eventually I would like to sell. We would all like to retire at some point, right?
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
Very well. It didn't take long to figure out that there is a lot of work necessary if you want to get onto the first page of any of the major search engines. It's definately not as simple as building the site and waiting for the traffic to show up. There is a lot to learn and the more time you spend learning and executing what you learn the better results you will have. It's like most things in life the more you put into it the more you get out.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
I would change the programming language it's in, asp doesn't allow for certain testing methods to be used which can increase conversions/sales. I would also do a complete site redesign the current template system is very restrictive and doesn't give me the look and feel I would love to have.
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
Yes. I have a very well trained staff and procedures in place that keep things moving along very well. Not only that but I have a reserve of knowledgeable people that I can bring in if we get to busy. I have found that planning for the future and as many "what if" scenario's as possible has helped when that what if popped up. Growing too quickly can kill a business just as quickly as no business at all. I either case you need to be prepared.
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
I haven't really had any unexpected costs. As for headaches I have had plenty! Everything from server problems to major changes in the various search engine algorithms. Nothing is quite as shocking as waking up one morning and your site is nowhere to be found. Of course there is always the typical ISP and phone problems.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Advertising and SEO. It can be hard to keep the budget balanced when you have a desire to bring in the traffic but very little funds to do so. You end up taking calculated risks in the hope that it works. Sometimes you win sometimes you loose. In either case you learn and that is most important of all. Never stop learning. The internet is a great place for trial and error learning. When you make a mistake it shows up pretty quickly and ,usually ,fixing it isn't that hard. So test things out and see what happens. you may be surprised what you learn.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
Organic search engine placement. Getting your site to the first page in the search engines has proven to be the biggest boost to business. To get there I have had to do a lot of backlink building from other related sites, which can be quite difficult to do, as well as writing lots of articles. The directory submissions have helped a lot also. The biggest trick is to keep working at it. If your site has good useful content and you build your backlinks then everything should come together.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
In some ways yes. The marketing is completely different from a brick and mortar store. It can take some getting used to.
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 site has been up since 2000 and yes I will continue to keep it up and running if I don't get huge gains in traffic or profitability. I have the site there for numerous reasons including an online catalog for the local customers. As long as it can fulfill that requirement and not cost me large quantities of money it will be of use.
What is your website address?
Amish Direct Furniture
