Name of your website?Grandfather Clocks selections at discount prices offered by Grand-Father-Clocks.com
Your name?
David Hofeld
Your Location (city, etc)
Atlantic City, New Jersey
A
Grand-Father-Clocks.com offers a comprehensive selection of clocks and other products similar in fashion such as barometers, thermometers and compasses. The selection of different models and brands are offered to fit most budgets and tastes. Grandfather clocks, wall clocks, table clocks to fit the decor of any room. Great for a unique gift idea.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
Having been a collector of antique radios and clocks, I followed through with a passion in becoming a retailer of these goods. As luck would have it, through the various flee markets and auctions, I developed a close relationship with several producers and independent distributors of various clock and similarly related products. My son is tech savvy and helped me build the web site and from that point on its history.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
Grand-Father-Clocks.com was launched in late spring of 2006.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
Quite simply, for the simplicity of what the site sells, for the purpose of leveraging online marketing techniques by focusing on keywords and simple name recognition.
What makes your website different from other, similar offerings?
Having spent some time looking at my competition, there are three things that differentiate Grandfather Clocks from similar sites. First due to the exclusive arrangements with the distributors of which I have personally created relationships we are able to almost always beat competitors pricing. Second, I made sure to provide what I felt were similar product offerings such as compasses, barometers, thermometers, etc, that could also serve as decorative housewares and furniture. As time passed this was a good move because as I studied my web logs many people that came in searching for clocks would end up on these other product pages. The conversions to sales were relatively good too.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
My goal is to expand my product offerings, and to expand to other product types that my suppliers offer. These include areas as diverse as boating equipment and other electronic products. We also plan to increase the offering of the site by providing a market for others looking to sell their own products or used products.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
To date the site is doing very well and much better than anticipated. We are profitable and have repeat business from existing customers.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
I would love to add all kinds of gadgets and add-ons such as social networking, interactive forums, creation of how to videos and instruction manuals for all products.
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
Due to the systems we have in place now with our distributors we will always be able to keep up with demand.
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
The biggest example of a headache would have to be returns and reconciling this with the distributors and wholesalers. Generally, this process is seamless too, but there have been issues.
What has been your biggest challenge?
My biggest personal challenge is probably the maintenance of the web site itself. As I stated earlier, I am very much a novice as it comes to
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
There isn't one method at all. A complete mix of solid web marketing is the true key to success. This includes building quality links to improve organic search rankings, submitting press releases to notify about new products and active pay per click campaigns on Google and MSN.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
Again, the biggest thing I was not prepared for were the roadblocks and log jams that occur when something that had to be done to the web site and I was unable to correct it myself. This required waiting for others to intervene and that causes obvious momentum los.
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?
The web site has been running now for a little over 2 years and I don't see any foreseeable time in the future for it to end.
What is your website address?
Grandfather Clocks selections at discount prices offered by Grand-Father-Clocks.com
