Baumblog EST 1968 - A blog for the Baumbachs who originated in Syracuse, NY

Some of you may have heard that I'm going into business with several of my co-workers. I know what you're thinking, and yes, we're nuts! Our company is named La Dolce Vita, LLC. and our website will be LaDolceVitaOnline.net. Basically we found these cool purses and have had a lot of luck haucking them at work, so we decided to expand. They're made of a nice leather and have a fabric covered inset that divides all your purse contents so your stuff is always handy. The good news is that the initial investment is minimal, and the worst case scenerio is that we sell these babies at cost. We've got our tax id and bank account, and we our license will arrive shortly. April 1st is our start of business.

I bought the domain name (through GoDaddy), and now I'm exploring what to do next. I know that we will need to host the website and then build it. Suggestions anyone? We'll definitely be keeping it simple to start, and we've got permission to use the pictures from the inventors. (www.butlerbag.com) I think that we'd like to be able to let people order the purses through our website eventually (we do have permission for this), but maybe have them redirected to an ebay store or something so we can use paypal...For now though, if you guys have suggestions on how to go about buying a hosting service/package and how much it should run me let me know. Go daddy offers some different things but I'm not sure how much to buy....Thanks!

Geoff said 15 minutes later

Yahoo offers a business account which will allow you to host a website, build it, and even allow people to purchase from you using their credit card. You will be charged a small percentage (I think like 2.5% from Yahoo) for each transaction. I would look into that. I'm not sure what Google offers.

Don't spend too much on making a killer website at first, make it clean and easy to use. To get the most out of your website though, you will need to advertise with pay-per-click programs from Google and/or Yahoo or else no one will get to your website through searches. You can set a limit of how much you want to spend a month, and that determines how high up you rank (and this all depends on what keywords you choose). This can range from a few dollars a click to hundreds (yes per click, and to be ranked number 1 on a particular word).

If you can't afford to advertise, I wouldn't bother spending much on your website because your only visitors will be you and whomever you refer the site too in most instances. if you decide to use pay-per-click...don't do a lot of words for little CPC (cost per click). Pick a few words, and load up the cash on them. For your stuff, expect to dish out at least $100/month for much action (remember you pay everytime someone clicks, if no one clicks, you don't pay, however once you reach your set monthly limit, your taken off the advertised listing until next month, but expect to hit your montly limit everytime).
Kristen said about 1 hour later

We were actually thinking of having the website more as a reference and spread the word by word of mouth for starters. We aren't aiming to make a lot just from people googling "purse" or whatever. We figure that when we start having parties (think tupperware style) people might ask if we have a website. I'll look into the yahoo business account though, that sounds interesting. Thanks Geoff!
GJ said about 3 hours later

You should definitely allow people to order from your website ASAP. Ten years ago this wasn't necessary--today, it is. How else are you going to sell? It doesn't sound like you'll have a brick and mortar storefront, nor a phone ordering system, so unless you give prospective customers an easy way to buy, you'll make no money.
GJ said about 5 hours later

oops, sorry, missed your comment about hosting parties. :) anyhow...it still makes sense to have a website you can make sales on....
GJ said about 5 hours later

OK, now for the party pooper role. Kristen--did you build a business plan? Who are your competitors? What are you bringing to the market that someone else isn't?

I ask these questions because I see that Butler Bag has a lot of brick and mortar stores selling this item already. So...why will people buy at the parties, or website, when they may well be able to buy at a brick and mortar store for perhaps (maybe even likely) less money? That's a concern--not sure if you addressed these kind of issues in a business plan or not.
Geoff said about 17 hours later

It appears they have only one store in all of NY. So unless you live nearby, you can't buy direct from them online (not yet anyway).
GJ said 1 day later

Kristen doesn't live in NY, funny guy. Even if she was planning to do this in NY, there is no guarantee that 10-20 stores won't suddenly start carrying these purses, especially if they become the next big thing.

My point is...you should never start a business without a solid business plan. That business plan had better cover topics like competition...
Geoff said 1 day later

Ok, there are only two stores in all of Virginia tough guy. :)

Competition...ppppshaw! What are the chances of this coming into the hands of a big department store, or a Target or something....oh, crap.
GJ said 2 days later

it will if they deem it profitable for them
Geoff said 3 days later

Yes I know, I was being facetious, silly.
Kristen said 3 days later

I can't see these things at Target. I think that they are comparable to the Vera Bradley collections--found in specialty, small, boutique type stores. I'm going to tool around the yahoo deal this weekend and see how it goes! (I'll also be trying to locate a business plan prototype to copy, and I'll be checking out how our competition has been handling things. We actually looked into that to change up our pricing!)
Geoff said 3 days later

Good luck with it, let us know how you fair out!
GJ said 3 days later

Good move on the business plan. You certainly want to fully understand what you're undertaking, what you hope to achieve, and how you'll get there. It can be rather eye-opening...but businesses that don't have one almost always fail.