Click It Our "Biz 101" tech makeover winner learns to save time and money.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
By the time you read this, Purse-snickety!, the winner ofInterland and Entrepreneur's web makeover contest, willbe mostly done with the holiday rush. But we caught up with ownerDeborah Nail as she was gearing up for the big wholesale and retailseason. One goal Nail, 41, had was to boost the retail side of herredone website, www.pursesnickety.com, after focusing on wholesaleorders. Snagging retail sales means getting the word out topotential customers. You've probably heard a lot aboutpay-per-click keyword advertising with search engines. Here'show Nail's experience went when she first signed up withInterland's MyEzClicks program.
The first requirement was to choose about 20 words and phrasesthat would act as triggering search terms. Some of the onesPursesnickety! settled on are "feather purses,""reversible purses," "cocktail bags" and"fashion purses." The cost of the service is based onresults, with plans varying depending on the number of guaranteedclicks per year. Within one week of starting the program, Nailreceived 50 e-mails from website visitors. "They'requalified," says Nail. "They are people who are reallyinterested. This is really going to boost our business."
Best of all, she doesn't have to deal with the details ofsetting it up herself. Nail has found that her new technology, fromthe website makeover to the IBM ThinkPad R40 laptop and Sprint Treo600 smartphone, is giving her more time to focus on the core of herbusiness. "Once you start depending on someone else andtrusting them to help you and work with your business, you realizethat your time [can be] much better spent elsewhere," saysNail.
During the many hectic trade shows she participates in, she hasbeen able to run credit charges through her laptop in her hotelroom rather than wait until she returns home. That's been aboon to Nail's cash flow. Receiving orders used to be anendeavor that required logging a lot of phone time; Nail estimateseach order received by e-mail through the new website saves her upto 30 minutes, which will take some of the rush out of the holidayrush.
