Name of your website?Stork News of Prince William, Va.
Your name?
J.D. Holder
Your Location (city, etc)
Bristow
Please give us a short summary of your website?
We rent 8 ft. stork signs that are placed in the front yard to announce the birth of a child. We have blue storks for boys and pink for girls. The signs can be rented for a week or longer and after that time, the parents get to keep the bundle that has the baby's birth information. It's a great gift for the new parents.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
We wanted a way to reach more customers. Over the years, many people have gone to the web for their information, not the yellow pages like they used to.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
We launched in the the beginning of 2007 and have seen a big jump in business. Our web site is www.storknewsprincewilliam.com
How did you decide on a name for your website?
The web site name is our Business name. Stork News of Prince William
What makes it different from other, similar offerings?
Our storks are some of the best looking storks around. In fact, we are partnered with Babies R Us. They chose us to
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
The business is running smoothly and we would like to build it even further.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
The more money and time we spend the more success we have. The more storks that we get out into the yards of new parents, the more other people are able to see those signs. That leads to more business.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
I did it all myself. We've been in business for about 3 years and it started from scratch. We are still in the growth part of it and are not able to spend the money to make great improvements, but it is working for us so far.
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
We would, my wife and I are the ones running the business right now. If we get to the point where the two of us can't keep up, we could hire others to deliver and pick up the storks.
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
We haven't had many unexpected costs. The biggest headaches would be if a delivery address is wrong or not on a map. Also, some of the direction websites sometimes don't have newly built houses listed on them.
What has been your biggest challenge?
During the winter when the weather is below freezing and the winds are really strong, the bundles that have the baby's birth information can break sometimes. One thing that has helped, is we now put a clear plastic brace around the bundle to protect it.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
Submitting it to the search engines has helped. I am trying to get listed on the directories but that has been a little harder.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
I thought it would be a little easier getting picked up by all the search engines. I'm working on getting that done. By getting on those directories should help.
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?
It's been up and running since early 2007 and we've seen a huge jump in business since then. It is easy to keep updated and fairly cheap also, so it will be a permanent thing.
What is your website address?
Stork News of Prince William, Va.
