Featured Website Of The Month!
Anita's Arts
Creating has always been a part of my life. From crafting the perfect painted rose to mastering tiny quilt stitches, I love it all! So opening up this Web store is a natural extension of my passion. I am trying to bring products to you that I think are wonderful. If there is something you want and we don't have it, please contact me. I am expanding my product base weekly, and I would love ideas for new products. I hope that you will find kits and supplies here that will help you in your creative endeavors.
Anita

Tell Us A Little About Your Store And It's Products
We sell needle art kits, rubber stamps, paper punches, decorative painting supplies, and a few other crafty odds and ends. Our website has been live for a year and a half.

How Did You Get Started Selling Online?
Like many other small online shop owners I actually started selling on a famous auction site.

Do You Believe That There Are Buyers Online That Shop On Individual Websites As Their Own Preference? Why?
Yes I do. I think that there are customers that feel an individual website is more like a real business that isn’t going to disappear in the night. They can build more of a loyalty and trust with the site, kind of like a small brick and mortar boutique that they love.

What Is Your Worst Mistake You Made For Your Business?
I once made a code change with an error in it that kept new customers from creating an account and existing customers from logging in. It was two weeks before I realized what had caused my sales to halt.

Tell Us A Little Bit About Your Customer Service And Policies
I try very hard to answer emails quickly, and I ship really fast. People hate to wait, and I use this as my advantage over my largest competitor who ships very slowly. I also offer refunds as long as the product has its original packaging.

What Is The Most Important Thing You Have Learned About Running Your Business?
Good search engine placement is vital to online sales. If potential buyers have no way of finding you then you are pretty much dead in the water. Also never become complacent at SEO. Certainly celebrate when your site reaches number one in SERPs, but you better believe there is another site out there at that very moment trying to figure out how to take your spot.

How Did You Decide On What Shopping Cart To Use?
I researched, researched, and researched. I read lots of pros and cons on many different carts before settling on a ZenCart.

What Would You Suggest To Someone Just Starting Out As The Most Important Decision They Need To Make Before They Start An Online Business Site?
Wow this is a tough question because there are several really important decisions. If I had to narrow it down to one I would say choose your product very carefully just as if you were opening a brick and mortar store but with an online perspective. Is the online market flooded with the product you want to sell? Do research and be honest with yourself. You may love purple penguin planters and you may bubble over with joy when you look at them. But will anyone actually buy them? Do people that actually love purple penguin planters generally shop online?

Are You Using Any Social Networking? If so what? Which Do You Find The Most Hits From?
Not really. I did try a few of the Social networking sites for a while, but I just didn’t think it was worth the time. I never saw any sales increases because of it. Actually the main reason that I even tried was in hopes of more back links to increase my search engine placement. Then there were rumors that some of the search engines were ignoring those sites, so I just stopped.

How Do You Track Your Monthly Expenses? Hosting And Other Cost Per Month? Spreadsheets, Accounting Software? Etc?
I use simple spreadsheets, but this is something I might change in the near future.

How Do You Track And Measure Traffic On Your Website? How does that help you?
I use AWStats. If I see that customers who buy are coming from a particular site or search engine then I may want to concentrate more effort on those sites. And it works the other way too. If I get lots of hits from one back link or search engine, but those hits never convert to sales maybe my time would be better spent elsewhere.

How Much Time A Week Do You Work And Commit To Your Online Business?
Around 50 hours each week. I start my day off by returning emails and getting shipping done. Late morning and part of the afternoon I spend on website maintenance and entering new products. The rest of the day I generally spend on writing articles, blogging, answering more emails, and researching new products and SEO ideas.

How do you manage your time and juggle other life events with your online business sites?
I am a list maker. Each day I make a list of the things that I must do, and the things that I would like to get done if time permits. I also keep a calendar with everyone’s schedule so that I know of anything during the week that will demand time away from my business. Then I plan around those times.

Do you find it helpful to you in any way to network with others running a online business site such as forums like CST?
Networking with other online business owners is very beneficial to me. I have leaned so much from other’s successes and mistakes. Also in times of frustration it helps to have an ear (or a keyboard) that has been there and understands..