Web site reviews and advice

[upsmapleman]

WOW. Thanks for the in depth review. I admit I have let the site slip the last couple of years. The good news is we have done very well with it as far as business. It has exceeded our expectations. Again thanks very much and we will look at ALL you suggested and improve it in whatever way we can.

Thanks,

Dale Miller

[BryanEx]

Dale... I'm really curious as to how the online stores do for maple producers. Would you mind sharing in a percentage form what your sales are online versus in person or other sources?

I hope you get some ideas and suggestions from my review, just keep in mind that I am no longer professional and they are only suggestions based on my person opinions and knowledge. I believe in what I say but it does not mean you need to as well.

[shane hickey]

I have notice alot you guys have a web site, do these cost money? If they do how much? shane

[BryanEx]

Brian,
I am always interested in constructive advice. But I believe my web master has used flash to build it so, any thoughts in general might help. Maybe like a lot of other folks I don't maintain mine as much/often as I thought I was going to.
Regards,
Chris

Chris... I'll do the best I can with your site but I'm really in the dark when it comes to flash. I'm not familiar with how Google handles it and I'm not familiar with the programming or limitations. I'll do some research first but I won't know as much about what's going on as I did with upsmapleman or the others I've reviewed through PM.

[Sugarmaker]

Bryan,
Dont spend to much time.
I am just a user of computers not a web-guy or a programmer.
Thanks,
Chris

Chris... I'll do the best I can with your site but I'm really in the dark when it comes to flash. I'm not familiar with how Google handles it and I'm not familiar with the programming or limitations. I'll do some research first but I won't know as much about what's going on as I did with upsmapleman or the others I've reviewed through PM.

[BryanEx]

I have notice alot you guys have a web site, do these cost money? If they do how much? shane

Usually they do but how much really varies shane. The thing I recommend to EVERYONE is to buy your domain name first. To register a domain name costs $9 / year and up depending on where you buy it. The next thing you need is hosting. You can get free hosting at sites like http://www.000webhost.com/ which works quite well without any ads or banners on your site and they have free templates to help design your site or you can pay for hosting which gives you more speed, options, and tools. Then you need to design your site/ You can do this from templates and just edit them to suit your business or start from scratch. If you pay someone to design your site and don't know how to do it yourself you will be paying every time you need it updated,

If you want to try out a web site but not spend any money check out http://wordpress.com/. They will host it, they provide the content manager, you don't even need a domain name, and it's free.

[shane hickey]

thank you I will have my wife try that not that good on the computer yet
shane

[upsmapleman]

You ask about sales for our web site. We are only a small business. I work full time and do maple on the side as do most of you. We do have sales of about 50K a year. Of that about 20% comes from shows. (3) 30 to 40% from internet sales, and the rest from our store. We average a little more than a order a day 365 days a year. Most orders are in the 40 to50$ range not including shipping. The orders off the internet are sales we wouldn't have if we didn't have a site. Like any other business you build up loyal customers and our business grows. I think it has become clear keeping a web site fresh is the challenge.

[ennismaple]

I can't seem to pull up your site today. I tried this morning and again this evening but no-go. I know it's there because I've seen it enought times in the past. I'll move on to millersmaple and keep trying ennismaple in the mean time.

Crap - it is down. I'll let you know when its back up.

Thanks for your help.

[BryanEx]

Of that about 20% comes from shows. (3) 30 to 40% from Internet sales, and the rest from our store. We average a little more than a order a day 365 days a year. Most orders are in the 40 to50$ range not including shipping.

Wow! I'm really surprised about that but good for you. It's not worth my while to offer online sales given my business model but I'm almost shocked by the amount you are selling online. As an uneducated guess I would have said half that much in a good year. Thanks for sharing that info upsmapleman.

Crap - it is down. I'll let you know when its back up.

yep... web sites are a lot of fun and can often be like a 2 year old. Let them out of your sight for just a minute and poof... they're gone. I'll keep trying your link each day and when I get it I'll do a review on ennismaple for ya.