“We love your products, you should get an online store”, they said.
“It’s easy,” they said.
“Anyone can do an online store,” they said.
Well, no actually, that wasn’t the case for me, and isn’t the case for many people, nor should it be.
My original journey to opening up my own online store didn’t start very well, in fact, I quickly became disheartened. The company I employed to begin my dream, really let me down. They prioritised other work over mine, they didn’t share in the same bigger picture as what I was envisaging and their communication was poor. This lead to a massive fail. Simple as that.
Fast-forward a year, with a renewed personal drive and a sense of confidence that my products may actually be successful, I employed the services of Flude Ink. Thank goodness I did. We achieved more in the initial consultation and the first week of communication than what was achieved in 7 months using the last service.
Simply, Rob did a fantastic job in breaking down the process into clear, basic, achievable steps – I had very limited information technology knowledge. Ok, let’s be honest, I knew absolutely nothing about websites. I had absolutely no idea where to start; what’s a URL? How do I even get an email address? What’s the front end? Can’t you just put this here and that over there? E-commerce what is that? I had no idea!
The process of building my online store and maintaining, modifying, adding/removing products and reviewing it based on customer demands, is a work in progress. It’s a working relationship. Rob hasn’t just put the website together based on what he wanted; it was completely driven by me and Rob is the facilitator. Yes, we have both worked hard on getting it up and running.
It is also not something that just happens, and if anyone tells you otherwise, they aren’t using a service who spends the time to care and ensure that your website is exactly what you want.
This ongoing working relationship is required for marketing; how do I get the website out there? What kind of impact will social media make on getting exposure to the website? How do I get hits on the site with the hope of sales? Steps that are just as vital as the construction of the website. Rob has extensive marketing knowledge that co-exists with his website capabilities.
As a time-poor mum to an active 13-month old, I cannot thank Rob enough for his services. These services will continue as he provides me with ongoing support in the management of my website. As now that my website is live, questions and challenges (for a rookie like me) continue to appear. Rob has equipped me with the skills to oversee my online store, however, I will continue to employ the services of Flude Ink to guide me in keeping my website at the forefront of its field.
Elisha Langdon
Mother, Teacher and Entrepreneur-in-the-making
Willow & Belle: personalised gifts for all occasions.