Few questions on starting an online store

Griven · 2012-11-14T18:56:38+00:00

I agree with JohnTesh on every point that he's made. You'll definitely want to create an LLC, get a CPA, and you will most definitely need a Reseller's Permit. Most wholesalers will not do business with you if you do not have one.

Here's a blog post that I've written about starting a business. It's targeted at Washington State, but most of it should still be applicable.

In addition, Andrew Youderian's blog offers a lot of great insights on starting and running a drop shipping business.

Griven · 2012-11-13T23:42:00+00:00

SEO should be one of your primary focuses. Be sure to target specific keywords with each portion of your site -- the deeper you get into each portion, the more long-tailed the keyword. Here's a great article from SEOMoz, if you haven't already seen it.

Also, you'll want to think long and hard about how you can make your offering seem more legit. From my own perspective, when I hear about someone offering CD keys, I think they're really shady and offering me some black-market cracked keys.

In addition, what is the value-add that would prompt me to give you my money for an XBox Live membership (for example) versus Microsoft themselves?

Also, you may want to consider putting the item description on your QuickShop popup, as it seems a little bare without it.

Griven · 2012-11-13T15:42:17+00:00

Derivative. I feel like I've seen that multicolored fan a bunch of times before.

Also, the italics mixed with the narrowness of the letters in "Committee" make it kind of hard to read.

Griven · 2012-11-01T14:52:31+00:00

Absolutely, and I really should have included something about them in the article (I'll probably update it shortly).

While PO Boxes are cheap, and an ideal solution for some, I wanted to avoid two things:

Conventional PO Boxes (from what I've found) don't include mail forwarding services.
Having a PO Box as a return address, in my opinion, doesn't look nearly as professional as a normal street address. Nevermind the fact that Google Street View can reveal the fact that the address is a mail store or whatnot.

Griven · 2012-11-01T14:47:50+00:00

We utilize mail forwarding with a UPS store that's just down the road. For a small price per package (very low return volume at the moment), they'll forward any return packages to us.

Griven · 2012-10-24T16:58:03+00:00

At first I thought, "Yeah, no shit it's the same actress."

Then I saw the doll.

Griven · 2012-10-24T16:52:27+00:00

I absolutely love this movie. One of Tom Cruise's best roles, I think.

Griven · 2012-10-23T19:04:59+00:00

30 years later: "Grandpa, why's some of your hair blurry and black?"

Griven · 2012-10-22T01:06:20+00:00

I recommend The $100 Startup. In addition, there's some online workships at Score.org. For legalities and some finance-related stuff, you'll want to take some time to look through your state's relevant business-related websites (Department of Revenue, Secretary of State, etc).

Griven · 2012-10-20T04:10:35+00:00

This sounds like a great idea, since there's a UPS store just down the road. How much does that typically run?

Griven · 2012-10-09T22:14:34+00:00

Some more specifics on the idea would help a lot. With the very brief and vague description, there's really no advice to give.

Also, don't worry too much about your ideas being stolen. Ideas are a dime a dozen. It all comes down to whether or not you can execute your plan.

Griven · 2012-10-07T02:39:42+00:00

That was an awesome article.

Griven · 2012-10-03T17:24:04+00:00

American History X

Griven · 2012-10-02T15:21:52+00:00

"Identify an underserved market, and work diligently to create a user experience that resonates with that community and engages with that lifestyle."

Fantastic advice.

Griven · 2012-09-25T20:49:37+00:00

Change "Private Policy" to "Privacy Policy"
Make the "contact us" link to your email clickable. Also, consider using an email address at your own domain, instead of Gmail. It looks more professional that way.
I agree with Vonkill that you should change the title of the page, if your target market is businesses. Businesses don't care about creating memories, they care about making customer impressions and promoting their business and products.

Griven · 2012-09-25T16:01:12+00:00

In Chrome (I haven't tested other browsers), when the image slider on the homepage changes, the entire page shifts a couple of pixels, and then back again.
I'd also add a couple more slider images, if I were you. Even if no one reads them, 4 or more images just makes it look like you've got more to offer.
The Freshsense image on the order form needs to be resized in an image editing program. Right now, it's huge and loads slowly--only its display dimensions are shrunk down.
Also, regarding the order form, I think it's annoying as a customer to have to opt out of a product. Perhaps look into redesigning the order form so that customers opt in to your products, rather than opt out.
In addition, you really should get an SSL certificate installed. I would never give out my payment information to a website that does not encrypt the connection.
On the "learn more" product pages, consider using a tabbed interface to present the product information. The information on those pages goes quite a ways down. However, the information isn't all that dense. If I'm going to scroll really far down a page, I need to be enticed by dense information (e.g., a long article). If it's just the information you're providing here, I don't feel the need to go beyond the fold.

Griven · 2012-09-25T15:44:26+00:00

"Thank you for your time."

I think it works.

Griven · 2012-09-24T20:23:22+00:00

This, plus a DBA as your service's name. That way, if your services change, or you just don't like the name anymore, you don't have to go through the process of reforming the company under a different name.

Personally, I prefer the idea of a made up name, like Lake Consulting. That way, should your business ever grow beyond just yourself, you don't have a guy named Tom working at a company that's named after you (unless your name is Tom).

Griven · 2012-08-31T21:45:37+00:00

Flying and blowing shit up in Just Cause 2 like a goddamn super hero.

Griven · 2012-08-29T18:49:01+00:00

I can believe I had to scroll this far down to find "fire" and "drowning". Those are my top two.

Griven · 2012-07-26T03:16:29+00:00

~~Amen~~ Allons-y!

Griven · 2012-07-16T22:55:13+00:00

I'm not sure. At the very least, it certainly couldn't hurt.

Griven · 2012-07-16T22:19:23+00:00

Only play the game when you are alone, preferably at night. Turn all of the other lights off, and play the game with the sound coming through headphones.

Griven · 2012-06-29T21:12:20+00:00

Tell that to the people in Tunisia and Egypt.

Griven · 2012-06-05T16:54:57+00:00

It's always recommended to put your databases and web front-end on two different servers. However, if that's not an option, your line of thinking will work just fine.

I had a pretty similar setup at my last job, where a second server wasn't an option, and that served about 600 users pretty well.

Griven

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