posted August 06, 2004 08:55 PM
hello, i am a sah mom and desperately need to be a wah mom! i am very interested in the gift basket business and have a lot of ideas but i am afraid i don't have the time or money to start off making and marketing all my own baskets. i have come across turn key web sites for sale and was wondering if anyone has any input for me. i thought this may be a good way for me to get started... by using drop shippers and then i could add a few of my own creations as i am able to. would this be a good venture or should i steer clear of purchasing a ready made sites
posted August 06, 2004 09:32 PM
I'm not familiar with the sites you mentioned however I was in the same place you are when I first started looking over 3 years ago. At the time, it was definitely not feasible for me to start a gift basket business from scratch (I did research the costs involved and I imagine they are about the same now).
That's when I found my current business (started out with theme parties, kiddie gift baskets, etc) but has now involved into gourmet food and candles! Big change but I find it to be a much better avenue for myself (the re-orders on gourmet food are great!).
Many basketeers use dropshippers and purchase wholesale and are happy with the arrangement.
You mentioned ready made sites and I'm just not thinking that would be the way to go. I wonder if there are any restrictions on what you can add? What are the costs involved? Just some questions to ponder.
HTH~
------------------ ~Angie~
http://www.AmericasPartyConnection.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Our Family Favorites Manager #47090 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Business, Fundraising, Corporate Gifts and NEW Wholesale Opportunities available!
posted August 07, 2004 12:59 AM
I have seen quite a bit of use of these sites. There are things to know and be aware of. Can you change and add pictures (what if you decide to go with another drop shipper) or can you add your own designs, change prices and, can you change tags and descriptions on your pages to get better search engine rankings?
I don't know if I can post here, but there are message boards that are specifically for gift basket professionals. Email me and I will be happy to pass them on. I'm not sure if I can post them here.
Whatever you decide please be aware that your site will not "automatically" generate money. You will still have to promote it and market yourself!
Good luck with any choice you make, and please let me know if I can help.
quote:Originally posted by craftandpaint: I don't know if I can post here, but there are message boards that are specifically for gift basket professionals. Email me and I will be happy to pass them on. I'm not sure if I can post them here
Kimberly, Sure, you can post the gift basket message boards here. I have a few saved in my favorites but haven't been to them in quite some time.
Thanks for your input and I totally agree that you have to do a lot more than just have a website. Marketing/Promotion is key!
------------------ ~Angie~
http://www.AmericasPartyConnection.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Our Family Favorites Manager #47090 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Business, Fundraising, Corporate Gifts and NEW Wholesale Opportunities available!
posted August 07, 2004 11:17 AM
The one I am particularly interested in is on ebay. It has a great domain name and says it is already search engine optimized and has been submitted to the major search engines. It provides a list of suppliers and dropshippers but also states you may use other suppliers or add your own products. The site can be customized however desired and is supposedly very user friendly ( a plus for amateurs like me ). I have some basic ideas for marketing but would welcome others. Thanks for the input so far and I would be interested in links to other gift basket message boards if anyone would like to post them. Shannon
posted August 08, 2004 12:47 AM
gbexchange.net-you have to register for this one.
giftbasketmessageboard.com
Cherie Reagor has a board too. Just add the www and dot com to her name.
If you go with this site a good idea is to go with a gift basket directory, as they do the SEO for you (and them) a couple come to mind-seek gift baskets and search gift baskets.
In deciding which directory to use do a google search for gift baskets and your state and see which directory comes up first.
Good Luck,
Kimberly www.giftbasketkits.com and Independent Consultant Big Yellow Box by Crayola (tm)
posted September 08, 2004 12:46 AM
Let me say this is not spam, and I am not trying to sell a service at all.
My hubby and I own a consulting biz and we design websites.
I have a Marketing degree so I feel that when it comes to marketing a website I have a good handle on it. As a matter of fact, we offer specialized marketing packages with some of the sites that we design. We both also worked for Amazon.com for about 5 yrs and picked up a trick here and there
This is not plug for my services by any means. I am simply offering some help to fellow work at home gals.
Before I register any domain or would buy one from someone there are several places I check online to view things like traffic to the site, keywords, page rank and a few others.
I would be more than happy to help out anyone that wants more info and wants some help getting a site out there. Again, I am not pushing our biz and I would offer as much help as time permits (somedays it seems like tons...lol). I will ask nothing in return, maybe just that you keep us in mind when you get all successfully
I won't even provide my domain email address, just my regular one. Just shoot me an email and let me know what you need, questions, and that you saw my post. If you don't mention the post I won't realize it came from here and I'll probably send you to my price list on the site...lol..so make sure you tell me
posted January 18, 2005 05:13 AM
Hi.. I saw your post, and wanted to forewarn you about purchasing a "Turnkey" website on Ebay.
I did the same .. I bought from someone on ebay.. the site was beautiful and I thought it was going to be great.. but there was ALOT of problems.. I had NO control over anything with the site without going through the designer who sold it to me.. there were problems with the shopping cart, setting up a merchant account.. I didn't get anywhere.
Ultimately, I took the domain name I bought for the site.. and designed my own site using edirecthost.com which is the EASIEST self-design tool. I was disgusted with the other site because I couldn't make changes anytime I wanted to without getting another party involved.
You can still use a drop shipper... I use one, and I have complete comtrol of my business.
Just be careful of sites that are (ready to go) on ebay... mine was ready to go (nowhere!)
quote:Originally posted by MommaTieDyeSky: Here is my work (in progress) of my redesigned site. www.dreamgiftbasket.com
Renee, Your website is very nice! I love the "Now and Zen" section. How cool! You've done a nice job.
------------------ ~Angie~
http://www.AmericasGiftConnection.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Unique & Affordable Gifts, specialty foods, candles and MORE! Click on Our Family Favorites to SHOP!
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posted August 06, 2004 08:55 PM
