Interviews

Dr. Angela Meyer is Vice President of Client Services at Exponent. She assists clients by understanding, and troubleshooting, their technical challenges and connecting them with appropriate Exponent consultants in a cost-effective and timely manner. Dr. Meyer is committed to client service and overall client satisfaction utilizing her engineering background and consulting experience. She leads the business development, marketing and communications functions for Exponent, working with senior management, practice groups and individual consultants to increase the effectiveness of Exponent’s service and business development efforts as well as raise the profiles of the firm and its consulting staff

Mike: Exponent.com is an excellent keyword domain. Can you tell us more about what you do?

Angela:  Exponent is a leading engineering and scientific consulting firm with offices in the US, EU and Asia. The firm has been best known for analyzing accidents and failures to determine their causes, but in recent years it has become more active in assisting clients with human health, environmental, engineering and regulatory issues associated with new products or processes to help prevent problems in the future. The name Exponent fits our firm well – not only does it relate to science (i.e. mathematics) but another definition is “to expound or interpret” – and that is what we do – provide objective, independent science and engineering to complex issues that our clients face.

Mike: I notice the domain name Failure.com also points to Exponent.com. What is the story behind that?

Angela:  The company was founded 50 years ago as Failure Analysis Associates – we are the pre-eminent accident and failure analysis consulting firm in the US (if not the world!) – We broadened our capabilities in the late 1990’s which precipitated a rebrand and new name. We also are a public company on NASDAQ so the market preferred a stock symbol EXPO to FAIL! However, we were really fortunate when the internet became available to choose failure.com and fail.com – we get calls all the time to buy our URL!

Mike: I’m curious, did you name the company and then acquire the domain name, or did you first secure the domain name before finalizing the company name?

Angela:  We rebranded the company in 1998 and changed the name from The Failure Group to Exponent. I guess it was really a two-pronged approach – we loved the name but we had to make sure the URL was available as well – and it was!

Mike: How important is a good domain name to your business? In what ways does it have an impact?

Angela:  It is important to have a domain that represents who you are and what you do – we were fortunate to be able to obtain the URL that is exactly the name of our company – so easy for people to find us – however, sometimes this can be a challenge – there is also an Exponent trade show booth company and also a healthcare company and we get calls all the time from people that type in our URL and don’t bother to look to see if they have the right company. When our company was smaller and we were known as The Failure Group – having a URL that had failure in the name was a huge benefit – everyone knew how to find us –

Mike: Does having a premium name reduce the need to spend on marketing or does it shift the way you promote the business in any way?

Angela:   We have shifted marketing dollars away from collateral to our website and social media – given our environmental consciousness, we prefer to do things electronically – clients like that – especially for marketing – we can tailor materials to the client’s needs – not just to what we want to tell them about ourselves. Having a premium name makes it so much easier for people to find you.

Mike: Do you own any additional domain names and if so, how are you using them?

Failure.com and Fail.com both point to Exponent. We do also have exponentengineering.com and exponentchina.com and exponent.de for work that we do that requires a specific engineering license as well as our work in Asia and Germany.

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GIN is an appcare tool that lets you communicate with your customers via modern messaging apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Telegram and WeChat, through a centralised multi-user dashboard. Daan Gönning is Product Coordinator for GIN and answered my questions on the domain and the business behind it.

Mike:  Tell me about Gin, the product.  What does it do and who is it for?

Daan: With GIN you can integrate all your 1:1 communication channels into one dashboard. Customer service agents use GIN to be available on every possible channel (i.e WhatsApp, Facebook M, Instagram DM, Wechat, Line) with only one interface. This makes it very efficient and less time consuming. Also, with the CRM integration, switching between tools isn’t necessary anymore.

Mike:  Where did the idea to consolidate these different channels originate?

Daan: The idea mostly comes from a problem. In this case, the end-user of a company is changing. They want a quick answer on their question and they would like to communicate through a channel they trust. For some users this is phone, for other email, but for a growing group of (young) people it is WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Snapchat and so on.

For a customer service desk, to be available on all those channels could be difficult. Sometimes, agents have 5-7 tools open at the same time and the agents keeps switching between them. That’s why we build GIN. To make it more efficient for the agent, but also to make it possible to be on multiple channels with still a quick response time.

Mike:  Tell me about the domain name Gin.com.  How did you acquire it and can you share what you paid for it?

Daan: gin.com was part of a company take-over a couple of years ago. Our mother company, CM, acquired GSM Information Network with both the domain names gin.com and gin.nl.

Mike:  How many monthly visitors do you typically receive to the name?

Daan: When referring to the name of the domain gin.com I can’t really give detailed information about exact visitor numbers (the competition is always reading too), but I can say it’s quite a bit. The domain gin.com is fairly new with its renewed Appcare / Webcare via Messaging Apps / Customer Care via Chatbots content so the search engine still hasn’t wrapped it’s head around the fact that the current gin.com is not a drink, but Customer Care via Messaging Apps. Every day we are working hard on GIN with great results, but it will take some time to reposition the website as Customer Care via Messaging Apps for both the visitors and search engine.

Mike: I imagine a portion of your visitors are typing in Gin.com expecting to find a site promoting some brand of alcohol.  Do you find that to be the case?

Daan: Yes I also find that to be the case.

Mike:  What has owning a short, memorable name like Gin.com done for your business?  How helpful has it been in taking your product to market?

Daan: It does a lot, people find us on the name, but also for our marketing it has advantages. For example, During an event, we can give away some Gin Tonics, or in online ad’s we use the slogan: ‘The other GIN’.

Mike:  If I came to you asking for advice on launching an online business, what would you tell me?

Daan: Good question. My first tip would be: Build a scalable solution. I know a lot of startups that build their tool pretty quick and when they have got some traction, their tool fails because it isn’t scalable enough. They didn’t expect such growth in a short time. Be prepared and build a solid, scalable tool.

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What is a domain without a website?  Sure, it can still be a valuable asset, but until developed and live, it’s like an unhatched egg.   It’s got endless potential but that potential is not yet realized.  That said, I’ve see some great domain name that have terrible websites on them.  That’s not full potential by any means.

Web design, like domaining, is an industry in and of itself and has many facets.  It’s a close cousin to domaining in that they are each important to one another.  You may recall a review back in August regarding a book, Domain 360, by Peter Prestipino.   Peter is also Editor-in-Chief of Website Magazine.  Peter and I recently discussed Website Magazine, his book, and the domain industry.

Mike:  Who is Website Magazine designed for?  Who is your target audience?

Peter: Website Magazine is published for those with an interest in using the Internet as an opportunity to accelerate the success of their enterprise – that includes e-commerce merchants, information publishers and service providers. The target reader is one who typically has several years of experience in digital design, Internet marketing or some other related digital  field including user experience optimization or analytics, and is looking to learn more about a similar or complementary area of interest. An example of that might be a Web designer who is exploring extending their services to include search engine optimization, or an affiliate marketer looking to improve engagement rates (and ultimately monetization) through user experience or loyalty initiatives.

Mike:  Have you been around since the birth of the business?  Tell us about the early challenges of launching and sustaining a publication like this.

Peter: I am indeed the founding editor-in-chief so I was actually there before the birth of the magazine – when it was only a twinkle in our publisher’s eye. The early challenges were not unlike growing any business – pressure to keep cost low, increasing demand for revenue, customer awareness hurdles and, of course, fundamental objections to the business model itself. It was not uncommon during the initial startup years, for example, to hear questions about why there should be a print magazine about Web business – it was perceived as moving away from the paperless ideal of the Web. The thing is, people really enjoyed (and still do) taking the time to step away from their screens and get more involved with content and a print magazine most certainly filled the void.

Mike:   How have the website and Internet marketing industries evolved over the years since you started your career?

Peter: In a word, dramatically. There are as many differences as there are similarities, of course, but there is no question that the Internet marketing industry of today would be nearly unrecognizable to those that began the practice so many years ago. It’s certainly more crowded (competition) and every layer in the technology stack is more robust and powerful, but I am still a big believer that brands which focus on providing genuine value, support and solutions to their users/customers will be those that stand the test of time and achieve the most success.

Mike:  You’ve written a book on domain names.  What is your take on the newer TLDs that are offered today?  What does it mean for businesses and search engine results?

Peter: I believe there are advantages and disadvantages to using the new TLDs but on the whole I think they’re a positive addition to the namespace; we’re really only on the cusp of a savvier and more sophisticated use of these more compelling options. For businesses, the nTLDs provide some creative options for branding and awareness – and is a great way to differentiate offerings. I’ve not seen any formal evidence that correlates exact match domains to higher rankings, but again, there are other benefits of their use and I think it certainly is worth it in general to invest in their acquisition.

Mike:  What inspired you to write the book?

Peter: I’ve long been passionate about domain names, as I’ve both bought and sold these virtual assets and websites on many of the marketplaces recommended in the book for some time – over 15 years actually. There’s long been an air of mystery around the practice of domaining and use of domain names in general and I wanted to help clear up some of that confusion and demystify the process – both for myself and for our readers.

Mike:  How do you see the domain industry shifting or developing in the future?

Peter: I, and others at Website Magazine, expect some significant and dramatic developments in the next few years. I believe, for example, that the industry will see more partnerships formed to add greater value to the namespace for brands and individual users alike–  top-level domains, for example, might begin offering solutions directly to consumers for establishing and optimizing a digital presence. Geographic-themed top-level domains for example, might begin promoting solutions to their local area while topic-themed nTLDs arrange a stack of software designed specifically for those in that market.

Mike:  This isn’t your first book, can we expect additional books from you in the future?

Peter: That’s right, “Domains 360: Fundamentals of Buying & Selling Domain Names” is my third book. My first was Web 360 (which covered essential topics for operating a Web business) and my second was Affiliate 360, as I’ve long been involved in the performance marketing space as well. I am working on another in our 360 series and while I can’t provide too much in the way of details, I can say that it is focused on helping enterprises, large and small, drive more website traffic and how that change has evolved in the 20 years I’ve been in the digital space.

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If I could own a dot com of a month of the year, It would certainly be December.com.  Yeah, October is a cool month and all but nothing screams “sales” like December. Plus, it’s a great holiday month, if you want to get all nostalgic about it. I can imagine what my e-commerce site would look like.   All Christmas-like with tons of over priced products.  Valuate puts the domain at $123,000.   My dreams aside, I caught up with John December, owner of December Communications, Inc. and owner of December.com.

Mike: What a fabulous keyword domain name. Were you the first to register December.com or did you acquire it from someone? In either case, can you describe your experience of getting the name?

John: I was the first one to register december.com. In May 1995, I was writing some books about the World-Wide Web and the Internet and providing online support for my readers. I was a graduate student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, New York, and I was using my student account as my Web support site. I had been providing information about the Internet and Computer-Mediated Communication since 1992. Web traffic to my personal account on the RPI servers grew so high that it got noticed, and I knew that I needed my own domain name for my online efforts. I was inspired by an early Internet researcher, Carl Malmud, who created his domain name using his own name as carl@malmud.com. I decided to register december.com. Remember, this was a very early time for the domain name business and even Web hosting for individuals. MTV VJ Adam Curry registered MTV.com before it was apparent that Web sites would be part of media strategies. My goal for december.com at that time, as it is today, is to be a platform for my various projects and online content.

Mike: Obviously, December is your last name and used for business. I’m sure you get traffic from all over for things related to holidays and other topics. Do you still gain value from this traffic?

John: Yes. One of the content niches on my site is my coupon codes section. I work with a company to provide coupon codes for online sales, and I have no doubt that people searching for coupons during the busy shopping season of December find my site for that reason.

Mike: What is it exactly that December Communications, Inc. does?

John: The site hosts a mix of legacy reference content from the early days of the World Wide Web and the study of Computer-Mediated Communication (including the archives of Computer-Mediated Communication Magazine). Also, it contains my personal interests now, continuing in online reference. I have an online book about voluntary simplicity. A recent example is that I prepared a page that brings together some interesting sites about robotics.
Plus, I use the site to present my photography and an evolving album of sites in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where I live related to my interest in organizing city information. Just as in 1995, the site serves as a platform for my current interests and a repository of content accumulated over more than 2 decades–some of it of interest for only historical reasons. I do earn money through affiliate programs and individual advertisers in the Market and Directory sections of the site. These earnings provide me a way to enjoy an independent life.

Mike: How much traffic does the site receive monthly? How much of that is from type-in traffic?

John: 181,306 unique visitors for January 2017.

Mike: Have you received any offers from people looking to buy the domain name? Do you find that to be offensive or flattering?

John: Yes, I have. The offers are difficult to evaluate. Simply put, spam email, scams, or non-serious queries are so simple to send that I have chosen to ignore them. If the person seems somewhat sincere and business-like, I will respond “no” so that they can go in a different direction for their project.

Mike: Do you own any other premium domain names?

John: No. I have johndecember.com which is parked on top of december.com.

Mike: How much has your business benefited from the name. For example, if you had DecemberCommunications.com do you think you’d do as well?

John: I think the shorter name has helped and as been instrumental throughout the early years of the Internet–easier to say, promote, and type in. Since my company is primarily the legal framework for my business and not a well-known name or brand, my effort is not to promote the company name itself, but the accumulated online content that I have curated for over 20 years.

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Back in 2011, when I was writing for MO.com, now BusinessInterviews.com, I did an interview with Marc Ostrofsky just prior to his release of his book Get Rich Click.  I’ve followed Marc on social media since that time.  A quick Google search of “Marc Ostrofsky” will tip you off as to what an interesting guy he really is.

Mike:  I first heard of you back in the late 90’s when you made history selling Business.com.  The story injected me with excitement about the internet and technology.  When did you first realize that domain names were going to be such an important part of business?

Marc:  Without a doubt, the media and PR around the sale of Business.com absolutely CREATED or had a very strong impact on the domain name resale market.   I managed to get National and International publicity for that deal….and things took off from there.

But, even I had no idea how big that oil well was going to be…and even sold off a few very big domains for a very small amount relative to what they would have gone for.

Win some, lose some.

Mike:  You’ve written two books: “Get Rich Click” and “Word of Mouse.”  What was your inspiration for writing theses books and sharing your knowledge?

Marc:  Get Rich Click is about the many creative ways entrepreneurs have found to make money online….affiliate marketing, SEO, eBay selling…100’s of ways, certainly not just domains.

Word of Mouse is about all of the trends changing the way we buy thing, sell things, work and do our jobs, play, communicate and other trends that affect us in our daily lives.

They are very different books.

Mike:  I once read an article where you talked about running a business on one of your domains with no inventory.  A pure drop ship model.  Is that a repeatable platform and what’s the best way for someone to learn to replicate that type of model?

Marc:  Yes, it’s a VERY cool way to make money.  I call it “making money with no money” and it’s totally possible to do it these days.

Say you have a friend selling a car.  He tells you it’s listed for $7500 but he’d take $6500.

You ask him if you find a buyer, can u keep everything over $6500?

Ways to do this?

1. Better listing on eBay

2. better listing on Craig’s List

3. You know buyers in the market he doesn’t know..maybe car wholesalers

4. There are 100 different ways to do this.

OR…I love this one.

You find a supplier that is SO INEXPENSIVE, you believe you can sell their products for more profit than they are asking.

1. Use their online photo

2. Run the Adv.

3. Sell the item

4. Collect the money

5. Send the money to them OR ask them to dropship it for you

Either way, the item was sold AFTER you collected your money!

Look at READING GLASSES on eBay.   I own 250 pairs….located in every nook and cranny of my home, car, bathroom, gym bag, (and twice that as my wife uses them and loses them too)

I recently bought 2 pairs of reading glasses on eBay….delivered from China to my front door, for a grand total of $1.98.  DELIVEREY INCLUDED!

OK folks, anyone could walk into any sit down restaurant and sell the owner on buying 20 pairs of readers Dror $40…so their clients can read the menu.   That’s a $20 profit on a $20 purchase.   You get the idea…

Whether it’s buying an item VERY cheaply…or selling it from a photo and then fulfilling it AFTER you get the money….a profit is a profit.

Mike:  You’re a successful business owner, board member, author, speaker.  Looking back at a 2011 article on dnjournal.com, I see photos of you with everyone who’s anyone and you’ve had some high profile business partners.  What is one lesson that you have learned or one piece of advice that you can pass on to the rest of us looking to succeed in domaining or entrepreneurship?

Marc:  My “business life lessons”……

1.  Very Successful people have one MAJOR different model…..

Know what you DON’T know.

Taxes – hire a CPA

Legal – hire a lawyer

Design – hire an interior designer (most think they can do this…but they can’t)

2. HIre your weaknesses.   We can’t be the best at everything…do what you love and hire better people to do what you don’t want to do.

3. Hiring one $120,000 person is smarter than hiring two $60k people….and it’s less costly due to all of the overhead and headaches in people management.

4.  Most of the  Money is made on the “buy” side.   Buying VERY low is a real key to many millionaires becoming that way.

5. Good ideas sell.  It’s not hard to raise money if you have a great idea that can be domonstrated.

6. Don’t be the guy that says “I need your money…but I’m going to keep my day job just in case it doesn’t work”.  WHY would any smart investor invest his money…when you want to “hedge your bet”?   You get 100% of my money…you need to put in NO LESS than 100% of your heart, soul and future bet on your income.  It’s amazing how many people want to build their business with OPM – other peoples money – yet they don’t even want to put in 100% of their time.   Smart money says “no sale”.

Mike:   What is your perspective on the newer TLDs that are available.  Do you invest in them?  Do you suggest them to others?  Do you have a favorite?

Marc:  I don’t like the new TLD’s.  By far, the biggest winners are those that are selling this to the public.   99% of the people typing in say “eTickets.ticket” will type in eTickets.ticket.com.

It’s a f-ing mess and won’t be solved for years to come.

Mike:  What are you working on these days?

Marc:  Always looking for ONE thing…a company or individual that can take a wonderful domain name…and turn it into an income producing business.

I own CuffLinks.com – a wonderful small business that own’s its niche.

Play a lot of golf…and hoping to find someone that can get me onto Augusta National for 1 round of golf 🙂

Karen Bantuveris is CEO of SignUp.com.   As a working-mom, Girl Scout leader, and active PTA member, Karen enjoyed contributing where she could, but the ‘little things’ that made volunteering a hassle and distracted her from the rest of life—clipboards, multiple websites, reply-all emails, late night reminder messages—seemed endless.

Karen recognized that for her efforts to make a meaningful difference, she needed to simplify how community activities were organized. In 2009, she founded VolunteerSpot, a solution for anyone and everyone who wanted to quickly mobilize and coordinate volunteers. VolunteerSpot’s simple, intuitive signup software made it easy for people to join together and say YES to volunteering. No waiting for approvals and passwords, no software to install—just free, easy scheduling and signup tools for everyday heroes.

Mike: Although SignUp.com seems pretty straight forward based on the name, can you explain the service and what it does?
Karen:  At SignUp.com, we believe that when people come together, great things happen. Parents and teachers, business and community leaders, and friends and coworkers trust our coordination resources and applications to save time and achieve remarkable outcomes. We’re the easiest way to coordinate people and things for events, activities and gatherings of all kinds.

This time of year, parents and teachers are coordinating helpers and refreshments for holiday parties and performances, faith groups are organizing community meals and Giving Tree wish lists to bring holiday cheer to families in need, professors are coordinating office hours and exam proctor schedules, sports parents are collecting money for coaches gifts, small businesses from photographers to doggie day care are hosting SignUps so their customers can schedule their services, and nonprofits are planning races, galas and other fundraisers. As you can see, people use us for everything under the sun!

Mike: You recently changed your name from VolunteerSpot to SignUp.com. What prompted the change?

Karen: Our customers were using us in a myriad of scenarios beyond volunteering and we wanted current and potential users to know that we can help them plan and coordinate just about anything seamlessly — from events, to parent teacher conferences, meetings, and parties. We still have a focus on volunteer scheduling, but when the response from users who used VolunteerSpot to coordinate other activities became undeniable, we decided to make the change.

Mike: How important has a great domain name proved to be for your business?

Karen: We’re just getting started with our new domain and the feedback from our customers has been amazing – it was a strong and successful move. We’re also excited to see people use SignUp.com in ways we didn’t fully anticipate such as event ticket sales, race registration and class registration. It seems the possibilities are endless.

Mike: What types of businesses or organizations do you find using your service? What sort of unique ways are they leveraging the service? What can people use it for to accomplish? 

Karen: Our core audience has traditionally been parents (mostly moms) and teachers who use SignUp.com to organize class/school activities and parties, but we’re quickly branching into districts, universities, faith groups and small businesses as their go-to coordination and planning resource. We’re starting to see people create all kinds of SignUps beyond volunteer rostering such as interview schedules for hiring events, city-wide prayer circles, workplace picnics and potlucks, class registration– the list goes on! They love to useSignUp.com because of the ease-of-use of the platform, the automatic reminders sent out to participants and because overall – it makes their lives easier so they can focus on the more important aspects of their lives.

Mike: Can you share the traffic numbers the site receives?

Karen: With an ever-growing user base, we are seeing site traffic increase month-to-month. This past October we hit 11 million users! We’re excited to see that number continue to grow as the year progresses.

Mike: In searching for a premium domain name for a business, what advice do you have to others considering the same?
Karen: We had been looking for a new domain to better meet the needs of our expanding VolunteerSpot audience for a long time. We purchased and launched several other domains prior to committing to SignUp.com. Many of them had the same drawback as VolunteerSpot of having to explain our services, or having a narrow use case. SignUp.com is as generic and broadly applicable as it comes. Personally, I was resistant at first, preferring a more exciting brand – but I’ve come to love the brand because the domain is so powerful in it’s simplicity – our platform makes sense to our customers, instantly and immediately. The generic nature of the name also lets us custom brand subdomains for our clients and partners. It was an overall win!

Mike: I noticed your free tier is supported by advertisers. How well does that model work?

Karen: Since our core user base has traditionally been influential, active moms with school-aged kids, we offer unique sponsorship opportunities for brands that want to market to moms in a contextually relevant way in an uncluttered environment. Brand’s like Land’s End, Uncle Ben’s, Penguin Random House and AXA Financial Services look to us for unparalleled engagement to hyper-target this difficult-to-reach audience. Because of our credibility and reach within involved parent communities, we’ve recently been invited by The White House to join President Obama’s Computer Science for All initiative (#CSforAll). We’re encouraging elementary schools and youth groups across the country to host a FUN and FREE Family Code Night event that introduces families to Computer Science. The majority of our advertisers share our mission of doing ‘GOOD” – maybe it’s to keep kids reading, to save for college, or encouraging the family the cook together – it all aligns.

After several years working as a building envelope consultant and structural analysis engineer, Liz Lohman co-founded Cubicle.com, the first online store for office cubicles.  Cubicle.com offers free shipping nationwide in 10 business days from the date of your order. It’s is a new and rapidly growing ecommerce business.  Liz took time out of her busy schedule as Partner of Cubicle.com and mother of a new born to answer questions on the power of this domain name.

Mike: Liz, how does Cubicle.com differ from how businesses normally furnish their offices with cubicles?

Liz: When Cubicle.com was founded, the typical cubicle purchasing process could take weeks or months because there was no easy way for a customer to find and specify the products that they wanted for their space. It often involved the customer contacting an office furniture dealership, having them come to the customer’s facility to measure, and then designing the space…all before getting to a quote. Cubicle.com makes the cubicle purchasing process SIMPLE! We provide the customer with a quick and easy way to find the cubicles that best fit their needs, and they are able to purchase directly via our website!

Mike: How did you come to own the domain name? Can you walk us through how you searched out and acquired the name? Can you share what you paid for the name?

Liz:  We really wanted a name that established instant credibility with customers….which is how we got to Cubicle.com. In terms of acquiring the domain, we contacted the owner (based on the domain’s WHOIS information) and negotiated a lease (with an option to buy). We wanted to start out with a lease so that we could test our business model before incurring the sizable expense associated with the domain name purchase. Once we saw that the business model was a success, we decided to purchase the domain outright. In terms of cost, the lease rate was under $1000/month, but the option price was over six figures.

Mike: How has owning the keyword name “Cubicle.com” impacted the business? Could any other name have delivered the same results from type in traffic and Google searches?

Liz:  Owning the keyword name Cubicle.com has definitely positively impacted the business! The largest benefit has been that it provides the business with instant credibility. Customers are often weary of making large-ticket purchases online, so having the Cubicle.com domain name provides them with a higher level of comfort and trust, which leads to a higher rate of conversion.

Of course, the Cubicle.com domain name has also helped with type-in traffic and Google searches. We think that it is the best domain to have if you are in the office cubicle business!

Mike: How much of your traffic do you attribute to type in traffic?

Liz:  A fair amount of our website traffic comes from type-in-traffic. But, we are finding that the vast majority of this traffic is from our past customers, who are remembering our brand and want to order more cubicles!

Mike: What have you found to be the biggest surprise when it comes to running an online business? What is one thing you encountered that you hadn’t anticipated?

Liz:  The biggest surprise to me has been the large percentage of our revenue that comes from past customers who return again and again to purchase more workstations. It’s a good surprise for sure…it means we are doing our jobs and the Cubicle.com customers are happy!

Mike: Aside from having a great domain name, what are some other important factors in running a successful site?

Liz:  One very important part of running a successful e-commerce site is responsiveness. I know that our customers appreciate the fact that we respond quickly to any questions that they may have and are able to provide cubicle quotes in a very short period of time. It gives them more confidence in the online buying process.

The other factor I think is very important is the ability to set expectations regarding your services…being very clear with your customer about what you provide and how you provide it. For instance, when a customer places a Cubicle.com order, we send an order confirmation that states exactly what they ordered, an estimated ship date, and how it will be delivered…that way we are all on the same page regarding the details pertaining to each order.

Mike: There is a competitor with the plural of your domain name and another with the dot net version of your name. How are you able to differentiate and stay ahead of your competition?

Liz:  We attribute a large portion of our success to the fact that we have simplified our business model and focus on doing one thing very well…offering a very high quality, low cost cubicle solution with unmatched customer service!

We are one of the few cubicle sites out where you can actually purchase cubicles online without having to wait for a quote. This allows our customers that know exactly what they want to go ahead and purchase…no delays waiting for someone to get back to you!

For our customers who do want a quote, we are able to get quotes put together for customers in a matter of hours (often within the same hour) from when our potential customer contacts us.

We are always striving to meet the expectations set with our tagline: Quick & Easy Cubicles for Less!

Mike: What methods do you use to promote the website?

Liz:  We are constantly working to maximize the quality and quantity of our site traffic. This work is a combination of organic optimization, PPC, and always being on the lookout for new digital marketing technologies that will provide a benefit to our customers and lead to more sales for Cubicle.com.