Like most kids, I was fascinated with magic tricks when I was growing up. I would save my money and make weekly visits to our local trick shop. I’d buy some little gadgets and practice for hours in preparation to amaze the other kids in my neighborhood. I have to admit, I’m still a fan of magic tricks today. Jackie Monticup of MagicTricks.com is living my dream and sharing the experience with us.
Mike: Can you give a little background on your business?
MagicTricks.com has been in business online since 1997. Peter Monticup, a professional magician since the age of seven, opened the website as an extension of his brick-and-mortar magic shop in Charlottesville, Virginia called, appropriately, Magic Tricks. Peter has owned a string of magic shops since 1971, first in upstate New York and later in Virginia. The name “Magic Tricks” was chosen because Peter realized that previous “clever” names for his shops (including The House of Magic and The Old Curiosity Shop) didn’t always make it clear what he was selling. When he opened the Virginia shop in 1994, he decided to be direct and call the shop simply “Magic Tricks”. It worked well.
Mike: Did you purchase the name from someone else that owned it? What was the process you went through? Will you share what you paid for the name MagicTricks.com?
When we decided to launch the website, we used the same philosophy, and opened “MagicTricks.com“. Fortunately, the previous owner of the name was not using it, and was letting it expire. Literally the second “MagicTricks.com” became available, we snatched it up, paying only the yearly registration fee.
Mike: Has has owning the domain MagicTricks.com impacted your business?
Obviously, the name clearly spells out what we sell, and that helps. Also, having the keywords “magic tricks” in the domain name has helped with SEO.
Mike: Do you have any other online marketing strategies that you follow?
Over the years, we have tried most of the popular marketing strategies. Google ads are beneficial if you have a specific strategy in mind (for example, if you know that customers are looking for a specific product, and you want to come up on the first page of the search for that exact product, you can buy your way onto the first results page). Since the beginning, though, we’ve concentrated on good basic website practices- building an easy-to-use site that offers frequently updated pages. Fresh content is very, very important.
Mike: Did you have another domain for your site before MagicTricks.com?
Yes. When we first decided to go online, MagicTricks.com was not available, so we chose MagicSupplies.com. Even when we chose that first name, we felt that domains made from keywords were the way to go. We operated as MagicSupplies.com for a few months before obtaining the MagicTricks.com name.
Mike: What type of growth have you seen in traffic to the site, sales, etc.
In 1997, our business was totally brick-and-mortar. By early 2000, we closed the storefront and operated totally online. It was that quick. In the last ten years, we’ve seen steady continued growth, due in part to the fact that people are becoming used to online shopping. It’s a part of our culture now.
Mike: Has the domain been worth the cost for you?
Absolutely! All it has cost is the yearly fee.
Mike: Any advice for start ups, small business, or business of any size for that matter on choosing the right domain name?
DO consider using keywords as your domain name, or adding keywords to your personal or business name. If your exact name is not available (if your name is Bill Smith, for example), try adding a descriptive word to your name, like BillSmithPhotographer.com
There are still great names available, so don’t be discouraged when your first few name ideas are already taken. Brainstorm with your friends, and you’ll be amazed at the flow of good ideas.
DO use keywords in your domain name. Blissful is a company that sells body lotions, so bodylotions.com or blissfulbodylotions.com or even calmingbodylotions.com would be good choices. DON’T use hyphens. When you verbally communicate your domain name, it’s awkward. “Good-times.com” becomes “Good dash times dot com” over the phone.
DO look carefully at how your domain name looks in print. Sometimes it spells something other than what you intended. If you sell 50’s classic music on CD, you might consider using the keywords “oldies” and “hits”. But probably not as oldieshits.com.
DON’T use words that are hard to spell. If you use the English spelling for “color” and spell it “colour”, then people will probably misspell your domain name “ColourVisions.com” and not find your site.
Similarly, DON’T use cute or alternative spellings, such as “Books4U”.
DO use only the .COM domain. Customers think “.com”. Make it easy for them to find you. It also looks the most professional.
Mike: What do your customers think of your domain?
Our customers find our name very easy to remember, and very clear in meaning. The name is an advertisement in itself.
Mike: Do you think you would be willing to sell your domain at any point? Have you ever received any unsolicited offers?
To sell the domain name, we’d have to sell the whole business. We do receive unsolicited offers every few months or so, but we are enjoying operating MagicTricks.com too much to sell it right now.
Mike: Any other information you’d like to share?
Thanks, Mike, for asking us to share our experience with you!
