How did Poppy’s Closet start?
After my daughter Poppy was born. She is my inspiration.

What will people find in your shop?
Fashionable clothes for youngens ages baby-6 yrs, A lovely assortment of styles including chic, silly, bohemian, organic, preppy, rockstar & party.

What do you look for when choosing products to offer?
I’m looking to fill the perfect closet, one that offers everything that little ones need to be fashionable and hip.

What is unique about Poppy’s Closet?
Several different styles in one boutique.  Poppy likes to mix and match, preppy shorts with a rockstar tee.

If you could only buy one product in your store, which one would it be?
I would say the Gift Card because I wouldn’t be limited to just one product. Everything is so great! I’ll go with the Cream Senorita Dress, goes great alone or with jeans and looks beautiful on Poppy.

What we did

• Magento template design integration
• xHTML/CSS Coding
• Site installation
• Custom category navigation
• Cufon font replacement
• CMS setup
• Customized Wholesale Account administration

Visit Poppy’s Closet

Once the launch date has past and customers are starting to flood your site, what then?  If you are like most site owners then you are focusing on customer service, marketing and quality content.  Unfortunately the needs of your website don’t stop there.  Just like a race car, your site requires care and upkeep to make sure it’s running at top capacity. And just like a race car driver needs a pit crew, the site owner needs someone to routinely turn a wrench on the website.

Why every site owner needs a maintenance plan

When I talk to site owners about the benefits of a maintenance plan I almost feel like an insurance agent; telling horror stories and “what if” scenarios trying to illicit an emotional response.  The truth of the matter is that part of the benefit of having someone with an understanding of  your site’s environment and who actively monitors and conducts backups is invaluable in the event of an incident.

You may ask “What could go wrong?”  Here are some examples of incidents that I’ve responded to:

• The site administrator accidentally presses ‘delete’ on the root category of your store.
• A payment gateway goes down for over 10 hours during the day.
• A site owner forgets to pay a hosting invoice and the site is suspended.
• The power room at a data center explodes and in the process takes the entire data center offline for over four days. (This really happened.)

What is a maintenance plan?

Our website maintenance plans are designed to fit any budget while providing the service needed by site owners.  We keep the site running smoothly so you can focus on running your business.  Our plans include site monitoring, timely backups and software updates.  Plus, bundled maintenance hours allow for design or development updates.

Your turn

How do you handle your website’s care and feeding?  Have you experienced an incident that took down your site?

Since this topic has been a focus of mine of late, when I was confronted with three different types of marketing techniques today I couldn’t help but rate them.

The Referral Network

This morning I visited the Fiesta Chapter of BNI International.  I was invited by a friend to see what the organization is all about.  BNI describes itself as “”The” Business Referral Organization.”  Members are grouped into ‘chapters’ which meet weekly to network, share leads referrals, and build relationships  (I was taught that a referral differs from a lead in that a referral is “able and ready to do business with you”).  A major selling point to the membership (which does require a fee) is that there is only one member per profession in each chapter.  So if you are a web developer, then there will not be any other web developers in the chapter you belong to.

I decided to apply for membership and test out their claim that the referrals received would more than pay for the membership fee.  At very least I am looking forward to the weekly meetings for social interaction and to be around other business owners.

Time Commitment: Light, weekly meeting

Effectiveness: TBD, but forecast is Good

The Cold Call

On my way back to the office after the BNI meeting I got a call from a number I didn’t recognize (at first).  When I answered I was greeted by a cheery, British accent.  Even though it was difficult to hear the person with the road noise from my open car windows I could tell this person was calling from a call center.  He proceeded to recite a script I hear once per month telling me  how he found my website, that he wants to tell me about the development services they offer, and if I’d like to talk to one of his project managers.  I have repeatedly declined their offer and am now to the point of being annoyed so that I simply say “No Thank You” and hang up.  This tactic might work on others, just not on me.

Time Commitment: Heavy, for the person on the phone.

Effectiveness: In-between.

The Car Window

I observed the third marketing method as I was picking up lunch at a local Thai restaurant.  As I was getting into my car, a white Explorer pulled up behind me and the driver leaned out and started talking to me:

Driver: “Hi!  Do you live around here?”

Me: “Um, yeah.”

Driver: “Great! So I was wondering, I have these two Home Theater systems, I’m from Austin, and I over ordered from [local store], so I can give you a deal. What do you think?”

Me: “No thanks.”

Seriously?  At first I couldn’t decide if the driver was joking or not, and then I started to wonder if he was serious and if these items weren’t in fact stolen, how did he think this exchange would work out in his favor.  “As a matter of fact I am looking for a home theater system, I just happen to be outside of a Thai restaurant.  Thank goodness you happened to see me and pull up!”

Time Committment: Low

Effectiveness: Bad.  Very Bad.

What are some marketing techniques that you use to market yourself?

Widgets!

Widgets were introduced in the alpha versions of 1.4 in October ’09 and now have their debut in this stable release.  Widgets greatly expand the CMS (Content Management System) capabilities of the software.  The main way that the new widget functionality differs from static blocks is that non-technical administrators of the site can now control not just the content of blocks, but also their placement.

The default install now comes packaged with 7 types of widgets.  Magento extension authors can create widgets to be packaged with their extensions.

WYSIWYG Editor

When I install a Magneto site the first thing after I have completed the base software installation is to install the Fontis WYSIWYG (What You See is What You Get) extension.  With version 1.4 there is now a native WYSIWYG editor (TinyMCE) that can be used to edit Category and Product descriptions.

Unlike the Fontis extension this WYSIWYG editor does not have the ability to be inline – the user is forced to press the “WYSIWYG Editor” button which opens a modal dialog box.  This may have an productivity impact when doing multiple category/product edits.

Custom Variables

With the Transactional Email control panel in Magento store administrators have the ability to customize system generated emails for several events (e.g. New Order, Order Shipment).  Store administrators now have the ability to define custom variables to be used within those transactional emails.  Data elements that are included on each email can now have a single point of edit instead of having to open each email template and update the value.

A new “Insert Variable…” button on the Transactional Emails screen provides a dialog box with a list of system variables and custom variables.  The administrator selects the desired variable in the dialog box to insert the appropriate macro code into their Template Content.

Performance Updates

This release also includes features and updates targeted toward performance. The Compilation Module is now status:stable and greatly improves site performance by “compiling all files of a Magento installation into a single include path”.  That means faster page loads when this module is enabled.

Page transfer size has also been in addressed by including all CSS files into a single transfer similar to how Javascript has been handled to date.

Overview

The new features included in Magento 1.4 add to an already extensive feature list that make this e-commerce platform stand head and shoulders above the rest.

Caden Lane is a fashion-forward baby boutique that offers annual collections packed with everything you need for your baby and nursery.  Owner Katy Mimari infuses her products with “modern flair”,  “bold colors” and “playful prints”.

The project is a collaboration with Ink Puddles.

What we did:

• Magento template design integration
• xHTML/CSS Coding
• Matching WordPress blog
• Site installation
• Custom category navigation
• CMS setup
• Customized Wholesale Account administration

Visit Caden Lane

She Be Surfin’ is located in Avalon, New Jersey.  It is not your typical surf shop, but a surf boutique geared toward women.  Will you be hitting the surf soon?  Be sure to get the best in apparel and gear here!

The project is a collaboration with Quirky Bird Design.

What we did:

• Magento template design integration
• xHTML/CSS Coding
• Matching WordPress blog
• Site installation
• Custom category navigation
• CMS setup

Visit She Be Surfin’

Three Sisters Jewelry provides “Hip Hand Stamped Mommy Jewelry”.  Zoe Mohler, the owner of Three Sisters, followed her passion in a direction more in line with her inner spirit and opened her company to create original custom jewelry.

The project is a collaboration with Quirky Bird Design.

What we did:

• Magento template design integration
• xHTML/CSS Coding
• Matching WordPress blog
• Site installation
• Custom forms
• Wholesaler
• CMS setup

Visit Three Sisters Jewelry Design