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See how a year's worth of changes helped our tech makeover winner take her business to new heights.
We're closing in on having followed Pursesnickety!,
Deborah Nail's colorful purse business, for one year. The
company started with an ineffective website, but after winning
Entrepreneur and Interland's web makeover contest, Nail,
41, has a very different business today. She got a lot more than
just a better-looking website. Lately, she's been turning her
business's new internet smarts into revenue.
To get perspective on the whole process, we went to John Lally,
area vice president of marketing with Interland. His company
sponsored Pursesnickety! through the makeover, and he has kept tabs
on the project throughout. "[The new website] improved her
ability to market her business on a lot of different levels,"
says Lally. "It's a great branding vehicle and a great
source of new business." The easy-to-use online catalog has
made her wholesale customers happy. Nail has incorporated the site
into her trade show materials, and now she's boosting the
retail side.
Nail wasn't a technophile when the project got started, but
a year of using the new technology has changed things.
"She's a lot more comfortable with using our tools,"
says Lally. The web tools allow her to keep the content fresh and
cater to demand. Using these tools, Nail has also added a line of
convertible cocktail purses and accessories to the online
catalog.
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A key component to growing her business is marketing. "She
needs to keep pushing the envelope on the online marketing front.
That's where the dollars start to pay out," says Lally.
Nail has been pleased with the results of Interland's
MyEzClicks program for search engine advertising. She's also
taking advantage of e-mail with an anti-spam-compliant e-mail
marketing system that lets her bring in customers. The results are
paying off--not just in site visits, but in revenue as well.
Pursesnickety! has come a long way, but Nail will continue to
expand the website and refine her online marketing efforts. Stay
tuned for next month, when we wrap up with Nail to see which
services she'll stick with and what the future holds for
Pursesnickety!