Archive for January, 2008

Sunscreen roller shades are one of the newest blinds on the market. These are the shades that look like thick window screens where you can see through. They are made of the same material as the modern outdoor furniture. These solar shades block out around 98% of the harmful UV rays and are quite energy efficient. They save furniture and carpet from harmful UV rays caused by the sun. The one disadvantage with this popular product is that a night, when your lights are on and it is dark outside, people can see in and you cannot see out. It is just the opposite in the day time. That is why you see these in banks and restaurants. So, if privacy is an issue, this product is not for you. We just came out with some marvelous new colors and styles. Each is broken down by openness factors. The openness is the amount you can see through. The most common openness is the 5% and 10% which serves most purposes. The 14% plus is pretty open and less than 3% makes it hard to see out of. Go to Suns Screens to check out all the new fabrics. You can click on any picture to get a closeup.

I know this has nothing to do with blinds but thought it was cute. I saw it on bloggingwv.com.

We just received the new Comfortex Envision roller shade book. It has a huge selection of new style roller shades. We will post this new product online as soon as we get sampling. The only thing that seems to remain the same verses the old Serenade book is the SilverScreens, Polynesian Sands, South Pacific, Suede Impressions, and some of the Phifer Sunscreens. We will keep you up to date once the samples arrive and promptly have a sale to kick off this new product line. The specs seem to be much greater than the old Serenade book.

First off, the picture to the left that says “Hacker Safe” is trademarked by Scan Alert.

I just read an interesting article today on the Webmaster World forums about a site being hacked with the “Hacker Safe (trademarked)” logo on their site. Go to: Webmaster World to read the article and the posts about it.

Goes to prove that no site is safe from attack. The most important way to protect your information is to look for the “HTTPS:” on the URL address on your check out page (the page where you are typing in your CC number). That means that the information you put in is going to a secure server (even those are not fool proof) but it gives you a measure of security.

Shades Shutters Blinds stores no credit card information. We are even unable to look up your credit card information. We use a reputable company called Authorize.net that processes your card. They are one of the top three processing companies out there. They take extreme measures to stop hacking and the good thing is, they will warrant it. The Thawte Secured label we post online shows that we are certified and all the transactions are going over a secure server.

Comfortex, a leading manufacturer in the window covering industry, just introduced its new cordless top down, bottom up cellular (honeycomb) shades. If you can reach the top of the window, you will have a handle instead of that long cord to drop the blind down from the top. You also have another handle at the bottom so you can raise and lower the shade like normal. It is a really cool feature and much more child friendly and hassle free because you no longer have the cords to deal with. They also just came out with a new roller shade line called the Envision Roller Shades. This will replace the Serenade book. There are supposed to be newer fabrics and the specs on the width are much wider than before. We are waiting on sampling before we place this online. Should be in the next week or two.

This is a first of a three part series on how we started. I guess you can call this the start up stage.

How long have you been in the Window Covering industry?

Since around 1994 but did do some blind installation in college. I got into the industry full time in around 1995 and have been doing it since. I started off with a partner and did in-home sales of blinds until around 1998. Then, I started working as a sales rep for a blinds manufacture.

What made you decide to start selling your blinds online?

As a sales rep, some of our clients were doing it online and it seemed like the easy thing to do. They were successful at it and the headaches that I seemed to encounter as a rep and as an in-home retailer, seemed minimal on their end. I kept it in the back of my head for a couple of years and tried it (unsuccessfully) for a short time on my free time.

When did you decide to do this full time and why?

As a sale rep for the manufacture, I was eventually transferred to a different state in which the company I worked for was not well known (Colorado). It was much harder than expected and I soon wanted to do something else in the blinds business besides manufacturer sales. When the opportunity and the finances became available, I chose to give it a full time shot for two years. After that, I would pack it in but it fortunately worked out.

What were your goals when you first started?

Simply to make a living on the internet (or over the computer). We started in my basement just doing research of how to do basic web design and learned any info we could on webmaster forums on how to be successful in the search engines. I learned very quickly that we did not have the funds to do a pay-per-click advertising campaign like the competitors that I knew. I tried it for short time but the small budget we had got sucked up in a matter of days with little results. I quickly realized that the natural search results were the way to go and that is still the path we use today.

Did anyone help you get started? If so, how?

My partner (who I met as a sales rep) knew this was the way to go. He helped me financially. As it grew, it became a full time job for both of us.

How did you get the connections for your business? Who did you use and why?

I new everybody (pretty much) on the manufacturing side for most of our suppliers so negotiating was not a problem. We wanted to emphasize the Hunter Douglas name brand so that was a goal also.

What were the first steps you took on having an internet site?

That is funny you asked. I checked into a friend of mine in Dallas that has a web design company. First, you have to have a server or a host. I did not even know that! I signed up with a small local hosting company and came up with the name Shades Shutters Blinds. The name was not taken and I figured the keywords in the title would eventually help on my rankings in the search engines. If I could change it now, I would have a much shorter name with branding. Anyways, I wanted to do the design myself since I had all the time to do it and felt better working than waiting for someone else to do the design of the website. I actually read the entire Microsoft FrontPage book and bought the program! For the original logo, I had my buddy in Dallas design for around $50. I put the rest in myself. I did not know what sub pages were or even hyperlinks but I soon learned.

What was the hardest part about designing the website?

It was by far the data on the back end. Our industry works on a grid system for pricing based on size. There can also be up to 20 different styles and options per product so the back end had to be industry specific. At the time, most of my competitors where working off that grid system and the end user (customer) had to figure out the rest from that grid that was posted on that particular web site. I new fast that if we could come up with an easier solution and get it to work, that we would be unique. That became our moto “Easy ordering of affordable blinds”. We were one of the first to create the “Quick Quote” in which the customer could select the product, put the sizes in, and get a price and order. We used a Microsoft Access application to do this with much improvising. No special options were available. Just the product, size and price could be done.

How did that work?

It was fine at first. I even tried to copy write our “Quick Quote”. I didn’t have luck because the program already existed and the name was too generic. Now everyone uses it. We soon discovered that whatever you put online people would eventually order. So the options, color selections and product mix had to be increased and fast. At this stage, it was over me and my partners ability to create ourselves so we used outside sources to re-do the quick quote to make it even more user friendly.

Lets go to marketing. How did you promote your company?

At first, yellow page ads, mailers and fliers to the local new home subdivisions. That really got our foot in the door by heavily promoting the do-it-yourself and save concept that was lacking in our market. We found that if we advertised, “Shop online and save big money”, we had a conversion rate of over 150% verses the free home estimates that other companies were doing. It started to balloon from there as word got out. I guess your average person does not like salespeople in their homes. Funny. Also, we stressed buy just one or the whole house. It doesn’t matter. People liked that too because there was no pressure to make a large, single purchase. Our average home (to do it completely) can be over $1000 or much more. Doing a few at a time without being pressured really helped out this concept. This worked especially well for customers that just bought a new home. We all know what kind of expense that is.

End of part one. Part two will be internet marketing strategies.

Sliding panels are the new alternative windows covering designed for those hard to cover sliding glass doors. For you typical sliding glass doors, most people will either leave it open altogether, which allows no privacy or no protection from the sun. The vertical blind is outdated and most customers want something that does not clank and look nicer. An affordable alternative that has only been on the market for the last couple of year is the sliding panel. The sliding panels is made of solid fabric panels usually 14 inch to 24 inches wide that overlap each other when the shade is opened. Some of the most popular fabrics for this shade include the sunscreen roller material, standard roller fabric, and the hugely popular bamboo woven wood blinds.