Archive for the ‘Marketing’ Category

October Promos!!! Keep scrolling down the page to view all sales. There is no hype on these. Most show automatically so no promo codes, special coupons etc. The price includes the sale. A few will require a comment in the special directions section at checkout. There is quite a few this month so keep scrolling:).

*Deal of the Month* $50 rebate (up to 10 blinds) for all 2 1/2″ horizontal sheers.

• 2 1/2″ Sheers- Getting the rebate is easy. Order your 2 1/2″ sheer like normal. On the special directions section during checkout, simply write “I need the rebate form” and we will mail it to you. Fill it out, and mail it in along with your receipt, and receive a check!

 Hunter Douglas Duette™ and Applause™ Honeycomb Shades-

• $20 off PowerRise™ Remote Option- Battery Operated, Radio and infrared.
• Free LiteRise™ cordless operation- No cords means no hassels.
• New TrimKit for LiteRise™- Blocks light from around the edges. An excellent choice for media rooms. Cordless only.

- No promo code needed. Shows automatically in the price when you click option on Step 2. Good until the end of October.

• Applause Single Cells
• Applause Double Cells
• Applause Blackouts
• Duette 3/8″ Single Cells
• Duette 3/4″ Single Cells
• Duette Double Cells
• Duette Blackouts

Roman Shades

• *New* Caslan™ Romans. They were a big hit last month so we will keep it going. 5% off.
• Our hugely popular Toscana’s will continue running at 10% off. Allow three weeks for delivery on these!
• We are batting three for three this month. Comfortex™ will go 5% off as well on their Serenade Roman shades.

Odysee™ Insulating Blinds- These are a blind and honeycomb mix. See the video. Comfortex™ wants to get the word out about these cool and unique blinds. 10% off.

Hunter Douglas™ Designer Screen Shades- We are still working on getting all the new colors online. In the meantime, Hunter Douglas™ sent us eight coupons for a rebate on the cassette valance upgrade. We have only seven left and are passing them on to you. The average cost for this upgrade is around $40 per window so this is an awesome deal. Order the blinds with the cassette option like normal. At checkout, there will be a special directions section. Simply write “Free Cassette Headrail Upgrade” and we will refund your credit card. Seriously, only seven left.

Comfortex™ keeps offering this option for free so we will keep passing it on to you for free (a $20 value). Super Saver Single Cells and Symphony™ honeycomb shades will have a 1 cent top down, bottom up sale until the end of the month.

Sheers and more sheer shades. This is really just a coincidence but all sheer blinds came on sale at the same time except for the StarDust™ Vertical sheers so we are running an internal sale at 5% off of these to finish out the category. Besides the $50 rebate for the 2 1/2″ sheer horizontal blind mentioned as the “deal of the month” above, take $15 off the Comfortex™ Shangri La™ (price shows automatic, no hype) two inch sheer shade and three inch sheer shade. Take $10 off per blind for the gorgeous Ballet™ sheer vertical by Comfortex™.

Check out Search Conversion LLC for all of your internet marketing needs. I have been a friend of Scott and worked with him for several years.  He is very well respected in the Denver area.

Just out.

• Applause™ Honeycomb Shades- Sunterra™ is now 10% less than Casuelle™ and Legends™, Sunterra is now available in blackouts (we still don’t have these yet).
• New fabrics in the Duette™- Mertage™ and Classic, Continuous Cord Loop (EasyRise™) is now available in a top down, bottom up.
• Nantucket™- Now you can motorize this.

None of these have been offically launced yet but they are some great new options for 2009. We will have them up and ready as soon as they are out.

Again, this comes from Hunter Douglas™. Hunter Douglas™ provides everything to make your windows a beautiful expression of the way you live.

1. Light source. Where the light is coming from is important. First make sure you know which direction your windows face. North light tends to be cold and clear, suggesting energy-efficient window treatments. Light from the south is warm and strong year-round, so you might choose light-diffusing window coverings to protect your furniture. If you windows face east, bright, warm morning light calls for window coverings that block UV rays. And if light comes from the west, hot, hot bright afternoons demand solutions that are both light controlling and light diffusing.
2. Privacy. Do you need full privacy from your neighbors or just a little screening from, say, the garage or a central air conditioning unit? With the power of Hunter Douglas™ you can have just the degree of privacy you need.
3. Style. Do you prefer traditional or contemporary look? Relaxed or formal? Country warmth or urban sophistication? Hunter Douglas™ gives you the style you’ve set your heart on.
4. Color. Hunter Douglas™ is constantly expanding the rainbow. Whatever color or shade, tint or texture you want, you’ll find it among the endless choices available.
5. Energy Efficiency. Fuel bills soaring? Hunter Douglas™ window fashions: they are impressively energy efficient. So you can save on fuel bills while doing your bit for the environment.
6. UV Protection. Built-in ultraviolet protection gives you the power to reduce harmful rays that fade carpets, discolor upholstery and degrade your finest possessions.
7. Safety. Kids or pets, and loose cords can spell trouble. So we offer operating systems and special features designed to make your home both safer and more beautiful.

Check this article out and the new easy to use website at: www.hunterdouglas.com

OK, I finally got around to redesigning our samples. All the samples will eventually be labled with the color name, number, our logo. We currently order all samples from Hunter Douglas directly from them but will eventually stock them in house to get those out that day or the following day as well. They are taking too long to get out and they often are not labled properly. All sales will be printed on the back of the card and measuring instructions will be included. For now, we will continue putting regular stamps on the envelopes but might migrate to a in house mailing lable maker.

This article comes directly from “We Make Green Beautiful” brochure that we received from Hunter Douglas™. It has a ton of useful information and will keep you posted. They give us great info like this all the time and I wish they would let us know who the authors of this so we can give them credit.

This has happened to all of us. We’re stopped at a traffic light with a long line of cars behind us. Out thoughts wander, our attention drifts. Suddenly a loud honk jolts us back to the moment. We look up to see that the light  has changed, and we sheepishly accelerate- quickly, to make up for the delayed response.

Think of future generations honking.

As a society, we’ve reacted slowly to warning signals about depletion of natural resources, climate change and the quality of life in coming years. Now, clearly, the light is changing to green and it’s time for us to keep moving.

The Benefits of Window Coverings

You probably know that Hunter Douglas™ offers the most extensive selection of window fashions on the market, but you may not realize how much our products can impact energy efficiency. Not only do they help protect against UV damage to furnishings and most are GREENGARD Indoor Air Quality Certified®, Hunter Douglas™ window fashions also add insulation at the window to reduce heating costs, moderate the sun’s heat in summer to reduce cooling costs, and improve the quality of natural daylight to reduce the costs of electrical lighting.
Today, our window fashions are so much more than fashionable. They are tools to save energy, and important contributors to reducing energy use, utility costs and greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, Hunter Douglas™ window fashions are one of the easiest ways to “go green.”

I hope it makes it easier to order and price. We made the quick quote a “pepto pink” to make it easier to see, put the size specs and additional shipping charges if they apply to show automatically, and if the fabric is more expensive (we comboed alot of colors), it will tell you as well. It shouold now be as simple as Step 1, Step 2 etc. Let us know if you see any bugs.

Ask us about Designer Screen Shades by Hunter Douglas™

• Closeout Woven Wood Blinds- These are true closeouts and are high quality. The pricing is fantastic. Good literally, until supplies last.
• 15% off on Rio Woven Wood Blinds
• 10% off Prestige Woven Wood Blinds Group 1, Group 2 and Group 3.
• Free UltraGlide upgrade on all Hunter Douglas Duette™.
• 15% off Symphony™ cellular shades by Comfortex™ PLUS Free Top Down, Bottom Up.
• 15% off Comfortex™ WoodsWinds™ 2″ Composite Blinds and 2 1/2″ Composite Blinds.
• 5% off Envision™ Group 1 and Group 2 Roller Shades by Comfortex™
• 5% off Serenade™ Roller Shades by Comfortex™
• 14% off Serenade™ Roman Shades by Comfortex™
• 16% off Ballet™ Sheer Verticals by Comfortex™
• 12% off WoodsWinds™ Plantation Shutters by Comfortex™

I got some excellent ones coming up for February. Prestige Woven Wood blinds will be one and I am waiting to here back for either a free top down, bottom up for cellular shades or a Rio bamboo blinds sale back from Timber blinds. Rich, our sales rep, is checking on it. I would prefer the Rio so we can run a “super woven woods” sale but we haven’t had a free top down, bottom up for the cellular shades in a while so that might be good also. It’s a great option and most find they will use the top down feature more than the regular up and down. There will also be a surprise that will be a huge help for us and one of our main suppliers. The only thing we are allowed to say is “ask us about” so keep your eyes posted Feb. 1st.

Hunter Douglas goes Hunter Green

Hunter Douglas™ just started their Hunter Green™ program. Here are the details taken directly from Hunter Douglas™.

Hunter Douglas™ as you know, is the world wide leader in creating innovative, energy-efficient blinds that save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. They are trying to serve a larger purpose along with making homes brighter, more beautiful, more private and more comfortable.

One of the first innovative, energy efficiency improvements Hunter Douglas™ came up with was the Duette™ honeycomb shades. Air contained within the honeycomb cells proved to be an effective insulator. Yes, they invented the honeycomb shade! It keeps the heat inside in the winter and the cold inside in the summer.

A couple of years ago, Hunter Douglas™ improved the honeycomb shade even more with the invention of the Duette Architella™, which takes this energy conservation to a whole new level. The patented honeycomb-within-a-honeycomb design forms 3 air pockets to dramatically reduce heat flow at the window. Fact, if installed in every window of every American home, these shades have the potential to cut our annual energy consumption by 2 1/2% total!! That’s massive just for blinds.

Another thing that is impressive is that Hunter Douglas™ is going to reduce their energy consumption by 15%, water usage by 40% and overall carbon emissions by 20% over the next 3 years.

Some of the projects that Hunter Douglas™ is involved in finacially is supporting the Arbor Day Foundation™ by planting 15,000 new trees and saving over a million feet of rain forest. They also help Habitat for Humanity™ by donating a whopping 100,000 window coverings over the last 15 years.

As you can see, Hunter Douglas™ is doing their part in making the world a better place. They are indeed “Hunter Green™”.

We just added hundreds of new photos so you can take a better look at the products. Simply click on the “Image Gallery” or “Photo Gallery” right above the quick quote of each page. Some might not have them yet because we are waiting on the vendors to get the photos to us.

I picked up the paper Sunday and saw a very nice color ad from Lowes™. It was for a Faux Wood 2″ blind at 31″ x 64″. The price was just incredible. Much lower than ours or anybody else’s that I am aware of. I know Lowes™ does some massive buying and times are definitely tough but 10% below our actual cost? So I went down to the store to check it out myself and here is what I found: These are pre-made blinds in certain widths and heights. If your window is not that actual width, Lowes™ has this cut down machine there that will cut the width for you to your size. For the length, you will have to do that yourself. The quality of the blind was very flimsy with a super light head rail, a very generic valance and the slat material was weak. I guess it is good for laundry rooms, apts etc but for your entire house, it is only going last a couple of years and is definitely a temporary fix. Pay a little more and get it done right the first time. For a few extra bucks, you get a true custom made blind, it has a lifetime warranty against discoloration or warpage and the quality is literally five times as good. I then did some comparison shopping on the truly custom made one that they also offered in the ad. For a 31″ x 64″ Roman shade made by a national brand name, the cost was $211 verses ours at $164. As you can tell, for high quality, custom made blinds, the internet is the place to shop if you can measure and hang yourself. Just my 2 cents:)

This is the first offical post since we started hosting our blog on our server. I am practising on this today. If you happen to see any obvious bugs, shoot us an email. Remember, 5% off your order if you write a review about us.

Search Conversion is an excellent source for web-design and search engine optimization. Scott has been running this company for several years and is very knowledgeable in many operating systems including asp and .NET based web servers. We have been using his service’s for several years and are giving him a plug. For the best in seo and website designs, check out http://www.searchconversion.com/. Located in the Denver area. Thanks Scott.

Please put your prayers for the people of the Houston area. I am a native Texan, have friends there, family there, our Hunter Douglas supplier is there. It is a great city and the people couldn’t be better. God bless America.

Tony owns a cool blinds store in the UK. Check out Perfect Fit Blinds…. This revolutionary blinds system developed by Louvolite Blinds needs no holes drilled or screws; for that perfect fit Simply slide the cleverly designed brackets into your window and click your blinds frame in.. Simple..Easy. A very unique product and look great. Check there site today. Very affordable and attractive. Thanks for this Tony!

I just added a eco friendly catagory to our Friends page so you can check out sites that are related to that area. I want to brag about Green Home Building. This site has a wealth of information about running a “green” environment. It covers everything from growing your own food to total eco-friendly construction. Kelly and Rosana run this excellent site.

This site is run by Kevin and is loaded with information on Designing, Building, Financing, Furnishing & Landscaping your Corridor Home. It provides tons of links, books and other information. Check out Corridor Homes today.

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.

Electric Underfloor Heating Floor Heating Limited is a specialist internet supplier of electric underfloor heating systems and Fastwarm insulation boards, available on a next day delivery throughout the UK mainland and Europe offering large online discounts. This product is perfect for new homes. Your feet never get cold.

Tracy at Giverny Home Accents & Gifts, offers home accents and gifts that are inspired by nature. Items made from and inspired by flowers, rocks and minerals offer a special touch to any home or office. Giverny – Bringing Nature Indoors. They look very nice.

Two nice site are for your outdoor home improvement projects. First is Garden Sheds Worldwide which is THE Directory For Garden Sheds, Summer Buildings, Conservatories, Garages, Log Cabins, Playhouses, Greenhouses and Garden Accessories!! The second site is Timber Storage Sheds which has wooden heavy duty workshops with the highest specification. They are able to erect in most areas. Support Forum is available.

This company has some of the nicest and modern range covers that I have ever seen. Kitchen Range Hoods by Futuro Futuro. Futuro Futuro is an Italian manufacturer of high-end designer kitchen range hoods. Over 170 island and wall models. All models are in stock at our New York warehouse, and shipped to anywhere in the USA and Canada within 24 hours. Check them out for you next kitchen remodel.

I just discovered a nice furniture site to check out. Kurt Petersen Furniture is the only place to sit. Kurt Petersen Furniture is the specialized source for institutional, commercial, industrial and contract furniture. They can help you plan your project. Tables, chairs, barstools, bar stools, restaurant booths,waste receptacles, ashtrays, planters and seating. Sillas y mesas para restaurante de comida rapida. Check Kurt Peterson Furniture out today.