Magic markets: the experts use marketing Mojo on our tech makeover winner

Entrepreneur, Dec, 2004 by Amanda C. Kooser

SINCE WINNING INTERLAND AND Entrepreneur's website makeover contest, Deborah Nail of Pursesnickety! has been up to her handbags in improved technology. In a break between fashion and accessories trade shows, Nail had a moment to discuss the new marketing initiatives implemented by Pursesnickety! and website services company Interland.

Knowledge is power. That saying holds especially true when it comes to a business website. To that end, Nail has been receiving web trend reports from Interland on the traffic that comes to www.pursesnickety. com. The reports tell her how many hits the site receives, when users visit and how long users stay on the site. "We are clearly getting more visitors and sales," says Nail, 41.

To drive traffic, Pursesnickety! has joined Interland's search engine advertising service, which generates advertising links on popular sites like Google. Nail's husband and "chief financial pursenality," John, 51, had tried putting together a pay-per-click plan, but the process was tedious and time-consuming. The couple is happy to let Interland deal with those details now. "Each month, we get an e-mail report with the click-through rates and the traffic we've received. That way, we can react quickly and get the greatest possible advantage in our marketing effort," Nail says.

Though there have been many wholesale visitors, Nail has come across an interesting issue with them. "In our industry, our customers are still a little behind in technology. What we need to do is encourage them to start using our website to order," she says.

As it is now, customers tend to use the website as a catalog and then e-mail or phone in their orders. Nail plans to introduce some incentives like free shipping to get the buyers to take advantage of online ordering. If that push is successful, it will save Pursesnickety! a lot of time.

With the trade shows driving traffic to the wholesale side of the website, Nail is now starting to focus on the retail side of the business. The pay-per-click advertising is designed to help generate retail sales. An e-mail marketing campaign is also in the works to help boost sales during the busy holiday season. When we catch up with Nail next month, we'll find out what the results have been so far.--Amanda C. Kooser