"Lessons Learned" is a biweekly series where we request ecommerce business owners to discuss their experiences and information. With this setup, we interviewed Jonathan Juriga, the president and owner of J&J Furniture, Inc., Yoursleepstore.com and Yourmedicalsupplystore.com located in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Juriga also owns an online development firm, 14 East, which provides the majority of the technology and promotion necessary for his online shops.
Juriga and four workers run both shops, which have been online since 2005. The shops offer more than 1,000 individual products between them, garnering approximately $350,000 in annual earnings. Here we provide you Juriga's expertise and suggestions.
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"I own and manage an online development company that supplies the majority of the technology, Internet, and marketing needs that we have. If it was not for that, I certainly would have spent a great deal more money and time getting setup"
Shopping Cart Software
"There are several shopping carts out there to select from. We utilize an shopping cart named Cartweaver. My Internet development firm has been using this software since version 1, so it was the cart we looked at. That is not to say we did not do our due diligence with comparisons and research. But in the long run, the very reason we picked Cartweaver years ago is why we stick with them today --scalability and personalization. We discovered early on that we'd have different products from different manufacturers shipping from different locations. This posed our main problem: How would the shopping cart applications allow for several vendors to log in and meet the orders without visiting the SKUs [stock keeping units] transport from other manufacturers? We altered and customized the shopping cart application, in addition to the database design, to support many distributors. After plenty of planning and programming, three variants later we've got an extremely scalable solution that can be quickly deployed for a new shop in another industry."
Hosting
"We used a Ft. Lauderdale firm to sponsor the development firm until 2005, when Hurricane Wilma shut down South Florida and our servers were down for ten or eleven days. We lost some customers over that. After a small amount of research, we chose to use dedicated servers at Rackspace, located in Dallas, TX. We have had no downtime, and they have excellent tools, alarms and monitor systems. You get what you pay for. When you know people are searching for you and your organization, you sleep easier at night."
Employees
"This is the single toughest aspect of running a successful small business. Good employees can make or break your targets. I have learned to be patient but firm in what I anticipate. Provided that there is mutual respect and everybody's on board with the company targets, there may be a fun and rewarding environment to work in. It's ultimately my job to choose the people who can make that happen. The vetting process is difficult but vital to the success of your organization."
Marketing
"It is essential to have a marketing program. Too often I hear of individuals who fail at the advertising element of business because they did not formulate a strategy. But bear in mind, as soon as you create a plan, you need to follow it. Marketing for an ecommerce shop has been interesting, to say the least. We utilize SEO [search engine optimization], PPC [pay-per-click], affiliate networks, classifieds, traditional print advertisements, and a few not-so-traditional procedures which have proved to be quite effective. It is always best to get a diverse plan, not pin your hopes on a single method."
Pay-Per-Click Advertising
"Like anything, you need to learn how to effectively utilize the resources that are available to you. As soon as you learn how to use PPC advertising, it may be a very rewarding form of advertisements. You need to discover the ideal mix of keywords and ad copy. For all of us, geo-targeting proved to be quite effective."
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Search Engine Optimization
"I have always stated that SEO is like mathematics class as a child: Miss one day, and you're behind the eight ball. Search engine optimization is such a rapidly-changing field. What was all but a promise for first-place positions three months ago might not be effective now. You need to read a lot and be educated about all of the aspects of SEO, both search-engine and off-page. Subscribe to all of the newsletters you can, and make sure you read them."
Accounting Software
"QuickBooks works just fine for us."
Order Management Software
"Our shopping cart solution handles our purchase management needs. Maybe if we were not a drop ship business, and had a list and shipping sections, we would have the need for something more."
Shipping and Order Fulfillment
"We are a drop ship company. Initially, it was a bit frustrating to rely on another business's shipping and distribution programs, but it gets better with time. 1 thing is for sure, if the customer doesn't receive their merchandise in the expected period of time which you've promised, there's trouble on the horizon. Unless you would like to always be in the red for transport, it is advisable to get down this from the beginning."
Credit Card Payments
"Have I said the term'necessary evil' yet? Because my Internet development firm specializes in credit card processing for all kinds of companies, and I was certified by NOVA Information Systems as a broker, I know the intricacies of the company. We have been hit with fraud and hack attempts through the years. Chargebacks can single-handedly bring your business to a stop, so minimizing the chance for chargebacks is a terrific necessity. We utilize plenty of the fraud detection package tools which can be found in Authorize.net's backend in addition to the McAfee Secure (formerly Hacker Safe) service to maintain PCI [payment card sector ] compliance."
Social Media
"We have just begun to utilize social networking websites and resources as an advertising medium. I would really like to update you in six months or so and fill you in on the effect it's made here."
Blogs
"Our website has not been updated in quite a long time. It had been mostly ineffective, but it did help with some incoming link strategies. It was quite time consuming, and the advertising game changed for us. If I gave it a try again, we would write copy for people, not search engine spiders."
Customer Service
"You must offer excellent customer support. Angry or less-than-satisfied clients can do more harm every day to your name or brand than the good you can do in a long time of building this up. Treat every customer with the respect that you would appreciate if you're the client. Another thing: Be honest with them."
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