Name of your website?VBMShops
Your name?
Candace Daugherty
Your Location (city, etc)
Goose Creek
Please give us a short summary of your website?
VBMShops is a "Street of Shops" of all great antique, vintage and newer goods and merchandise specialty store auction boutiques. Sellers and Buyers are welcome and will find our attitude is friendly and fair. Free 60 day trial period.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
I was on eBay for 14 years as a seller and a buyer and I knew I could treat people better while giving them a great place to sell their wares.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
April 2, 2009 VBMShops.com
How did you decide on a name for your website?
VBMShops stands for Virtual Boutiques Mall Shops
What makes your website different from other, similar offerings?
A real focus on the boutique specialty store concept with strong leanings towards antique and vintage merchandise.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
Eventually I would like to see it grow to the point that eBay is in our rearview mirrors and every seller associated is making tons of money.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
I have spent over $30,000 getting this idea to where it is today and there are more great ideas for this business on the horizon so hopefully it will all pay off and as stated earlier everyone is making money.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
That is hard to say. I am not a computer tech coder person and they are hard to find, but more than likely I would have liked to have a team of developers working on all kinds of things at one time to make the site great NOW!!!
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
It is a self perpetuating project with very little involvement after it is all up and going and the SEO work is where it should be.
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
A webmaster who stole my original idea last year which cost me tons of money and lost time.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Finding a great computer guy... I may still be looking
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
PR releases, email campaigns and bloging
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
Not much I have owned my own businesses for the past 30 years and am pretty well prepared for the ups and downs of business ownership.
How long have you run the site already, and how long will you continue to keep it up if you don't enjoy big gains in traffic, income or popularity?
Just about 8 days it is been up and it will stay up until it runs its course.
Replace this with a question of your own
How fast should a website that is retail and auction oriented take to be successful?
What is your website address?
VBMShops
