By Robert Young on
Dec. 04, 2012
yesterday we had our 200,000th order placed on our site... we started the company in 2001 but did not have an active website until mid-2004, so we have done Way more than 200,000 designs, but still I thought this milestone was worth noting. We have so many wonderful clients to thank!
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Modern Embroidery Designer
volant-tech.com
volantfineart.com
Re: 200,000th design on web site!
That is a very smart way to go about it. At the beginning I wish I would have known that because when I first opened I depended on two really big companies who actually went under so it was like starting all over when I lost them. Live and learn:)
Re: 200,000th design on web site!
You are fortunate you were able to recover unfortunately many cannot because they destroyed their banking and credit history.
I heard the story about the print shop that started out tiny, landed the t-shirt order for a silly brand new TV show called "Cheers" He built his business strictly around that one job many autos and employees, one day "Cheers" was no more, said printer was no more.
Re: 200,000th design on web site!
OUCH, that is exactly what I never wanted.. and apparently Inkman you did not either... keep your exposure spread out.. unless you are into home mortgages.. lol we were very fortunate we were around well before the financial debacle of late... what other digititizing house has our lines of credit I would LOVE to know... but that is why I preach BUSINESS PLAN but rarely do people do them... you MUST have a personal contact at your bank of choice.. to walk you through the good and bad times...
Modern Embroidery Designer
volant-tech.com
volantfineart.com
Re: 200,000th design on web site!
The financial debacle did nothing to us if anything we grew more. In fact we invested Ina brand new automatic press and all sorts of other upgraded equipment even pricey software that's how good business was during the worse of the crisis. We don't believe it was because we were special but because we were still standing after the bomb hit and with a lot less competition around we got more clients by default.
Re: 200,000th design on web site!
I think out of all my customers the two that went under were the last two I would have expected. Both happened within a couple months of each other and I got an email basically saying thank you for everything you did for us but as of today we are closing our doors. It was a good lesson for me and lucky it was learned early on.
Re: 200,000th design on web site!
yeah whether they close, get bought by another or simply go to a different digitizer the outcome is the same for us.
Our website is not optomized...we didnt know about such stuff in 2003-4 when developing it.. and by the time we figured it out it was too expensive to redo. So if you googled digitizing we were buried past page FIFTY!! But sometime this year Google changed how they rank sites and I guess because of our time being around and the number of pages we have for some reason we are somewhere page 1-5 depending on what you search for. That one thing has increased visitors to our site for sure, and several new clients.
Modern Embroidery Designer
volant-tech.com
volantfineart.com
Re: 200,000th design on web site!
Amazing, congrates.
Re: 200,000th design on web site!
That is something to be proud of! Congrats!
Re: 200,000th design on web site!
Damn...200K orders in 8 yrs!!
That's almost 70 orders a day if you were open 365!
How the heck are you managing that kind of web traffic? That's awesome!!
Chad Sherman
Pro Ink Screen Printing
ProInkScreenPrinting.com
570-837-1999
(877) 551-0852
Re: 200,000th design on web site!
we are only open 5 days, but do pull many a weekend during the busy times of year like now... today we have 92 orders that are due. with about 30 that came in after 12 noon so they are due tomorrow already. Have done 42 quotes already today as well. but that total number on the site is only up to 108260 today.
This is why when I write about digitizing I tend to actually believe I know what I am talking about.. wish I had an accurate count for all the designs from 1989 when I started until 2004 when the site was created.... of course the first few years were done on a Melco Digitrac, so not too much volume on that thing!! lol but then again the prices were MUCH better so you did not need to produce as many.
Modern Embroidery Designer
volant-tech.com
volantfineart.com
Re: 200,000th design on web site!
Chuck Norris wears Robert Young pajamas to bed!!
Re: 200,000th design on web site!
Robert what takes the bears share of all them orders, I mean is their a specific franchise or large retailer that is repeat business? Or simply a gazillion small and normal shops across the world?
Re: 200,000th design on web site!
Thanks, I think. lol No just have a really seasoned and qualified team of digitizers. and thanks to my Dad I have a very powerful work ethic.. he is still a Coal miner in southern Indiana and western Kentucky.. as are the other men in my family.... I joined the US Army to avoid that lifestyle.. which again added to the work ethic. West Point did not hurt either.. lol
Modern Embroidery Designer
volant-tech.com
volantfineart.com
Re: 200,000th design on web site!
Ha, as we discussed in a thread earlier this year, I don't do well with 800 lb clients. Always been afraid what would happen when they went offshore with their digitizing... so while we Have had large companies... and most Have gone offshore, never were any of them more than 3%.. intentionally on my part.
in 2102 we have done work for 2046 unique clients. In the past 7 days we have had 212 clients order designs. most just 1, but many have ordered more. Also in the past 7 days 347 clients have visited their page on our site.. meaning they are retrieving orders, using us as storage, which we like. 8 new clients have signed up this week so far.. Mon, Tues and this morning.
To us a "client" is someone who actually orders from us, not people that just visit our site to look around.
Modern Embroidery Designer
volant-tech.com
volantfineart.com
Re: 200,000th design on web site!
also we have NO clients from outside the US... well 1 in Puerto Rico, but that is part of us.
Modern Embroidery Designer
volant-tech.com
volantfineart.com
Re: 200,000th design on web site!
3% is great, we currently have no customer over 6% which was a goal of the owner from the beginning it took a long time to get their but now that we are it never actually hurts to lose a customer.