Name of your website?Franga Equestrian and Pet Boutique
Your name?
Aubrey - Franga Designs
Your Location (city, etc)
California City
When did you start your website and why?
August 2006. We used to sell our products through an eBay Store, but when eBay announced a substantial eBay Store fee increase that would have increased our selling costs by 600% with only a month's warning to store owners, we closed our eBay Store and opened our own web store.
Please give us a short summary of your website, business model, etc
We sell original and custom designed clothing and costumes for pets and horses. We take orders through a Zen Cart website/shopping cart and personally hand-make every item we sell. Our designs are all developed from patterns drafted in our sewing studio.
We have ready-made and custom items, and we have set up our shopping cart to accept custom orders by having the customers enter in their dogs' measurements. This ensures the best possible fit. Unlike many dog clothing merchants, our clothing is not limited to just teacup/toy/small dogs, but we make clothes for all sizes including large breed dogs.
What has been the most difficult part of creating and running your website?
I am not professional computer programmer and have had very little training in website development, so there are always little (and sometimes major) problems.
Zen Cart is a free open source PHP shopping cart developed by a community of great people (The Zen Cart Team) and there are many modules and contributions developed by individuals to enhance the features of your Zen Cart store. Most of the time, the contributions work great, but there are often compatibility issues with versions, browsers, and other installed modules.
However, the Zen Cart support forums is full of helpful people who are very generous with advice and tips and most issues can be solved there.
What has been the easist part of operating your website?
The easiest part is when every last thing is running perfectly and I can just sit back and wait for the orders to come in. I am still waiting for this part, probably in vain, as one thing I have learned is that there are always new problems.
What was your biggest mistake?
When I first installed Zen Cart, I installed an SEO Urls contribution that rewrites our urls to be search engine/friendly.
Instead of the following: http://frangadesigns.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=83
It was supposed to make it look something like: http://frangadeisgns.com/Little-Patriot-Dog-Dress
It turns out this contribution was not compatible with sites running a shared SSL certificate, and it hadn't occurred to me to check the SSL pages and customers couldn't create accounts, login or checkout.
Who maintains your website and why?
I maintain our website, mainly because we are still in our early/development stage and my services come free.
Tell us how your business has benefitted from your website?
Our website allows us to sell our products to customers all over the United States as well as internationally. We are physically located in a very remote area and our business would be not exist at all if not for the internet/website.
What are your views on ecommerce and the future of the internet?
In this day and age, all business should have a website as it is the most convenient way for consumers to learn about a company's products and services without having to call and wait to speak to someone on a telephone or physically go to the business location. Especially nowadays with increased gas prices, I personally find it more economical to order things online and have them shipped to my door. Not only does this save driving time, gas, and money because things can be purchased for less online than at retail locations, but it also saves time.
What are your views on Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?
My current view on SEO is that it is a pain in the keester. Partly because I'm still new at this webmastering thing and our website is still new. I have spent a lot of time working on link exchanges with other relevant sites, and for the most part am still blundering my way through hoping to eventually make our way to the first page on Google search. Good luck to me.
What are your views on Search Engines? Have they helped or hindered your website?
For a while were were getting traffic from on Google, Yahoo and MSN/Live searches, but during the past month we all of a sudden disappeared. Only if we list our items on Froogle/Google Base do we get traffic from Google.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
The link submissions from other pet or horse related websites, a few eBay auctions and as mentioned above, Froogle/Google Base. Craigslist ads also help a lot.
What method has been least successful for promoting your website?
I'm still in a trial and error stage right now, so I'm not sure.
What would you like to see change with respect to the internet?
My only concern right now with respect to the internet is the issue of Network Neutrality. If the FCC and large communications succeed in abolishing Net Neutrality, we'll be out of business.
What products do you sell on your website?
We sell clothing and costumes for dogs of all shapes and sizes, and for all sorts of occasions: casual, formal, special & holiday. Some of our most popular items are our Patriotic Dog Dresses, Red Velvet & Boa Trim Christmas Dog Dress, Red Velvet Nutcracker Toy Soldier Costume for Dogs with Black Faux Bear Fur Hat, White Faux Fur Angel Wings & Black Bat Wings Harness for dogs and cats, and a assortment of other clothing and costumes.
Our most popular horse product is our original Franga Designs Unicorn Browband for horses and ponies, which are available ready-made and custom with many options. We also specialize in Medieval style horse barding and saddle blankets, and other unique costumes for horses such as Patriotic Browbands, Ostrich Plume Bridle Ornaments and more.
We also custom designing services for customers who are participating in special events such as shows, parades, and parties and want a special outfit or costume for their dog or horse to stand out (and win, which they have done with our costumes!).
What is your website address?
Franga Equestrian and Pet Boutique
