Name of your website?Tobey's Candles
Your name?
Tobey Craft
Your Location (city, etc)
Columbus, Ohio 43207
Please give us a short summary of your website?
Tobey's Candles offer quality, hand poured, premium scented candles which are better for the environment. They are available in pillar candles, gel candles, jar candles, floating candles and gift sets and in a large variety of scents and colors.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
We are retired and wanted to try something new to challenge us. After much discussion, checking niches and the various keywords for each niche, our mentor helped us decide upon candles.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
Our first site was Tobey's Candles and it was launched in 2007.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
The site is named after the owner, Tobey.
What makes it different from other, similar offerings?
It is bright and cheerful. It is well organized and easy to navigate. The customer can easily view each product and make multiple selections through our shopping cart. Our customers may contact us with any question regarding our candles and we will either have the answer for them or find the answer within a few hours.
We have been able to respond to special needs of our customers. Our customers have appreciated our follow through regarding their needs.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
We intend to keep it for income and as a base for launching other related sites.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
At this time, we are happy with our site. Should our mentor share a new idea and how it relates to success, we would then make the necessary changes.
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
Yes, we feel that we can keep up with growing demand.
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
We were not aware of the many things involved in setting up a shopping site. Merchant accounts, shopping carts, hosts, html code, etc. were all new to us.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Tweaking our site has been our biggest challenge. Our mentor would review our site and then make suggestions. At times we were frustrated because we didn't know how to accomplish what he was trying to teach us. Eventually we learned and realized he knew what he was talking about.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
We are learning different methods at this time.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
When we started this candle website, we thought we would be doing all of our business online and we have found it to be different. We have been selling candles in our neighborhood, doctor's offices and other related businesses.
What is your website address?
Tobey's Candles
