May 2010 Featured WebNet Hosting Site: LydiasLand.com

UncategorizedTags: e-commerce, E-Commerce Hosting, Featured Site, LydiasLand.com, Miva Cart, miva merchant, Miva Merchant Web Hosting, Miva Site, Miva Web Hosting, Shopping Cart Software, WebNet Hosting

Featured WebNet Hosting Site for May 2010

Each month we profile one of our clients that operate a successful e-commerce site in our newsletter and blog.  This month’s company is Lydia’s Land LLC.  Lydia’s Land specializes in selling handmade greeting cards for all occasions.  Each card is decorated with Lydia’s original artwork, using a wide variety of materials and textures to create extremely unique cards at an astoundingly low price – most cards retail for just $3.  The following is a discussion we had with Lydia regarding her site:

Can you give us a brief description and history of your business?
Lydia’s Land cards mate positive and uplifting quotations with handcrafted artwork to create products that attract buyers looking for truly unique greeting cards.

I use a wide variety of exciting materials and textures, such as marbleized paper, painted tissue paper, fabric ribbon, acrylic paint, and more to create eye-catching cards that bring customers back time and again.

Most of my greeting cards retail for just $3.00 and all are manufactured on 100% recycled paper.  Additionally, my cards can also be found in some of America’s finest card, gift, stationery, and book stores.

How long have you been using Miva Merchant?
We have been using Miva Merchant for at least five years.

If applicable, were you using Miva before you signed up with WebNet Hosting?  What made you choose Miva and WebNet to host your store?
We switched to WebNet because of their extensive Miva knowledge and because they informed me that I could stop buying the costly Miva Support plan from Miva Merchant for technical support because they would handle my technical support issues.  Also, my experience with my past host was horrible.

What do you like most about Miva Merchant?
The administration page is easy to use and user-friendly.

What do you like most about WebNet Hosting?
So far, I haven’t had any problems.  They have good technical support.

What do you like least about Miva?  What are some common problems?
I do not like that you need to buy third-party modules for features that, in my opinion, should be built into the product by default.

I also think the program could provide better user documentation.

What do you like least about WebNet?  What would you change?  What features would you add?
Personally, I wish they had a modestly priced VPS plan.

How many items do you offer for sale on your site?
Approximately 200.

Do you use any modules?  Which ones?  Which are your favorite and why?
I use Emporium Plus Toolkit.  It is simply the best module and includes so much increased functionality to your store.  It is like the missing link of Miva Merchant.

Have you had any third-party development done on your site?
No.

What do you use for credit card payments and what have your experiences been?
I use merchant services through my bank and have not had any problems.

How many employees do you have?
One.

What are your strategies for SEO?
I use a site-map to help search engines index all pages of my store.  I also utilize meta tags with strong keywords.

What were some of your biggest mistakes? (so that others can possibly learn from them)
Not having a large enough sales force.

What have been your biggest successes?
Building a loyal customer base of good customers that keep re-ordering.

Make sure you check out the unique greeting cards that Lydia makes at LydiasLand.com — Below is an example of one of her cards: