Name of your website?Top H.A.T. (Home Automation & Theater)
Your name?
Rick Pelham
Your Location (city, etc)
McDonough
Please give us a short summary of your website?
Pictoral and written description for custom home theaters, smarthouse technologies, how-to's,security, surveillance
What inspired you to launch your own website?
Greater exposure for my business
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
2004 - a text only format for Synergy Digital Technologies - forerunner of Top H.A.T.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
I saw the marketing potential of using a Top Hat as a logo, not to mention that the word HAT is an acronymn for Home Automation & Theater.
What makes it different from other, similar offerings?
I have gone to extreme lengths to provide viewers pictures with links to manufacturers rather than a lot of words.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
Keep it - hire a professional coder that can leverage his/her skills and creativity to make the Top HAT site progressively attractive to the market place.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
If we are speaking about the web site - then it is too early to tell. Launched the site last week.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
The web site would be far more interactive. I would have design applications on-line so that clients could design their own theaters - as they designed a bill of materials would be generated for the use of internal sales folks. I would bring the client into the design process.
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
Possibly - with that said, we cater to the $1M and up home owner. With the market as it is, at this point we could keep up. After a year or so, without sourcing highly capable craftspersons - not likely.
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
The market falling out from underneath us before we created a solid foundation for the multi-million dollar home owner. 18% of our revenues for 2007 may end up being washed away due to builders going out of business. Industry is yet immature - no depth in talent. Must find intelligent craftspersons with high work ethic and then train, train, train.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Lack of available skill sets in the workforce
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
Too new to know. Am still learning what can be done...
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
Too new to know.
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?
The site has only been functional for a week or so. Keeping it up is critical while we are in the courting aspect of sales due to mailers, referrals, TV ads, etc. Letting it lapse is not an options. Technology changes too rapidly. Our clients want to see that we know what we're doing.
What is your website address?
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