Name of your website?DIY Pole Barns & Supplies
Your name?
Mike Gilmore
Your Location (city, etc)
Arcanum
Please give us a short summary of your website?
We are distributors of Do-It-Yourself pole barn kits and supplies. We sell easy to build wood framed barns with quality steel siding and roofing. We ship our kits anywhere in our vast service area for FREE! Our kits are used for Storage Barns, Garages, Horse Barns, Riding Arenas, Machinery Sheds and Airplane Hangars.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
We were looking to add to our print advertising. We didn't want to always answer all our customer's basic questions over and over again, so having a website allows us to explain ourselves and our barns in a way that saves us a whole lot of time.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
In the spring of 2004. It was this website, www.diypolebarns.com.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
It is our company name.
What makes your website different from other, similar offerings?
We are brave enough to put our prices online!! Most of our competition doesn't dare do it because they find it difficult to compete with our prices.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
To continue to serve our niche market for many years. Out customers deserve to be treated fairly and with politely. Many of our competition do not serve our market well. we feel it is an honor to provide our customers with pole barns that they will be proud of for many years to come.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
My success comes more from balancing God, family and work. If I balance these, success will take care of itself.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
I would create an advertising campaign to bring to the attention of di-it-yourselfers and pro builders that there is alternative supplier to there local lumberyard and supply houses.
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
Yes. We have been at this for five years and we have seen good and bad times. We are coming out of very lean times and we are staffed for a quick upswing. We have forged wonderful vendor relations and superior internal systems.
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
Staffing and Government. The two most expensive things in our business.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Keeping up with the ever changing economic landscape.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
Links and Prayer.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
I didn't have any expectations at first, but it has been a pure joy to tweak and alter our site as time, money and need has allowed.
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?
We are doing great; listed right at the top of the search engines. we will be doing this for a long time!
What is your website address?
DIY Pole Barns & Supplies
