Ecommerce Success Stories of Idaho
http://lone-eagles.com/idaho-E-successes.htm
A USDA grant
through the Rural Development Council in partnership with the Idaho State
University Special Programs Office and Lone Eagle Consulting is supporting the
creation of a collection of Rural Idaho Ecommerce success stories for statewide
distribution.
Please send your Ecommerce success stories to
Frank Odasz, Email: frank@lone-eagles.com
PH: 406-683 6270
Lone Eagle Consulting http://lone-eagles.com
The following growing collection of Idaho Ecommerce success stories
is intended to help clarify and validate what's working, from entry-level Ebay
sales to business web sites, and beyond. The Idaho Rural Partnership and the
Small Business Development Centers have all received requests to contribute
success stories. We've already determined that the level of local ecommerce
success stories in most communities is much higher than most people realize.
Most communities have not yet begun to list and celebrate their own local
Ecommerce success stories. A model for a local business web directory from
Montpelier is at
http://www.clovercreekmall.com/business.html Such a listing makes local and
non-local online shopping for a particular community or region much easier.
Montpelier's new interactive community website will support convenient
information sharing of all types
http://www.clovercreekmall.com/community If you'd like to see a fine
example of how a community might use a site like this, visit Caithness, Scotland
at http://www.caithness.org
At issue is the need to grow awareness in all communities to stimulate
widespread innovation at the grassroots level. An article highlighting these
issues is at
http://lone-eagles.com/reality-check.htm
The pioneering community of Montpelier is well into the second year of a
pilot project intended to serve as a model for all rural communities, worldwide.
Our progress report is at
http://lone-eagles.com/montpelier-story.htm
Idaho's future will most likely require coordinated listings of local,
regional, and statewide business web directories similar to those in Canada. The
Community Access Program has created 8000 rural community networks with
community sites such as the one in Lumby, British Columbia,
http://www.monashee.com A Such sites
encourage efficient communications on many levels.
Canada's community access program (CAP)
http://cap.ic.gc.ca/english/8000.asp
Select programs and resources for the following.
Fundamental to CAP projects is computer and Internet training, as
well as Internet access for community members. Full-service CAP projects
offer a combination of the following:
Community Storefronts Marketplace
http://www.communitystorefronts.com/
Ecommerce success stories listed by providence and category
http://e-com.ic.gc.ca/english/stories/index.html
Ecommerce in Canada - resource links page
http://e-com.ic.gc.ca/english/links/index.html
Online learning links
http://cap.ic.gc.ca/english/8307.shtml
While many robust online Ecommerce Guides exist, real leadership will be
required to validate the potential and counter the assumptions based on the tech
stock slump that the Internet and Ecommerce was simply a hyped false promise.
Montpelier Ecommerce Success Stories
A Rural Ecommerce Success Story
http://lone-eagles.com/montpelier-bats.htm
Shane Johnson retired from his job as janitor at the local High School after creating a successful Ecommerce business
selling baseball bats globally. He started with Ebay selling sports cards, then
baseball bats, and after a couple years created his own website http://batsbatsbats.com.
50-120 packages are now shipped daily both nationally and internationally. Shane
is mentoring local Ecommerce businesses who are eager to learn from his success.
This model can be replicated for many other products. He has successfully
homesteaded his global niche and and is expanding with five new websites, which
are:
Halloween Products
http://www.alarmingproducts.com
Golf Supplies
http://theonlinegolfshop.com
Hockey Supplies
http://2playhockey.com
Sports Balls
http://jjsportsballs.com
Sports Cards
http://jjsportscards.com
Walton Feed's Emergency Survival Products
http://waltonfeed.com and http://rainydayfoods.com
A success story of Ecommerce survival selling emergency food products.
Magic Stables Designer Carousel Horses
http://www.magicstables.com/
Compelling music and animations on a very well designed site! Averaging roughly 100
visitors a day. Click on Pamela's MIDI page for more music. Created by Pam Bywater
Email: Pam Bywater at spellbinder1222@hotmail.com
Other Ecommerce Success Stories from Idaho
DebaNae's LDS Young Women Store'n More
http://debanae.net
Rockland, ID. It all started with Women's value stickers and once they created a
web site, they added more products and it really took off!
Idaho Gift Marketing
www.giftmarketing.org
Extensive resources for selling crafts!
Malcom Dell Email: giftmarketing@idaho.net
Razor Wire www.razor-wire.com
Perry Shumway, shumway@razor-wire.com
is brokering razor wire internationally from Bailey Creek, Idaho.
Bully Dog
http://www.bullydog.com
Located in Aberdeen, ID, offering a full-line of high quality diesel performance
products for Ford, Chevy, and Dodge.ly
state.
BH Bar Ranch - New Dude Ranching Business
www.idahoduderanches.com
Click on BH Bar Ranch to see how one struggling cattle ranch
has added a new income source. See also http://ranchweb.com
Bo Hudson - Voiceover Productions
http://www.voiceoverproductions.com
Bo's email is bo@allidaho.com
AN IMPORTANT TREND:
National and Statewide directories exist for hotels, flowershops, hatmakers, and
many other kinds of businesses.
Above is a national directory of dude ranches with special listings by state. At
www.fishing-links-online.com
is a similar national system listing all the fishing businesses by state and by
category. Here's the link to Idaho Fly fishing businesses as an example.
http://www.fishing-links-online.com/search_results/g-i/idaho-fly-fishing.html
Lost River Ballistics
http://www.lostriverballistic.com
Warren Jesen, Arco, Idaho PH: 208 527 8611
Bing's Auto Graphics and Design
www.bingsgarage.com
From Paris, Idaho; a growing graphics design business for automobile detailing.
Web page authoring and Technical Support
and Training
www.mallofmerritt.com
Karen Merritt offers web authoring and technical training services
Soda Springs Phosphate
Recently sold, John Hatfield has used the Internet to market his unique organic phosphate
fertilizer. A new web site is being created.
Dallas and Jim Murdock market
"Dentist Office Management Software"
via their web page from Grace, ID. URL pending.
Max Nielsen markets his engineering
consulting
via a web page from Grace, ID. URL pending.
AP Ashley, Poetry
A poet from Soda Springs self-publishes her poetry, entwined with images and sound.
http://home.silverstar.com/~vrmerrit/
Grandma's Recipes
http://www.utahwisp.com/lhammond/
2500 recipes on CDROM, $19.95
Spark's Knives
http://www.sparksknives.com
The SunValley Potato Producers cooperative (http://www.idaho-potatoes.com/ ) comes
the closest with hats, shirts, a framed burlap bag and, of course, boxes of potatoes for
sale. But what about “Idaho Spud”
candy bar? I found a site that specialized in
blown glass ornaments and contacted them to see if they would be interested in promoting a
potato ornament. I’ve even made fridge
ornaments out of old nylons stuffed with a little batting and some eyes that are cute
potatoes. Shouldn’t the game, Mr. Potato
Head, be a feature on such a site? The Idaho
Producers do have a cute doll for sale. http://www.idahopotatoes.org/buddy.html
Carol Williams created a Potato Web Tour at
http://lone-eagles.com/potato-webtour.htm
while taking the Ecommerce online course at
http://lone-eagles.com/ecommerce.htm
Customized lullabies CD's
http://lullabiesforbabies.com
Idaho
Virtual Incubator Success Stories\
This listing, the only listing of Idaho Ecommerce Success Stories on the
web, was presented at the Connect Idaho Conference, Nov. 20-21. LaMoyne Hyde, in
his final speech before stepping down as director of the Idaho Department of
Commerce, told how in 1993 his son-in-law strongly recommended he create a web
page for his Hyde Drift Boats company. LaMoyne decided against it, but the
son-in-law persisted. LaMoyne told the Connect Idaho audience how his business
rapidly grew to become international due to his business web page at
www.hydeboats.com
and that he'd received business orders from
three different countries that very week.
The Lone Eagle handout for the conference is at
http://lone-eagles.com/connect-idaho.htm The prevailing theme of the
conference was decidedly different from the previous four years. The theme that
popped up in nearly every session was the need for educating Idahoans about
what's proven to be possible via rural Ecommerce. The organized conference notes
are attached to the conference handout referenced above. The problem is no one
acknowledges whose responsibility this new form of education belongs to. The
hard truth is this is everyone's responsibility.
David Poole's Web sites
www.woodthings.com
www.2kstore.com
Idaho Virtual Incubator Portfolio
http://www.idahovi.org/portfolio/
Main site is www.idahovi.org
Levels of success unknown. 54 businesses received assistance getting web sites.
Below are four success stories shared by the Idaho Virtual Incubator:
AAA Precision Tool and Cutter Grinding
Devon Bunyan and Lorelle Lambert
http://www.aaaprecisiontool.com/
Devon and Lorelle contacted the ISBDC after discovering that they had saturated their
local market. ISBDC consultant, Bryan Hossner and IVI Coordinator, Lou Ann Vanhorn went to
Orofino to visit their manufacturing site and see how they could help. With the creation
of a website and search engine marketing plan, the IVI has helped AAA Precision Tool and
Cutter Grinding market their high-end custom drilling tools to the world market.
Clearwater Country Cakes
Jody Pethtel
http://www.clearwatercountrycakes.com/
The IVI developed a basic site for Jody and installed a shopping system that allows
customers to order products online. We have marketed the site to search engines and
directories and continue to supply her with a traffic report analysis weekly. She is
pleased with the results that marketing online has provided her business.
QUOTE: LCSC's Idaho Virtual
Incubator program has been just what my business needed to determine if the
internet was a worth while venture. They have been excellent and patient with a
beginner and have been instrumental in guiding me on the newest and latest technology and
tactics that would get my web site noticed and profitable. Businesses starting out
need to be aware of the services offered by the IVI in order to get up and running.
EverydayBucks.com
Patrick Temple and Eric Hupp
http://www.everydaybucks.com
The
IVI is working with Patrick and Eric to develop a new business that is strictly
e-commerce based. The website will be a complex database driven site that will
involve players (buyers) and advertisers.
The IVI is working in conjunction with the Region III ISBDC to develop the
website based on a business plan model.
QUOTE: “My partner and I are
realizing a dream we would not have been able to reach without the IVI’s help and
professional service” says owner Patrick Temple.
New
Pioneer Log Homes
Art Cochrell
http://www.nplhomes.com/
Art and Barb came to the IVI after several attempts to get their website updated with
current information. As a rural business residing in Weippe, they wanted to increase their
sales by offering their products online. They are using the Yahoo store as a marketing
tool and had had difficulty finding someone that was familiar with the format. We made
changes to their navigational system, updated links and added additional pages from their
old site. Using Yahoo’s software, we have submitted the site to 8 search engines and
relevant directories and analyzed their search engine and directory visibility.
QUOTE:MANY
THANKS TO IVI!!!
With our locale economy dragging, after 23 years as an
Idaho
based business we found our selves facing a real threat of not surviving. In an attempt to supplement our existing business
we developed a new and unique line of log furniture only to find the marketing to be as
difficult for these products as for our log homes.
With access to the internet being so popular, it seemed
only correct to try to introduce these products to the public using this media. With out the reasonable fees and efforts of IVI in
the development of our new web page this would not have been possible for us at this time.
IVI has been instrumental in our endeavors in
presenting our products to the public with the quality we have built and hope to continue
growing our business on. The importance of
their support, patience and continuing work in the development of our web page and help
with marketing ideas cannot be overstated. After
only the first week of the new site being up and one of the marketing ideas put into
effect we are beginning to see some results.
There are many just like us who need this type of
assistance, all making demands upon an understaffed group of people at IVI. The growth and development of this program can be
very useful to many Idaho businesses. We for one, hope that the support needed
for that growth and development continues, providing much success for us all.
Gift Marketing Institute
www.giftmarketing.org
From Malcom Dell -
Wholesale marketing of gifts and crafts.
Family Scrapbook Supplies
http://www.punchpalace.com/
Eldon Meats
http://www.eldonsausage.com/ I
understand he used to travel all the time, and do a lot of shows. His web site has allowed
him to basically convert to an online business, instead of a road business.
Indian Dolls
http://www.weippe.com/cyndy.html
I am told this business gets a lot of business from its web presence:
Northwest Pack Goats
http://www.northwestpackgoats.com/
I am told these folks sell goat pack saddles all over the world!
Idaho Mall
www.idahomall.com Run by an
eastern Idaho newspaper,
they put up these products for free, and take 15% of the retail sale, no
strings. Their percentage even includes merchant fees.
Eastern Idaho Promotion Web
Sites
Eastern Idaho Economic Development Council
http://www.eastidaho.org/EIEDC/index.html
Eastern Idaho Technology
Corridor
http://www.eastidaho.org
ISU/NWAF Partners for
Prosperity
http://www.easternidahoprosperity.org
Eastern Idaho Forum for Information Technology
http://www.eifit.org/
Ecommerce and Related Resources from Idaho
Idaho Business Websites from the Idaho Virtual Incubator
http://www.idahovi.org/businesses/
Idaho Virtual Incubator's listing of Idaho's Economic Development
partners
http://www.idahovi.org/economics/
Idaho Virtual Incubator's listing of Idaho colleges and
universities
http://www.idahovi.org/education/
Idaho Small Business Development Center with Ecommerce Resources
http://www.lcsc.edu/ISBDC/
Idaho's Internet Masters program
http://www.lcsc.edu/icd/IdahoIMasters/
I don't know if this every got off the ground in Idaho. I'd heard they went through 3
directors rather rapidly.
See also Missouri Internet Masters program (4H)
http://outreach.missouri.edu/imaster/
The concept is youth will provide community Internet training.
Web Powerpoint presentation on Rural Businesses Online
http://www.lcsc.edu/icd/ICDRC'02/Training/econdev.html
An interesting way of sharing a presentation via web pages.
State of Idaho
http://www.state.id.us
State SDBC Office
www.idahosbdc.org
A National SBDC Ecommerce Resources Hotlist
http://sbdcnet.utsa.edu/SBIC/e-com.htm
Worth the time for a thorough review!
Idaho Works
http://www.idahoworks.com/index2.htm
Idaho Dept of Commerce
http://www.idoc.state.id.us/
International Economic Development Council
http://iedsonline.org
East Idaho Forum for Information Technology
http://eifit.org
Healthy Forests, Healthy communities
http://www.hfhcp.org/
Emarketing for forest products.