Here's the question that's asked the most by folks who call our Customer Service number: "Do you deliver to (insert city or state name here)?"
Yes, we do. As long as it's in the Continental United States, we'll ship it there. We'll even send stuff to Alaska and Hawaii, if you ask, but that's more expensive. I can even recommend a few things that we can ship to Canada, despite the customs delays.
This seems to be a tough concept for people to understand, and to me it's one of those collision points between the world we knew and the world as it exists today. Times were when any place worth inhabiting had a local bakery, and if you needed cookies or bread, you went there. Maybe they offered a regional delivery service, but you'd never expect a cake to travel from one side of the country to the other.
In the new online world, we deliver products from one end of the country to the other every day, but the experience creates an intimacy that makes the process seem local. If I'm in my house ordering croissants on my computer, they must be coming from someplace nearby, right? Not necessarily, but it's a good practice for online retailers to make it feel as if you're doing business with someone who's across town, ready to respond to your needs instantly.
That sense of closeness, combined with the traditional bakery/customer relationship, breeds the shipping question. I'm sure that most if not all of the online bakeries deal with the same question each day. I don't mind answering it, because it tells me that the customer understands that my site is a collection of local bakeries, and not a giant nationwide corporation.
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Friday, March 17, 2006
Confused? So Am I
And I haven't even started drinking yet. Not to fulfill a stereotype, but it is St. Patrick's Day, and I am Irish, and it's Friday anyway. I'll be enjoying some Guinness before the day is through.
There's two sources of my--and potentially your--confusion. One of them is the nice folks at The Boston Globe. They ran a nice piece on our Swedish Dream Cookies on Wednesday, which they called, "...deliciously old-fashioned." They printed the story on their Web site. They even provided a link. Unfortunately, they didn't put our full URL in the link, so everyone who wanted to learn more about the cookies wound up at bakery.com, which is a supplier of bakery equipment and supplies.
Fortunately for us, the nice folks at bakery.com were kind enough to put a link to the product on the home page. They'll be getting some of those same Swedish Dream cookies for their trouble.
There's two sources of my--and potentially your--confusion. One of them is the nice folks at The Boston Globe. They ran a nice piece on our Swedish Dream Cookies on Wednesday, which they called, "...deliciously old-fashioned." They printed the story on their Web site. They even provided a link. Unfortunately, they didn't put our full URL in the link, so everyone who wanted to learn more about the cookies wound up at bakery.com, which is a supplier of bakery equipment and supplies.
Fortunately for us, the nice folks at bakery.com were kind enough to put a link to the product on the home page. They'll be getting some of those same Swedish Dream cookies for their trouble.
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Order Up, Celtics
I'd be remiss if I didn't remind you that if you want to get some St. Patrick's Day Petits Fours or some St. Patrick's Day Mini Cookies, you'd best order them before noon Eastern on Wednesday. After that, they're gone, and no amount of bribery or crying is going to get you any. Get the Fours. They're minty. And chocolate. And that's a good combination.
Like Yahoo! search but can't stand all that stuff on their home page? There's a simpler version available now at search.yahoo.com. Looks suspiciously like Google to me.
And speaking of the big G, could you guys please do something about that Google Desktop ad that sometimes appears in the search results? For years, you guys have been the standard for clean and simple design. Now you've gone and mucked it up with this giant ad that gets in the way of the search navigation at the bottom of the page. Make it a little smaller, at least, or find a better place to put it.
Like Yahoo! search but can't stand all that stuff on their home page? There's a simpler version available now at search.yahoo.com. Looks suspiciously like Google to me.
And speaking of the big G, could you guys please do something about that Google Desktop ad that sometimes appears in the search results? For years, you guys have been the standard for clean and simple design. Now you've gone and mucked it up with this giant ad that gets in the way of the search navigation at the bottom of the page. Make it a little smaller, at least, or find a better place to put it.
Thursday, March 09, 2006
Look at How Clever We Are!
It seems the folks who lie about free shipping and can't tell the difference between "cakes" and "cake" thought it would be cute to buy our domain name in AdWords and Yahoo! Search Marketing. Either that or they thought it would be some brilliant new marketing concept, as follows:
IDIOT 1
They're one of the most popular sites for cakes. Let's buy their domain name.
IDIOT 2
Wow! What a great idea! When's the IPO? We're gonna be rich!
Of course, the single-cake site trying to compete with us is like Woot! trying to compete with BestBuy, with one major exception: Woot! runs a different product every day and delivers some amazing values to its customers. The single-cake site offers...well...a cake...and some kind of e-mail thing, which is probably a terrific value if you're one of the five people who's online but doesn't have e-mail.
To say I was annoyed when I saw them coming up for my domain name would be accurate. To say I was annoyed enough to complain about Google, Yahoo!, and MSN yesterday would be entirely accurate. To the credit of all three of those companies, Google got the problem fixed within a day--and sent a nice e-mail explaining that things were busy--and Yahoo! and MSN set a new processing speed record by having my ads up in less than 24 hours. I'm impressed with all of you, but Yahoo!'s interface still needs a major redesign.
The reason I was annoyed is because decent people don't buy their competitors' brand name. Chevy doesn't buy Ford. Wal-Mart doesn't buy Sears. Hershey doesn't buy Godiva. Partly its a matter of being polite, and partly its a matter of not wasting marketing dollars. If a customer is searching for Chevy, they probably don't want to hear Ford's sales pitch. That customer is searching for the brand, not generically trolling for a car. Inserting your ads at that point is at best confusing and at worst a deliberate deception.
So the single-cake site forced my hand, and I bought the domain name and its variations as a keyword. And because I think turnabout is fair play, I bought their domain name as a keyword too. The funny thing is, once my ads appeared, theirs vanished.
I suppose it's only fair, and far less hypocritical of me, to stop advertising on their domain name. As I look at my schedule, I can see a lot of work that needs to get done. Add in the processing time for Yahoo! and MSN...and the ads should be gone by this time next week. Which, coincidentally, is how long they were squatting in our space.
I think I caught USABIrthdays hanging around in there too. For the record, guys, I refer our customers to you when they ask for something that we don't have. I'd like to continue doing that, but only if you play nice.
And as for you, shopping.com, you know full well that we don't sell through your site, although some of our AdWords campaigns appear there. You're buying our domain on a technicality, and if needed, I'll be happy to point out how we're beating your prices.
IDIOT 1
They're one of the most popular sites for cakes. Let's buy their domain name.
IDIOT 2
Wow! What a great idea! When's the IPO? We're gonna be rich!
Of course, the single-cake site trying to compete with us is like Woot! trying to compete with BestBuy, with one major exception: Woot! runs a different product every day and delivers some amazing values to its customers. The single-cake site offers...well...a cake...and some kind of e-mail thing, which is probably a terrific value if you're one of the five people who's online but doesn't have e-mail.
To say I was annoyed when I saw them coming up for my domain name would be accurate. To say I was annoyed enough to complain about Google, Yahoo!, and MSN yesterday would be entirely accurate. To the credit of all three of those companies, Google got the problem fixed within a day--and sent a nice e-mail explaining that things were busy--and Yahoo! and MSN set a new processing speed record by having my ads up in less than 24 hours. I'm impressed with all of you, but Yahoo!'s interface still needs a major redesign.
The reason I was annoyed is because decent people don't buy their competitors' brand name. Chevy doesn't buy Ford. Wal-Mart doesn't buy Sears. Hershey doesn't buy Godiva. Partly its a matter of being polite, and partly its a matter of not wasting marketing dollars. If a customer is searching for Chevy, they probably don't want to hear Ford's sales pitch. That customer is searching for the brand, not generically trolling for a car. Inserting your ads at that point is at best confusing and at worst a deliberate deception.
So the single-cake site forced my hand, and I bought the domain name and its variations as a keyword. And because I think turnabout is fair play, I bought their domain name as a keyword too. The funny thing is, once my ads appeared, theirs vanished.
I suppose it's only fair, and far less hypocritical of me, to stop advertising on their domain name. As I look at my schedule, I can see a lot of work that needs to get done. Add in the processing time for Yahoo! and MSN...and the ads should be gone by this time next week. Which, coincidentally, is how long they were squatting in our space.
I think I caught USABIrthdays hanging around in there too. For the record, guys, I refer our customers to you when they ask for something that we don't have. I'd like to continue doing that, but only if you play nice.
And as for you, shopping.com, you know full well that we don't sell through your site, although some of our AdWords campaigns appear there. You're buying our domain on a technicality, and if needed, I'll be happy to point out how we're beating your prices.
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Searching for Solutions
I love Google. Nice folks, good service. Most of the time. I'm a bit annoyed, though, when automatic filters in AdWords thwart my marketing attempts.
Case in point: Yesterday I created a new campaign because I noticed some liars in a place where I don't want them to be. During the ad creation process, I got an error message along the following lines: "Google AdWords does not allow superlatives. Please remove them from your copy."
The "superlative" in question is the number 1 in 1-800-Bakery.com. I filled out the exemption form as usual, explaining the reason for the 1 being there, and expected the usual swift processing of my ad.
After 24 hours, I'm still waiting. And I doubt I'm alone, given the large number of "1-800," "best," "fastest," and "finest" domain names out there. I'm assuming that the huge volume of AdWords ads is slowing the editorial response time at Google, but some feedback, any feedback, would be nice. Something along the lines of, "Please allow 2-3 business days for review."
Or, if you really wanted to solve the problem, just turn that filter off in the Display URL field, because what you're essentially doing is telling a host of advertisers that they're second-class citizens because Google doesn't like their domain names.
They're still doing a much better job than MSN's AdCenter, which can take up to three weeks to approve PPC ads. I've submitted time-sensitive ads to them only to have the holiday pass before the ad was approved. I know things take time, but this is the Internet, and customers expect a quick turnaround. If it's going to take the better part of a month for an ad to go live, let the users know so we can plan ahead.
I'd be remiss if I didn't slam Yahoo Search Marketing while I'm at it. These guys need to spend some time reading Jakob Neilsen and redesign the entire interface. Figuring out how to navigate their site is like trying to find a number-two washer at Home Depot--I know what I need is here somewhere, but there's no easy way to get to it, and all the employees have gone on break.
There's my suggestions to the Big Three search engines. Now my suggestion to you: Microsoft is debuting its new Live Search at www.live.com. There's some interesting attempts to reinvent the search engine wheel here, and I like the idea of having all the results on a single page that can be scrolled instead of having to wade through pages and pages of results.
Case in point: Yesterday I created a new campaign because I noticed some liars in a place where I don't want them to be. During the ad creation process, I got an error message along the following lines: "Google AdWords does not allow superlatives. Please remove them from your copy."
The "superlative" in question is the number 1 in 1-800-Bakery.com. I filled out the exemption form as usual, explaining the reason for the 1 being there, and expected the usual swift processing of my ad.
After 24 hours, I'm still waiting. And I doubt I'm alone, given the large number of "1-800," "best," "fastest," and "finest" domain names out there. I'm assuming that the huge volume of AdWords ads is slowing the editorial response time at Google, but some feedback, any feedback, would be nice. Something along the lines of, "Please allow 2-3 business days for review."
Or, if you really wanted to solve the problem, just turn that filter off in the Display URL field, because what you're essentially doing is telling a host of advertisers that they're second-class citizens because Google doesn't like their domain names.
They're still doing a much better job than MSN's AdCenter, which can take up to three weeks to approve PPC ads. I've submitted time-sensitive ads to them only to have the holiday pass before the ad was approved. I know things take time, but this is the Internet, and customers expect a quick turnaround. If it's going to take the better part of a month for an ad to go live, let the users know so we can plan ahead.
I'd be remiss if I didn't slam Yahoo Search Marketing while I'm at it. These guys need to spend some time reading Jakob Neilsen and redesign the entire interface. Figuring out how to navigate their site is like trying to find a number-two washer at Home Depot--I know what I need is here somewhere, but there's no easy way to get to it, and all the employees have gone on break.
There's my suggestions to the Big Three search engines. Now my suggestion to you: Microsoft is debuting its new Live Search at www.live.com. There's some interesting attempts to reinvent the search engine wheel here, and I like the idea of having all the results on a single page that can be scrolled instead of having to wade through pages and pages of results.
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Singing the Out of Stock Blues
I'm happy to report that King Cakes are back in stock, but there's a bit of a hitch: We can only ship them on Thursday and Friday for the near future. Randazzo's Camelia City Bakery had a Mardi Gras demand far more successful than anything they--or we--anticipated. They spent a week in the bakery sleeping in two-hour shifts to keep up with the demand, so they're going to take it easy for a little while. I can't say I blame them.
Petits Fours Critters will be back by the week of March 20, and the Chocolate Petits Fours and Assorted Petits Fours will likely return by the end of the month. Once that happens, we'll have everything back in stock for the first time since last November. In case you're wondering, we sometimes need to discontinue a regular product for a while to make room for seasonal specialties, and none of our bakery partners are in the habit of baking a ton of stuff and freezing it just to have it around. We want what you order to be fresh, and that means certain products can be out of stock for a while.
So what's moving and shaking on 1-800-Bakery.com? Here's another peek at our Top 10 Products:
Petits Fours Critters will be back by the week of March 20, and the Chocolate Petits Fours and Assorted Petits Fours will likely return by the end of the month. Once that happens, we'll have everything back in stock for the first time since last November. In case you're wondering, we sometimes need to discontinue a regular product for a while to make room for seasonal specialties, and none of our bakery partners are in the habit of baking a ton of stuff and freezing it just to have it around. We want what you order to be fresh, and that means certain products can be out of stock for a while.
So what's moving and shaking on 1-800-Bakery.com? Here's another peek at our Top 10 Products:
- Chocolate Birthday Cake (Complete Party Kit)--last year it took this cake nine months to knock Stollen out of the top spot. This year, it reclaimed its title in three months. Interestingly, our birthday cake sales dropped dramatically in December, the same time that Stollen were selling as fast as we could bake them. I guess you December babies are getting cheated out of a cake.
- Stollen--we'll be making these until Easter, in case you're wondering.
- Vanilla Birthday Cake (Complete Party Kit)--this will never beat the chocolate cake unless there's a serious effort made by you vanilla fans out there.
- Croissants: All Butter and Handmade--thanks, Oprah. Every time you mention croissants, our orders go up.
- Baby Boston Coffee Cakes
- King Cake--not bad for a product that went out of stock the Wednesday before Mardi Gras. Demand continues to be high, so these could break into the Top 5 soon.
- Sugar Free Low Carb Flourless Chocolate Cake--so many things missing, yet still so yummy. It's cousin, the Sugar Free Marble Cake, is all the way down at #13.
- Cinnamon Walnut Coffee Cake--coffee cake sales have been slow since the start of the year, which seems odd to me, since I assume people drink more coffee during the cold months.
- Demitasse Party Petits Fours--they're small and delicious, and they're getting a boost by being in stock. We sell a lot of petits fours, but since we offer several varieties, the sales get spread out among them all. This assortment is my favorite of them all.
- Gourmet Cookies Gift Assortment--there's been a recent surge in orders for these, and like the Croissants, they're one of our exclusives. I'm happy to see so many people discovering them, because they're outstanding cookies. They're running neck-and-neck with the Lemon Lulu Cake for the #10 position.
Finally today, since I'm already fielding questions about this, be sure to get your Irish Soda Bread orders in by this Friday. We'll be taking orders later than that, but I won't know how much later until the end of the week, when we have a chance to see how busy things are. Like the King Cakes, Soda Bread is baked fresh to order, so there's a limit to how much of it we can sell.
Not one of my more entertaining posts, but filled with information you can use as you make your online baked goods buying decisions. I'll be more entertaining tomorrow, I promise. I've actually got a couple of fun things to talk about this week
Thursday, March 02, 2006
And Now, the Announcement You've Been Waiting For...
Gosh, I'm excited. This is a big one, one that I've been working on since about last September. I'm very pleased to announce that 1-800-Bakery.com now has Eggless Cakes available for purchase, in your choice of three flavors. They're not just eggless, either, they're 100% vegan, so everyone who's been avoiding cake because of animal products can now order and enjoy.
And as you might remember from a post last week, they're delicious. That's the something tasty that was sitting on my desk, and I'm not kidding. I'm one of the biggest carnivores around, and I'd be happy to have birthday candles stuck in a nice tenderloin. I'd also be very happy to get one of these cakes. Layers of cake alternate with heavenly layers of icing.
These cakes are made for us by the Hippie Chick Bakery of Amesbury, Massachusetts, a small town out in the western part of our fair Commonwealth. I'm expecting a big response to these, as they're perfect for folks with egg allergies as well as those who don't like animal products in their food.
Speaking of eggs, the eBay Auction for the birdflu.org domain name has now reached $15,000, and it's reserve, so some lucky surfer is going home with a gift-wrapped URL. Given the potential of the pandemic to kill millions, I think $15,000 is a pretty low reserve. Whoever gets this could clear that in AdSense revenue each month once the news organizations start pressing the panic button and everyone heads to their browsers for more information. A couple of good SEO tweaks and someone's riding the Web bus to moneyland.
If you feel left out, there's still time to place a bid, as the auction doesn't close for another day. Don't have 15 grand lying around? Place your bid for www.avian-flu-online.com, which just appeared on eBay and is selling for a paltry .49p, with no reserve. The Londoner auctioning the name assures that it is "@@@******EXTREMELY RARE - WORTH THOUSANDS!!!********@@@," and I'm not one to argue with that many stars and @ symbols. How rare is it? Well there is only one, and that's about as rare as it gets. Is anyone going to type that looking for information about Avian Flu? Sure they are, right after those deposed Nigerian generals make good on their wire transfers of millions of dollars.
Meanwhile, in what can only be called a brazen and brilliant marketing move, somebody bought the www.ie7.com domain, and it's not Microsoft. Click the link for a work-safe laugh. Then order an eggless cake.
And as you might remember from a post last week, they're delicious. That's the something tasty that was sitting on my desk, and I'm not kidding. I'm one of the biggest carnivores around, and I'd be happy to have birthday candles stuck in a nice tenderloin. I'd also be very happy to get one of these cakes. Layers of cake alternate with heavenly layers of icing.
These cakes are made for us by the Hippie Chick Bakery of Amesbury, Massachusetts, a small town out in the western part of our fair Commonwealth. I'm expecting a big response to these, as they're perfect for folks with egg allergies as well as those who don't like animal products in their food.
Speaking of eggs, the eBay Auction for the birdflu.org domain name has now reached $15,000, and it's reserve, so some lucky surfer is going home with a gift-wrapped URL. Given the potential of the pandemic to kill millions, I think $15,000 is a pretty low reserve. Whoever gets this could clear that in AdSense revenue each month once the news organizations start pressing the panic button and everyone heads to their browsers for more information. A couple of good SEO tweaks and someone's riding the Web bus to moneyland.
If you feel left out, there's still time to place a bid, as the auction doesn't close for another day. Don't have 15 grand lying around? Place your bid for www.avian-flu-online.com, which just appeared on eBay and is selling for a paltry .49p, with no reserve. The Londoner auctioning the name assures that it is "@@@******EXTREMELY RARE - WORTH THOUSANDS!!!********@@@," and I'm not one to argue with that many stars and @ symbols. How rare is it? Well there is only one, and that's about as rare as it gets. Is anyone going to type that looking for information about Avian Flu? Sure they are, right after those deposed Nigerian generals make good on their wire transfers of millions of dollars.
Meanwhile, in what can only be called a brazen and brilliant marketing move, somebody bought the www.ie7.com domain, and it's not Microsoft. Click the link for a work-safe laugh. Then order an eggless cake.
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
How NOT to Use AdWords
Everyone loves Google AdWords. If you run an online business and you know what you're doing, it's a cost-effective, not to mention very effective, form of advertising. MSN and Yahoo aren't bad, but AdWords is king.
Where else, after all, can you lie about offering free shipping for pennies a click, only to lure customers in with the promise of "cakes" and offer only one kind of cake? There's hours of fun to be had.
Sometimes, though, it goes too far. As you probably know, "bird flu" is a popular search term these days. Any time a search term gets popular, advertisers want to jump on it. Eight pages worth of advertisers, in this case, offering everything from respiratory masks to advice for businesses on how to deal with an outbreak.
Then there's this ad:
Bird Flu
Whatever you're looking for
you can get it on eBay.
www.ebay.com
Order now and we'll rush vials of HN51 straight to your door! Only $59.95 with PayPal! Check my Rating! L@@K!
Not quite what they had in mind, I'm sure. The AdWords link actually takes you to a list of bird-flu-related products, including a number of books about why you should be terrified, some pills that may assuage your fears, and T-shirts for those who prefer to laugh at fate with the words, "Bird Flu! Run for your damn life!" beneath a silhouette of a man running from what appears to be the silhouette of a hawk, or perhaps an eagle.
There's also someone offering to sell the domain name www.birdflu.org, described as the "Best domain name for BIRD FLU!!" As of this writing, it's up to 12 bids, with a top bid of $14,100. The seller is also offering free gift wrapping on this item. I don't know how you'd wrap a domain name, but if you're imagining the gift wrap, that is free, so I'll keep the seller off my list of liars for the moment.
Incidentally, the reserve for this domain name has not yet been met. I'll keep an eye on this auction over the next two days and see if it gets there.
So the eBay ad is true, if unsettling, and folks should really think about how they phrase their AdWords copy. You won't lure a lot of customers with the promise of bird flu.
There's also a couple of other conclusions I can draw.
First, Dick Cheney was doing his part to control the spread of bird flu until, as usual, a lawyer got in the way.
Second, no crisis is so severe that someone, somewhere, won't try to make a buck off of it.
Where else, after all, can you lie about offering free shipping for pennies a click, only to lure customers in with the promise of "cakes" and offer only one kind of cake? There's hours of fun to be had.
Sometimes, though, it goes too far. As you probably know, "bird flu" is a popular search term these days. Any time a search term gets popular, advertisers want to jump on it. Eight pages worth of advertisers, in this case, offering everything from respiratory masks to advice for businesses on how to deal with an outbreak.
Then there's this ad:
Bird Flu
Whatever you're looking for
you can get it on eBay.
www.ebay.com
Order now and we'll rush vials of HN51 straight to your door! Only $59.95 with PayPal! Check my Rating! L@@K!
Not quite what they had in mind, I'm sure. The AdWords link actually takes you to a list of bird-flu-related products, including a number of books about why you should be terrified, some pills that may assuage your fears, and T-shirts for those who prefer to laugh at fate with the words, "Bird Flu! Run for your damn life!" beneath a silhouette of a man running from what appears to be the silhouette of a hawk, or perhaps an eagle.
There's also someone offering to sell the domain name www.birdflu.org, described as the "Best domain name for BIRD FLU!!" As of this writing, it's up to 12 bids, with a top bid of $14,100. The seller is also offering free gift wrapping on this item. I don't know how you'd wrap a domain name, but if you're imagining the gift wrap, that is free, so I'll keep the seller off my list of liars for the moment.
Incidentally, the reserve for this domain name has not yet been met. I'll keep an eye on this auction over the next two days and see if it gets there.
So the eBay ad is true, if unsettling, and folks should really think about how they phrase their AdWords copy. You won't lure a lot of customers with the promise of bird flu.
There's also a couple of other conclusions I can draw.
First, Dick Cheney was doing his part to control the spread of bird flu until, as usual, a lawyer got in the way.
Second, no crisis is so severe that someone, somewhere, won't try to make a buck off of it.
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