I have set sail for a new, undiscovered country. Along with my husband who is my web designer and developer (Remarkable Team!), we have forged ahead with the realization of www.BaronHalfpenny.com.
In short, we have created Baron Halfpenny as an ecommerce retail brand. We sell leather aviation jackets, bomber jackets and various military headgear and goggles to the steampunk community. The community is lively and exciting, the products are top notch, and there is just SO MUCH to talk about and promote- which, if you’ve been a loyal reader, you know I can write all day!
We’ve been looking at adding another business opportunity for a long time. Being in the product review business, we see lots of products, and lots of competition in various marketplaces. With the likes of Amazon and other mega retailers, you have to find a way to stand out. To overcome this tough situation, we’ve decided to pick a product line and set of manufacturers that are super high quality, and focus ourselves on a niche.
Going Steampunk
Steampunk can be described in a lot of different ways. But, the below definition below seems best to work for us. The fun involved with steampunk allows us to think creatively, and not take ourselves too seriously.
Picking a Name for the ecommerce brand and site
Much in the steampunk world is centered around fiction writing, and many aficionados that outfit themselves in steampunk apparel go by ‘their steampunk names’ as well. Our products are meant for aviation, and the military can play a big part in that… So we focused on the title Admiral to start with. We then picked a dozen last names, and then decided on the name ‘Clutterbuck’. So we were to sell as Admiral Clutterbuck.
Unfortunately, it turns out that Admiral Clutterbuck was a commander of NATO forces in the Atlantic during a good part of the 20th century! Ugh!
What are the chances that we’d pick a REAL man’s name??? Stepping back, and thinking through other titles and names, we moved for Baron Halfpenny. Baron because his title plays well with Red Baron types and means he is in the English Aristocracy as a low level land owner (or at least that is what the title was) and being low level, no one would have liked him much so he could have been a recluse, and a spender on adventure! Which, is how we’re casting his story!
Designing the BaronHalfpenny.com Site
My husband lives and breathes WordPress every day. It is a Content Management System that this site and many other blogger sites use. I love it and have been typing into WordPress for 6 years now.
We’ve also employed woocommerce- which is an add on for WordPress, to run the store and shopping cart itself. This has been a learning curve for me, but Matt says its one of the best choices around- he’s delivered 5 other woocommerce sites in the past year to clients. So far besides just juggling all of the information, it has been straightforward.
Marketing a new Ecommerce Site
As a part of what I do here at AOM, I help promote manufacturers of a variety of products. Whether it be toasters, books, baby shoes or mushroom vitamins, I play the game!
Since we launched the Baron Halfpenny site on Monday, I’ve been spending my nonAOM and nonfamily time working through our marketing plan.
This includes setting up socials, connecting with players in the steampunk world, writing some blog articles, adding to Wikis and so much more. We’ll be doing advertising shortly.
How its all going to work out
Today we’re just starting to see some traffic.. So its exciting to see where it all turns out. I’ll gladly keep you up to date if you like regarding what we’re doing and how it things are working for us if you like.
I’d love your help – would you like to follow along with us socially? Below is a twitter card to follow, and a facebook badge to like.
Some Easy Social Follow Clicks for you below
#VictorianSlang #steampunk :: Revolveress – A woman who uses a pistol.. Pretty Obvious, but a great title to give!!! pic.twitter.com/owAMh7Js3N
— Baron Halfpenny (@BaronHalfpenny) February 5, 2015
If still haven’t clicked a link to check out our new brand, here’s your one last chance in this article– or, watch for sidebar advertising on this site talking about leather:)
