A longtime Black Cap Design client Brenda Ibey, owner of The Avant-Garden Shop, asked us to join her on the CHEX Daily show to talk about her e-commerce website. Brenda’s show is called The Garden Gate.
The Avant-Garden Shop is a retail store located in downtown Peterborough, Ontario. They provide quality garden accessories, backyard birding supplies, outdoor décor, and many other unique products. They specialize in products crafted by Canadian Artists.
Black Cap Design designed and developed The Avant-Garden Shop website in 2009. This e-commerce site was based on a customized Zen Cart Content Management System. Brenda has received online orders from all over North America and uses Canada Post shipping to send products to her customers. She has many products displayed on the “Shop Online” page of her site including a “Made in Canada” page.
Even though her site was built several years ago, Brenda has been active in initiating new features. She is the photographer and writes her own content and product descriptions. She updates the content of her site often and adds new product images with occasional technical support from Black Cap Design. This means when customers go to her site they find current products and information.
Recently, Black Cap Design integrated a WordPress blog into Brenda’s site and she has been busy adding blog posts and links ever since. Brenda also added a Featured Artist section to give her customers a way to learn about the artisans who create many of the hand-made products in the store.
Brenda is always looking for innovative ways to connect with her customers. In order to inform people about upcoming events and sales, Brenda integrated her website with a handy Constant Contact newsletter – which allows interested visitors to easily opt in or out of updates from the Avant-Garden Shop. Visit the Avant-Garden Shop site if you’re interested in signing up.
Brenda also actively uses social media including Facebook and Twitter, and she has a link to her YouTube channel on her site. She uses social media to share information and tips and well as new products. She also shares information and pictures from the many community events she helps organize and promote. We highly recommend “Liking” the Avant-Garden Shop Facebook page – lots of good information.
In addition to helping customers with the information she posts about birding and gardening Brenda also improves her website SEO each time she adds new content. This makes it easier for people to find her site using search engines like Bing and Google.
While working with Brenda on her site over the years we have learned that she has a clear vision for her site and a commitment to sharing information with customers. Brenda is very organized and fearless. When her new WordPress blog was launched, she jumped right in. She contacted us with some questions but now manages it on her own.
If you would like to see some of the interesting and unique products Brenda has in stock, head on over to www.avantgardenshop.com or drop into the store at 165 Sherbrooke Street, Peterborough, Ontario.
If you would like more information about selling or promoting your products online, contact us at 705-927-2308 or by email at .