Name of your website?Birthday Parties Delivered
Your name?
Janie Kimball
Your Location (city, etc)
San Francisco
Please give us a short summary of your website?
Birthday Parties Delivered provides quality, unique, and personalized arts and crafts birthday party packages – delivered to your door! Ideal for busy moms who still want a personal touch – without all the stress.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
My children love arts and crafts projects so I usually come up with a fun craft activity for their birthday party. For my daughter’s last birthday, I was short of time to come up with an idea and shop for something on my own so I tried to find a unique and quality craft project on the web that was already done for me. To my surprise, I couldn’t find any party packages that focused on quality crafts. There were plenty of party idea sites and party supply sites but nothing that put the two together. Birthday Parties Delivered offers quality, convenience and personalization in a beautifully delivered kid’s party package.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
I've worked as a project manager for about 15 years and helped other companies launch web sites. This is my first web site. We launched in March, 2008.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
We wanted a name that said what it is we provided. We wanted to include the words 'birthday party' in the name because that is our focus. We also wanted to convey the idea that it is something that is delivered to your door - not something that someone comes and facilitates.
What makes it different from other, similar offerings?
Our business is unique because we provide birthday party packages that focus on quality, unique crafts. These crafts can double as a party favor, thus eliminating the over-stuffed throw away party bags. In addition, we provide personalization including a hand drawn poster with the birthday child’s name created by artist, Kirsten Hagen. We also hand draw and personalize your shipping box so that it feels like a “party in a box” and creates excitement when received.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
Birthday parties are one of the most memorable events in a child’s life. We want to provide the best arts and crafts birthday party packages across the country that are creative, innovative and just plain fun.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
Because we just launched, we are still in the process of implementing a marketing plan and getting the word out about our great business.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
We would definitely use more fund for marketing and getting the word out about what we offer and who we are.
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
Our costs have basically been in line with what we expected. Our product development did take longer than expected because we wanted to make sure we had products that would engage and delight kids.
What has been your biggest challenge?
We have a wonderful product and now we need to get the word out. Marketing will be our key to success and making sure we have a good marketing plan in place will be essential.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
We are currently in the process of promoting our site. Right now we are focusing on press releases, submitting to various directories, working on a link campaign, and ensuring we are recognized effectively by search engines.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
As of yet, it has not.
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 have been live for about three weeks and we expect to continue indefinitely.
What's been your greatest accomplishment?
Our products and our website. We spent countless hours creating and testing our products. We are also very proud of our website design. We think it portrays what we wanted it to which is fun, sophisicated yet simple, and whimsical.
What is your website address?
Birthday Parties Delivered
