I've been working on our web site for a little over a year now. Through all this time, I have read books, searched online, talked to companies that specialize in SEO and website rankings, played around with google adwords. All to no avail. We still rank low on searches for our product and the problem it solves. This last Friday my wife and I met with someone from SCORE. They are a free organization formed usually of retired business people. They can help everyone from starting a business plan to opening the doors.
We met with a guy who specializes in SEO. He's not retired, but volunteers once a week. We talked for an hour and after he assured me that I know a lot about the internet and web sites we made another appointment for next week. That's because if I know a lot, you really need an expert to help you out. I don't know 1/10th of what I need to know to make our site a success. I'm going to try and go the free route for now and see how much free information I can suck from his brain. I'm stubborn and like a challenge. Probably a bad combination but hey, it's how I'm wired.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Design Patent issued . . .Hip Hip Huraaaaay!
We received our official Design Patent from the USPTO a couple of days ago. We were notified a couple of months ago that it had been approved and it took 2 months to get the official booklet. It's pretty cool to know that your forever a part of history. Design Patents are relatively easy to do and fairly cheap. I think overall with using an Attorney it was around $600.00. It would have been more, but my wife did the patent drawings. There are books that specifically address how to draw patent drawings and she followed them along with some advice from the attorney. We were trying to squeeze more than one design in because our crystals we make that sit on top of the monster basher light base are similar, but the USPTO said we had to pick one design, so that's what we did.
I would recommend that you work with an attorney even doing the simpler Design patent. We would have made it much more complicated than it had to be and might have cost us more because of all the re-submitting we would have had to do in response to issues raised by the USPTO.
The Attorney we used was Antonio Papageorgio from Ostrow Kaufman in New York. He was great and we never felt rushed when talking to him on the phone. He explained everything to us and we felt like we were very lucky to have found him. If your thinking of filing for a Patent, whether Utility or Design, I would recommend you at least talk to him.
I would recommend that you work with an attorney even doing the simpler Design patent. We would have made it much more complicated than it had to be and might have cost us more because of all the re-submitting we would have had to do in response to issues raised by the USPTO.
The Attorney we used was Antonio Papageorgio from Ostrow Kaufman in New York. He was great and we never felt rushed when talking to him on the phone. He explained everything to us and we felt like we were very lucky to have found him. If your thinking of filing for a Patent, whether Utility or Design, I would recommend you at least talk to him.
Monday, May 2, 2011
TV advertising or Radio. Which is best
We started running a TV commercial for a small area on Friday. We decided to go the TV route instead of Radio for a couple of reasons. One was the cost. I can't believe how expensive it is to advertise on the radio, at least for our area which is pretty small. The other was that our particular product is something that is hard to describe just by words. For some products Radio might be the best bet, for others you need pictures. Besides, I like to watch TV.
Working with the TV station was pretty painless. We discussed some ideas and they made the commercial for us. I even got to be in it...WOO HOO! The station didn't charge us for making the commercial as long as we committed to a certain level of air time. After discussing our limited budget with the sales rep he suggested running the commercial with a lot of spots for 1 week then taking a week off. He said this would give us a longer campaign money wise while giving the illusion that we were on all the time. We turned a 5 week budget into a 10 week campaign. Our average cost per commercial is under $8.00. Of course for some of the better spots it cost more. One of the best things I found out is that they have a thing called rotators. In our area they cost $20 and we might get lucky and be aired during Oprah or other high cost shows. If we asked for that particular spot, we might have to pay $100 or more. Some shows can cost $600-1000. It's a pretty good value.
Now that it's airing, I can go on our website and just by monitoring the hits by the hour, I can see what time of day the commercials are on. Ain't technology great! This is all still part of our proof of concept. Hopefully after the campaign we'll have all the information we need to see if we have a winning invention.
We had talked with a local radio station about 6 months ago and they were wanting us to commit to a year long advertising schedule in order to get the price down to where it was a reasonable cost per commercial. We weren't convinced at that point that radio was the way to go for us. For some it's perfect.
Advertising people say that you should target 7% of your budget for ads. In our case that would be about $1.40 but what the hey.Weigh all of your options and talk to the advertising experts (Sales). After listening to them tell you how they can turn a horse turd into a cupcake make a decision. Who knows maybe both mediums will work for you.
Working with the TV station was pretty painless. We discussed some ideas and they made the commercial for us. I even got to be in it...WOO HOO! The station didn't charge us for making the commercial as long as we committed to a certain level of air time. After discussing our limited budget with the sales rep he suggested running the commercial with a lot of spots for 1 week then taking a week off. He said this would give us a longer campaign money wise while giving the illusion that we were on all the time. We turned a 5 week budget into a 10 week campaign. Our average cost per commercial is under $8.00. Of course for some of the better spots it cost more. One of the best things I found out is that they have a thing called rotators. In our area they cost $20 and we might get lucky and be aired during Oprah or other high cost shows. If we asked for that particular spot, we might have to pay $100 or more. Some shows can cost $600-1000. It's a pretty good value.
Now that it's airing, I can go on our website and just by monitoring the hits by the hour, I can see what time of day the commercials are on. Ain't technology great! This is all still part of our proof of concept. Hopefully after the campaign we'll have all the information we need to see if we have a winning invention.
We had talked with a local radio station about 6 months ago and they were wanting us to commit to a year long advertising schedule in order to get the price down to where it was a reasonable cost per commercial. We weren't convinced at that point that radio was the way to go for us. For some it's perfect.
Advertising people say that you should target 7% of your budget for ads. In our case that would be about $1.40 but what the hey.Weigh all of your options and talk to the advertising experts (Sales). After listening to them tell you how they can turn a horse turd into a cupcake make a decision. Who knows maybe both mediums will work for you.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
More Trademarks
Since we were looking at the Canadian market for our invention there were some decisions that needed to be made. Our original filings of Trademarks in the U.S. were done on November 1st 2010. You have 6 months to file in other countries and still be able to claim priority. Claiming priority means that if your trademarks are granted in these other countries, you can claim the date of first filing which in our case is the November date. If you wait longer than 6 months you take the chance that someone will claim your trademark or if they started using the trademark before you filed in the other country they would be safe.
We decided to file in Canada and I went to the Canadian Intellectual Property website. They had an entire list of trademark attorneys. I sent emails to about 10 and got prices back ranging from $1250 to $2300 for each trademark. After more research I found a sample filing and decided to follow that format to file myself. The cost of filing yourseld is $250 canadian for each. So we saved at least $4000 because we filed 4 trademarks. The form seems relatively simple to fill out as long as you follow the sample provided. We'll see if I did everything correctly. If not, they will contact us and let us know what questions they have or what needs corrected.
If you decide to file for Trademark protection in other countries it might pay to look at their websites and see if it's something you can do yourself. You might be able to save some serious money.
We decided to file in Canada and I went to the Canadian Intellectual Property website. They had an entire list of trademark attorneys. I sent emails to about 10 and got prices back ranging from $1250 to $2300 for each trademark. After more research I found a sample filing and decided to follow that format to file myself. The cost of filing yourseld is $250 canadian for each. So we saved at least $4000 because we filed 4 trademarks. The form seems relatively simple to fill out as long as you follow the sample provided. We'll see if I did everything correctly. If not, they will contact us and let us know what questions they have or what needs corrected.
If you decide to file for Trademark protection in other countries it might pay to look at their websites and see if it's something you can do yourself. You might be able to save some serious money.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Oh Boy! Some One Likes It!
It's been a while since the last post so I may have to work at keeping this short. In any invention process you should be doing what's known as "Proof of concept." This is where you manufacture your invention on a limited scale for a limited market and see if someone actually buys your product. Large companies do this all the time. They go to trade shows with a new product prototype and take orders. If they don't get the interest they are looking for or orders are low, they just tell the people who originally ordered that they have decided not to produce it and move on.
We have been working on our proof of concept for the Monster Basher Night Light. First came the idea. Then building a prototype. Next we conducted surveys and found other surveys that were done in the past to determine if there was a market. The next step was to see if it actually worked. The last step in proof of concept is to try and sell it to see if there is a market. This last step will help you determine if your previous steps are fundamentally sound. If all of this says go for it, go for it.
Uh Oh I don't have the money to go for it. I don't know how to go for it. In the immortal words of President Clinton, "I feel your pain." You may be able to go to a bank with all of your proof of concept information and convince them to give you a loan if you have other collateral you can put up and you have good credit, and you can convince them you can make this happen. You could borrow from family. They probably believe in you or your product but that's a difficult decision. At least for me. What if it doesn't work out and you can't pay them back. Even if you give them part of the company for their investment, if it doesn't work out all they have is a worthless share of a company that is out of business. You may have to find an angel investor or Venture capitalist if your idea is worth hundreds of millions.
We took another route. There's a reality TV show called Shark Tank here in the U.S. It's a spin off of a TV show called the Dragons Den in 14 other countries. We traveled to Calgary to audition in front of the shows producers with our little invention. We got a call about a week after. They want us to fly to Toronto and pitch in front of the Dragons. It may work out or it may not. Chances are we will have to give up most of the company for their involvement and money. The up side is that even if we only maintain 25% we will make much more money in the long run than going it alone. These people have very deep pockets and know what it takes to bring a new product to market in a big way.
We won't be able to say anything until after the episode has aired but we'll let you know how it comes out. In the mean time, we will be starting a limited TV commercial campaign in a small area to see how that affects sales. I'll let you know how that is going as well.
This is a difficult process and causes a lot of stress, but I have to say that overall it's fun. Hopefully rewarding as well.
We have been working on our proof of concept for the Monster Basher Night Light. First came the idea. Then building a prototype. Next we conducted surveys and found other surveys that were done in the past to determine if there was a market. The next step was to see if it actually worked. The last step in proof of concept is to try and sell it to see if there is a market. This last step will help you determine if your previous steps are fundamentally sound. If all of this says go for it, go for it.
Uh Oh I don't have the money to go for it. I don't know how to go for it. In the immortal words of President Clinton, "I feel your pain." You may be able to go to a bank with all of your proof of concept information and convince them to give you a loan if you have other collateral you can put up and you have good credit, and you can convince them you can make this happen. You could borrow from family. They probably believe in you or your product but that's a difficult decision. At least for me. What if it doesn't work out and you can't pay them back. Even if you give them part of the company for their investment, if it doesn't work out all they have is a worthless share of a company that is out of business. You may have to find an angel investor or Venture capitalist if your idea is worth hundreds of millions.
We took another route. There's a reality TV show called Shark Tank here in the U.S. It's a spin off of a TV show called the Dragons Den in 14 other countries. We traveled to Calgary to audition in front of the shows producers with our little invention. We got a call about a week after. They want us to fly to Toronto and pitch in front of the Dragons. It may work out or it may not. Chances are we will have to give up most of the company for their involvement and money. The up side is that even if we only maintain 25% we will make much more money in the long run than going it alone. These people have very deep pockets and know what it takes to bring a new product to market in a big way.
We won't be able to say anything until after the episode has aired but we'll let you know how it comes out. In the mean time, we will be starting a limited TV commercial campaign in a small area to see how that affects sales. I'll let you know how that is going as well.
This is a difficult process and causes a lot of stress, but I have to say that overall it's fun. Hopefully rewarding as well.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Monster Bashers big adventure
Well we're getting ready to take off on another adventure in the continuing development of our kids night light, the monster basher. We are going to the Western Toy and Hobby show to scout it out and see if we may possibly find a company to work with to license our little invention. This would make the most sense for us because although we want as much money as possible we don't really want to manufacture, promote, ship, etc. Hopefully while we are there we'll find a company that is interested. If not, on to plan B. In the meantime, we may be making a commercial to run for a test market of the product when we get back.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Damn it Jim, I'm an Inventor not a website guy.
Well I met with a guy who specializes in internet marketing. We went over all of the things that I could be doing to drive traffic to our website. He thought that we were doing pretty good as far as traffic goes but there is room for improvement. He started talking and every so often I would actually understand what he was saying, but for the most part, it was blah, blah, blah protocol, blah blah. He was good and explained it all pretty well.
Then he said, "I know that you told me that this is your first website and you did it all your self, so don't take what I'm about to say personally, but your site is pretty chaotic." I assured him that I did not take it personally and his mother wears army boots. The last part I just made up. Any way, I took his suggestions to heart and revamped our home page. He told me that I had so much information that the message was getting lost.
He laid it out like this. The title of the page needs to be key word rich with what your trying to accomplish. A simple statement that piques their interest and causes them to want to know more. You then give them the information that solves their problem and why they need your product. Finally the call to action, BUY NOW.
I followed his advice and I have to admit that the home page looks much cleaner with a clear message. It's been reinforced to me through this inventing process that you can't be an expert in every field. Find people that are experts and listen to what they have to say. You may feel intimidated, but the expert may be intimidated by you. In the case of our marketing guy, he can't fathom how to even start to invent something and get it to market. Just like I can't fathom how anyone learns HTML code.
Then he said, "I know that you told me that this is your first website and you did it all your self, so don't take what I'm about to say personally, but your site is pretty chaotic." I assured him that I did not take it personally and his mother wears army boots. The last part I just made up. Any way, I took his suggestions to heart and revamped our home page. He told me that I had so much information that the message was getting lost.
He laid it out like this. The title of the page needs to be key word rich with what your trying to accomplish. A simple statement that piques their interest and causes them to want to know more. You then give them the information that solves their problem and why they need your product. Finally the call to action, BUY NOW.
I followed his advice and I have to admit that the home page looks much cleaner with a clear message. It's been reinforced to me through this inventing process that you can't be an expert in every field. Find people that are experts and listen to what they have to say. You may feel intimidated, but the expert may be intimidated by you. In the case of our marketing guy, he can't fathom how to even start to invent something and get it to market. Just like I can't fathom how anyone learns HTML code.
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