Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

My husband and I launched The Billable Hour Company, www.TheBillableHour.com, in November 2005. 

We sell gifts and greeting cards especially for lawyers and legal professionals (although many of our items are also appropriate for any kind of professional).  It is important that non-lawyers, as well as lawyers, understand what our products are and feel comfortable using the site. Do you think we have achieved this goal?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

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Lisa Solomon The Billable Hour Co. | Humorous Gifts and Greeting Cards Especially for Legal Professionals phone: 815-346-3468 | fax: 815-346-3468 info@TheBillableHour.com | www.TheBillableHour.com

:-) This is cool..! I enjoyed the site, spent some time perusing it, and really like the two blocks of text on the home page. That`s creative!!

Two gripes:

1. When I clicked on a watch for a larger view, the picture wasn`t large enough to rapidly show the humor of the 10ths of an hour. Additionally, I had to use the "Back" button to return to where I clicked. I`d like to see the larger view as a windowed item, where I can close out of it and still be on my original location.
2. A real problem is the Greeting Cards tab. That`s the only one that took me offsite to someplace else. I lost the tabs on your original site and couldn`t get back to yours without closing out the new window. Additionally, it loaded so slowly, I lost interest not only in the greeting cards, but it reduced my desire to return to your site by at least half.

I think it`s a great site, and wonder only if you`re limiting yourself by only going with attorneys and law professionals. Remember, there are all of us freelancers out here, as well as VAs, medical people doing billable hours, and so forth. :-)

Thanks for your feedback, Craig.  The reason that the greeting cards tab opens in a new window is because the greeting card store is actually on the server of the company that does the card printing and fulfillment (believe me, I wish it could all be in one place).

You also have a great point about our products appealing to other types of professionals.  Generally, it`s easier to stand out when you`re marketing to a niche than trying to market to everyone.  We chose law because my husband and I are both lawyers.  Any suggestions as to how to make it clear that our products appeal to other kinds of professionals, other than having totally separate websites?

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Lisa Solomon The Billable Hour Co. | Humorous Gifts and Greeting Cards Especially for Legal Professionals phone: 815-346-3468 | fax: 815-346-3468 info@TheBillableHour.com | www.TheBillableHour.com

Niches are great and dangerous.

[The site is well designed and well-written. It`s a bit busy for my taste ... but that is not a problem. I think you`ve done an excellent job. I immediately understood your offering and were I a lawyer, would find it appealing and relevant. You clearly don`t take yourselves too seriously ... this is a welcome relief and very appropriate for your site.]

When writing critiques, I often provide a link to a post or two about copywriting. I don`t think that`s necessary in this case.

I think the only thing you`d need to do for expansion is just drop the word "only" from your thinking, in terms of only lawyers or paralegals. A good substitute would be "for example."

There`s a difference between a niche and specializing. Right now, your niche is products that reference 15- or 10-minute hours. But you`ve also specialized in only the legal profession.

The niche is a line of business, not a specific type of person.

I agree about the cardstore thing.

The problem is that it is ...
1) in a new window.
2) slower loading than your actual site.

Is there any way to just open it in the same window but add your navigation to it?

Would your needs be better met by something closer to Cafe Press?

I`m just tossing out ideas here ... I don`t know what the card store`s options are because they don`t list them on their website.

Thanks for your input, nhgnikole.

There`s no way to open the card store in the same window with our navigation.  We provide the content, but it`s actually a completely different site.

Our card store has many more features than Cafe Press.  With our card store, you can buy any number of cards (at CP, you can only sell bixes of cards).  The cards are more reasonably priced, too.  Most importantly, the cards customer can completely customize the inside of the carss, making them appropriate for businesses who want to buy in bulk (e.g., for the holidays).

The card store`s features are summarized in the the store`s header (check it out).

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Lisa Solomon The Billable Hour Co. | Humorous Gifts and Greeting Cards Especially for Legal Professionals phone: 815-346-3468 | fax: 815-346-3468 info@TheBillableHour.com | www.TheBillableHour.com

I didn`t mean the features to the consumer ... I meant the features to you, the business owner. Like can you customize the page under their system, etc.

Switch up the typography for the "Clever Gifts...." at the top of the page, just to hit home what it is your selling/what you do.  Other than that the site looks awesome, congrats!

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Ben Grinnell - 337 Design - Web Design & HD Video Production