An Example…

As of March, 2009, Afghan Scarves has been taken offline. You can read the details here. Although the site was shut down prematurely, it was very profitable for a business started while being deployed.

I generally don’t like to share my businesses here on this blog, but I also realize that I can’t really talk about being a webrepreneur (I am claiming that I coined the word) if I don’t share how I do it. I prefer not to be one of “those guys” that make money solely by selling content about stuff they’ve never done or making money off of a list the dirty way.

So, against my better judgement I’ve decided to share a new project with you in the hopes of showing you that it can be done and it isn’t that hard. I’ll share my lessons learned and any income or loss reports as well. In essence, it will be a project we can do together and I will let you come along for the ride.

I’ve been in Kabul, Afghanistan for a few months and started going to the bazaars a week or so into my stay. I’d seen scarves worn by men and women alike here and found that they were both very comfortable and very practical. It occured to me after I started sending them home that others might like them too, so I figured why not try and start a storefront where I could offer them to others? Thus, Afghan Scarves was born.

What I decided to do was open 2 storefronts and start split-testing them so I could find what type of storefront, prices, display, and inventory would be most successful. I opened one using WordPress and a simple free theme and some SEO widgets. I used Paypal as my shopping cart and set some general prices that I thought would be fair. I don’t mind showing my storefronts (unlike some affiliate marketers I know) because I believe the products offer good value. The purchase page is here: Buy Afghan Scarves.

The second storefront was opened just recently and is still being tweaked, but I decided to try out Amazon’s 30 day webstore trial. I wanted to do this for two reasons:

Amazon offers a professional and clean experience and is a trusted name.
I was concerned my price point was too low and offering a more professional site would give me a chance to test higher price points.

Although Amazon charges nearly 60 bucks a month for the service, I believe the cost could easily be offset. As you can see, the display is much cleaner and the products are displayed in a more organized manner. You can see the site here: Pashmina Scarves.

I’m trying a variety of keywords, but already I’ve found that after being indexed the organic search traffic has been huge. I’ve also started a PPC campaign that has been moderately successful. I’ve already received orders and the response has been good on both fronts. As the sites continue to change and develop, I will provide updates for you to monitor earnings and anything else I find relevant.

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http://virtualimpax.com Kathy @ Virtual Impax

Interesting case study – looking forward to seeing how this plays out.

$60 a month can be a drop in the bucket – or it can be a LOT of money for nothing!

Kathy @ Virtual Impaxs last blog post..80% Discount To Celebrate Successful-Blog’s 3rd Birthday
http://NathanHangen.com nathan

You’ve got that right! I’m not big into throwing money away, at least not if I can help it. Up to this point I will say that the Amazon store has been more difficult to get indexed and bring traffic to then the basic store I set up with WordPress.

I’ll be giving a full update in a couple of weeks.
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http://www.pizzaforadream.com PizzaForADream

Nathan,

I just got done reading your “Shut Down” post and now am reading about your business. Why don’t you have “someone else” run your store for you and just be the one shipping the scarves back to the states? Being a former AF pilot, I know that Uncle Sam has some control, but not that much. Don’t give up, just re-work the plan until you can get back to the states.
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