A collection of tips for small businesses by an experienced and successful online business owner.
5 Factors to Start a Successful Online Business
November 15, 2015
Back in 2008, we started Printkeg, an online commercial printer, as a way to salvage a failing print shop. A while ago we described our beginnings, so there’s no need to rehash that story again. Now we can explore the five key contributions and factors that we feel helped us create a million dollar online […]
Amazing Tools For Small E-Commerce Business Owners
November 7, 2015
As a small online business owner, there are some nifty tools I depend on to maintain my e-commerce website. As a company owner, I have to worry about everything: marketing, quality control, finances, customer service, SEO and more. As far as running the online side of things, these tools can be extremely helpful. 1. Grammarly […]
How To Quickly Create a Printable Postcard Using Canva
November 4, 2015
Some of us are not designers by nature or nurture. Thanks to an online platform called Canva, normal people can create stunning and professional designs for almost any situation. We don’t feel that anything can truly replace a human graphic designer, but Canva comes pretty close! Today, we demonstrate how to create a well-designed double […]
Breaking Down a Conversion Driven Shopify Store – Hickies.com
October 10, 2015
As many of you already know, Printkeg utilizes Shopify for e-commerce for a number of reasons. Over the weekend, I discovered a company, Hickies, that provides a shoelace replacement solution. To my pleasant surprise, Hickies also utilizes Shopify, and their website was so impressive and inspiring, I just cannot help showing it off to our […]
UPS VS USPS – Our Experience with Shipping Companies
September 18, 2015
Our small business has been shipping packages since 2006 (2008 as Printkeg) consisting of tiny envelopes to multiple gigantic boxes. In the end, the carriers actually have much in common, but the differences can be quite impactful on the bottom line and the overall customer perception of your business. UPS For awhile, we solely relied […]
Starting an Online Company From Almost Nothing – Our Story
May 12, 2015
What a ride it’s been this past decade. Starting a new business is difficult, time consuming, nerve wrecking and absolutely marvelous. Today, I finally share a long overdue story of how my business partner and I created a fun and profitable online print company known as Printkeg. The Beginning – IDM Firm Back in 2005, […]
SEO Tips Shopify Storeowners Must Know
May 8, 2015
Before starting Printkeg, I built up a strong history in web development and SEO providing those services to hundreds of clients of my own for most of my adult life. Presently, I still do a little web consulting, but I remain more focused on maintaining and leading Printkeg, a digital print company that utilizes the […]
Dealing With Google’s Penguin Penalty
March 20, 2015
This is not something I enjoy talking about especially as a prior SEO provider and current online business owner. Like most people, I’m embarrassed and ashamed of some of my past poor decisions but none were more grave for our company than this: Google’s algorithm update in 2012 called Penguin ran us over like a […]
Don’t Try These Things If You Want a Raise – From An Employer’s Perspective
May 5, 2014
While reading an article on CNN today, a title of a footer link caught my attention providing me with an opportunity to write about something not-exactly-so-print related. It read something like “Things Not To Do When Asking for a Raise” reminding me of the dumb things a few of my past employees have attempted while […]
Taking your business online
September 29, 2010
It wasn’t easy for us. It required about two years of strategy to transform our local, and failing, print shop into a successful online printing company. Besides the usual obstacles like poor cash flow, we faced tough decisions about where our company should go. We were also unsure if we could compete since the online printing […]