h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Help!

I'm over 50 so this interweb stuff is a bit confusing but I will persevere! Can anyone out there tell me how I can find email addresses and/or web pages for interior designers in the USA?

I want to send them information about my creations in the hope of creating some commercial interest but it's like shoveling water uphill! Where should I look for this info, any answers would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

Ore

Hi Ore

Just a couple of pointers.

Please remember I'm not an expert on these things either and I'm on the other side of the Atlantic

Remember the Web is a pull technology you really need to get the interior designers to come to you.
Before you set out to contact them I would suggest you need to set up a website to display the things you produce, so that there is something for them to see when you contact them.

Try thinking of a web site as a brochure for your business.

It may be best to try and find someone local to you who has experience of doing this for other businesses, Beware there are a lot of bullshitters out there who are after your money for not doing very much, so get recomendations from their previous customers.

Once your site has been created it can then be found by potential customers and by the web search engines, if the site is well designed this will increase the chances of the search engines logging it, and potential customers seeing your site listed when searching.

There are also any number of business directory sites e.g. electronic versions of the yellow pages. it may be worth checking these out although they charge for inclusion in their directories as they should give a better focus than the general search engines.

When it comes to seeking out potential customers, you can use the same search engines and directory services to look for interior designers.

As an example try [url removed by moderator]
Although this wont be any use to you as it is UK based but I know there are a lot of similar sites in the US.

To find them open the search window in your browser and search for the key words interior designer.

When it comes to contacting potential customers, take care, do you research first to see if they are likly to use your products (have a look at their web sites).
Whilst no one likes getting junk mail (Spam) if you target your mailings well and keep them short and polite with a link to your web site most people won't mind.

One thing to remember, people expect answers to email enquiries to be much faster than via the normal post, so you must have the resources to deal with any enquiries that come in.

And don't send too many out at once.

Best of luck

Bald Bloke

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