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Website for Firewood Sales

Lee Wright

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Hi. My events business has got the Rona so I've been working on a few other hustles. I've noticed for a while that the firewood suppliers in my town have crappy websites or no websites so I was going to trade a site & some marketing work in return for free wood (it's Autumn here). I just noticed though that the domain orangefirewood.com.au is available (I live in Orange, Australia) that would rank well in Google so I guess have these options:

1. Just trade the site as above.
2. Register the Orange Firewood domain, set up the site myself, get orders & outsource to one of the vendors for a commission. Sell the site to one of them eventually.
3. Set up a multi-vendor marketplace & take a commission.

What do you think would be the best option? Maybe someone here has experience selling sites?

Here's the template I did

Thanks in advance.
 
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Azure

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I'm not sure if this is applicable to Australia given the incredibly low population density but if you have the option this seems like it would do well in a door to door flyer from the postman.

Perhaps a partnership with local businesses with a shared clientele. I'm not sure what you guys use firewood for, I can't imagine it's for heating? Cooking perhaps? Target the guy who sells the wood stoves, form a partnership and give him a % of sales he generates.

Not everything needs to have a tech based solution. Sometimes these blue collar type of industries respond better to the gritty, boots on the ground type approach.

Given the wildfire situation, and dangerously fanatical overzealous attitude that we see in environmental extremists, you may find that highly visible web traffic brings you the wrong type of eyes that could be harmful.
 

Lee Wright

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I'm not sure if this is applicable to Australia given the incredibly low population density but if you have the option this seems like it would do well in a door to door flyer from the postman.

Perhaps a partnership with local businesses with a shared clientele. I'm not sure what you guys use firewood for, I can't imagine it's for heating? Cooking perhaps? Target the guy who sells the wood stoves, form a partnership and give him a % of sales he generates.

Not everything needs to have a tech based solution. Sometimes these blue collar type of industries respond better to the gritty, boots on the ground type approach.

Given the wildfire situation, and dangerously fanatical overzealous attitude that we see in environmental extremists, you may find that highly visible web traffic brings you the wrong type of eyes that could be harmful.
Thanks Azure. We're in town so it's pretty urban. We actually used to deliver brochures so that's something that's doable. We're in one of the few parts of Oz that get's a bit cold so wood is a popular heating option. Good point about the blue collar face-to-face approach.
 

rblitz

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The first thing I'd do - as you already posted the domain - is make sure you're going to register it now...
 
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Walter Hay

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Thanks. Yes good point.
I hope I am quick enough, but com.au domains cost heaps more than .com and you can use the .com in Australia. Being location and product specific means buyers will still find you on Google.

Another drawback is that you have to go through a lot of red tape to get your .com.au domain registered. Check it out before you make your move.

Walter
 

Lee Wright

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I hope I am quick enough, but com.au domains cost heaps more than .com and you can use the .com in Australia. Being location and product specific means buyers will still find you on Google.

Another drawback is that you have to go through a lot of red tape to get your .com.au domain registered. Check it out before you make your move.

Walter
Yes I used a .com for a while which was OK. For .com.au you have to register the business name which now cheaper than it used to be at $36 but you have to have an Australian Business Number too. Both those things cut down on the competition.
 
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Lee Wright

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Just thought I'd give an update on this. I decided to register the <my_town_name>firewood.com.au domain myself. I launched it on Friday & so far got 2 orders. Last week I met up with a young couple to supply & deliver the wood. They seemed great but on the very first order I found out they weren't a right fit at all. After that I sat down wrote down my selection criteria for any future supplier. I found a guy to supply that was a lot cheaper. This made me wary at first but his wood was great & he seemed like a very experienced & genuine guy. Ongoing I would offer him a bit more as I don't think it's sustainable for him. Anyway the 2nd order went considerably better. The only other hiccup I found was that I'd forgotten that PayPal puts a 21 day hold on new accounts.

I think the next steps are:
-See if this guy is happy to supply ongoing.
-Set up Woocommerce to email the order direct to him & have him liaise direct with the customer re delivery etc.
-Set up a split Paypal payment so that the supplier is paid automatically less my commission.

That should pretty much automate the process so that each time someone orders I get $30 or $40. I'm hoping I might make 5 or 10 sales a month in season. I really want to focus on getting repeat orders. It's not much but it's a start on my journey towards passive income. My setup costs have been about $100.

32781
 

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Any more updates on how your travelling with this?
 

Lee Wright

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Any more updates on how your travelling with this?
Hi Roughneck. Not so well I'm afraid. I've only had one enquiry since the last update. -I haven't been pursuing too hard because it seems Paypal puts a 21 day hold on new accounts so it means I have to pay the supplier in cash but can't get any revenue. That should clear next couple of days & I'll have more cash to play with.
-I get the feeling my banner type ads don't work as well as "home baked". I started another thread about that here: Professional/Branded Ads vs. Home Baked
-Myself & supplier were slow to respond to the last enquiry & hence probably why we didn't get the job. So my plan is:
1. Create some more "organic" looking ads
2. Automate the enquiry process so it goes straight to the supplier & I'm not involved.
 
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Roughneck

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Hi Roughneck. Not so well I'm afraid. I've only had one enquiry since the last update. -I haven't been pursuing too hard because it seems Paypal puts a 21 day hold on new accounts so it means I have to pay the supplier in cash but can't get any revenue. That should clear next couple of days & I'll have more cash to play with.
-I get the feeling my banner type ads don't work as well as "home baked". I started another thread about that here: Professional/Branded Ads vs. Home Baked
-Myself & supplier were slow to respond to the last enquiry & hence probably why we didn't get the job. So my plan is:
1. Create some more "organic" looking ads
2. Automate the enquiry process so it goes straight to the supplier & I'm not involved.

I think it's good little business idea, I am from Sydney also and see the demand in firewood. Facebook, Gumtree and etc are inundated with firewood sales and it's hard to make heads or tails of who is actually supplying good firewood.

What size loads have the sales been so far?
 

Lee Wright

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I think it's good little business idea, I am from Sydney also and see the demand in firewood. Facebook, Gumtree and etc are inundated with firewood sales and it's hard to make heads or tails of who is actually supplying good firewood.

What size loads have the sales been so far?
Good to see another Aussie on here. I was in Sydney but moved up to Orange 4 years ago though I still have a business down there. Do you have a business in Sydney?

Interestingly Gumtree doesn't have many suppliers up here but Facebook is packed with weekend warriors. The professional guy did 700 loads before it even got cold this year. Google on the other hand has very little competition hence my interest in snapping up the good domain name & getting it ranked in Google organic & Google My Business. I'm still waiting on my GMB confirmation though - very slow with the pandemic.

I've been doing trailer loads which are about 1 cubic metre or about half tonne.
 

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Lee Wright

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Here's an update on where I'm up to with this little project.

-Got ranked #3 in Google My Business with just 1 review. That was easier than I thought.

-Got a few more sales & people seemed to be happy.

-The online payment & ordering system using Woocommerce/Paypal seems to work fine.

After that things went south:

-The contractor I got went on holidays for a week & a half then had a huge backlog of his own orders when he got back so I had to turn down orders & a repeat customer had to wait quite a while.

-The second batch of wood I got from him for my own use was “green” & very poor burning which made me reluctant to buy more off him for customers.

-When he found out that I was charging considerably more than what he was charging me, he threw a hissy fit even though I paid him his regular rate. He then proceeded to contact at least one of my clients (& I suspect the rest) to deal direct with them.

-I investigated another supplier. His product was great but like so many he only wanted to do cash in hand.

-This week I spoke to another supplier in the next town who also delivers here & runs a proper business with multiple staff & does things by the book. I’m thinking of approaching him to buy the business. If I got $2K I’d be happy.



Lessons learned:

Ecommerce works & people are happy to use it.

Google My Business is an effective & cheap marketing channel.

Hillbilly/cash in hand suppliers are incompatible with ecommerce businesses.



From a CENTS point of view:

Control – poor (subject to a small pool of local suppliers)

Entry – Yes (registered a great business/domain name, not many firewood guys can rank in Google or create an ecommerce site)

Need – Yes (good demand, turned down quite a few orders)

Time – Yes (outsourced the supply & delivery of the product. Effectively drop shipping)

Scale - Yes (I sold maybe 5 tons. Top supplier did well over 700).
 
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APDupe

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I wish I knew about this forum forever ago. I’ve owned a firewood company since 03/2019. I’ve been trying to create a nice looking eccomerce site for it.
 

Lee Wright

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I wish I knew about this forum forever ago. I’ve owned a firewood company since 03/2019. I’ve been trying to create a nice looking eccomerce site for it.
It's a been a few years since I did this. It wasn't very profitable for me so I sold the site to an existing competitor for about $500. Having said that the site worked well for getting orders. It was the supply side that I struggled with. I was simply acting as an agent & outsourcing the supply & delivery to someone else. If you already have a firewood business where you source the wood & deliver then I would totally recommend creating an online ordering site. Despite being a difficult time I learnt so much about the value of providing a higher level of service. Often it's about so much more that the commodity you sell & there are people out there that will pay a premium for that service. By service I don't mean anything fancy. I just mean things like:
-Having a website
-Having a phone number or email address
-Answering the phone
-Providing a receipt.
-Having reliable supply.
-Turning up on time.
-Not taking a 3 week holiday during peak season

Hope this helps.
 

APDupe

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It's a been a few years since I did this. It wasn't very profitable for me so I sold the site to an existing competitor for about $500. Having said that the site worked well for getting orders. It was the supply side that I struggled with. I was simply acting as an agent & outsourcing the supply & delivery to someone else. If you already have a firewood business where you source the wood & deliver then I would totally recommend creating an online ordering site. Despite being a difficult time I learnt so much about the value of providing a higher level of service. Often it's about so much more that the commodity you sell & there are people out there that will pay a premium for that service. By service I don't mean anything fancy. I just mean things like:
-Having a website
-Having a phone number or email address
-Answering the phone
-Providing a receipt.
-Having reliable supply.
-Turning up on time.
-Not taking a 3 week holiday during peak season

Hope this helps.
You did word press + woocommerce? I was looking into building a Shopify site. I know how some of it works but I’ve been having a hard time finding useful resources on how to build the site out. Cuttingedgefirewood.com is a good example of what I’d like to base it off. Plow & Hearth also has a really cool store around the supporting products.
 
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Lee Wright

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You did word press + woocommerce? I was looking into building a Shopify site. I know how some of it works but I’ve been having a hard time finding useful resources on how to build the site out. Cuttingedgefirewood.com is a good example of what I’d like to base it off. Plow & Hearth also has a really cool store around the supporting products.
Correct but Shopify looks good too. Tons of Youtube vids around. That's mostly how I learn. Also Google Bard is great if you get stuck & have a specific question (It's Google's version of Chat GPT). Cutting Edge looks good. I think selling accessories is a great idea. I struggled to find some good tongs or a nice indoor wood box.
 

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