INTERNET PRINTSHOP SURVIVES WITHOUT SUPERBOWL AD

Online printshop webprintshop.com, without a large marketing budget, has managed to survived in the dog-eat-dog world of e-commerce by using some decidedly old-fashioned methods and offers some suggestions on how others can do the same.

Attention Business Editors

NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Internet printing site proves that small can be beautiful on the Internet

Lubbock, TX --Feb 13, 2002- Just about as far as you can get from the heart of the Internet revolution, Lubbock, in the heart of the Texas Panhandle, seems an unlikely place to find a successful Internet startup, but thats exactly where the owners of the online printing site www.webprintshop.com hail from. The site, founded by entrepreneurs Eddie Bell and Rick Crumley in 1999, has been building a steady following of small and home based businesses as well as professionals while using some rather conservative methods to survive in the dog-eat-dog world of e-commerce.

Unlike some of the famous Internet failures of the past several years, Bell and Crumley have used some admittedly 'guerilla methods to promote their site. We didnt have 2 million dollars to spend for 30 seconds of Super Bowl airtime," laughs Crumley, so we had to find some other ways to promote ourselves." Those 'other ways have included banner ads, search engines, Press releases and old-fashioned direct mail.

Webprintshop is an online supplier of business cards, stationary, envelopes and promotional products geared toward both traditional and Internet based businesses.
The site, www.webprintshop.com, provides an easy to use design interface which allows visitors to customize printed items in a very intuitive way and then allows users to place orders for their designed product with the click of a mouse.

Its about as easy as 1,2,3," says co-founder Eddie Bell. Visitors simply select a template, input their business or professional information and tell us where to ship to. We usually ship orders within 72 hours."

The partners have several suggestions for businesspeople preparing to 'open up shop online. Have a site thats completely functional and easy to use," says Crumley, nothing turns a visitor off faster than a website thats not working or is difficult to use." Other suggestions from Bell and Crumley include:

·   find a specific niche market for the product or service you are promoting; aim for a definite target
·   utilize pay search engines to immediately test keywords related to your business. These sites include www.overture.com and www.google.com. Reporting features on each of these sites allow users to find out exactly which keywords are working for them
·   make sure that each item or service you offer is sold at a profit. Many an Internet startup has gone belly up because of lack of profitability on each sale
·   provide customer service with fervor. Just like any other type of venture, how you take care of your customers will ultimately determine success or failure

While not every business can be another Amazon or Ebay, many can profit handsomely by following some of the same techniques as those employed by the operators of www.webprintshop.com. Not ending up like some of the past Internet Super Bowl advertisers might be a side benefit as well.

For further information:

Rick Crumley, 806/523-6756
Fax: 806/794-5141
Email: rick@webprintshop.com
http://www.webprintshop.com