Happy birthday to my website

Happy birthday to my website. It's a new month today and a new year for my bug business. I would say that I can't believe it is a whole year since my 'new' automated website went live but it actually seems much longer! I really hate change but so often when I take the leap it leaves me feeling 'how on earth did I manage before'. I don't know how I ever coped with taking credit card orders over the phone. It was fraught with problems, I would write down a wrong digit, the customer would read something incorrectly and then quite regularly I would ring up for authorisation only for it to be refused. There was also the responsibility of storing everyone's card details. Some bits of information were kept on my computer files but expiry dates etc. were written on a piece of paper and locked away in my office safe (if you are thinking of breaking in for a spot of burglary at this point there is nothing in the safe now, all card details were destroyed and with automatic payments there are no longer any cash orders). The 'new' site is brilliant, I have nothing to do with payments, it all happens within the mechanics of the website. I have tweaked things throughout the year, I stopped accepting cheques, postal orders and PayPal eCheques. These methods of payment were all causing problems as they were mostly a way for the customer to delay payment until they had the money and if they didn't have the money they simply didn't send any payment! I then had to manually re-stock the items and adjust my records, way too much work when I am always busy. The website has certainly increased sales but also my overall workload and at times it is quite difficult to cope on my own, so I am always looking at ways to save time. The statistics are fascinating to look at, they show me what sells and what doesn't but much as I try to be sensible and buy items that will sell I keep getting in animals that don't sell well and take loads of care. I just can't help myself! I am going to a bug fair this weekend so I will have lots of new stock in next week. I will try to control myself and stick to spiders and other arachnids but I just love unusual insects such as bush crickets and big beetles. I am hoping to get some Land Hermits crabs, I already have an Exo Terre vivarium set up for them so fingers crossed.

I can't think of anything amazing that has happened in my bug house this week, everything is ticking over nicely. I have plenty of spiders, I know that from the amount of time I've spent feeding them. It would be great if tarantulas could be kept together in one big cage like stick insects. I have been asked on several occasions if there are any vegetarian spiders but sadly they are all meat eaters and most (if not all) are quite happy to munch on their siblings and neighbours. I have actually spent quite a bit of the week working on admin but I never get to the bottom of the pile on my desk. I really don't like reading (it takes too much time) but I do receive a lot of information that I should read. I enjoy the Practical Reptile Keeping magazine that I buy on subscription. Each month there are articles devoted to bug keeping and they are usually very good. Last month there was an article about keeping African Ground crickets, it was very interesting but there are lots of beautiful colour photographs too! I sometimes take articles that I need to read to the gym. There is a ledge on the bike and the cross trainer where I can lean my papers as I exercise. I do get some funny looks when people notice photos of spiders etc. but most people in my gym are used to me. I visit the gym several times a week, I find it relaxing and it gets me away from work. Any type of work done from home can become all consuming. I lock the bug house up before dinner and I do try not to check my emails too much in the evenings.

There are a couple of things that are more difficult with my current website. The main problem, that I am really sorry about, is the fact that people not on the internet can no longer order from me. I have a lot more orders and plenty of new customers but some of my long term customers over many years and especially older people have not been able to get bugs from me since last year. I have received a few orders through the post recently where people have written out what they want and enclosed cash. I am wondering if this is something that I can work on? Obviously the person still needs to be able to view my website online but most people have a friend or relative who can access a computer or there is always the library. Some things sell very quickly on the site and may be out of stock before I receive the order in the post but I can generally substitute something very similar or a slightly larger or smaller specimen. It may have to be a compromise but I still have my old database so I could quite easily contact most of my old loyal customers. Entering details onto a database is another thing that I no longer do but it is a bit of a shame as I liked to write down facts about people. Mostly info like children's names, birthdays, what pets they kept but I suppose it is called progress. Now I have to rely on my memory - oh dear!