[bevgail]

Hi everyone
We are new to the ice cream business but here in the UK most business has a website - we are in the process of developing ours for the start/opening of our ice cream parlour and sweet (candy) shop. It is definately a must these days as who on earth looks in a 'yellow' pages (UK) current study here has shown that most people will check out the internet for info on a business and not a book. As well as good quality business cards, good local press coverage as website is something we feel wll work in our favour, word of mouth is always the best because good news spreads but remember bad news spreads faster so get that website up and running guys, you won't regret it. If you can't do your own get someone who knows what they are doing to do one for you. cheers the 2 Welsh ladies

[ICP]

I completely agree! I throw out the yellowpages book as soon as I get it. I am always looking up places online - its much faster and easier!

[opsteven]

our customers' website：flavortwirl.com, someone in Montgomery，AL，can visit his website, and go to see thier store. Steven

[Russ]

Just joined the forum; glad to have found it. We're heading into our 17th summer operating a seasonal ice cream parlor in northcentral Wisconsin. Ideal location... on a former federal (now county) highway, on a bike trail, and on a 3,500 acre lake. That, along with the unique architecture and historical nature of the building, makes us a very popular place to go.

Here's our website, currently in countdown format for our opening on Wednesday.

www.windmillicecream.com

I want to add a Youtube video of the windmill turning. We don't do much in terms of marketing since the place is so popular (lines out the door to the highway regularly). We will give the local radio station some gift certificates to use as prizes for their daily trivia contests, as well as take a few styro containers of various flavors over to the station for them to rant and rave over on air during the day.

The windmill only turns when we're open, so seeing it going around for the first time each year is one of those local rites of spring.

Looking forward to learning and sharing experiences here.

[pahit_latsia]

Hi everyone,

This year I created a very draft web site just with the basic information (you can see it at http://www.pahit-latsia.com).

Web site
I wanted to have a site for posting the shop opening hours and also some coupons for special offers. At the same time, we' ve been building a mailing list to send out a newsletter and special offers for our customers who join it.

Mailing list (email newsletters)
A mailing list can be very handy for communicating new flavours, or simply marketing your products to your existing customers. For example, if you just started serving coffee in addition to ice cream, in an effort to stay open during winter, then a nice newsletter could help convey the message.

I recommend for email newsletters and marketing. It's the one I use and I am happy with it, as it also gives you statistics of how many people in your list opened the email message you sent, and how many clicked your links.

We plan to enhance our web site and make it look nice in the near future. As I said, for now it serves to give our customers the basic information.

Our shop is located in Latsia (in Nicosia, Cyprus). Ice cream is nice as in Cyprus the weather gets really hot in the summer

Best regards and enjoy the summer
Nicholas