Bike Shop Hub

A little bit of Fall is coming into the air which brings to mind a shifting of the season for us.  This means a few things for us.  First off we are preparing for our sales to taper off and for our to shift towards ramping up our efforts on our website content and configuration.  Second, it means we will be heading to Interbike soon.

With the inevitable tapering off of sales in the fall, we have the great opportunity to really focus in on all aspects of our website.  Some of our primary focuses will be really improving a variety of high level pages on our websites where we present our expert knowledge on bicycle trailer, bags, racks and children’s cycling equipment. As a part of this, we will be focusing attention on improving our product photography and getting into product videos.

It’s been an interesting year for BikeShopHub.com with our site move and our business move.  In my next post, I will be reflecting on some of the implications of our fluctuations and changes as we move ahead.

Our Internet Marketing Agenda:

1. Developing new marketing channels (currently feeds of our product database into shopping networks).
2. Maintaining & growing our current channels (currently Adwords, Google Shopping, Our 3 Blogs, Twitter & Facebook).
3. Developing analytics reporting on the success of our marketing channels.

Our Products Agenda (shop content):

1. Rewriting and adding images for our category descriptions.
2. Increasing our lineup of messenger bags, balance bikes, and trailer-cycles to our product lineup’s at BikeBagShop.com and BikeKidShop.com.
3. Preparing for better photography and video by investing in new equipment, software and setting up our photo area.

Our Website Interface Agenda (web programming):

1. Building our link massaging tool that allows for rapid intuitive cross linking of our content.
2. Cleaning up layout of our product description pages.
3. Integrating video into our product descriptions.
4. Working towards a broader spectrum at Bike Shop Hub with a forum, photo gallery, Wandertec manufacturing section, Extrawheel section and more integrated in (we’re considering getting started into Drupal for this).

Our Shipping & Logistics Agenda:

1. Settling in our organization of our inventory.
2. Integrating all of our inventory management and shipping management into one role.
3. Exploring a relationship with a freight forwarder.

Our Wandertec Manufacturing Agenda:

1. Setup relationship for manufacturing of the Wandertec BONGO load bed.
2. Get our current batch of 50 BONGOs powder coated.
3. Get back into brainstorming ideas for the BONGO rail system.

Current Promotions:

• Free BikeShopHub.com T-Shirts with bike cargo trailers and select Ortlieb Panniers.
• Free Strider Balance Bikes w/$500+ Chariot Carriers & Burley Child Trailers
  Free Bell Child’s Helmets w/under $500 Chariot Carriers Burley Child Trailers & Croozer Child Trailers
  Closeout of 2009 Burley Solo ST – Only $319! (Originally $549

Last Week’s Blog Posts:

• “The Riveting World of Cycling Legislation” http://ow.ly/2vmyS by @staceymoses
• “Chariot + Strider = Awesome!” – http://ow.ly/2vQzR – Adam’s post on our free Strider bike w/Chariots.
• Utility Cycling video post “The Kebele Bike Workshop” http://ow.ly/2uRxy
• Bike Trailer at Work Helping Local Food Share Program BikeTrailerBlog.com
• Political Activism by Bike UtilityCycling.org

I’ve decided to take a stab at a new practice this week by doing my first of what I hope to be a weekly summary of our business activities and developments.  I’ve decided to post this here on our blog at Bike Shop Hub both for our customers and our team, internal and external.  Whether or not I get a good rhythm going with this (I’ve failed in some past attempts), at the least, I hope that this week’s affairs provide for interesting reading.

I’ve been working towards defining the purpose of all of our blogs a bit more specifically.  I’ve found that blogging within an organization has been the most successful when the blog has a clear agenda to keep things moving forward.  While inspiration starts and stops with various ideas for the blog, if there is a core purpose, the blog will continue to grow and foster opportunities for more inspiration to pop up.  So here are our current core agendas for our 3 blogs:

The BikeShopHub.com Blog: Post this weekly “State of the Hub” post with the goal of clarifying, documenting and spreading the word about our direction and progress. Post product reviews on bike bags, bike racks and children’s cycling products that we carry. Post overviews, roundups, histories and news stories relevant to specific categories of bike bags, bike racks and children’s cycling products that we carry.
UtilityCycling.com: Bring clarity and elaborate on the topic of utility cycling.  The approach is to define utility cycling by breaking it down into different categories, subcategories and topics.
BikeTrailerBlog.com: Publish our readers bike trailer photos and stories.  In addition, post other stories, reviews, news and information about bike trailers.

We’ve come up with a new slogan for the BikeShopHub.com “The Bicycle Accessory Experts”.  The slogan represents both our current expertise in bike cargo trailers, bike bags, bike racks and children’s cycling equipment as well as our ambition to continue to expand our realm of expertise into other bicycling accessories.

I’ve had some recent considerations on the Bike Shop Hub team’s approach to brainstorming ideas.  As a growing business involved in technology and cycling, we have a broad array of inspiration to draw from as we move forward and grow.  I have to say, it often feels like we are overburdened with too many ideas.  I often feel the burden of explaining how an idea, while perhaps very intriguing, is often far more difficult to integrate in, fully adopt and fully move forward with than it might appear.  The resulting benefits of many ideas would have to offer more promise in order to justify the cost of implementation. At the same time, it is important that we maintain a good flow of ideas and find a balance that fosters the generation of ideas without having them become over burdensome.

With this in mind, I hope to encourage an environment where we can let ideas flow freely without worrying about the fact that most of the ideas will likely not come to fruition. While an idea may never see the light of being fully adopted, it adds to the power of a stream of ideas. It may build up momentum in combination with similar ideas or it may serve to communicate something more subtle than the idea itself. In fostering an open exchange of ideas, I am also considering it in the context of specific meetings where parts of our team meet to openly exchange and kill off ideas. I use the term “kill off” to express the idea that we could become  comfortable with the process of sprouting ideas and quickly tearing them down as needed without growing overly attached.  My hope is that this process can help us thresh our way through the thickets of ideas, to emerge with the real fruit.

Our Internet Marketing Agenda:

1. Developing new marketing channels (currently feeds of our product database into shopping networks).
2. Maintaining & growing our current channels (currently Adwords & Google Shopping).
3. Developing analytics reporting on the success of our marketing channels.

Our Products Agenda (shop content):

1. Rewriting and adding images for categories and brand descriptions
2. Catching up on writing product listings mainly in BikeBagShop.com and BikeKidShop.com.
3. Adding in more messenger bags, balance bikes, and trailer-cycles to our product lineup’s at BikeBagShop.com and BikeKidShop.com.
4. Begin writing our new expert articles
5. Preparing for better photography and video by investing in new equipment and setting up our photo area.

Our Website Interface Agenda (web programming):

1. Building our link massaging tool that allows for rapid intuitive cross linking of our content.
2. Cleaning and organizing product description pages and their option pages.
3. Setting up photo arrays and methods to display more product info on sub-category pages
4. Working towards a broader spectrum at Bike Shop Hub with a forum, photo gallery, Wandertec manufacturing section, Extrawheel section and more integrated in (we’re considering getting started into Drupal for this).

Our Wandertec Manufacturing Agenda:

1. Setup relationship for manufacturing of the Wandertec BONGO load bed.
2. Get our current batch of 50 BONGOs powder coated.
3. Get back into brainstorming ideas for the BONGO rail system.

Current Promotions:

• All Chariot Carriers and Croozer Child, Cargo & Pet Trailers 10% off thru Aug 24th (2 Days Left!) – Final 2010 Sale
• Free BikeShopHub.com T-Shirts with bike cargo trailers and select Ortlieb Panniers.

Last Week’s Blog Posts:

• The utility of cycling & politics “Political Activism by Bike” http://ow.ly/2sWdM
• Adam blogs about the new Xtracycle products, Hoodie, FreeLoaders, FlightDeck & TekDek 2.0 “Tech-ier” http://ow.ly/2sHdM
• “Analysis of Google’s Bike-There Feature: Part III” http://ow.ly/2rSIL
• Put those car keys away and grab the bicycle lock! “Clif Bar 2 Mile Challenge” http://ow.ly/2qVVH
• Bike Moms Unite! My Evolution from Biking Girl to Biking Mom: http://tinyurl.com/26qaph4
• Londoners are taking back their streets with a new program “DIY Streets in London” http://ow.ly/2pRGk
• More Than One Way to Utilize your Bike

Last Week’s New Products:

• Chrome Messenger Bags at BikeBagShop.com http://ow.ly/2rw31
• Racktime Trunkit Front RackTop Bag at BikeBagShop.com

Last Week’s New Sponsored Riders:

• Pedal Powered Family
• Marty and Katie Benson

Now through August 24 the Bike Kid Shop will be running our final Chariot and Croozer child trailer sale for 2010.  Don’t miss this great opportunity to get your child in one of the best child trailers available.  All Chariot and Croozer trailers will be an additional 10% off including 10% all accessories as well.  Chariot is one of the most sought after child trailers on the market, touting creature comforts one would expect to find in a high end European luxury sedan.

Headlining the the Chariot roster are the CX-1 and the CX-2.  The CX line is the high end of high end child trailers, delivered with all of Chariots bells and whistles.  The ever popular Cougar 1 and Cougar 2 are Chariots major players.  The Cougar line offers the same great quality as the CX line with a few less extras and coming in at a slight less price point.  The Cougar 1 and 2 are some of our best selling child trailers.   All of the XC trailers, CX, Cougars and Cheetahs come with Chariots CTS technology allowing any XC line trailer to be the ultimate multi-use child carrier.  Whether you cycling, running, hiking skiing, or just out for a stroll the XC line can do it all.

The Chariot Classic series, which includes the Cabriolet and Corsaire XL, offers a slightly different approach then the XC line of trailers, with more room and a standard cycling kit included the Classic series are cycling and fun ready. Don’t miss this great opportunity  to get your child in and your hands on some of the best child trailer available.  Both you and your child will be riding in style and comfort with a new Chariot child trailer.

What could be better then owning one of the new, cool, stylish Bike Shop Hub designer T-shirts? Getting one for free!  With the purchase of select bicycle cargo trailers and Ortlieb panniers you get a free Bike Shop Hub men’s or women’s T-shirt.  These great shirts feature the Bike Shop Hub logo and come in a variety of colors.  These aren’t some lame, fits good if you are shaped like a square T-shirt.  I’m very picky about my T-shirt fit and you can take my word that the colors and the fit are spot on!

Now you can still purchase one of these shirts by them selves, which I would highly recommend, but why buy one when you can have one for free. The Current promotion includes Croozer Cargo, Croozer Travel, Croozer Dog, Croozer Mini, Carry Freedom City, Extrawheel Voyager, Extrawheel Advert, Radical Designs Cyclone III Cargo, Radical Designs Cyclone III Flatbed, Wandertec BONGO LG, Wandertec BONGO LG, Weber Monoporter and the Xtracycle Cargo Kit. I know right, so many opportunities to get a great bike trailer with a free shirt.  But wait, there’s more.  Because we can, we are also offering a free Bike Shop Hub T-shirt with the purchase of Ortlieb Plus Pannier as well as the Ortlieb Bike Tourer Panniers and the new 2010 commuting panniers, the Ortlieb City, Downtowner and Vario.

The Bike Shop Hub T-shirt features our new logo reflecting our vision that the bicycle is a vehicle through which humanity can discover harmony and prosperity throughout the planet. Our slogan “The Road is Yours” speaks to the necessity that cyclists take ownership of the road in a variety of senses.

The men’s come in small,  medium, large and extra-large available in deep blue a graphite gray.  The women’s also come in small, medium, and large but with a different cut more flattering to the female figure available in lavender and sky blue.  So don’t wait around, get your self into a great cargo trailer or some Ortlieb panniers for your next tour and have a great looking shirt to wear at the same time.

These days there are more and more reasons to commute by bike.  Gas prices are always on the rise.  There are more and more motorist on the roads, clogging streets and increasing commute times.  American cycling cultures are growing, so riding a bike to work might actually become cool one day.

Bike riding is fun. Every adult I know who gets back on the bike says how it reminds them of their younger days, and the smiles on their faces are evidence. But one thing that might be potentially more important than any other reason to commute by bike–and often overlooked–is the inherent health benefit.  Bike Shop Hub is by no means the first to touch on this subject. Increasing health through bike commuting and riding is an ongoing campaign which many of our fellow bike commuting advocates have chosen to promote as well.  BikeCommuters.com as well as CommuteByBike.com have written informative articles discussing the health benefits of daily commuting by bike.

The CDC (Center for Disease Control) recommends that adults in America need 150 minutes of moderate exercise each week or 75 minutes of vigorous activity each week.  That’s more than 20 minutes a day for moderate exercise and about 10 minutes per day if you prefer the vigorous route.  These figures represent the minimum requirements that the CDC has declared for increased heart and health benefits. The American Heart Association has similar requirements for maintaining a healthy lifestyle as well.

American health associations aren’t the only ones to comment on the benefits of cycling.  The British Heart Association states that cycling at least three hours a week cuts your risk of heart disease in half, compared to those who do not cycle or perform regular exercise.

Now for some, commuting by bike may not be an option, whether the distance to work is  to great to reasonably be covered by bicycle, or the logistics of the commute just don’t lend themselves to a safe riding. But for many, especially those in urban areas, a commute by bike is a couple of pedal strokes away.  For many, the perception of bike commuting is one of  significantly greater time commitment than by auto.  Well the numbers don’t lie. The typical bike commute takes about one third longer than the corresponding auto commute. Not really a substantial time increase, especially for a little exercise and a smile.

So if for no other reason other than your health, consider the impact that bicycle commuting can have on your life, not to mention that you will be saving gas money, reducing your carbon footprint, and you’ll fee better about yourself. And you might be just a little bit cooler–in a social sense at least.