The Energon Pub

My wife is starting a website that sells tools.

I don't expect anyone to buy it but my wife would really appreciate it if you guys took a look at her site and left some feedback for her.

She only has one thing up now, It is called the "Magnogrip". It is a bracelet made of velcro and nylon, and has magnet strips in it. It can hold up to 3 lbs. Pretty much keeps everything within a hands reach (as long as it magentic.)

I bought 2 and I havent lost a screw yet. I have put the pins and screws as well as my screwdrivers on it while bashing. It is actually a pretty neat trinket.


http://www.geocities.com/dainamarie315/Magnogrip.html?1157637404016



Thanks for your time.

Not to sound like a Evil-bay seller, but the damned thing is great. I have had mine for about 2 weeks now, and it does help make bashing alot neater and easier. Less crap on my desk, and in my hands, but its always there where you need it.

My wife just wanted to know what people thought of her site. Its the first one, not sounting a MySpace, she has ever made for people on the internet. Of sourse she plans to sell some, but she was more worried about representation.

Thanks for looking.

I have to say, I checked out the page/site and the item does look very professional.

I can see the uses for small, at home, do it yourself kitbashers, with small screws and such but from the images i've seen it's too small for someone working on cars and the like.

Now, I can see this item really selling if you mad one that was twice as big for those bigger nuts and bolts for people working on cars and the like.

It really is a good idea and I hope you guys become rich because of it.

Like I said, make two different size choices and I can see the smaller for in home projects and the larger one for outside the home projects like working on cars and whatnot.

I'll be looking for your infomercial on TV in the near future.

My biggest suggestion is to get that copywritten and trademarked as soon as you possibly can and start shopping around at places like "As seen on TV" type places to sell the idea too. It's small but great ideas like this that could make your american dreams a reality of instant millionairs.

Good luck man! I wish you and your wife the best. If you do make the larger one I suggested, and make sure that it can hold objects a bit larger like smaller hand screwdrivers or small needlenose pliers I'll be there to hop in line to buy it.

In fact, get ahold of Dev and talk with him about making a link banner to that store/site and we'll be more then happy to support you. Market it to kitbashers and the like and I can see it really selling....

TFM

TFM

TFmaster wrote:I have to say, I checked out the page/site and the item does look very professional.

I can see the uses for small, at home, do it yourself kitbashers, with small screws and such but from the images i've seen it's too small for someone working on cars and the like.

Now, I can see this item really selling if you mad one that was twice as big for those bigger nuts and bolts for people working on cars and the like.

It really is a good idea and I hope you guys become rich because of it.

Like I said, make two different size choices and I can see the smaller for in home projects and the larger one for outside the home projects like working on cars and whatnot.

I'll be looking for your infomercial on TV in the near future.

My biggest suggestion is to get that copywritten and trademarked as soon as you possibly can and start shopping around at places like "As seen on TV" type places to sell the idea too. It's small but great ideas like this that could make your american dreams a reality of instant millionairs.

Good luck man! I wish you and your wife the best. If you do make the larger one I suggested, and make sure that it can hold objects a bit larger like smaller hand screwdrivers or small needlenose pliers I'll be there to hop in line to buy it.

In fact, get ahold of Dev and talk with him about making a link banner to that store/site and we'll be more then happy to support you. Market it to kitbashers and the like and I can see it really selling....

TFM

TFM

Actually sorry to disappoint, we didn't invent it. A guy nemd Andre Woolery invented it. We got a letter from him to be retail resellers of his gizzmo. She is just starting a web tool store. (she got the idea from all my tools and bashing equipment). It was on t.v. about 2 weeks ago, HGTV.

And now for the kicker, it will hold all that stuff. I had a 4 pound beater/hammer stuck on it the other day. It isn't as small as you think per say. It will hold a cluster of nuts and bolts no problem, and as a matter of fast I have a about 3 craftsman screwdrivers stuck on it now. It is very strong. I tell ya you'd be suprised at what it can hold. It's about 3 inches wide, it has 4 very strong magnets in seperate compartments in it, it has a adjustable velcro strap and its pretty light wieght. Where as we might not get rich off of it, he will. But it is still a damn neat gizzmo.

A usefull tool to be sure, but may I ask if it's magnetic field is strong enough to disrupt a car's internal electronics?(including tomtoms/gps's)
Though the site looks ok, I guess, the colouration is at current a bit bright and for some or another reason it sprouts pop-ups, not something any websie visitor appreciates.*hides*

Skyfire wrote:A usefull tool to be sure, but may I ask if it's magnetic field is strong enough to disrupt a car's internal electronics?(including tomtoms/gps's)
Though the site looks ok, I guess, the colouration is at current a bit bright and for some or another reason it sprouts pop-ups, not something any websie visitor appreciates.*hides*

Don't hide, we asked for your honest feedback, and all of you are being very helpful. Keep it coming.

Though I have used it on my Explorer, (throttle body spacer, and a K&N air filter as well as all sparkplugs w/ sparkplug wires) and I don't notice any difference when I drive it now.

The site looks pretty good. I agree with Skyfire that maybe the colouring's a touch on the garish side. And you definitely should check the spelling. Straight out I noticed:

The magnogrip is buult (built) to handle the most rugged of jobs. It's fabiric (fabric) construct...

On the subject of the item, I'm definitely intrigued, and funds allowing, I'm tempted. With all that gubbinry (you mentioned a hammer) stuck to it, doesn't it get awkward to wear?
And what's international shipping like? I noticed S/H in the basket was about $6, but I assume that's flatrate US only...

Ramrider wrote:The site looks pretty good. I agree with Skyfire that maybe the colouring's a touch on the garish side. And you definitely should check the spelling. Straight out I noticed:

The magnogrip is buult (built) to handle the most rugged of jobs. It's fabiric (fabric) construct...

On the subject of the item, I'm definitely intrigued, and funds allowing, I'm tempted. With all that gubbinry (you mentioned a hammer) stuck to it, doesn't it get awkward to wear?
And what's international shipping like? I noticed S/H in the basket was about $6, but I assume that's flatrate US only...

She agrees with the color, and is going to work the spellcheck on the site tonight. Can you suggest a background maybe?

As for being awkward when in use, I really don't think so. I mean I know its there and I use it for my drill bits, screws, and screwdrivers. I have used the hammer just to see how strong its megnetism was (my wife is going to put a pic of it on the site later). I have two (one for around the house and auto jobs, and one for my bashing/scratchbuilding adventures) and in many of my cases I found it had helped out a bit.-(haven't lost any alternators screws yet, or any of the bolts to my throttle body spacer.)

As for the shipping internationally, When I weighed it, the scale says 2 lbs. 5 oz. in the plastic bubble card thingy. If that helps?.-it all goes through a paypal account)

MacrossFA19 wrote:She agrees with the color, and is going to work the spellcheck on the site tonight. Can you suggest a background maybe?

Erh, if it's not too late, consider adding a background or maybe some dividers/menu bg's/buttons featuring a number of the things you can hold with the magnogrip (like screws/hammers/alternator heads ) to add a bit of variation.
The current skyblue clouds theme is pretty neat, but a touch empty, so consider adding some coloured borders (blue for the current theme per example) to the pictures.
*sigh* it brings back memories of my old site, it's always a bugger to keep it interesting for joe average looking to buy something, eh?

In any case, thank you for awnsering my question, though I may have another, is your wife perchance considering selling other gadgets? more items to put in the cart makes for more clients and seeing as how some moan about the current costs on ebay it might not be a bad idea to approach some sellers on ebay who sell a recurrent stock of things (such as clothes/homemade craftwork/2ndhand stuff/etc.) to instead pay a smaller fee to ply their wares there instead of on ebay.
If per example you'd approach the person/people selling the resin alt heads on ebay you might kill two birds with one stone as our fellow kitbashers/tf fans'd flock there.

skyfire,are you talking about the alt heads that include cliffjumper,bb,ironhide,bluestreak,and soundwave?if so those can actually be ordered directly thru transtopia under the bromen studios threads from sculpt-bot.

Before I start I'm going to mention I'm a software developer. Mostly customer service (internal use) websites. I've done it for a long time, so I might seem a bit over critical.

First, move it off of GeoCities. Get a decent account somewhere and get a domain name. This way you can put it on business cards and banner ads.

Also, try and think of something (for the domain) that's easy for people to remember.

Second, clean up the site a bit. Put your images in one place, your text in another. You can have the text wrap around the images some, but you don't want to break up your customers reading.

Also, it looks like you're using a paypal shoping cart, this is fine, but I'd change the links so that they don't open in a new window. If you like, you can put the buttons in a frame, or the like, so you can have a "keep shoping" button at the bottom. But most people will find it distracting to have it appear in a new window.

Quick google shows that no one seems to be using screwityourselftools.com. This doesn't mean it isn't registered, you'd need to check that out with internic or a registration site.

The item itself seems cool, and if you stay with non-main stream items you'll probably get some traffic. Just make sure you register the site with all the major search engines (do it after you get a real site as it's a pain to change URLs later) and maybe do some banner swapping or pay for some advertising at some sites that don't charge to much.

Also, try and get all of your blogging friends to point links to the site. Google works on link-backs (kinda) so the more links that point to a site, the higher on the list it will appear (though they seem to allow some people higher preference based on how much they pay).

Again though, I wouldn't do any kind of push, blog or advertising, until you get a domain name and move off of geocities.

Good luck!

Pulse wrote:Before I start I'm going to mention I'm a software developer. Mostly customer service (internal use) websites. I've done it for a long time, so I might seem a bit over critical.

First, move it off of GeoCities. Get a decent account somewhere and get a domain name. This way you can put it on business cards and banner ads.

Also, try and think of something (for the domain) that's easy for people to remember.

Second, clean up the site a bit. Put your images in one place, your text in another. You can have the text wrap around the images some, but you don't want to break up your customers reading.

Also, it looks like you're using a paypal shoping cart, this is fine, but I'd change the links so that they don't open in a new window. If you like, you can put the buttons in a frame, or the like, so you can have a "keep shoping" button at the bottom. But most people will find it distracting to have it appear in a new window.

Quick google shows that no one seems to be using screwityourselftools.com. This doesn't mean it isn't registered, you'd need to check that out with internic or a registration site.

The item itself seems cool, and if you stay with non-main stream items you'll probably get some traffic. Just make sure you register the site with all the major search engines (do it after you get a real site as it's a pain to change URLs later) and maybe do some banner swapping or pay for some advertising at some sites that don't charge to much.

Also, try and get all of your blogging friends to point links to the site. Google works on link-backs (kinda) so the more links that point to a site, the higher on the list it will appear (though they seem to allow some people higher preference based on how much they pay).

Again though, I wouldn't do any kind of push, blog or advertising, until you get a domain name and move off of geocities.

Good luck!

As a matter of fact we were thinking of doing that sometime this week. (some are more expensive than others, we still have some research) Though thanks for your advice. Some of it we didn't even think of. SHe really wants this site to take off. Which brings me to another question someone asked-Will she be selling other gadgets and such? Oh yes we will. I suggested to her some TF parts and kitbash fodder. Maybe styrene and Tamiya putties. As well as other stuff.

THanks alot guys. If you guys can think of anything else that might help us please let us know. Thanks again.

I'd definitely reiterate Pulse's point that it's a good idea to get the site off the free webspace; especially GeoCities, which is notoriously unfriendly with its popups, and the annoying obtrusive bar down the right hand side which can easily cover something important.

I don't know many webspace providers, but personally I use Angeltowns.com, which provides ad-free space for a decent price.

oh here are some pics of the stuff that I use it for. Thought you guys might like to see. I was working on a bash, and my wife popped in and said to get some pics of me using it. On the side you can't see in the pics there are a bunch of screws from alt. prime, and some bigger screws stuck on it. The pic with the hammer and other stuff is just to show you guys that this thing can really hold some stuff. You can't tell int he pic but I was moving my arm around to show that even if I move around the stuff won't fall off,(glad it doesn't cause the hammer was right above my bare toes). Hopefully you can also get an idea on how big-or small the bracelet really is.





(she wanted these pics for the website-hopefully she'll get my face outta them.)