Monthly Archives: July 2007

Frightcatalog.com Re-Launch First Impressions

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We’ve had the new version of FrightCatalog.com up for a week now. We’ve had lots of great comments and feedback, but success is never really gauged by that. To that end, its good to see that a lot of hard work has paid off and I think we’re starting to see that from the numbers in Google Analytics

The first half of the month (July 1 – July 18) we saw 83,796 uniques, 9.27 pages/visit, and a 0.33% conversion rate.
The last week (July 19 – July 25), with the re-launch, we’ve seen 41,673 uniques, 12.00 pages/visit, and a 0.75% conversion rate.

Almost half the uniques in a 1 week period than we had in the first 18 days of the month. Page visits are up by almost 3.5, and our conversion rate has more than doubled. Good initial numbers after week one.

This is starting to prove that our de-facto framework for our e-commerce sites is pretty solid (all software can always be improved and we’ll continue to do so), and has a lot of promise. It’ll be nice to see how we do through the entire Halloween season with some new marketing initiatives in place. I hope this is a sign of good things to come in the coming months.

New FrightCatalog.com – 2007

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Its been quite a long week. Late last night saw the coming of the latest edition of FrightCatalog.com. I think you’ll notice the more product centric slant its taken on this year. A little less glitz, a little more practicality. It should be MUCH faster too. Same framework as YumDrop.com and the soon to come ImportCostumes.com. Thanks for Kyle’s help, even though he’s moved on to a new venture.

My Poor MacBook Pro

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I’m a huge fan of Apple products. I’ve owned 3 computers (PowerMac 8600/300, PowerBook Pismo, MacBook Pro 17″), convinced my brother to get 2 (PowerMac G4, MacBook Pro). The 8600/300 and PowerMac G4 both still run today (I sold the Pismo)!

I think Apple, in general, do things better than other computer manufacturers and Microsoft. The products a sleek and the OS is solid. Except for my MacBook Pro. About 6 months after I got my MacBook, I started having issues with the battery. It wouldn’t power on without the AC cord plugged in and I’d always see a black X through the battery icon. I called Apple and they sent me a new battery. Everything was fine for a few days, then the same thing. So I had to send it in. All they did was put another new battery in it. Got the MacBook back and again, it was fine for a week or so. Now I’m sending it in again for a second time for the same issue.

It’s nice that Apple reps are pleasant on the phone and are understanding of my situation. I hate being without my MacBook as I use it for work all the time. In fact, I probably use it for work more than I do just browsing the internet. Hopefully they get it right this time around. Which makes me wonder. At one point will they just send me a new MacBook if they can’t fix it?

Movie Review: Transformers

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One of my favorite toys and cartoons growing up was Transformers. All the kids were into it. Some had more toys than others, but everyone was nuts about the cartoon. Then they made the animated movie and killed off a lot of kid’s hero, Optimus Prime. Transformers faded away until recently, and now we have the full action movie in theaters, which opened July 3rd.

I just got home from the theater and I have to say, they did an excellent job with it. The only downside I thought was that they used a Mustang as a bad guy, and I’m a huge ‘Stang fan so that didn’t sit well. Anyway, the acting was decent, the animation for the robots was excellent, and it seemed that they tried to stick to the old Transformer story the best they could. Even my fiancee, who was a little skeptical about seeing it, enjoyed it. I’ll give it an A, one of the better movies I’ve gone to see recently.

Update: SpeckProducts MacBook Hard Case

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A while back I wrote about SpeckProducts MacBook Hard Case and how great it was. Well, I went on my first airplane trip with my MacBook and I’ve got to say, the hard case comes in handy. Since you have to take you computer out when going through airport screening, not worrying about TSA scratching it up on you is great. And, when you’re on the plane, you can easily close it and not worry about anyone spilling ice or drinks as they’re passed over you. One added bonus I found was, since I have a 17″ MacBook which takes up the entire seat tray, I could simply close it and put a drink on it and not worry about my MacBook. Water or soda easily wipes off and cleans up off of the hard case. Well worth the $50 if you don’t have one yet!