Client Profile - Tracy Barnhart of GivernyOnline.com and MiniMeGeology.com

Flowers and rocks don't have much in common, that is, unless you're geologist Tracy Barnhart. Tracy works part-time in coastal South Carolina as a geologist for an environmental firm doing soil and groundwater assessments and clean up. In 2001, Tracy and her husband began investigating ideas for starting their own business. The couple started GivernyOnline.com in 2001 as an online site for custom flower arrangements. However, they quickly learned that the heat and humidity took its toll on the dried and preserved materials they planned on using.

The couple needed to re-think their plan, but wanted to keep the flower theme. GivernyOnline.com morphed into what it is now, a site dedicated to home décor inspired by nature. "We sell rock items like agate bookends and wind chimes, things made out of rocks," says Tracy. "And flower wreaths made out of actual flowers or things that are sculpted like flowers, marble bookends and candlesticks that are all floral designs."

The idea for the second website, MiniMeGeology.com, came about when Tracy's son was in kindergarten. "They had us do a parent's career thing," she says. "I took a bunch of rocks and I thought they were going to be like, 'Whatever,' but [the kids] flipped out, they went crazy over all the rocks. I thought, 'You know, this might actually be a pretty good idea.' I started searching around and I just couldn't find any sites that were really cute that had rocks."

MiniMeGeology.com sells rock and mineral collections, individual specimens, science kits and dinosaur items, with kids in mind.

When GivernyOnline.com first started, Tracy designed the website herself, and admitted it didn't look that great. "I had it in my head that I could do this, and I finally realized that I have no eye at all when it comes to websites," she says. Before the Barnharts found MightyMerchant, they experienced firsthand how misleading the companies selling do-it-yourself website templates can be. "We signed up with another web company my husband found, and when you look at their front page it's like, "Design it yourself, look at our beautiful templates, it's going to be great," Tracy remembers. "So we signed up with them, and once you actually sign up and they give you the template, you can't do what they said you could do unless you paid a bunch of extra money, and I got so frustrated trying to do this. They looked great from the outside but they were not."

Tracy started looking for other companies and found MightyMerchant through an online search. "I sent an email midnight on a Saturday or something, and I was so mad trying to do this site because our shopping cart looked like something a child would have drawn," says Tracy. "I realized that I can't do design stuff, and I'm one of those half-controlling people, so I wanted something where I could control the products and not screw up the design. I emailed and said this is what I need and I don't want any ugly buttons! Michael Stearns actually emailed me back that night on Saturday and he said, 'We can do exactly what you need and no ugly buttons!" The Barnharts would detour before they actually signed on with MightyMerchant, though. Tracy's brother-in-law said he would design the website for free, but in the middle of the project he got a job offer and didn't have time to do it anymore.

At that point, Tracy was ready for MightyMerchant to take over. The Giverny site debuted last summer, and the Mini Me site last fall. "For somebody like me who wants control but doesn't want to screw it up [the Site Manager] is perfect," says Tracy. "I end up doing all my stuff in the middle of the night, and I can go on there and change everything around that I need to change and know that I'm not going to screw everything up."

An HGTV (Home & Garden Television) designer recently found GivernyOnline.com and featured their agate bookends in an article that ran in USA Today about using rocks as home decorations. The Barnharts were amazed to find their site mentioned alongside Pier One and Crate & Barrel, especially since their site optimization had not yet been completed and they weren't ranking very highly.

Needless to say, GivernyOnline experienced a huge jump in sales and visitors after that. The experience has made them question where to best spend their advertising dollars. They'd love to get more free advertising like they had with USA Today, but in the meantime, they're trying to figure out what the best advertising approach is for their sites.

We wish the Barnharts much success with their two sites, GivernyOnline.com and MiniMeGeology.com!

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