Veranda

Thanks Allison:

That may be too close to insanity. I'm not looking for the $5M + McMansion crowd. It's more about authentic people that don't need to one up the Jonses.

I like Elegant Homes, Traditional Home, and Southern Living. I usually find the first two at Home Depot or Lowes and subscribe to the latter. I have also been known to pick up copies of This Old House and Fine Woodworking.

English Home is one I subscribe to intermittently as it is not available where I live, but obviously it would be of limited use for your purposes.

It sounds like you want magazines based on circulation? This is roughly accurate from 2011-2015

Better Homes and Gardens is #3 (out of all magazines, not just decor).

Southern Living is around #18

Country Living is around #47

If you don't need the physical magazine in your hands, try seeing what the library has available electronically. Now that I can borrow magazines online from the library, I don't subscribe to them anymore.

Southern Living still provides décor inspiration for regular folks. Traditional Home originally did, but then it went crazy with a new editor in the late 1990's and now only features ideas for multi-million dollar homes.

Regular folks. I'm glad somebody said it. I was going to say something about the snooty crowd as they can be difficult to work with anyhow. I'm going to give Fine Homebuilding a try for one. Nice layout and not cluttered with ads. It's more niche that I'm after than anything. This Old House is a thought and an architectural magazine.

HGTV magazine.

"Then, perhaps you should change your name to Downtown Floors? :-)"

Too late. Regular folks are anything under insanity levels.

Has your website been evaluated by a SEO expert? Maybe it's not coming up in search engines. I've never seen it before.

if you're looking for "regular folk" under "insanity levels," maybe you need to buy advertising on the higher rated blogs or decorating websites instead - such as Apartment Therapy.

*edited to clarify blogs/websites comment.

lol, dygarden!

If designers are your market then Veranda and Elle Decor would be two options for publications. If end users are your market, then you might be better served to get your product on one of the home improvement shows.

As a retired marketing strategist, I recommend that you spend a bit on research to clearly define your target market before launching an ad campaign. It will save you advertising dollars in the long run.

Given what I understand from looking at your website, your product may do best with contractors and designers, rather than consumers. That said, photos of your floors installed in beautiful homes, along with testimonials, can only help. This is a SWAG on my part since I'm looking at public info only.

Blogs, unless they're high up on the readership list, rarely convert to sales as many readers object to click ads. Click-through rates can be quite low unless you have national brand recognition.

A bit more advice -- if there's a regional trade show where you can rent a booth and show your products to contractors, architects and designers, it may be a good investment before a print magazine ad.

Have color brochures for the prospects to take along; have section samples of installed floors for people to touch.

Are you distributing Amish floors only? If so, that's why I see a disconnect between your brand name and what your selling. I assume Amish means the wood is milled by the Amish? Make that clear in your advertising materials.

Rather than just say "hardwood" -- be sure you specify the tree(s) in your advertising.

Also, you'll want to describe (briefly) why Amish floors are different from other wood flooring -- is there a process used that gives this type of floor a competitive edge over other flooring?

Are you the ONLY national distributor of this type of flooring? If so, bring that up. If not, you've got to have a message, without dragging down the competition, that differentiates you from the competition.

Marketing and sales are different. Marketing is a tool for your sales team.

Our son is an SEO expert/Digital Marketing Director and has been in the
field for almost a decade. It is important websites show up on the
first page when searching, as many people do not bother to go to the
second page. I searched for "prefinished hardwood flooring" and your website is almost at the bottom of page 7.When people search for "Uptown Floors + reviews" or "prefinished hardwood flooring" this thread will most likely come up, so possible clients (professional or consumer) will read your comments. So in the future I would be more careful with my words.

It's going to take time Allison. The site was previously hardwoodinstaller.com until last November. Everything was transferred with successful 301's, but the focus is off. I knew that going in. It does not rank for the focus it needs. That takes patience, time and no "black hat" techniques. Bing/Yahoo I don't have problems with. But The Gorg is all about big brands. Has been that way for a few years.

Does good for "prefinished hardwood floor reviews" or other variations. Very, very long story that is a reflection of what the site used to be about. I'm basically still giving out free unbiased reviews of other brands that's been there since 2006, but updated every six months or so. It needs refocusing badly. Something I'll get on within the next few months.

A lot of work ahead, especially job photos. That is critical.

I'm not ready for trade shows and the like yet. I need good people first. Knowledgeable pros.

This is my own brand, colors cannot be found elsewhere. Manufactured in an Amish community in northeast Ohio. Very difficult to get all those messages across in one advertisement...backfire probably. I've tinkered with a few drafts trying to get a good message across. What do ya'll think about this one? I think it does work for tradespeople and builders, but not consumers.