Name of your website?Biller's Bikes Rentals
Your name?
Walter Biller
Your Location (city, etc)
Havre de Grace
Please give us a short summary of your website?
Biller's Bikes offers bicycle rentals and trail services at Havre de Grace, MD on the upper Chesapeake Bay. Our website highlights our services and helps popularize and promote bicycle trail developments and growing cycling opportunities of the Susquehanna River and upper Chesapeake.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
The internet is the best way available to promote Biller's Bikes and cycling in central Maryland. (We're just old enough to remember and sometimes wonder how we managed to find anything without it.)
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
We launched in summer 2007. Plans began a year earlier.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
Biller's Bikes. I'm Biller and we do bikes and biking. It's a K-I-S-S thing, I guess. (Keep it simple stupid). And it's sort of an industry tradition.
What makes it different from other, similar offerings?
We are not a regular bike shop and do not sell bikes. We are a private sector business naturally involved in public advocacy for trails and cyclists.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
The website will be here as long as Biller's Bikes which we hope to be a very long time. We have grandchildren that count on it.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
We're new and there are myriad challenges to such an upstart start-up. The challenges lead to smart innovations. We wouldn't have it any other way. So far the mother of invention (necessity) has been our friend.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
Hire a tech. I think our site might need a look under the hood. We have friends in the website business that are going to help us create our second-generation website very soon. No huge changes just better. We're bringing up a "Trails" page and a blog to accompany it this spring. The trails scene here is developing very rapidly.
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
That's a good question. We think about it and try to plan accordingly.
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
The usual start-up problems; delays, unforeseen legal and insurance requirements. Our business is a little unusual and people are getting more used to it. Everyone like bikes and that helps tons.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Newness. We have limited history to reflect on.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
Internet directories, like your's. They promote us and, more importantly maybe, help define us.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
No big surprises. The blog might be a little different, we'll see.
How long have you run the site already, and how long will you continue to keep it up if you don't enjoy big gains in traffic, income or popularity?
We're in for the long haul. The quality of our business drives our website, not the other way around. Biller's Bikes enjoys dynamic technical and social pushes involving a very old constant, the humble bicycle.
Will the upper Chesapeake region (and Havre de Grace) become a biking mecca?
We're hoping so. This region is a wonder for cyclists, travellers and nature lovers.
What is your website address?
Biller's Bikes Rentals
