Small-Biz Buzz: How to Feed the Gamer's Fix

How do you keep people coming?

Most customers rely on retailers to let them know when new products come out. IPR gets all those new products out in one place ... often enough to keep people coming.

So do you need advertising to create buzz?

So far we haven't needed it, but we want to step it up as time goes on. We're still in the growth mode.

How do you think your customers see you?

We're viewed as having good customer service. On other sites, creators can pay a fee and their product gets listed ... you get lots of inferior product [that way]. I vet any product that comes through our site.

What has helped most in creating buzz?

Word of mouth and the fact that I have over 40 member publishers that all have their own fan bases. Half my clients sell exclusively through us.

What advice do you have for other small-business pioneers?

Don't splurge on things unless you're absolutely sure you need them. [For example], I didn't need ... advertising because of the pent-up demand.

While indy role-playing games are gaining followers, they are still the ultra-indy little brothers of giants like Nintendo or Microsoft's (MSFT Quote) Xbox. So what's in store for IPR?

I'd like to continue to grow the business and try to become a bigger player in the hobby market ... I don't think the hobby market is growing as much as it could.