Gizmodo’s iPad Etching Contest and what happened 6 months later…

This post feels very ironic to write.  I started it on the business site but decided it was too non-businessy to put over there.

So I have a laser engraving business. I have two domain names that go to the same place, InAFlashLaser.com and iPadLaserEngraving.com The idea for iPadLaserEngraving.com came to me back in March (2010). At the time I knew we were investing in a laser cutter for In A Flash, LLC, and I was a little bit beyond wondering what the heck we would do it with (1. buy laser. 2………  3. profit), but I never imagined that things would be quite as great as they have been so far.

I’ve engraved a lot of different things, but the iPads have been numerous and consistent and I predominantly have this country’s businesses to thank for that. They love the iPad and love to give them to everyone.  I’ve done work for Dos Equis (my 1st iPad quote), Nike, Golf Digest, McAfee, Infinity, Do-It-Best, a couple of banks, and a few dozen other companies I hadn’t heard of or can’t remember off hand.  I’ve also engraved about 15 iPads on two separate occasions for a well-known political commentator that I won’t name, (but I’ll say the only thing we have in common is the way we hear sound).

So the ironic part is that the idea to purchase iPadLaserEngraving.com came from a contest that Gizmodo.com ran back in March.  I thought that a contest like that would be a cool thing to do locally to promote my service once I got the laser set up.  Then some domain-name-buying desire flipped on and I impulsively spent $10. Now, I’m not saying a domain name alone will get you these results, of course not.  But with that domain name I created a niche website. I decided to post a few pages that attracted attention from google using a wordpress site that was really easy to update, and the rest is history. Before I had a laser, before the iPad had even come out let alone been etched.

Early on I started looking for artists that would let me sell their artwork as laser engravings on the site.  I was getting a lot of search engine traffic, but people weren’t buying.  We thought maybe it was because they didn’t know what they wanted to engrave (don’s iPad is still un-etched for this reason!).  I started leaving random messages with the people who entered cool things into the Gizmodo contest.  I didn’t hear back from very many – only one or two.  Then a few days ago I got an email from the guy who won the contest outright.  Of course I had contacted him before about selling his artwork, it’s awesome.

He explained that his experience didn’t turn out to be a positive one and he never did get his artwork etched successfully onto iPad.  Until today!

Isn’t that awesome?

I have some guesses as to why it didn’t come out well for the other company, but after 150 or more iPads I didn’t have a problem. 🙂  He’s also given me the rights to use it in the Artist Series.  Our artists earn 10% of all sales.