Customer Gallery

Amelia’s Cakes is a bakery specializing in custom desserts. After two months of being in business and only a handful of orders, Amelia’s Cakes decided it needed to increase exposure to potential customers by going online. After sifting through its options, Amelia’s Cakes found the right mix of features in Office Live Small Business. It launched www.ameliascakes.com and now receives orders from around the world. Business has grown more than tenfold, with two-thirds of new customers coming from the Web.

Elite Educational Coaching offers test-prep, enrichment classes, and tutoring for students in the fourth through eleventh grades. Owner Sara Su Jones, a Harvard Law School graduate, wanted a professional Web site to help her communicate with students, parents, and prospective clients. Jones considered learning Web design or hiring a professional, but then she discovered Office Live Small Business. In less than two hours, she designed and launched www.sarasujones.com. By referring clients to her Web site for information, Jones has more time to focus on her students.

Lightstreams Glass Tile (www.lightstreamsglasstile.com) makes distinctive glass tiles for architectural installations. To avoid the cost of selling through distributors, Lightstreams began selling tile online directly to customers. But the company’s Web site was expensive to manage and didn’t offer the control Lightstreams wanted. By building and managing its own Web site with Office Live Small Business, Lightstreams cut costs, increased sales by 123 percent, and paved the way to success.

Larry Murphy left a successful career as an IT executive to focus on his passion for fishing, starting his own guide service called Murphy Outdoors (www.murphyoutdoors.com). Murphy knew that the Internet would be his best marketing tool, but he found most options for building a Web site too complicated and costly. By using Office Live Small Business , Murphy built a Web site quickly and inexpensively. Now Murphy Outdoors is reeling in bookings, and Larry Murphy is living his dream.

Whiner and Diner makes unique and stylish pet feeders from refinished wooden wine crates. For nine years, the pursuit was more of a weekend hobby for Catherine and Stephen Simms, with modest sales coming from friends and local retailers in their Stamford, Connecticut, hometown. That all changed after the Simms created www.WhinerAndDiner.net using Office Live Small Business. Within one year of putting the business online, Whiner and Diner started taking orders from across the country, received national media attention, and grew sales more than 10 times.