The Gong Show

This week Eric and I became the proud parents of a....gong. Yes, you read it correctly. Eric has wanted a gong for a long time, and over the weekend he decided now was the time to stop thinking about making this purchase and actually do it. We searched a couple of sites (including Amazon.com, where Eric does ALL of his shopping). However, he didn't see anything appealing. I had gone gong shopping a few years ago with a good friend and her husband when I went to MA to see them (actually, we were shopping and went into an Asian antiques store that happened to stock gongs). I told Eric that a big part of the gong buying experience was hitting them and listening to how they sounded, as there is a vast difference in tones even in gongs that look similar. Who knew??

After looking around a bit more on Google, we found the online gong Mecca site (it's Gongs Unlimited, if you're interested). Not only did they have a variety of gongs in every shape, size, and color, they had all types of gong accessories, gong movies and pictures, a gong newsletter, the ability to personally engrave your gong, and believe it or not, several references to the TV classic, The Gong Show.

There were 4 things that this merchant did that made it easy for us to decide to buy from him:

1. He had sound files on the site so that you can actually listen to the sound of the gong you're buying (major kudos for that feature!).

2. He provided stellar copywriting to describe the gong mallets (the instrument you use to hit the gong), which caused us to buy a higher-priced one that we had originally planned.

3. He had lots of gongs from which to choose in all size and price variations.

4. He let us pay through Paypal, which we like to do when buying from a merchant we don't know, as we typically use a debit card for our transactions and wanted similar purchase protection that buyers usually receive when they use a credit card.

Amazingly enough, the Gong Store doesn't have a very attractive website. However, it offers what gong aficionados need and want. If you're in the business of selling products instead of services online, visit the Gong Store to see how you can apply their Internet marketing strategies to your product.

Stay tuned for pics of proud papa and Baby Gong when Baby Gong is delivered...LOL