Illinois Baking Company Jessica's Dessert Studio Launches Website
To grow her business, Jessica Monroe spent the entire year of 2019 connecting with her online audience. By posting constantly and engaging with her followers, Monroe’s business, “Jessica’s Dessert Studio, LLC” has over 16,000 followers on Instagram.
Monroe went from posting every few days to posting every single cake she made last year, which was about 175 cakes.
Jessica Monroe. (Picture by Lauren Powe Photography)
“I really wasn’t connecting with my audience. I would just post and go,” Monroe said. But then she thought, “Let’s really grow this page. Let’s communicate and network.”
Along with posting her cakes, each picture was accompanied by a thought-out caption with lots of hashtags. According to Monroe, she was building up trust.
Jessica’s Dessert Studio has been around for six years and is based in Illinois. After not having a website for so long, in January, Monroe decided to take the leap to launch an official website for Jessica’s Dessert Studio. Monroe knew once she created a website that she could no longer hide behind her social media, but she also knew it was time to expand.
Since she couldn’t create the website herself, she did some research and found a web designer in Minnesota to create it. There were a number of things Monroe wanted for the website, such as having the option to order custom and dessert style cakes or the option to book one-on-one buttercream lessons with her.
The website for Jessica’s Dessert Studio was published on April 1, 2020.
The services Jessica’s Dessert Studio offers. (Picture by Nova Star photography)
For Monroe, having a website means putting all of her work into one place, making her administrative work easier to deal with. And, with everything going on currently, having an online store allows for Monroe to make money from home.
Due to the current times, Monroe has made a few additions to her business like offering curbside pickup.
“I had to learn how to adjust,” she said. “I love what I do. I’m just not going to let this go easily.”
When making the website, Monroe had to figure out the correct wording to put on her site. Although Monroe may understand baker’s verbiage, she knows that her customers might not, so she made sure to translate everything into simple terms.
Along with gaining a new website, Monroe did an entire rebranding with a new logo and different template graphics to market Jessica’s Dessert Studio. She’s happy to note that her customers have been supportive throughout the entire process and are still constantly ordering cakes.
Last year, Monroe was making a max of six cakes per week, and at bare minimum it was one to two cakes per week.
Pictures by Jessica Monroe.
The only downside for Monroe right now is not being able to speak face-to-face with her customers. According to Monroe, she usually spends 15-20 minutes speaking with each customer. A lot of her clientele are returning customers, so she’s been able to build up a solid relationship with them.
As Monroe spends most of her days at home now, she encourages all business owners to get innovative and find their niche within their business.
“Small businesses, we’re hurting right now, but I can’t be in a negative mindset. I can’t let this stop me,” Monroe said.
Check out Jessica’s Dessert Studio by clicking here.