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I’ve visited quite a few neat sites of woodworkers, turners, cabinet and furniture makers who offer their goods and services on line. Most of the sites include a little history of the craftsman, a gallery of thier work, links to other neat sites and a means to purchase.
I’ve just launched my own woodworking business and I’m anxious to hear some testimony from others who think a home page is worth the investment in time and money. Personnaly, I think it is a good investment, but I want to hear from anyone who has had some experience with marketing their work on line.
Dan Morris
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Dan: I'd be interested in knowing what kind of time and money you've got invested in a home page and what kind of response you've had.
A few questions: are you prepared to fill an avalanche of orders? (10x your capacity in a 12 week period?)
What sort of payment plan have you employed?
Did you have someone else do the Webpage design?
Where's it at?
I hope it is profitable for you, RJT.
*RJT, No, I don't have a web page yet. I'm interested in talking with someone who does and what kind of business it generates for him/her.Do you really think orders would start rolling in? <are you prepared to fill an avalanche of orders? (10x your capacity in a 12 week period?) If and when I do open a web page, I'll most probably have some help, but I don't intend to farm it out to a pro. I'd like to learn how to build and maintain my own site my own self. As far as cost, I have no clue. This post is my very first probe in researching the idea of a web page. Thanks for responding. It sounds like you have some experience with marketing on the internet. I'm open to any advice you (or anyone else out there) may have.Dan
*Dan: I have absolutely no experience, I asked questions that I would like to have answers on and I thought you'd know! We need help! Anyone?
*Since you requested help from anyone... :-)Web pages are a great marketing tool, as long as you have realistic expectations. A few ideas...First, contact your Internet Service Provider (ISP) and find out how much it's going to cost you to have them 'host' your web page. How much will it cost you to upload a new page when you want to make changes? How much information can you include on a page/site? Since we live in a digital age, some Web surfers complain of Web pages getting 'stale', perhaps you could update your Web page on a monthly basis with seasonal projects or work in progress. How much will it cost you? Also, watch the graphics content. It's nice to have all those great pictures, but if it takes too long to load the page, many surfers will move on. On a related note, find out what your ISP's server modem speed is, as people can be very impatient...Second, once you've decided on a basic format, you have to create the Web page itself. There are several good programs out there, and it depends upon how much effort you want to put into it. If you update the page on a regular basis, the efforts will pay off in the long run. Local community/technical colleges also offer good courses on Web page authoring, and often the instructor can give you some good tips.Finally, you have to get people to your site. Since a Web page is primarily a marketing tool, make sure to include the WWW address on all of your business cards, stationary, newspaper ads, etc. It gives people a chance to get more information and see what kind of work (as well as what quality of work) that you do. Also, see if you can get linked to sites (like this one) or search engines so that people can find you if they're looking for businesses like yours. When you link to a search engine, will a potential customer be able to find you by specialty, state, and town? If you were looking for you (so to speak), how would you do it?Sorry for rambling on, but I hope this helps!!!Here's hoping you'll have to reinforce the door that all that business will be knocking on...
*Coyote, Thanks for the info! I'm on CompuServe now, but just read something about a host provider called Verio that offers a basic package for selling over the net for about $35/mo. I'll check out what CServe has to offer. I'm still very much in the planning stges.I'd like to emulate a few of the woodworkers' sites I've visited: a home page, gallery of things I make and projects I've done, maybe some links, a little something about the business, my philosophy on building furniture, that sort of thing. See Kim Carleton Graves' site at http://www.cwwing.com. I still would like to talk with another furniture/cabinet maker who has had some success or otherwise with their web site, I guess I'll just have to email the author of a site I find interesting and ask. I'm just starting out with my woodworking business taking anything that comes my way. So far I have three paying jobs, some medicine cabinets for a local paharmacy, a blanket chest for a friend and an armoir for another friend. I'm a school teacher by trade, middle school special ed and I'm not really sure how much longer I can last, so I'm giving myself one more school year to get my business up and running. Next summer, if all goes well, I'll be making lots of sawdust.thanks again, Dan
*Dan:You're on the right track, add a business plan (if you haven't done one already), and maybe talk with someone at S.C.O.R.E. (The Service Corp of Retired Executives), they can help. Good luck!
*Dan, Try contacting my friend Jeff @ HeartofOak Workshop.com. Other than word of mouth his only marketing is via his web page which he did himself.
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i don't have a web page but here are my thoughts. i think it would be less effective for marketing high end furniture because if people are going to spend a lot of money, they will want to see the quality first hand. for other things though it may well be worth a shot. outdoor furniture,jewelry boxes,craft items and so on would be what i would try. good luck
*I have been involved in computers for twenty-five years or more. I have taken numerous college level computer courses and taught computer courses. I have programmed with BASIC, FORTRAN, dBASE and CLIPPER. I have worked with AutoCad, Hi-Pro, PATHTRACE and NC-AUTO CODE. I have done numerical control programming for EDM, turret-punch and torch. Currently, I am programming machine tools for injection molds.My wife has her own computer business that she operates from home. I taught her everything and then she went so far beyond me in trouble-shooting problems in Windows 3.1/95/98 that I think she is one of four people in this country that operate at her level. I can't even see her smoke anymore.We dropped into our favorite wood supply establishment and found out that they had lost their database. Imagine being a business with a 13,000 name database and losing it all. Anyway, not only had their local computer expert that installed the system been unable to help but the company that wrote the database program had no idea what to do.They were beginning the process of typing in 13,000+ names and addresses when we walked in on a saturday. My wife talked them into giving her a copy of the program and the messed-up database. She had it straight by the next wednesday and most of that time was getting familier with the program. She gave them the slightly redesigned database back with a few tips on how to avoid certain weeknesses in the program and they have had no trouble since.My wife has been involved with constructing net sites for over a year now. She has gotten very deep into it(WAY over my head).To put all of this into an example that is more familier to you let me ask what you would do if someone walked into your shop saying they wanted to build a 24 drawer machinists tool chest and then picked up a chisel and asked what it was?Trust me, unless you have a fair amount of experience in computer PROGRAMMING (not just using a computer) and are adept at handling Windows and Windows-based programs, my advice is to forget all about doing it yourself. Even with that level of experience net site construction is a new combination of science and witchcraft that will take months of intense work.Find a local provider. Avoid AOL and things like that. Find someone that has built sites that you can look at. KISS. Avoid pictures on the startup page. Make it fast to load. Tell what you do and provide buttons for other levels and pictures if they are interested. You provide the data and pictures. Let someone else do the site. Notice that they don't say "user friendly" anymore.
*P.S.And, here is another tip for those of you doing web pages. Use fairly contrasting colors. Avoid futzy colors that you can say the names of only if you speak French without an accent.The problem is that color blind people cannot see certain colors and and have trouble with pastels in general.Have your page proofed by someone that is color blind.
*Dan, A web page is a pretty usefull tool. Sort of like having a floating porfolio. I don't know how many times I look at new work, ad the customer wonder who they are talking with, and credibility. I just send them to my web address and my site answers all they want to know. I've picked up some work off the page, but mostly recognition for future work. I think this is the medium of the future ;-)John HebertMy site
*Interesting topic. I've been watching this little discussion. It's almost rather old news now I suppose, but when the topic first appeared I was just setting up my website. I had no ambitious plans for it. Rather, I thought of it as only an extension of my portfolio that I could direct people to as and when needed, e.g., a potential client, museum (they invite you to give talks, for money even!) or gallery could be pointed to my work without me going through the bother of physically sending a portfolio. I have even directed people in Australia to it, and I know they've looked because they include my postal address in their reply, which they could only have have found by looking at the site. (Initial contact was over the internet with just an email address supplied.) My site is not interactive, and I don't even know how many 'hits' I get, and it never occured to me to be bothered with such information. My work is what it is, and I don't really try and rope people in to buy, and what I produce tends to be 'high end' when it comes to prices. As far as I'm concerned, if someone likes what they see, are genuinely interested in buying, or whatever, they will contact me. But the question is, do websites work? We would all like to generate responses from them, probably sales, and I think this can happen. Just in the last week, I have had two genuine enquiries, both of which were by people looking for furniture designer/ makers in my area, and they found me through the internet. I can't say at this stage that I'll definitely get a sale, but the contact was made via the website, and that's a start.I think a lot depends on what you expect. I didn't set out with great expectations, but I've been surprised by the results. As far as cost and time investment goes, a site like mine takes a quite a bit of time to set up, but updating it after that is reasonably cheap and easy. I didn't set up my own site; I found a student who wanted to develop his portfolio, and I got a very good deal, and so did the student I suppose; it worked for both of us. Perhaps I was just lucky. As far as monthly cost is concerned, my ISP offers something like 5 megs of 'free?!' web pages. I may as well use it. I'm being billed anyway!If anyone has an urge to check my website out, it's a couple of clicks away from here. I'll not give you one of those easy link things. Sorry.
*Do web sites work?I guess it depends what you want. I use mine as another tool in marketing my product. I don't get toms of business from it but it has saved me a lot of printing cost and yes - it does result in some business that I would not otherwise get.I wouldn't worry about the flood of orders too much. Unless your sphere of operation is really unique your are likely to be fighting with a lot of others for attention.I am kind of in the computer business as well but not in this area. I did my site on MS Frontpage and found it pretty simple - get a book and be ready to spend a few hours. When your done, pat yourself on the back for a new skill learned.My site is at http://www.adirondack.co.uk if you want to see how I did it.Good Luck
*I have now had my web site up for about 18 months. Originally intended as an easy access portfolio, it has definately paid off, especially since my brother did the work and it has only cost me a small bookcase. Had I paid him as a commercial builder, he would have charged my multiple thousands to get the page where we wanted it,and it still is not where we are 100% satisfied with it.As for work generated, as mentioned above by a few people, high end work is difficult to sell personally unseen. However, I have had four sales, with an average of $4000 per sale, all to the east coast. So while I get a sale about every 4 months or so, they are not chicken feed. I suspect if I were to be selling small items, I very well would do "better" with more sales, but that is not what I do so it is a moot point.my site is http://www.vincentfurniture.comI have about 250 visitors a week from all over the world. I am contacted via email or phone by about 1 out of a thousand, and of that 1 in 4000 to 5000 have actually ordered something.
*I've had my site up for just under a year . Initial costs were around $2000 Au with ongoing running costs at around $75 /month including ISP access. So fay we have gained commissions to the value of $30,000 , so I'm pretty happy. You must understand that sites need to be promoted to be seen and like John Hebert says, it's a tool to be used , not the end all and be all of attracting clients.View Image
*My home page was worth the time and effort that I spent creating it, if for no other reason it saves me a tremendous amount of time. When prospective clients call the first thing I do is direct them to my site. They can see my portfolio without me having to stop work and take it to them personally. Even though I don't have any prices listed on my site, they can generally tell if I am in their price range or not. If not I haven't wasted my time and theirs. If they are interested they call back.
*John H.Nice site. Looks like you had a good time creating it. I got very little business from my site so I broadened it and added some of my short stories and stuff. I'm also giving away a short e-book on homebuilding that I download to whomever. It's a fun thing for me, but I do send potential clients there to show my work. Someday it will pay off, I'm sure, but for now ????????
*Re web imersion: Hey I live at the end of the road ( in canada) and sell wood across North America..When you put a site up, the whole world has access to your service ( if they find it) .. You will get contacts that can open doors in the future.. One more type of advertising to maintain and pay for ( all in the cost of doin business). If your order book is overflowing then maybe you don't need it today but it mite help even out $s earned in future years..
*Dan,I have had a website mostly to show my work. Driving traffic to your site is the biggest challenge. Building is the easy part. There are a couple of sources of free sites. I had a site at go.com but they are discontinuing some of their go site. So, I moved my site to Yahoo (Geocities). You get quite a bit of space and the performance is pretty good. YOu should be able to find good sources of site hosting for much less than $20 per month. You might want to experiment with the free sites prior to jumping into the big times. Again trick is to drive traffic. I have to confess that I have never had an inquiry or sale due to my website. I haven't worked very hard at the marketing of the site. If you want to take a look, go tohttp://www.geocities.com/oldwoodcrafterI would also suggest that you get a copy of Microsoft Front Page or Front Page Express and learn how to build pages etc. FP is handy because geocities supports the publishing function which means that you can build the pages offline on your PC and automatically upload your whole site (or just the changes) all at once. PRetty handy. Hope this helps.Regarsds,Mike
*Here's my belated $0.02 worth:I've had a site up for several months now:http://finerestorations.comMy goals were to have an online business card and portfolio, something to refer potential clients to and bring in a few new ones. Did it on the cheap: I did the basic design work, and my partner, who does web consulting, tweaked it and put it up (for me, she works for scotch). A couple of thoughts: the upfront costs don't have to be high, but you really have to factor in the time it takes to maintain it -- putting up new pictures of your work, making sure that special offer doesn't date from last April, etc. Keep it simple but make it look good -- no one is going to want work designed by someone with an ugly site (my own pet peeve is those "wood-grain" backgrounds you see on a lot of woodworkers' sites -- ugly, ugly, ugly).As to ISP's etc., here's an unsolicited testimonial: I use Fastwebserver.com, a Canadian company -- I pay $15.00 US a year for the domain name registration, and less than $8.50/mo. for the site itself. This includes more bells and whistles than I'll ever use, email through the URL, an easy-to-use control panel, and excellent customer service.So far it's brought in enough business to pay for itself and then some, and it IS useful to be able to give potential clients somewhere to look at my work and learn abut what I do.-- V.
*OK: I listen to you a lot for my burgeoning woodworking business. I am also a professional web designer. 1. Make it as professional as your product!2. No frills, no gadgets. Clean, sober and with a certain image de marque, consistant with your production and your logo. Few colors, maximum 3 type fonts,... Look at amazon, look at Land's End: They made it succe$ful! 3. Clean photos! As clean as a french polish.4. Get it done by a professional. Or, be prepare to spend at least 2 full weeks for just a "business card site". You'll have to learn the technology AND acquire the tools5. Integrate the web in the full business strategy: e-mail lists with advices, tricks about maintenance, freebees ( entry tickets to shows you exhibit at ),...6. Selling on-line? Only if you have something somewhat standard. such as Cabinets Parts for drawers. And even. This is a totally other channel. 7. Take pictures, lots of them as of today. Keep a tripod in the shop. Use natural light if possible. And show the steps in making your ware. One of my best pictures is me ( yes ...) using a plane on a large figured oak panel. That show the difference with IKEA.I also do restoration. Show Before and After... You do not need a digital camera. That will still cost you a lot in camera, software, ink and good paper. I did not even speak about the training curve Photoshop really requires. Film is still better and more forgiving. But if you take 4000 pix a year, yes, digital looks like free :)Good luck. One example:www.chocolateneuhaus.com
*nice looking chocolate, robertalex
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