websites vs. cost of sites

[Nancy-ID]

Re: websites vs. cost of sites

i am looking into setting up a website or having one set up to sell some carvings and other items that i make through.i have visited several of the members here websites and like going and looking at them but was wondering if some could comment on how much they sell through just their site traffic,and whether it is cost effective?

Okay, this might generate some flak (sp?) if I come out sounding like advertising, building sites and maintaining them is what my husband and I do to make extra money in order to survive. People do more and more online shopping these days and that is just going to increase over time. A website is the best way to let people know what you have to offer, they are not going to just walk up to your door and ask to buy a carving. You are not going to display your work on the front lawn. So how will anyone know that you have this stuff to sell? By finding you online. If you REALLY want your site to work, do not build it yourself unless you very good with words, can come up with a clean professional look, and know how to make the software work for you. You will need a good web design software (we use FrontPage) and a good graphics program like Adobe Photoshop & Illustrator. (about $2000 worth) (NOTE: I don't know what Lynn uses but he has an excellent site, very professional) The whole point is your site must be professional looking to make serious buyers want to even look at what you have to sell. You also need to know how and what words to enter as keywords for the search engines. So, yes, a website can and will get you sales if you are willing to do it or have it done properly. One other thing, nothing turns off a serious buyer more than one of those free places like Angelfire or GeoCities with all their ads and pop-ups.

[Irish]

Re: websites vs. cost of sites

Nancy ... I could not think of a better combination if I were going to hire a professional team! A webmaster who could create the site and a wood carver that understood intimately what I was selling.

That combo is FAN-TAS-TIC!!!

It seems to me (DUCK! I'm going to have an opinion here) that too many webmaster have no idea in whosits what the industry, business or craft is that they are representing. And it shows!!!!

Susan

(Standard Disclaimer - Take what you want and throw the rest away.)

[BobD (Archive)]

Re: websites vs. cost of sites

Nancy...you might check into some of the open source software...I've got GIMP, which is the open source version of Photoshop, and Inkscape, which is the open source version of Illustrator. They are both wonderful...

Haven't spent much time looking for open source web-design programs, but I'm sure they're out there!

Bob
(who firmly believes that some large industries have a stranglehold on their markets)

[Irish]

Re: websites vs. cost of sites

Nancy ... Have you guys tried the beta version, Expressions, yet? I downloaded a copy of it and it is driving me bonkers!

Maybe this old dog has finally gotten so old she can't catch onto all these new fangled thingies.

Susan

[Lynn O. Doughty]

Re: websites vs. cost of sites

We used Print Shop Pro Publisher 6. You could probably find it on Ebay for just about nothing now as it's so out of date. But it has a good template and is very easy to use. It's not restrictive either as we've added lots of stuff from outside the software with no problems. My site is actually two sites, one for the For Sale section and the other for the things that don't change that often.

[Lynn O. Doughty]

Re: websites vs. cost of sites

Just did an Ebay search and there's one on there with a starting bid of $3.00. Pretty cheap software to start a webpage!!!

[Nancy-ID]

Re: websites vs. cost of sites

Nancy ... Have you guys tried the beta version, Expressions, yet? I downloaded a copy of it and it is driving me bonkers!

Maybe this old dog has finally gotten so old she can't catch onto all these new fangled thingies.

Susan

Susan, it is downloading this minute We were hesitent to try it but since you brought it up I couldn't help myself. I will try it out in awhile, still has 50 minutes to go. Now I have to check out Bob's suggestions, of course Just ordered a new camera, ho-hum, means I'll probably really like this program. Verdict later.

[Irish]

Re: websites vs. cost of sites

Nancy,

I have found Expressions fairly easy and up front to use. But the one short coming ... in my opinion ... is that it assumes that you already know exactly how you want to set up the template pages! I feel like I need to start any new idea in the middle or at the end with no try it out first stages.

It does crash the system once in a while. At least mine

Let me know what you think, I value your opinion!

Susan

[Nancy-ID]

Re: websites vs. cost of sites

Nancy,

I have found Expressions fairly easy and up front to use. But the one short coming ... in my opinion ... is that it assumes that you already know exactly how you want to set up the template pages! I feel like I need to start any new idea in the middle or at the end with no try it out first stages.

It does crash the system once in a while. At least mine

Let me know what you think, I value your opinion!

Susan

Susan, so far (and I reserve the right to change my mind after more playing with it ) it just seems to be another Microsoft "upgrade" of FrontPage. When i refer to a Microsoft upgrade I mean "screwup". They take prefectly good programs, change locations of things around, add a few more buttons and make it look more complicated. I haven't had time to mess around with it too much yet but one strange thing it did was would not let me insert a jpeg. Tried and tried and it would not show .jpg files on my computer. I closed it out and went back a hour or so later to show Bruce how it wouldn't open the .jpg's and wa-la, it did. (made a liar out of me) sooo . . .the jury is still out. More later.
Have a great weekend.

[DICK "chipncut" CAIN]

Re: websites vs. cost of sites

Thank You,
Reading this thread has given me some answers about a lot questions I've thought about, & never got around to asking.

[DADDIO]

Re: websites vs. cost of sites

been out of commission myself since saturday just getting back on my feet,thanks for all the info plenty of good advice thats for sure