How to set up own woodworking website???

[Mooeee]

Hi
I am thinking of setting up my own woodwork web site but don't know where to begin, Any Help would be Appreciated........... (hammer)

 

[bugbear]

post596371.html?hilit=website#p596371

BugBear

 

[powertools]

Seems like a simple question but there is no simple answer.
It's a bit like woodwork realy the experts will have their way of doing things and the novice with no pre concieved ideas can stumble accross the same results.
It is quite possible these days to set up a web site at no cost other than the domain name but it would need a book to to tell you how to do it.
Do a search for Microsoft Office Live

 

[Hudson Carpentry]

Its a different game if you require one for business to one of pleasure. These Do it yourself web packages are great if your a hobby worker wishing to show off your work or someone that gets all there work elsewhere and again just wants to put a web address on there van. If you want one to drum up business and compete on search engines with other local competitors then you need a pro. Ill leave all the bumbo jumb of the in and outs of why as most will just confuse and baffle.

 

[dietcola]

well theres lots of things you can do to set up a site, but there is a bit of an outlay to be made,

every website needs -

web hosting (often paid yearly about 60 quid a year)
a domain name i.e. myfabulouswoodworkingsite uk (paid yearly, but can be bought in 10 year renewals about 10 quid a year max often cheaper)
then youll need to design a site and populate it with content, writing, pictures all those groovy things that make ppl want to come and look at it.
and now a days youll need optimisation or link building or ppc to get visitors to your site or to be found.


there are some things you can do now for free, like register you facebook page

but the domain name is the best one to get - definitely buy this yourself, then you know you own it... 123-reg is a good site to buy uk websites from, namecheap is a cheap com registra.

so yea, you could always get yourself a wodpress site or a blogger site, these are free and you get a sub domain - you need an email address and you can get one of those...


(hammer)

 

[Dodge]

Well I had a professionally constructed site but got fed up of the "Management Fees" and costs for making amendments to it - in the five years I had it I never had a single enquiry regarding work and it cost me a fortune! - All I ever got was an enquiry regarding a piece pictured on the site asking for type of timber, type of fittings, finish etc - then after replying a couple of days later I got spam from companies selling the same finish, the same fitting and the same timber etc etc.

Anyway I dumped the site about five years ago and didnt have one for a while but then about a year ago did my own website using "Mr Site" package - Cost me £39:99 in the first instance and £39:99 yearly thereafter - Took me a couple of evenings to complete and was very straightforward.

Anyway - I have had alot of serious contacts from prospective customers and several of these have resulted in quality commissions so I am well pleased and would be very happy to recommend this.

Have a look at my site and see what you think

Rog

 

[bugbear]

Well I had a professionally constructed site but got fed up of the "Management Fees" and costs for making amendments to it - in the five years I had it I never had a single enquiry regarding work and it cost me a fortune! - All I ever got was an enquiry regarding a piece pictured on the site asking for type of timber, type of fittings, finish etc - then after replying a couple of days later I got spam from companies selling the same finish, the same fitting and the same timber etc etc.

Anyway I dumped the site about five years ago and didnt have one for a while but then about a year ago did my own website using "Mr Site" package - Cost me £39:99 in the first instance and £39:99 yearly thereafter - Took me a couple of evenings to complete and was very straightforward.

Anyway - I have had alot of serious contacts from prospective customers and several of these have resulted in quality commissions so I am well pleased and would be very happy to recommend this.

Have a look at my site and see what you think

Rog

I think your site is very good - lots of information, simply and cleanly presented. What do *you* think was the key difference between your design bringing in leads, and the "professional" site not doing so?

BugBear

 

[powertools]

I don't want to get involved in a debate about if you need the services of an expert or not but I will give you my opinion as the owner of a small business with 25% of turnover from internet sales.
If you want a site like for example the Axminster you will need experts working in house to maintain it if however you are a small business wanting to have a place on the internet you will need a basic understanding of how the site works and the knoledge of how to change things on a regular basis.
A few years ago inorder set up any sort of website you needed to have a full understanding of the code that made up the pages, now the software behind most site building packages is so advanced that the level of knoledge you now need is small.
For your site to be found once built it is important that you have entered words and phrases that potential customers will be searching for once again the software will point out where to enter this info but only you with full understanding of the products you sell will know the correct terms to use.
Google is your friend here and all the info to get started is there but be carefull of the sites that make it all sound like a mystery that only they can solve for you at a price.

 

[Dodge]

I think your site is very good - lots of information, simply and cleanly presented. What do *you* think was the key difference between your design bringing in leads, and the "professional" site not doing so?

BugBear

Basically the website is very similar to the old one - same drop downs, and even the same text in some instances - I just listed various key words and it seems to be working fine for me. I wonder whether in fact the company/individuals who hosted/managed my site were actually selling my details to other companies - i.e looking after their own interests NOT mine!

The key difference in my opinion is that I am the one with the money in my pocket - not the professional parasite who previously arranged it and tried to bleed me dry - £20 plus vat every time I wanted to add/remove a photo - £200 plus vat to arrange another page - even if I laid it all out in advance.

I am in no way a computer expert - and have found I can change a photo in a matter of seconds - do a hole new page in about an hour.

No doubt others out there will disagree but this is how i have found it here in Norfolk.

Rog

 

[Richard Findley]

Hi Mooee

I guess it depends how good you are with computers and how much you want to get into it all, I like messing around with computers so I enjoyed the process of making my own website, I bought a book:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Build-Your-...=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317129861&sr=1-5

And downloaded the program it describes: http://kompozer.net/ (It talks about NVU but Kompozer is the new version) so £15 outlay so far, the program is free. There is the cost of hosting, which is about £75 per year plus as many www. names as you like for about £3 each per year or 2.

The program works much like a word processor so you write where you want, add pictures where you want, change fonts and colours and links where you like. The book gives advice on good v bad layouts etc and I found it to be excellent.

HTH

Richard

 

[Lee J]

Try weebly.com

really simple to use, no fee's

 

[Dibs-h]

Try weebly.com

really simple to use, no fee's

IIRC - with the free version you end up as a sub-domain of Weebly, possibly with ads. What I do think is cool is that you can create a website on Weebly, backup it up (i.e. download it), mod the files ever so slightly and you potentially get a very slick website for next to nothing, with no trace (or branding or ads) of Weebly.

Dibs

 

[bugbear]

Try weebly.com

really simple to use, no fee's

IIRC - with the free version you end up as a sub-domain of Weebly, possibly with ads. What I do think is cool is that you can create a website on Weebly, backup it up (i.e. download it), mod the files ever so slightly and you potentially get a very slick website for next to nothing, with no trace (or branding or ads) of Weebly.

Dibs

Is that OK, per the license agreement?

BugBear

 

[Dibs-h]

Try weebly.com

really simple to use, no fee's

IIRC - with the free version you end up as a sub-domain of Weebly, possibly with ads. What I do think is cool is that you can create a website on Weebly, backup it up (i.e. download it), mod the files ever so slightly and you potentially get a very slick website for next to nothing, with no trace (or branding or ads) of Weebly.

Dibs

Is that OK, per the license agreement?

BugBear

What license agreement? :lol: :lol:

Seriously - read most of the small print, when I needn't one quickly and didn't read anything that prohibited it.

 

[mailee]

I also made both of my websites with Serif after employing an 'expert' My first website came up well in the Google rankings but for some reason it has dropped off and the other new website still isn't doing very well in the listings. I put all of the matatag words in for the search engines but still nothing? I do get some work from the sites but not that many. At the moment it is just a gallery of my work that I direct customers to. Building the site was easy optimising it is alchemy! :?

 

[Hudson Carpentry]

The key difference in my opinion is that I am the one with the money in my pocket - not the professional parasite who previously arranged it and tried to bleed me dry - £20 plus vat every time I wanted to add/remove a photo - £200 plus vat to arrange another page - even if I laid it all out in advance.
Rog

£200 for a new page and £20 to add a new photo. Jesus that guy knows how to over charge.

For a basic website I charge £200. With that I build you a CMS so you can add your own photos and change wording and keywords/phases. Many of my customers without this CMS and just send me photo's now and again which I just put on there site free of charge. Takes me less then 5 mins for say 4 photos, so as long as its not every week I don't mind. The only on going charges I charge are the hosting which on average is £15 per year.

 

[mailee]

Well I don't believe it! Just out of curiosity after reading this thread I googled 'cabinet makers Grimsby' and I AM on the first page but with my Tenko Joinery website not my new one. Oh well its better than nowt.

 

[Dodge]

The key difference in my opinion is that I am the one with the money in my pocket - not the professional parasite who previously arranged it and tried to bleed me dry - £20 plus vat every time I wanted to add/remove a photo - £200 plus vat to arrange another page - even if I laid it all out in advance.
Rog

£200 for a new page and £20 to add a new photo. Jesus that guy knows how to over charge.

For a basic website I charge £200. With that I build you a CMS so you can add your own photos and change wording and keywords/phases. Many of my customers without this CMS and just send me photo's now and again which I just put on there site free of charge. Takes me less then 5 mins for say 4 photos, so as long as its not every week I don't mind. The only on going charges I charge are the hosting which on average is £15 per year.

Oh yes the charges started off at your levels if not less but then crept up every two or three months - obviously they had arranged the domain so if i didnt pay up they just pulled the site - more like blackmail!

 

[powertools]

I will never understand why people like the op ask a question and others take the time to respond but the op never returns

 

[Chems]

Poor guy, he hasn't been online since he posted this!