Starting a Website to sell your stuff....

[Digitalwoodshop]

Finding a way to sell all the neat stuff we make can be as easy as starting your own website. I found that the turn around in my shop was opening a second website that got me found when searching.

Anyone interested in starting a website might look at Yahoo Business... It's easy to make a website.

Cost.... You should buy your web name for 5 years as many search engines does not bother with a site with a 1 year subricption... 5 Years is about $120.00..... Then the Yahoo Annual fee is about $120.00.....

Not bad really..... I don't use a shopping cart... I just post pictures of products....

That website got me the Kentucky Fire Tag Job and here is the Video from Kentucky about the new system.

http://www.14wfie.com/Global/story.asp?S=12045978

AL

[fwharris]

Finding a way to sell all the neat stuff we make can be as easy as starting your own website. I found that the turn around in my shop was opening a second website that got me found when searching.

Anyone interested in starting a website might look at Yahoo Business... It's easy to make a website.

Cost.... You should buy your web name for 5 years as many search engines does not bother with a site with a 1 year subricption... 5 Years is about $120.00..... Then the Yahoo Annual fee is about $120.00.....

Not bad really..... I don't use a shopping cart... I just post pictures of products....

That website got me the Kentucky Fire Tag Job and here is the Video from Kentucky about the new system.

http://www.14wfie.com/Global/story.asp?S=12045978

AL

Al,

Great info.. It looks like your costs are similar to what I have with GoDaddy.com for my site. I think all are close to the same as they are fighting to get our $$$ to do so...

Does the Yahoo come with any advertising credits? With my GoDaddy set up it came with some Goggle ad credits that are used to set up ADDWORD campaign for getting your site to pop up when people google for your type of business. It is a cost per click system.

I've seen more traffic to my site since setting it up and even got 3 jobs (2 from PA :mrgreen:) for special carving requests. Not sure if I will keep the add going when my credits run out, will have to see if any more business comes my way with it running. I did have one request from my site before doing this but it was from a CW owner back east who just google "carvewright custom signs". His machine was down and had a request for a small plaque he need to get done...

I think what helps is having enough descriptive words and phrases in your site so that when people search they hit on what you set up...

[CarverJerry]

Very true that the more descriptive words and phrases you have the better chances a search engine will find it. It helps to take your time, write down every word you can think of that will help describe your product and/or web page. I had a web page for a touring business a few years ago and I even had some words that really didn't go with my business but would segway towards my page.

[eelamb]

Since the topic is here about web hosting. Two things to consider, first is the domain registar (godaddy is the largest), second is the host of your web site. Yes they are all about the same, but not all offer the same functions. Godaddy really limits the number of emails to be sent each day (250), Yahoo has a track record of not sending email in a timely manner. And timing is critical these days to get the sale. As to number of years a domain is set up does not matter, but the more years the better the cost.
Now for hosting, compare the features they offer. I suggest using ixwebhosting.com, true email account (1000+) for as little as $70 year, direct ftp, cgi, php, control panel, about 100GB of space, dedicated IP address (neither of the other gives you this without paying for it). Plus there is many other features the others do not even touch upon. And most important is IX has fast connections to their servers.
I host some of my customers there and some on my own servers. IX offers more than I could ever offer on my server, and at a lot lower cost. As to shopping carts use the paypal shopping cart system, easy to set up and you get paid ahead of time. But if you are large enough IX offers a great shopping cart system. See http://www.haywireinc.com one of my customers I set up using the shopping cart system. I had others but customer moved out of town and has local support now.

[Digitalwoodshop]

I see on my Control Page that I have $100.00 in Credit for advertising. I have not looked into it...

I was going to do the PA Big Fire Show in May but it would cost me $3K just to walk into the door.... I decided to run ads in 2 Fire Magazines, PA Fireman and Fire Rescue in the months of April and May. They take the books to 3 big shows including the PA Show. More Bang for the buck in my opinion... And a lot less than $3K...

My Neighbor takes Blue stone and makes it into tables.... He has pictures on a Photo site but I bet he could get so much more business with pictures and his own site.

AL

[fwharris]

Since the topic is here about web hosting. Two things to consider, first is the domain registar (godaddy is the largest), second is the host of your web site. Yes they are all about the same, but not all offer the same functions. Godaddy really limits the number of emails to be sent each day (250), Yahoo has a track record of not sending email in a timely manner. And timing is critical these days to get the sale. As to number of years a domain is set up does not matter, but the more years the better the cost.
Now for hosting, compare the features they offer. I suggest using ixwebhosting.com, true email account (1000+) for as little as $70 year, direct ftp, cgi, php, control panel, about 100GB of space, dedicated IP address (neither of the other gives you this without paying for it). Plus there is many other features the others do not even touch upon. And most important is IX has fast connections to their servers.
I host some of my customers there and some on my own servers. IX offers more than I could ever offer on my server, and at a lot lower cost. As to shopping carts use the paypal shopping cart system, easy to set up and you get paid ahead of time. But if you are large enough IX offers a great shopping cart system. See http://www.haywireinc.com one of my customers I set up using the shopping cart system. I had others but customer moved out of town and has local support now.

Eddie,

I am far from any kind of expert on these things. Learning by trial and error (kind of like the CW :)). When I first set my site everything was way over my head and it probably took me 3 months to get things set up the way it is and it still is an amateur looking site.

I'm in the process of thinking about the shopping cart set up. I have been chatting with the GoDaddy support people on this to get an understanding of the set up before dropping the cash to do so. My intent is to sell some patterns along with finished and special order carvings. And yes using the PayPal system to go along with it. Less worries about the security issues.

You might be hearing from me on some advice for setting it up!!!

[DocWheeler]

That website got me the Kentucky Fire Tag Job and here is the Video from Kentucky about the new system.

http://www.14wfie.com/Global/story.asp?S=12045978

Al,

That video needed to have directions to your site, that would have helped you a bunch.

Good job on the tags and boards!

[Metalhead781]

I've been using etsy.com
it's like an ebay store for custom crafted items. It's more "handmade" but when someone says something because i'm forthcoming with the fact that i use a machine. I just tell them, it's like a person using a vinyl cutter or laser cutter etc to make things. They don't seam to have any issues.

I've got a few sales. It's setup on a fee system but no automatic debits. End of the month you pay your bill. I've had more sales from directing people to my etsy shop and they don't wanna bother signing up for it so i just bill them and they pay me. Paypal merchant account is a good idea too.

Thanks
MH

[Digitalwoodshop]

I added a comment at the bottom saying if you wanted to see the making of the tags look at my site. That is the best I could do.

Funny, as big as the CW Forum Community is, I have never received a order from someone seeing my site on here.

Lately every order has come from searching the web for Accountability Tags..... I guess you are more likely to look at a website when you are looking to BUY..... Then just seeing one posted.

The trick is to have something of interest to look at when they are looking.

Both of my sites are way from Professional, and that was not my goal.... My goal was to be Functional...... And that it is.....

AL

[c6craig]

I added a comment at the bottom saying if you wanted to see the making of the tags look at my site. That is the best I could do.

Funny, as big as the CW Forum Community is, I have never received a order from someone seeing my site on here.

Lately every order has come from searching the web for Accountability Tags..... I guess you are more likely to look at a website when you are looking to BUY..... Then just seeing one posted.

The trick is to have something of interest to look at when they are looking.

Both of my sites are way from Professional, and that was not my goal.... My goal was to be Functional...... And that it is.....

AL

Al,

If you don't mind a little constructive criticism..I have looked at your site as well as many other forum members. Your site deters me (as do some other forum members) because of a lack of pricing anywhere. I understand some of the things are custom made and you quote to order, but for example you have that huge page of all the cool things you sell at craft shows, surely you have pricing on some of the things like the wine racks and premade clocks, etc. When I see things like this I assume the old addage, "If you have to ask you can't afford it".

Even something like "Laser Engraved Key Fobs - Pricing as low as $X each for quantities of 10 or more" would give me an idea of what I am looking at.

Great site though, lots of cool stuff on there!

Craig

[eelamb]

FWHarris, not a problem. If you decide to do something let me know. I can send my spider to your site or any other site and capture everything on the site, and download it to my computer. Then ZIP it and email it to you, or what ever your wishes are.
To see some of my work go to http://www.lambcomputerservice.com/references.html As for IX it has a great servie, and yes it has credit for add words. In my opinion addwords is a waste of your monthly income, and is one of the biggest scams out there. Once you sign up with them you are committed to a monthly fee, and if your hit count goes over the limit you pay dearly. Plus ever heard of double click? It is a addware on many computers. Every time someone clicks on the right side on Google, it registers as 2 clicks, thus instead of paying 0.1 to .05 per click you pay twice for the same click. Google had a large law suite because of this.

Also if you want I will have my Search Engine Optimization (SEO) program check your site and give you the recommendations as getting listed on the first page for certain words. Keywords are not just in the tags. Google passes right over tags like keywords, and description, and looks at the content. Then uses those words for relevances as to what your content is then rates you accordingly. MSN and Yahoo also pass over keywords. Others like dogpile, and the other 197 search engines use keywords.

Shopping cart systems work with paypal too, and if you have a UPS account it calculates the shipping /taxes, etc for you. Paypal offers a shopping cart which you program yourself, to see one look at my wifes site, http://www.lambsoutlet.com, she has the paypal cart set up. I believe Ron is using the same system on his site. This one is free to anyone with a paypal account.

[eelamb]

I should mention shopping carts are not doing great right now. Users cash flow is at an all time low. Thus they are not spending much.

[fwharris]

FWHarris, not a problem. If you decide to do something let me know. I can send my spider to your site or any other site and capture everything on the site, and download it to my computer. Then ZIP it and email it to you, or what ever your wishes are.
To see some of my work go to http://www.lambcomputerservice.com/references.html As for IX it has a great servie, and yes it has credit for add words. In my opinion addwords is a waste of your monthly income, and is one of the biggest scams out there. Once you sign up with them you are committed to a monthly fee, and if your hit count goes over the limit you pay dearly. Plus ever heard of double click? It is a addware on many computers. Every time someone clicks on the right side on Google, it registers as 2 clicks, thus instead of paying 0.1 to .05 per click you pay twice for the same click. Google had a large law suite because of this.

Also if you want I will have my Search Engine Optimization (SEO) program check your site and give you the recommendations as getting listed on the first page for certain words. Keywords are not just in the tags. Google passes right over tags like keywords, and description, and looks at the content. Then uses those words for relevances as to what your content is then rates you accordingly. MSN and Yahoo also pass over keywords. Others like dogpile, and the other 197 search engines use keywords.

Shopping cart systems work with paypal too, and if you have a UPS account it calculates the shipping /taxes, etc for you. Paypal offers a shopping cart which you program yourself, to see one look at my wifes site, http://www.lambsoutlet.com, she has the paypal cart set up. I believe Ron is using the same system on his site. This one is free to anyone with a paypal account.

Eddie,

Thanks for all the good information and offers (email coming soon). I did look at both links and several of the sites. Very impressed :). Pages load real fast and look great.

I'm watching my addword free credits and will most likely stop when they get used up. I did read some where about the search features and that "content" on the site very important vs the tag thing. And no I was not aware of the dbl click thing!

I'm gaining a little more knowledge on the shopping cart part :) and this info really helps me out..

Thanks again!

[Digitalwoodshop]

Al,

If you don't mind a little constructive criticism..I have looked at your site as well as many other forum members. Your site deters me (as do some other forum members) because of a lack of pricing anywhere. I understand some of the things are custom made and you quote to order, but for example you have that huge page of all the cool things you sell at craft shows, surely you have pricing on some of the things like the wine racks and premade clocks, etc. When I see things like this I assume the old addage, "If you have to ask you can't afford it".

Even something like "Laser Engraved Key Fobs - Pricing as low as $X each for quantities of 10 or more" would give me an idea of what I am looking at.

Great site though, lots of cool stuff on there!

Craig


Craig,

Thank You for the input. Yes, Prices would be good.... I will think about that...

I added the pictures of the Craft Show products to get a listing in the web page listed at the bottom of the writeup. A Discover your local area page for Tourist.... It was more of a "This is what I can make".... Page 2 will have a bunch of other stuff I have made in the past.... An Idea page... Make me "One like this...." Page.... In the tourist Stuff like Wine Racks and Quilt Racks.... the Market is dead on that stuff..... I am giving away the Quilt Racks to every local fundraiser I can find... The Local Library Fundraiser is getting 2 next week. I think I have only sold 4 Quilt Racks in total... I am giving them away..... It was my first product.... Poor Choice... The Wine Racks sell better....

With the Fire Dept stuff, I send a reply to a info request and detail my prices with additional pictures and pricing. Almost all of my Fire Dept purchases must be voted on at a meeting. My prices are Higher for the Tags than other styles but it comes with "Perks" like 2 FREE Accountability Board with the First Order. Free Shipping and Design work....

The one sided 1.5 x 3 Epoxy Domed Tags sell for $10.00 Each
The one sided 1.5 x 4 Epoxy Domed Tags sell for $12.00 Each
The one sided 2 x 3 Epoxy Domed Tags sell for $13.00 Each with ring and clip.

The Accountability boards start at $35.00 up to $150.00 for the Big Board.... But with a order, the big boards sell for $75.00

I offer free replacement of broken tags and if they buy a Junior Firefighter tag and the Junior becomes a regular Firefighter, I replace the tag free in the regular colors....

I have been thinking of a Product Page with prices..... It might be time....

Thanks for the feedback.

AL

[c6craig]

Al,

Thanks for taking my suggestions the right way, it's so easy to come off wrong in type. I wish you well on the website, it and the products you offer look great.

So to mention pricing...how do you charge for the laser engraved key fobs? I might be interested in a small batch if they aren't out of my price range. If you prefer to take it to PM, that's fine too.

Thanks,
Craig

[eelamb]

Digitalworkshop, your site is fine, when I looked at it, I saw it as a site displaying your work, thus if the viewer was interested you made it easy for them to contact you with questions or possible sales. By the way your designs look really good.

Now I have a question, do you want more tag work? One of my customers is the middle states district manager of purchases for all the fire departments under his control. If interested I will send him an email directing him to your site.

[c6craig]

Digitalworkshop, your site is fine, when I looked at it, I saw it as a site displaying your work, thus if the viewer was interested you made it easy for them to contact you with questions or possible sales. By the way your designs look really good.

Now I have a question, do you want more tag work? One of my customers is the middle states district manager of purchases for all the fire departments under his control. If interested I will send him an email directing him to your site.

Eddie,

I didn't say his site didn't look fine. I was actually quite impressed. I was just offering a suggestion. From a consumer standpoint vs a designer standpoint, it's my opinion that someone is more likely to contact you for custom work if they have even a ballpark idea of what they are getting in to. Even if there were just some ballparks, along the lines of All work is custom, but base prices start at $X for a sign, $X for a Key Fob, etc.

This holds especially true for me now that I have spent some time on the forums and looked at different websites. People value their work differently and the prices can swing wildly for similar items.

Craig

[eelamb]

For those that have web site, if you go here http://www.xml-sitemaps.com/ enter your URL, then scroll to the bottom, click start. It will spider your site giving you a list of all the html files you have. Copy this information to a blank text file, then name it sitemap.xml and upload it to your site. What this does it tells all the search engines what pages you want them to view and index. If you do not have a sitemap, only one page (index.html) will be indexed.

Craig, I did not say you said anything. I just looked at his site and gave my opinion. Sometimes it is very hard to place prices on certain types of work. Such as web design, it can run from as little as $400 all the way to $10,000. All according to what the customer wants and is willing to pay. Therefore it is best to have some contact so you can get a feel for what the customer wants, and many times I can tell from this contact if there is a possibility of a sale, or if I am hungry, how little I am willing to go to get the sale.

[fwharris]

For those that have web site, if you go here http://www.xml-sitemaps.com/ enter your URL, then scroll to the bottom, click start. It will spider your site giving you a list of all the html files you have. Copy this information to a blank text file, then name it sitemap.xml and upload it to your site. What this does it tells all the search engines what pages you want them to view and index. If you do not have a sitemap, only one page (index.html) will be indexed.

Eddie,

Ok I did the spider thing on my site and save both the html and xml format. Do I add it as a document into one of my pages? I am using the built in templates for site/page design so is it just added into one of the blocks?

[eelamb]

FW, you just want to upload it to your site. Same place your other files are located. The one to upload is sitemap.xml. Once uploaded, if you look at your file list you will see it listed as a file. Somewhere on your control panel you should find the upload option. Then just as you attach a file in a post here you will do the same thing to upload the file to you site.

Hope this helps, if not let me know.

Want to let you and others know, I get a lot of help from those on this site and I am more than willing to help others here on computer issues, or with their web site. In fact once the sitemap is on your site let me know, and I will promote your site to google, and about 200 other web sites. Just takes a few clicks of the button and my programs begin talking to the search engines.

This offer is good for others here too.

Course I am taking a break right now. Ripping up linoleum that is glued down to my concrete floor in the kitchen so it may be the next break before I promote it. Will be putting down 13" ceramic tile once I am down to bare concrete.

[fwharris]

Eddie,

Thanks, I will give it a try.. I believe I understand what you are saying. I'll find out soon anyway.

Good luck on the floor!!

[Digitalwoodshop]

Wooooo Hoooooo.... Another $1.2K+ order.... Tags and Boards.... Wooooo Hooooo....

Websites SELL....

AL

[fwharris]

Wooooo Hoooooo.... Another $1.2K+ order.... Tags and Boards.... Wooooo Hooooo....

Websites SELL....

AL

Great job Al!!! Way to go!!!

[Digitalwoodshop]

I have the heat on in the Woodshop... They want 1.5 x 4 Tags that I need to cut on the CW.

Wooooo Hooooo.....

AL

[chebytrk]

Great job Al!!! Way to go!!!

Al????? Al who??? :)

[Eagle Hollow]

Good going Al, you're cookin' with gas!

[Digitalwoodshop]

Messing with the double stick tape on the carrier board is not that much fun... The Vacuum Sled with holes to hold each tag will be cooking with GAS....

Speaking of cooking with Gas.... Dinner is in the Oven.... Time to go...

Thanks Guys,

AL

[dbfletcher]

Messing with the double stick tape on the carrier board is not that much fun... The Vacuum Sled with holes to hold each tag will be cooking with GAS....

Speaking of cooking with Gas.... Dinner is in the Oven.... Time to go...

Thanks Guys,

AL

I'm not sure if this would apply to your setup at all..but I have had fairly good success just using the spray on adhesive (like the stuff on the back of sticky notes). You can find it in varieties of "tacky-ness".

Doug Fletcher

[Digitalwoodshop]

When I started out today, I was out of the 1 inch tape and first tried 3M Photo Mount Spray and that did not hold... Next was the 3M 77 spray.... No luck on that either.... Another look in my Tape Drawer...... What do I see but a roll of 1 inch double sided tape... Wooooo Hoooo... Back in Business....

Cutting the 3rd of 6 sheets now.....

I have a continuous duty vacuum pump, filter, Vacuum Switch to wire into the close cover switch to stop the machine when or if it looses vacuum. The Vacuum Sled will be FUN....

It's been a Woooooo Hoooooo Day..... Multi-Tasking.... Painting a Sign, Cutting Tags, Doing Tag Artwork, Watching TV.... Not to mention Sirius Radio in between.... And I get paid to do this....? AL Wooooo wHoooooo

AL

[TIMCOSBY]

upillar.com for free classified adds. i have uploaded 15 ptn's so far. it may not work but hey its free. do a search for ptn and you should find them (shameless plug).

[Digitalwoodshop]

upillar.com for free classified adds. i have uploaded 15 ptn's so far. it may not work but hey its free. do a search for ptn and you should find them (shameless plug).

I think I get the AWARD for "Shameless Pluggs".....:mrgreen:

AL