[Ashbys]

Susan,
As I sit here speaking with Goody, and I think about all the new work ... I think I will just retire ,

Lol

[Irishman]

I use a site called freewebs and it allows me to store pics of my carvings. I am not into carving as a business as its purely a hobbie to manage the stress at work. Because people have asked to see my carvings, I ended up putting a brochure together and I indicate my carving site. It's very basic but its Free! I price my carving to sell...which means cheap...but the little money that comes in allows me to purchase tools and other accessories.
Patrick

[susieq]

Everyone I had ever asked the question of, "did you have buyers contact you through your carving site?", the answer is almost always "no".

I have sold through a small gallery in Chicago for about 8 years now. A good friend insisted that I needed a website to show off my work and she built me one...lovely job it was, too. I view it as an online portfolio that I can refer people to if they want to see my work. I didn't really expect to sell from it.

But, a funny thing happened. An old client of the gallery found my website and contacted me through the email link. I am doing something for them now......

However, I don't do this for a living. I think that is a whole different ball game. You have to get out and promote yourself or hire someone to promote your work if you want to do it for a living. A website is just one part of it...just an opinion.
susieq

[squbrigg]

Good topic, something I've been considering for a while now. I don't have a web site, but have just been sharing pics of my efforts on a photo share webshots site. That alone has generated considerable work/commissions. Perhaps a web site will generate a bit more, but I don't want to get too busy! Thanks for the information and discussion.

Bob

[Lynn O. Doughty]

I've had my site up for several years now. Built it myself so any costs involved were for the software which was around $50.00. Does it work? Yep! Made a lot of money off my little $50.00 investment. I've advertised in a few national publications and a website give a potential customer a place to go to really check out your work.

[Nancy-ID]

Originally Posted by DADDIO

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.