Facebook Page or Website

[Lazurus]

So a question for those in the know, I have neither a Facebook account or any knowledge of setting up a website, but it seems without either my "shop Window" is very limited. so what is involved with setting up either, and the ongoing costings and time involved.
Can someone please advise me on the best way to get onto the technology ladder?

Stuart

 

[sunnybob]

Do you really want a thousand messages a day telling you that someone you have never met but is 6 steps removed, likes something that another person you have never heard of has posted?
Whats wrong with the shops web sites and ebay?

I have to listen to my wifes face rubbish thing beeping from 7 am till after i go to bed. And it beeps even if you have turned the sound off!

 

[marcros]

what are you wanting to sell, and to whom?

If you don't use facebook, I would just have a very simple website that you list on your business card. If you want to get involved in orders further afield, maybe look at Etsy. there was a recent discussion on it, and I question the merits of it, but it won't cost anything much to try it out.

 

[Lazurus]

I thought I may try and sell some of the items I turn, so just a simple site to show pictures and contact details I guess. I must admit I hate FB so how do you go about a simple website?

 

[sunnybob]

ebay was king once upon a time. Still a huge audience but they are charging more than they used to. Etsy and pinterest are becoming very popular.
If youre selling, it might be worth the mountain of junk that is facebook, but I would rather walk down the streets with a placard.

 

[thetyreman]

wordpress website isn't too hard to make thesedays, I'd go down that road, the facebook page is largely a waste of time, people will like it share it and talk about it, but you won't get any actual business from it, virtual likes are completely useless in the real world, I know several people with businesses who have all said the same thing about facebook.

Etsy is a good idea because it's free to set up, there is nothing to loose.

 

[Eric The Viking]

@The Tyreman: Out of curiosity, was the KM84 box on your site a commission?

 

[Brandlin]

Do you really want a thousand messages a day telling you that someone you have never met but is 6 steps removed, likes something that another person you have never heard of has posted?
Whats wrong with the shops web sites and ebay?

I have to listen to my wifes face rubbish thing beeping from 7 am till after i go to bed. And it beeps even if you have turned the sound off!

Spoken by somebody who has never set up a facebook account - all of those things are editable in the settings - if you don't want them turn them off! But then the whole POINT of FB is that its a networking application - this is what its FOR!


However I don't think that facebook is the right tool for selling. You might get a presence of the web but its not the kind of thing that gets sales.

I guess there are two types of site you can easily create yourself without having to do things like pay a web developer.

1. Run a free blog. A number of places such as wordpress and blogspot allow you to set up a site basically using point and click decisions at your end. Because they are blogs they enable you to post news pages relatively simply - you can even email content to the website. You can set up static pages for things like contact details and background and then simply post a new blog entry eveytime you have something to sell.

2. Set up a website using one of the 'no programming' resources. There are a number of these including squarespace, wix and godaddy. They guide you through the process of setting up a website making point and click decisions on things like layout, style, structure colours etc. These days its a process anyone can do, you don't need any programming knowledge, although its helpful to be generally confident on a computer. Some of these tools also allow you to integrate storefront software allowing you to run an online shop, take paypal payments or credit card handle shipping costs and stock control etc. A lot of this can be done for free (your pages will contain advertising that funds yoursite just like here), but some modules may cost you and there is usually a paid option to remove the adverts.

As to costs - that will vary depending on your choices, complexity and number of pages. However I have run a blog with a storefront on it for other things for a bout a decade and not spent a single penny, so it is possible to do the whole thing for free on a small scale.

 

[Eric The Viking]

Having spent months recently in a project attempting to replace a proper web site with something made in Wordpress, I won't be partaking voluntarily in future.

WP is an adequate tool for making a blog. It's an ongoing security headache, and would be a struggle if you've never had experience with it (or web site construction) before.

That said, there are probably millions of "themes" for it that you can find and use to style your site to look nice, and if your needs are simple ("I finish something and post-up details so people who want something similar can get in touch"), it will serve. I wouldn't attempt to do any sort of commerce using it unless you know your stuff, because of the security risks.

Facebook is a sensible option, as long as you make the effort to understand it first, and don't treat it as a personality extension, third leg or whatever -- keep it for your business and don't mix it with personal life. I have one close friend who's a popular artist, who makes it pay for itself (but she also has a web site too).

Etsy looks like a good choice, but like eBay it's worth looking carefully at costs first. Free to set up sounds good to me though!

Notice I haven't picked one?

You really need to look at the options in detail to see which you like. You will also need some (or someone else with) proficiency with a camera and lighting to photograph your work, for any of them. Etsy in particular has some tutorials on this (there are others too), but the image quality is a big part of selling designed objects (or a designer) on-line.

I'm with the Tyreman in that there's nothing to lose if you try Etsy first-off, but don't forget it's just like a printed brochure or getting into the Yellow Pages of old - you have to promote the actual site somehow in order for anyone to find it and appreciate all the hard work, I suspect that's easier to do using Facebook than anything else.

E.

PS: If you do shows, etc. (exhibit/demonstrate), you can use a Bluetooth beacon to help the promotion thing: It's nifty: a cheap and tiny unit you can take to a show that broadcasts a link to your commercial Facebook page, to anyone whose Mobile has the feature turned on. So anyone in, say, 30-50 feet of your beacon gets a message saying "visit Fred's Facebook page at xxx to see more examples of his work." Done sensitively, it's a good addition to printed business cards, etc. Facebook were running a scheme for people who had commercial pages, but I don't know if it's still going, nor if they've started charging for it. You can get BBs cheaply that you program yourself, anyway (no geekiness needed really). They'd also work as a modern replacement for the old builder's sign board ("Fred construction is working nearby. Find out what we do at...").

 

[nev]

Facebook is free and simple to use. You add a picture or two a brief description and a price, make it public and its done. You can choose (to a point) what notifications you get and how they notify you - email, pings or whatever.
Facebook also has Marketplace, a free service for buying and selling, an online version of the postcards on a pin board in your your local shop if you like, who's audience is not limited to people you know.
Heres a few screenshots...

Making a website can be a simple drag and drop affair with various free online programs like Wix, Weebly and GoDaddy. The free ones will give you a website with a name like Lazarus57.weebly.com as in your name attached to theirs, and often will not allow you to use your own domain name.
You can buy* your own domain name usually between 99p and £20 for 2 years. You do not own the name merely lease it, with an option to renew at the expiry time.
In reality a website is only any good if you tell people what it is, i.e. actually telling people to look at it, it will not in all likelyhood appear in the top ten google pages results for a search on "woodturning in wherever you are" for strangers to find. It takes a long time and a bit of investment to get it there.

Try both you have nothing to lose (but time), my one suggestion would be set up a second or third email address to use for all the signing up and contact purposes, that way if you have a hatful you can just walkaway without getting constant reminders etc.

edit ETV types quicker than me

 

[thetyreman]

@The Tyreman: Out of curiosity, was the KM84 box on your site a commission?

(I wish) no, I actually made it for my own KM84 which I still own, the reason is I will be building a microphone cabinet similar to a tool cabinet for all my mics in one place, so thought why not try and sell it.

 

[Eric The Viking]

[sorry: digression!] I had to organise a wooden box for six Calrec CB21s years ago (similar but detachable capsules and a lot noisier!). Was careful to put an air vent holes in it to prevent a pressure wave on the diaphragms if some dropped the lid sharpish. But it was in a studio environment, where people could be predicted to be clumsy. It's a bit different if they're mics you own and cherish (that said, my own pair of 451s are sitting up on a shelf presently in their Rycote, and not safely in a box). If the mic cabinet will be a box with a droppable lid...

Aside: ribbon mics can be especially vulnerable. The old AXBTs used to get torn on a regular basis, apparently, but those ribbons are around 3" long which is rather excessive. My Reslo seems pretty bomb-proof though, as does the 4104 I've got.

 

[Chris152]

I used Wix to set this up
www.thetwtbeech.org.uk
(I posted about the project in General Woodworking) and it took about 1.5 hours to 'build'. I removed all the more snazzy stuff by just clicking on the windows and deleting (it didn't suit the ethos of the project), and added text/ image boxes where I wanted those. Really simple.

I'd imagine if you went for Etsy (I've never used it) and linked to a personal site with a bigger gallery of current and past work, and a statement about you/ your work, they could work well together. Facebook and Instagram can be used to get people to look at your website and at Etsy, I'd think. And thus maybe they'll buy stuff.

 

[Lazurus]

Wow.... thanks for all the info, I need to mull this over and decide what suits my needs best, there are a lot of options available. many thanks for all the input, time for a beer & think....... =D>

 

[thetyreman]

[sorry: digression!] I had to organise a wooden box for six Calrec CB21s years ago (similar but detachable capsules and a lot noisier!). Was careful to put an air vent holes in it to prevent a pressure wave on the diaphragms if some dropped the lid sharpish. But it was in a studio environment, where people could be predicted to be clumsy. It's a bit different if they're mics you own and cherish (that said, my own pair of 451s are sitting up on a shelf presently in their Rycote, and not safely in a box). If the mic cabinet will be a box with a droppable lid...

Aside: ribbon mics can be especially vulnerable. The old AXBTs used to get torn on a regular basis, apparently, but those ribbons are around 3" long which is rather excessive. My Reslo seems pretty bomb-proof though, as does the 4104 I've got.

very good point about the air pressure, I will consider that for the cabinet build and any future boxes, sounds like you have some nice mics as well