How to set up own woodworking website???
- Thread starter Mooeee
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Chems
Established Member
Not in this instance, but I do get what Powertools is saying, more and more people ask, we reply, never hear from them again!
devonwoody
Established Member
mailee":3hepmkh4 said: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.
You came up fourth for me when I asked google for a cabinet maker in Grimsby..
Perhaps you might like to add other attributes that you can do in Grimsby?
Hudson Carpentry":uks4wb0d said:
Forgive my ignorance but what exactly is a CMS?
I have a website and I can change bits of text in the code but I have little idea of how to change Pics or indeed position them.
Hudson Carpentry
Established Member
Content Management System. A system built in general or bespoke to edit the content like text and images on a web site without the need to know how to code. Often its like using Microsoft Word. If it helps another term used for the editor is wysiwyg (What You See Is What You Get).
wcndave
Established Member
Rog, Perhaps one reason is that it was 5 years ago. The WWW has moved on a lot in the last 5 years, so that now it is a key and constant part of any hobby, anytime you want to get some work done etc... as it becomes more ubiquitous in our lives, so has your site done better. On the other hand you do potentially have more sites to compete with.
Note that the key thing for Google rankings is this. (Oversimplified but basically true). A Site has a ranking. A ranking is based on how many sites link to you, and what their ranking is.
This sounds circular, however there were other factors that helped kick start the whole thing. so if for example BBC (highly ranked) links to you, you get a better ranking. If i link my personal site to you, it probably means squat, unless BBC are linking to me... etc...
The premise is simple. The more sites link to you, and the more credible they are, the better your site must be. The content of the links is also important. If someone links to me as "Dave's Site" that's no good, however "Dave's Custom Built Woodworking in London" would be much better.
Links from Forums are excluded typically, so creating a thousand posts with the address in your sig is not going to help, sorry!
You need to get as many inbound links as possible, from local community, check-a-trade sites, people who used and recommend you, articles, write something on fine-woodworking.com and get a link out of it, get in to local business directories.
That's it, apart from keeping your site relevant and up to date which you should do anyway. it's basically a big job, however the more niche your market the easier. Eg "Custom Wooden Medieval Goblet Turner Orkney" will not take long to be the number one rank for someone searching for orkey turning, or for custom medieval goblets...
ah, also, remembered just now, that registering with google and uploading your site map means you are SURE they are going to scan you, and at LEAST include you in the results somewhere (a necessary start), and you can use their tools to see who is linking to you etc...
hope that helps anyone wanting to enter the world of search engine optimisation, happy to advise more if required.
Note that the key thing for Google rankings is this. (Oversimplified but basically true). A Site has a ranking. A ranking is based on how many sites link to you, and what their ranking is.
This sounds circular, however there were other factors that helped kick start the whole thing. so if for example BBC (highly ranked) links to you, you get a better ranking. If i link my personal site to you, it probably means squat, unless BBC are linking to me... etc...
The premise is simple. The more sites link to you, and the more credible they are, the better your site must be. The content of the links is also important. If someone links to me as "Dave's Site" that's no good, however "Dave's Custom Built Woodworking in London" would be much better.
Links from Forums are excluded typically, so creating a thousand posts with the address in your sig is not going to help, sorry!
You need to get as many inbound links as possible, from local community, check-a-trade sites, people who used and recommend you, articles, write something on fine-woodworking.com and get a link out of it, get in to local business directories.
That's it, apart from keeping your site relevant and up to date which you should do anyway. it's basically a big job, however the more niche your market the easier. Eg "Custom Wooden Medieval Goblet Turner Orkney" will not take long to be the number one rank for someone searching for orkey turning, or for custom medieval goblets...
ah, also, remembered just now, that registering with google and uploading your site map means you are SURE they are going to scan you, and at LEAST include you in the results somewhere (a necessary start), and you can use their tools to see who is linking to you etc...
hope that helps anyone wanting to enter the world of search engine optimisation, happy to advise more if required.
Chems
Established Member
+1 for what Dave said. With one addendum, forum sigs do count some as google will show these in your web analytic. I did Karls website a few months back, and just stuck to clean code, a few coding tricks to ensure the right terms appeared throughout the site, ensuring the sitemap was submitted to google, submitting the site to the directory (Open Directory, a must) and Karl having the link in his signature here and on other forums.
With just these he's on the front page of google for Cheshire Kitchens.
The worst thing you can do is to try sneaky methods to get up the rankings, google will just drop you down.
With just these he's on the front page of google for Cheshire Kitchens.
The worst thing you can do is to try sneaky methods to get up the rankings, google will just drop you down.
As a website designer, one who's worked for himself for over 10 years I feel I should stand up for the concept of using a proper web designer...
There are many sites out there that will let you put together a website for next to nothing, and that's all well and good but equally, there are shops out there that let you buy woodworking tools buying them doesn't mean you can build tables like Alan Peters! For a hobby website these sites are fine but if this is your business your website is often your shop front – it's the first impression potential customers will get of you – if it looks amateurish they may well have reduced faith in what you can do with your woodworking (or whatever) business.
Websites that allow you to create your own site often provide all the tools you need to make a good looking site but they also give you enough rope to (visually) hang yourself – if you're going to use these sites keep it simple, keep it clean, don't use silly fonts and keep to a simple colour scheme.
Designing a website properly isn't just about chucking stuff on a page and putting it up there - when I design and build a site I look at the business, the potential customers, how much the website owner is going to want to do (how many times do I give people CMS and then end up adding all the content myself because the client doesn't want to or hasn't got time - a lot!). Building a bespoke site does take a lot of skill and work, I certainly can't do one for a couple of hundred pounds. It doesn't have to cost a fortune though – there's a lot of web designers and design agencies out there who will charge you a fortune though! There are also a lot of 'web designer' out there who are useless, with no design skills what-so-ever and should be banned!
Charging £200 to add an extra page to a site is clearly a rip off - if a site is built properly it should be a simple job.
I must say, I can't remember seeing a brilliant furniture maker’s website - they're often OK, do the job - but it's such a missed opportunity, lovely grain - joints, displays of hand tools in use - oooh the possibilities!
Search engine wise things are getting more complicated - having in-bound links is of some importance but maybe not as much as it was. Keywords are important but most important of all these days is having constantly changing information on your site - blogs are the way forward! Forum signatures do count!
Anyway - sorry was that a rant?! I started out as a furniture designer and planned to market my stuff but ended up working more and more as a graphic designer and the furniture making got put on hold – I'm back on with it again now and really looking forward to furniture making again, I will be building a site for my furniture work so I s'pose after I've said all this, it better be good!
I don't want this to be an advert for my own web design business so I won't add a link to my site :wink:
There are many sites out there that will let you put together a website for next to nothing, and that's all well and good but equally, there are shops out there that let you buy woodworking tools buying them doesn't mean you can build tables like Alan Peters! For a hobby website these sites are fine but if this is your business your website is often your shop front – it's the first impression potential customers will get of you – if it looks amateurish they may well have reduced faith in what you can do with your woodworking (or whatever) business.
Websites that allow you to create your own site often provide all the tools you need to make a good looking site but they also give you enough rope to (visually) hang yourself – if you're going to use these sites keep it simple, keep it clean, don't use silly fonts and keep to a simple colour scheme.
Designing a website properly isn't just about chucking stuff on a page and putting it up there - when I design and build a site I look at the business, the potential customers, how much the website owner is going to want to do (how many times do I give people CMS and then end up adding all the content myself because the client doesn't want to or hasn't got time - a lot!). Building a bespoke site does take a lot of skill and work, I certainly can't do one for a couple of hundred pounds. It doesn't have to cost a fortune though – there's a lot of web designers and design agencies out there who will charge you a fortune though! There are also a lot of 'web designer' out there who are useless, with no design skills what-so-ever and should be banned!
Charging £200 to add an extra page to a site is clearly a rip off - if a site is built properly it should be a simple job.
I must say, I can't remember seeing a brilliant furniture maker’s website - they're often OK, do the job - but it's such a missed opportunity, lovely grain - joints, displays of hand tools in use - oooh the possibilities!
Search engine wise things are getting more complicated - having in-bound links is of some importance but maybe not as much as it was. Keywords are important but most important of all these days is having constantly changing information on your site - blogs are the way forward! Forum signatures do count!
Anyway - sorry was that a rant?! I started out as a furniture designer and planned to market my stuff but ended up working more and more as a graphic designer and the furniture making got put on hold – I'm back on with it again now and really looking forward to furniture making again, I will be building a site for my furniture work so I s'pose after I've said all this, it better be good!
I don't want this to be an advert for my own web design business so I won't add a link to my site :wink:
doctor Bob
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I used to do a lot of paper advertising but now all my budget goes into the website.
Most people now use the internet to find stuff, therefore it makes sense to use a website as your main advertising tool.
A lot of my work is repeat business or word of mouth but all new enquiries come from the website.
The secret is in SEO, as others have mentioned this is a specialised field, some non pro's are excellent at it and some pro's are rubbish, I use a pro on a monthly fee, he is my second guy, the first was too busy to focus on it.
I rank high in local searches, nationally not so well but this is a good thing, I don't want calls from people hundreds of miles away.
I change pictures often and add new content when possible as google likes this. I have a blog linked to it as well.
The internet definitely works for me, however there are 5 employees now and one person is virtually full time with client visits.
If it's just you, it could generate too many enquiries, the important thing is to determine how serious the enquiry is, otherwise you can waste a lot of time on client visits and drawing.
Most people now use the internet to find stuff, therefore it makes sense to use a website as your main advertising tool.
A lot of my work is repeat business or word of mouth but all new enquiries come from the website.
The secret is in SEO, as others have mentioned this is a specialised field, some non pro's are excellent at it and some pro's are rubbish, I use a pro on a monthly fee, he is my second guy, the first was too busy to focus on it.
I rank high in local searches, nationally not so well but this is a good thing, I don't want calls from people hundreds of miles away.
I change pictures often and add new content when possible as google likes this. I have a blog linked to it as well.
The internet definitely works for me, however there are 5 employees now and one person is virtually full time with client visits.
If it's just you, it could generate too many enquiries, the important thing is to determine how serious the enquiry is, otherwise you can waste a lot of time on client visits and drawing.
Hudson Carpentry
Established Member
Forum links do count and more so them thats a keyword or phase! They don't count for much and you will only get ranking points once and not for every time the link is posted but every little helps.
It ain't all about links now days, its very much more complicated as them links need to have keyword relevant contents (the text you click and the url), your site needs to have a good contents relevant to the content where links are from. eg. If a plumber linked to me but didn't anywhere in the page where the link lies mention furniture then it bears little ranking score for the keyword furniture and my site showing in a search result. Google moves with the times and now its important to have links from facebook, twitter, bookmarking and other social site. Keeping a weblog (blog) is important and now its moving on to videos and youtube.
Of cause level of importance and how far to go with it depends on the keywords/phases you wish to be found on. If your competing with 15million results then you need to blog, gain links, be on facebook and the alike and have videos etc etc. How ever if your competing with 15k results then its quite easy to gain a good rank not having a blog, videos and facebook page as long as the top 10 haven't done much on the SEO front.
SEO is every evolving and long gone are the day when it was just about links, there important and more important that there done right but there by far the only thing that gains you large ranking points.
It ain't all about links now days, its very much more complicated as them links need to have keyword relevant contents (the text you click and the url), your site needs to have a good contents relevant to the content where links are from. eg. If a plumber linked to me but didn't anywhere in the page where the link lies mention furniture then it bears little ranking score for the keyword furniture and my site showing in a search result. Google moves with the times and now its important to have links from facebook, twitter, bookmarking and other social site. Keeping a weblog (blog) is important and now its moving on to videos and youtube.
Of cause level of importance and how far to go with it depends on the keywords/phases you wish to be found on. If your competing with 15million results then you need to blog, gain links, be on facebook and the alike and have videos etc etc. How ever if your competing with 15k results then its quite easy to gain a good rank not having a blog, videos and facebook page as long as the top 10 haven't done much on the SEO front.
SEO is every evolving and long gone are the day when it was just about links, there important and more important that there done right but there by far the only thing that gains you large ranking points.
When it comes to SEO I tell my clients it's all about common sense - if you're site is informative, has lots of information that's relevant to your business, you're most of the way there. Luckily, most furniture makers don't bother so getting good listings might not be that hard!
Certainly very wise words regarding keyword links to your site - not so useful getting 'click here' links, although they are sill useful as it sends search engines to your site, and it will still provide page ranking (which is a good thing!).
It's a real pain the way things are going search engine wise with blogs, social media etc - we haven't all got time to me writing about what we're going all day - we'd rather just get on with our businesses!
Whilst some 'SEO experts' are useful I s'pose, and getting people to manage your social media presence if you haven't got time is a good idea, I'd be VERY cary of giving your money to so called - SEO experts - as I say, it's a matter of common sense.
Chems suggested I did post a link to my site so... my business website is at www.the-website-builders.co.uk and my general freelance site is: www.davthomas.me
If anyone wants any free advice about their site - get in touch, email me or PM me and I'll be happy to give you my thoughts
Certainly very wise words regarding keyword links to your site - not so useful getting 'click here' links, although they are sill useful as it sends search engines to your site, and it will still provide page ranking (which is a good thing!).
It's a real pain the way things are going search engine wise with blogs, social media etc - we haven't all got time to me writing about what we're going all day - we'd rather just get on with our businesses!
Whilst some 'SEO experts' are useful I s'pose, and getting people to manage your social media presence if you haven't got time is a good idea, I'd be VERY cary of giving your money to so called - SEO experts - as I say, it's a matter of common sense.
Chems suggested I did post a link to my site so... my business website is at www.the-website-builders.co.uk and my general freelance site is: www.davthomas.me
If anyone wants any free advice about their site - get in touch, email me or PM me and I'll be happy to give you my thoughts
mickthetree
Established Member
Been a full time freelance web developer for some eight years. Seeing as this has turned into a free for all on advertising your web design business I don't see why I should miss out.
www.digitalhand.co.uk
www.digitalhand.co.uk
wcndave
Established Member
look what i gone and did....seems a lot of people building sites as much as furniture...
There are loads of good sites / info out there about building websites for business and pleasure
There is lots of information on how to do search engine optimisation (SEO)
I myself have 17 years building sites from the top 5 global investment banks, to top 5 UK retailers, to my local darts team.
I am not sure this is the right place to discuss the details of building a site, we either know it, or it's "complicated and technical" and getting over that hurdle's not hard, however there's better info out there.
In fact what I wanted to do was add a really simple point to help those who are less in the know.
Assuming that of course you are going to keep it up to date as possible, no one I know did that more because of SEO, it was about time. Assuming you will of course keep it relevant, assuming you know how to write relevant concise text, assuming you have a blog if you want, and have a Content Management System CMS if you want... given all that happens as it will based on time / energy / desire / business goals... then the big question is always, "how do i get higher on Google".
And, remembering my assumption about relevant and up to date, the most important thing without a doubt is incoming links. However 1,000 forum posts will get you no further than 100 forum posts, so don't think it's an easy answer. That was really the only point i was trying to get across - something easy to digest and understand for the 2 people on the forum who are not professional website designers
On the point of "the page is your shop window, it reflects on you...", that is true, and also not true... can you build with a CMS and standard template, or do you need a good design?
Well, if you are an actual shop, you want as many customers as possible, you want to sell things online, which requires trust, which requires that you look respectable etc... however e-commerce is a whole different ball game...
If you are offering a service, and perhaps have no employees or only 1 or 2, you will have 1 or 2 customers per week, perhaps less. Word of mouth is important, return on investment in a website is low. So I do not expect my local independent tradesmen to have a great website.
Perhaps who they are, registrations/standards, a gallery of examples, and some testimonials is really all you need. Put a link on your business card and from local directories / check-a-trade type sites, and that's enough. you don't need great SEO, you don't need great content that is constantly changing...
it's got to be horses for courses
There are loads of good sites / info out there about building websites for business and pleasure
There is lots of information on how to do search engine optimisation (SEO)
I myself have 17 years building sites from the top 5 global investment banks, to top 5 UK retailers, to my local darts team.
I am not sure this is the right place to discuss the details of building a site, we either know it, or it's "complicated and technical" and getting over that hurdle's not hard, however there's better info out there.
In fact what I wanted to do was add a really simple point to help those who are less in the know.
Assuming that of course you are going to keep it up to date as possible, no one I know did that more because of SEO, it was about time. Assuming you will of course keep it relevant, assuming you know how to write relevant concise text, assuming you have a blog if you want, and have a Content Management System CMS if you want... given all that happens as it will based on time / energy / desire / business goals... then the big question is always, "how do i get higher on Google".
And, remembering my assumption about relevant and up to date, the most important thing without a doubt is incoming links. However 1,000 forum posts will get you no further than 100 forum posts, so don't think it's an easy answer. That was really the only point i was trying to get across - something easy to digest and understand for the 2 people on the forum who are not professional website designers
On the point of "the page is your shop window, it reflects on you...", that is true, and also not true... can you build with a CMS and standard template, or do you need a good design?
Well, if you are an actual shop, you want as many customers as possible, you want to sell things online, which requires trust, which requires that you look respectable etc... however e-commerce is a whole different ball game...
If you are offering a service, and perhaps have no employees or only 1 or 2, you will have 1 or 2 customers per week, perhaps less. Word of mouth is important, return on investment in a website is low. So I do not expect my local independent tradesmen to have a great website.
Perhaps who they are, registrations/standards, a gallery of examples, and some testimonials is really all you need. Put a link on your business card and from local directories / check-a-trade type sites, and that's enough. you don't need great SEO, you don't need great content that is constantly changing...
it's got to be horses for courses
powertools
Established Member
I'm pleased that this thread has come up again.
I have a Microsoft Office Small Business website that I have been able to produce myself with good results however Microsoft have now changed this service to Office 365 and I no longer think that suits my micro business and am now looking for a replacement website building tool and hosting company.
Any ideas?
I have a Microsoft Office Small Business website that I have been able to produce myself with good results however Microsoft have now changed this service to Office 365 and I no longer think that suits my micro business and am now looking for a replacement website building tool and hosting company.
Any ideas?
wcndave
Established Member
There are about five ads above ;-)
RogerS
Established Member
LOL! But a shame about the typo on your homepage :wink:mickthetree":38qdp6dp said:
mickthetree
Established Member
Hey, I'm just the developer, I get someone else to do the content! ;-)
Hudson Carpentry
Established Member
RogerS":3797uic0 said:
I once got a snotty email from a women that was so appalled that my (still) unfinished website advertising my website services had typeos and that she would never use a company that made a spelling mistake on there own site.
It was quite a nasty email.
Anyhow I sent a really snotty email back shoving all my experience and knowledge in her face. Told her that she was a narrow minded women and just because someone made a spelling mistake isn't a good reason to have a go or judge there professional skills. I Pointed her in the direction of some testimonials and gave her the stats on how many websites I had built (rough stats) and how much some of the larger projects are worth that I had undertaken, how many repeat customers I have and how young I was when I got my first computer qualification (13 - youngest in england at time). I also explained that even though im dyslexic I still have an IQ of 118 and judging someone by a website thats obviously not complete is a terrible character floor and that all my finished worked is proof read by client and someone else I know.
She couldn't apologise enough but doubt she meant it.
