webb site worth

[unclej]

to those of you with webb sites i'd like to ask a question..are they worth the effort and expense? do you actually list pieces for sale or just have a gallery aimed at getting commision work?

i now have a local gallery showing my work and a webb site seems like the next logical step but i'd appreciate any feedback concerning their worth to your business.

thanks
john

[Landseer]

I have never regretted my web site expenses, you can get a domain name for under $10 a year and hosting for UNDER $10 a month and with it unlimited email accounts/forwarders, spam filters and much more.
Yes, I get sales from mine, but it takes a while to get traffic on a new site.

For domain registration I'd use http://www.godaddy.com

For hosting I have been with http://www.hostingit365.com for several years with several sites and it's good, I get a LOT for about $6.99 a month, my traffic is now over 2 gigs a month and I have loads of space plus 20 mySQL databases, unlimited emailboxes, forwarding etc

By the way, this is handy info:

I set those email boxes up depending on what I want to use email for, I create an email address for everything to avoid spam and if I GET spam I know exactly how it came.
Example; my local banking on-line email address is bank@ my utility bill on-line payment thing also uses an email for notices and bills etc, so I created midamerican@

For Ebay I'm Ebay@
For Paypal it's PayPal@
For my various board signups each one has an individual email box.

Then I have my email forwarders set to take ALL of the mail to all of those boxes and forward them to me at my LOCAL email address which is only used for this.
Thus, my local email box is NEVER spammed directly, and if I get spam on any of the others like say; ebay@ then I know exactly where my email address was grabbed by a spammer and I can change that to ebay2@ and delete ebay@ and kill the spam right there :)

It takes a bit of effort to set up initially but it works real slick, and in Eudora you can create mailboxes and rules to direct the emails to various folders.

[unclej]

thank you landseer..i appreciate the input and by the way, i spent a few minutes browsing your webbsite..very nice site, beautiful product.

[Jay Long]

I just want to say that even if you dont sell from your website, for the cost of having a website (which is cheap) it is nice to have your portfolio available to anyone who owns a computer, all you have to do is give them your website address. Jay

[clifton]

my two cents worth:

worth it?
you have to decide
Ten years ago the majority of carvers, crafts persons, folk artists, and artists I knew, said it was a waste of time and effort.
They had dropped it after a year or so.

Today most of the same people have a web site.
But I have to say that for many, it iseems to be more of an after thought. Something they feel they should do.

Personally, I think an artist should explore every outlet they feel comfortable with. The more arrows in the quiver the better, so to speak. But each avenue requires energy, time and money. So we make choices. How much we are willing to cut into our creative time is one of them.

I miss my road side studio, and hope to get set up again. By far the best for sales and local promotion. But, on the down side, you have to deal with the public. Restricted open hours is a must.

Galleries are great but some dealers can make you feel like an employee. Some others can be rough in other ways. It is not easy to find a good dealer to work with.

Direct promotion in related areas of commerce or industry tend to enjoyable, but probably will not build your reputation as a serious artist. That will take a lot of self promotion if you got that way.

If direct sales on the net are your only interest, you would probably sell more on ebay. Something your gallery owner may not be too happy to learn. Better reassure them that your prices will not be lower, or you will only be offering certain reproductions, etc..

At least, they don't seem to see a web site the same way.
If an in depth presentation of your work is important, a web site gives low cost opportunity to do it very professionally.

should you decide to go for it ...

if you program, or find that appealing
then a cheap domain & web host combo is probably best,
or as with Landseer suggested above.

if not, or you feel you might need more support
then something like YaHoo domain hosting (http://geocities.yahoo.com/ps/info) might be the way to go. Your domain name, web site templates and such, can make it easier and quicker to do a decent job.

IMHO, a web page should lean one way or t'other.
Sales oriented or presentation oriented.
The two approaches have different goals.

sales should use ad copy practices
so you need to learn a little about advertising lingo and design

Presentation is easier to set up and a good way to get started.
It can aim more at dealers, people who know you, or interested collectors who have just met you.

good luck,
Clifton
_______

[unclej]

thanks jay.. and clifton, thank you very much for your insightful comments. you're right about having to decide if it's worth it. to me it's a matter of is it worth the time and effort at the moment...mostly the time actually. my plate stays pretty full and to commit the time it would take to set up a site it would have to provide more than just an ego trip.

anyway, thanks to all again.
john

[tonofelephant]

Hi,

Let me give my two cents worth on websites. Our website (my wifes and mine) give us a lot of flexibility. Not only can we show work to anyone who is trolling through the internet, it gives the ability to put pages up exclusively for a specific customer to look through. Makes the customer feel real special. Also it can help your gallery. The gallery owner can show your latest work to a prospective client instead of losing them.

The hassle is learning a program to put the web site up. If you put up a web site make sure it is truly professional or you are just wasting your money. Might help for you to look at a plethora of web sites to see which work and which dont. Do some websites explain things better that you like?

Don't rush into web site. If you want one be fully commited. Our web site brings in sales on a fairly regular basis. We don't have to pay a commission to a gallery for the sales. It's nice.

As to prices on web site. If you put prices up make sure that they are the same as what the gallery charges. One gallery I have does not want prices up on the site becaue he inflates my suggested retail so that he can come down in price for the customer and look like a hero. Ergo I have no prices up - yet.

Good luck to you on your web adventure.

Carl
www.wsggallery.com

[unclej]

"The gallery owner can show your latest work to a prospective client instead of losing them."

thanks..that's a great point and one that i hadn't considered.

my partner in my little guitar shop has a great site for his custom short scale basses and gets probably 90% of his sales from it..he also maintains it and updates it frequently and he's offered to help me. i actually have a little experience working with webbsites and can even program a little html. i also have a lady friend that is great at posting already created sites and making them user friendly so i'm pretty well set when i decide to do it..which i'm much more inclined to do now.

[dondougan]

Hi John,

I have had a domain-name website up since 1999.

I use it to show prospective clients, gallery and museum personnel what I do, and (more recently) to also provide technical information on the process of working stone (I also am a college-level sculpture and design instructor).

It is a labor of love and hard work to present it in a manner I consider proper, but it is also a means of self-evaluation. Like anything worth doing for yourself, it is worth doing well. It has taught me a lot about working with Photoshop, webdesign, and presentation in general, as well as a continual hone upon my writing skills.

It is the best and most comprehensive portfolio I can provide given that my chosen medium is sculpture (primarily in not-all-that-portable stone).

I do not post prices, and have never had a sale attributable to the website (at least not as the website being the client's initial introduction to my work).

If I did post prices I would certainly not undercut any representative gallery prices (my previous clients would also not like it if their investments were to be de-valued in that manner).

Hope that helps you.
Don