Websites....... YAY or NAY? Opinions!!!!!!!

sybo

Active Member
As the title states!! I’m contemplating doing a website but with all the social media today I don’t know how smart this is opinions please from all of my knife dog friends!!

Do you guys think it’s really worth it what do you expect to pay to have one set up ?
 
If you're trying to sell as a pro, yes.

At the least, a little bio, a gallery of photos and your contact info.
 
I agree with the Count - even though it does seem more knives are sold thru social media, you still NEED a website for the "professional" look it gives. My feelings anyway.

Cost? Shouldn't be much - $25/yr or so? That is if you do the website yourself, and it's not that hard. I've not done any in a few years, but back in 1990's I was doing websites before we even had the WYSIWYG editors - we had to do all the coding by hand using ASCII text, then open in a browser window to see what it looked like.
 
Go and look at the sites the pro makers here on KD have...I'd say by the look of those the answer is YES...Maybe not selling as much as showcasing work and giving a buyer confidence in their quality and philosophy of style.
 
I contemplated getting one set up but think that any increase in orders just now might leave cutomers waiting longer than I want them to.
 
In my view, a website is where clients/customers learn about you and your knives. When it comes to selling custom knives, many times it's as much about the Knifemaker as it is the knife. If you sell a single knife off a website, then your investment has paid for itself. A website is like a trip to the mall..... pretty much everything you're looking for in one place.

Social media is like the 7-11 convenience store...... quick in and out, to grab a specific item or two, without a lot of detailed information on the product or it's maker.

If you're worried about "wait times", don't take orders. Or figure out something that will work for your situation. Personally, I only take an order if it's interesting and something I want to do. Otherwise I make the knives I want, and offer then up as they are completed...... using both my website and social media.
 
I'm a little late to this one but thought I'd weigh in.

I don't have a website...never have. I've had many people ask if I had one and I think it's a great idea if for no other reason than it's a nice place for people to easily access your gallery of work. I've looked into getting a 'professional' website many times. I tried the free DIY type and I've went the friend or brother-in-law route where someone you know does it for you as a favor and my take away from those things personally was: You get what you pay for. I realize there are some pretty quality simple DIY platforms now but I'm still not sure it's something I could or would tackle all on my own. I just don't know enough about that stuff.

I think the days of websites being required to sell effectively are over. And I also think that the need for websites in general is slowly (or maybe not so slowly) disappearing. I don't like the whole social media platforms that are popular today and I never have. I drug my feet and bucked the social media trend for a long time. But I was also realistic enough to see that's the direction that knives and most other crafts are heading and jumped on the Instagram train. It allows you to put a finished knife for sale in front of tens of thousands of people in minutes that are knife fanatics and even further, are fans of YOUR work specifically.

Couple all of the above with the fact that when I closed my books several months back, I was looking at a 2 year backlog AND the fact that most of us, myself included, don't have very much disposable income and it became pretty hard for me to justify making a website a priority, even though I do see real value and merit to the idea. For those reasons, it's always been a back burner sort of thing for me....and if things keep going the way they are, that burner flame is looking at being extinguished.
 
Back
Top