Knivemakers web presence sucks

ZT updates facebook along with Kershaw everyday.
With new, Wips, and possible future releases.
 
The Logical One said:
It's not like you can get any of their knives direct anyways, so IMO it doesn't matter if their sites are always up to date. The sites you need to check often are the major online dealers that carry those custom maker's knives.

Something I would like to point out that I find very interesting is that often times the knife makers don't NEED to have good customer service or good communications because they know that regardless their stuff will sell. On a major knife forum that I won't mention by name I have seen people do some hardcore brown nosing to the custom knife makers in hopes of becoming "buddy buddy".

So the bottom line is if they are the big names and their knives are desirable... they don't need a good website, they don't need good customer service, they don't need to be on top of answering emails. Heck they can even be DICKS and you'll STILL buy their knives. It's kinda like a chick who gets treated like crap by his D-bag boyfriend but refuses to break-up with him.

Oh... and for the knife makers who are not so big name but want to have more exposure.... all they have to do is make a deal with youtube knife personality "Jim Skelton" to do a review and they'll go from being an unknown to being backlogged for 3 years. True story bro!
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Wow, you have a serious hard on for me, my name is always in your mouth for some reason. Do I know you? Did I shun your advances at some point in the past or something?

Again, I'd love to get in on this huge money-making "deal" you keep speaking of. I'm sure all of these young, up and coming makers have tons of cash to throw around.
 
Let's discuss the topic, not each other... or the mods will close it down.

Scurvy092 said:
Well it's a lot easier for a maker to take three seconds and snap a picture and post it for free on an app or forum than it is to upload it to a website or pay someone to do it and then also pay for the band width.
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Yup.

More importantly, I get a lot more business from forums and social media than I ever have from my website. What I mostly get through my site are, (I'm sorry to say it) annoying questions from people who have no idea what they want, despite there being a ton of info there to help them make informed choices. That adds up to a lot of extra work on my end, answering questions on orders that very seldom come through anyway. I don't want to be unpleasant about it, but as a one-man shop, that costs me money. Quite honestly I don't think I'll renew my website hosting when it expires... it's simply not paying for itself. I'd much rather be in the shop all day than fiddling around with a website.

On forums and social media, the people who notice/follow me pretty much know what they want, and it's a lot easier/faster/more responsive for both of us.
 
Knife makers, etc. are just that...craftsmen and artists...not site builders/designers. I'd guess they don't have enough hours in the day to complete the work they need to complete, never mind spending hours and/or much money building a site that would change nearly every day.

When I want to see a knife makers work I "google that sh.." to quote a certain person...KVS...I google "images of Joe Blow knives" and voila image upon image pops up with links to the knife maker, seller, etc.

I find that many if not most of their knives are sold as fast as they are completed or pre sold as customer order when I follow that link.

I'm not sure what the OP is trying to get across...doesn't really say...other than no website presence.
 
As a knife maker who is trying to grow a small business, I am struggling with just this sort of thing. I may be able to give some insight and hopefully get some advice. As my business grows I have to make more knives and faster which means I am spending more time in the shop and less time in the office. It becomes a balancing act because I want to give my customers a personal experience but it only takes a few long phone calls to throw off my work day. I have tried to find someone to help me with the phone, but they need an extensive knowledge about knives and the industry and be willing to work for what I can pay. I have finally found someone like that but it took almost 2 years. As to the Internet, to be blunt, most knife makers are "hammer/grinder good, computer bad" and this presents several problems. First, working on my website is slow and painful and requires constant adjustment and updating which I cannot do and be in the shop, so I tend to blow it off and go work on knives. The second is I have no idea if I am getting a good deal on having a website built and maintained and often do not speak the same language as my "I.T." I know they are speaking english but I do not understand the words coming out of his mouth. For these reasons, often times makers wind up with crappy site, because they do not know they can do better and the time it would take to learn could keep them from making the knives they need to pay rent. Lastly is the overwhelming theme of time and money. To take good quality photos, post them and description takes a lot of time for a Dyslexic luddite who struggles to think in computer logic. I am trained to think in angles and curves not pathways and systems. Larger companies can afford to pay staff to constantly update there site, but small makers cannot and we are left with what we know are weak sites, but no idea how to fix it. This and a sense of community is why many have gone to forums and in my case facebook. I know that facebook has it's own problems but it is easy and fast to update.

As to using dealers, again it is easier to deal with one client than ten. Another advantage to working with dealers is they tend to give the maker a great deal of artistic freedom letting us build whatever we have been inspired to. This just more fun and rewarding. At this point I must say I know the point of custom knifemaking is to make the knife that your customer wants and I love making blades for people, but I like pushing myself in new directions as well.

As to customer service, yes in every community some people are just asses and there is nothing one can do about that. In my case I struggle with a few different things. The first is time. Until very recently, I was a one man show and trying to be available for calls and work in the shop is counter productive. There were times it would take me days to return a phone call not because I did not care, but because I was the office manager, secretary, shop forman, accountant, labor and also had to be a dad and husband. Even with help we are still trying to get to everyone in a timely manner, add to this calls from different time zones, from blocked numbers/ do not leave a number to return a call and dealing with unrelated calls, it is hard to be as prompt as we would like.

In short, a lot of us know that our web site sucks and that we are not as responsive to customers as we would like, but we have not found an answer that we can afford. Any advice or I.T. with lots of free time that will work for next to nothing please feel free to give me a call.
 
jskelton said:
Wow, you have a serious hard on for me, my name is always in your mouth for some reason. Do I know you? Did I shun your advances at some point in the past or something?

Again, I'd love to get in on this huge money-making "deal" you keep speaking of. I'm sure all of these young, up and coming makers have tons of cash to throw around.
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If you want, PM or email me and I'll tell you.
 
I worked with Neil Blackwood and he uses Facebook and Instagram. These, along with the forums, are easier to maintain than trying to maintain a website. It doesn't cost to sell on facebook so overhead is kept low as well.
 
Once again, an interesting and legitimate topic of discussion has nearly become overshadowed by a couple of personalities who for some reason don't care for each other. Get a room, you two. :rolleyes:

Anyway, I agree with Dogwood Dan... this knifemaking thing is a lot harder than it looks.

We humble sparkmakers and hammer-jockeys have a heck of a lot on our plates just studying our craft, getting materials and building knives... and quite frankly, running/paying for a super-duper fancy website that caters to every potential customer's demands for instant updates simply isn't the highest priority. Nor is spending hours per day answering questions that do not result in business being done... or making a video about every little thing we do or new knife we have to offer. We operate on a shoestring budget at best, and every minute/dollar spent on that would be better served by just making knives and putting them up for sale.

Again, I'm sorry if that sounds rude or cold-hearted, but it's just a fact. I'm reasonably certain that large manufacturers feel pretty much the same way, and that's why they put their money into R&D and actually making knives, rather than paying staff to update a site every week.

Websites are simply not an efficient way for a maker to get their product in front of clients. Forums and social media are much more effective, for both makers/manus and the customers we serve. I suspect that trend will continue with dealers/retailers as well.
 
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james terrio said:
Anyway, I agree with Dogwood Dan... this knifemaking thing is a lot harder than it looks.

We humble sparkmakers and hammer-jockeys have a heck of a lot on our plates just studying our craft, getting materials and building knives... and quite frankly, running/paying for a super-duper fancy website that caters to every potential customer's demands for instant updates simply isn't the highest priority. Nor is spending hours per day answering questions that do not result in business being done... or making a video about every little thing we do or new knife we have to offer. We operate on a shoestring budget at best, and every minute/dollar spent on that would be better served by just making knives and putting them up for sale.
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When I first got serious about collecting over a decade ago, I bought Wayne Goddard's "$50 Knife Shop." A slim, colorful and informative volume. It was after perusing this wonderful book that I realized no matter what I learned about the technical details that went into knifemaking, it wasn't something I'd be able to do.

My metaphorical hat is certainly off to you and those like you.
 
I have designed web sites for years, and I will say that I have seen many bad knifemaker web sites - but only a few good ones. Some of the bigger names have good sites.

I think the problem is what was mentioned before. Why would we expect a great knifemaker to be good at designing web sites? Most custom makers are one person businesses with little time to set up web sites and market online. And they may sell at local shows which ties up more time. They should take the time to find a web designer whose work they like and either hire them or barter with them to get a better site.

Social media, forums and YouTube are also great marketing channels, but a web site makes a nice base to show your gallery.
 
The larger knife sellers probably have one person responsible for updating their website and it gets done when it gets done. I suspect for many of the small knife makers that updating their websites is like trying to pour mollasse. Many probably don't know how and don't want to pay someone to update their websites. It is what it is....
 
dogwood dan said:
As a knife maker who is trying to grow a small business, I am struggling with just this sort of thing. I may be able to give some insight and hopefully get some advice. As my business grows I have to make more knives and faster which means I am spending more time in the shop and less time in the office. It becomes a balancing act because I want to give my customers a personal experience but it only takes a few long phone calls to throw off my work day. I have tried to find someone to help me with the phone, but they need an extensive knowledge about knives and the industry and be willing to work for what I can pay. I have finally found someone like that but it took almost 2 years. As to the Internet, to be blunt, most knife makers are "hammer/grinder good, computer bad" and this presents several problems. First, working on my website is slow and painful and requires constant adjustment and updating which I cannot do and be in the shop, so I tend to blow it off and go work on knives. The second is I have no idea if I am getting a good deal on having a website built and maintained and often do not speak the same language as my "I.T." I know they are speaking english but I do not understand the words coming out of his mouth. For these reasons, often times makers wind up with crappy site, because they do not know they can do better and the time it would take to learn could keep them from making the knives they need to pay rent. Lastly is the overwhelming theme of time and money. To take good quality photos, post them and description takes a lot of time for a Dyslexic luddite who struggles to think in computer logic. I am trained to think in angles and curves not pathways and systems. Larger companies can afford to pay staff to constantly update there site, but small makers cannot and we are left with what we know are weak sites, but no idea how to fix it. This and a sense of community is why many have gone to forums and in my case facebook. I know that facebook has it's own problems but it is easy and fast to update.

As to using dealers, again it is easier to deal with one client than ten. Another advantage to working with dealers is they tend to give the maker a great deal of artistic freedom letting us build whatever we have been inspired to. This just more fun and rewarding. At this point I must say I know the point of custom knifemaking is to make the knife that your customer wants and I love making blades for people, but I like pushing myself in new directions as well.

As to customer service, yes in every community some people are just asses and there is nothing one can do about that. In my case I struggle with a few different things. The first is time. Until very recently, I was a one man show and trying to be available for calls and work in the shop is counter productive. There were times it would take me days to return a phone call not because I did not care, but because I was the office manager, secretary, shop forman, accountant, labor and also had to be a dad and husband. Even with help we are still trying to get to everyone in a timely manner, add to this calls from different time zones, from blocked numbers/ do not leave a number to return a call and dealing with unrelated calls, it is hard to be as prompt as we would like.

In short, a lot of us know that our web site sucks and that we are not as responsive to customers as we would like, but we have not found an answer that we can afford. Any advice or I.T. with lots of free time that will work for next to nothing please feel free to give me a call.
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So I come from a weird two folds background. Grew up cooking as a chef in my early teens in michelin kitchens to working as a product designer for Apple, Nike, CBS. The shift change for me wanting to start my own business was seeing these same problems, and understanding the challenges small businesses face in regards to time/money. Being sensitive to that my business now is concerned with creating cohesive branding strategies for small business by treating the content, website, info, as one cohesive product. Versus as a marketing scheme or t-shirt canon approach. Simply in that by treating the business as a whole as a branded product small business owners will see it more as an investment, rather than another pricey business expense. This also vests the owner in their own brand and gets them excited to see their vision told their way. True there are many people doing what I do in design that charge way too much for things you don't need, but then again, there's guys like me looking for stories like this to tell better on the web who are happy to work out a fair deal. The true next step is changing the online shopping/fulfillment experience info something that's easy to use, secure, and easy to upkeep. Anyone curious feel free to email or pm me, this includes you too Dan! (if you have time)
 
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james terrio said:
What I mostly get through my site are, (I'm sorry to say it) annoying questions from people who have no idea what they want, despite there being a ton of info there to help them make informed choices. That adds up to a lot of extra work on my end, answering questions on orders that very seldom come through anyway. I don't want to be unpleasant about it, but as a one-man shop, that costs me money.
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To reduce the amount of questions, you should put up a contact page with that information, with the e-mail at the bottom.
 
jac_solar said:
To reduce the amount of questions, you should put up a contact page with that information, with the e-mail at the bottom.
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It's all on my website. Just like the sticky threads here, apparently the best way to thoroughly hide pertinent information is to put it on one's site on a FAQ/terms and conditions/ materials page, etc...

There's a reason why so many successful makers get to a point where they seldom accept custom orders.
 
james terrio said:
It's all on my website. Just like the sticky threads here, apparently the best way to thoroughly hide pertinent information is to put it on one's site on a FAQ/terms and conditions/ materials page, etc...

There's a reason why so many successful makers get to a point where they seldom accept custom orders.
Click to expand...

I meant, as opposed to directly linking to your e-mail from the "Contact Me" link, you should make it a separate page, and then put the e-mail directly below whatever text you want to write on the page.
 
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