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Boriqua

Joined
Feb 4, 1999
Messages
655
I have been home this weekend and have been going through the entire links list of custom makers. No Im not a knife nut !?!?
I have a suggestion. Im an easy sell and enjoy aquiring knives. Some I keep some I sell or trade here on the forums. I would love to see Specs for the knives that you have listed and shown on your site. Over all length, blade length, stock thickness price,etc. All this info can be contained in a few lines. It can make the difference between me contacting some maker for follow up or not. Most sites I visited had pix but without any info or something else in the pic for reference you couldnt tell if it was 3 inches or 30, 100 dollars or 500.
Alex

[This message has been edited by Boriqua (edited 05 December 1999).]
 
Alex,
I've noticed the same thing. Now, I thought that was because they were Custom Makers, that serious buyers would inquire, on a specific piece. There are so many variables. What do you want? You're the "Buyer." I can understand of course, top makers not including a price. If you have to ask, you can't afford it. Right?
 
Hey Boriqua,
I know just what you mean, it is frustrating to track down a Web address, and then find very little info on the knives you came to see.I have found Web-sites by knifemakers that contain section on their family dog, vacations they have taken, wife jokes, and their hobby of collecting toe-nail clippings or what ever. On top of that a lot of them are hard to navigate , have fancy backgrounds that you can't read the text through, or if you can read it, they just ramble on about their childhood love of knives. Some of the pictures are so poor; to small, to dark, to fuzzy, not even worth looking at. They have no order form, can't find their E-mail icon, don't even list there first name, or some times not even their last name. A home address would be nice with a phone number, but I guess they don't want to be disturbed.
Since you seem to have researched this problem as have I, then perhaps you would do me a very big favor. Would you look closely at my Web-sit, and give me an honest critique. However, please don't visit it until Monday night. Some how an E-mail message to my Webmaster, from one of his other clients, got stuck on my Knife/Price List page, and no one can get through it to view the pages. I've got to have him fix the problem ASAP on Monday,
Best Regards & Happy Holidays,
Jay Maines
Sunrise River Custom Knives www.sunrisecustomknives.com

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Hey philL
IMHO,..I agree with the part about the variables but I still think a " this is what it costs in this configuration " could work. As far as "If you have to ask...." everyones spending comfort level is different. I for one have a reallllll hard time going over 300. At 200 I start to question my obsession and sanity but if its just a "have to have" knife I can go up to three.Even went up to 425 once!! In order to save myself, what I feel, is the embarrassment of asking and then admitting I cant afford it I just say to myself, "wow cool knife but I probably cant swing it" and I go away.Yet many of them may have been in my range. On top of that I hate to waste a makers time asking about something that is just outside my ability or comfort level to buy. I think many a maker has lost a possible sale this way. If I knew a knife was in my realm I would follow up on some of the wonderful things I see.
Jay
I came across ALOT of badly designed web pages. Im not a designer or anything but I do spend some time on the net. That and basic common sense should tell you that if you cant read the text lose the wild background. Its funny how a well designed site adds legitmacy to the maker and his product. I just feel better buying from someone who has a proffesional looking site than one that was cobbled together poorly. Feels like he is serious about his business. A profesional. I know I may get alot of slack from fellow forumites on this one but it is a business. I have two bakeries near me the one that has the dirty windows has never seen me enter the door.
ALex
Hope this info helps some of our makers make some changes that could help. We had a thread on what were the best sites. Maybe we need a thread on What not to do with your web site. Doesnt have to include specific sites just details.
 
I agree about cluttered websites, and lack of pricing. It is very difficult to design and maintain a website. I am trying very hard to creat a easy to navigate, informative and interesting website. If any of you have suggestions for me to improve my website, I would absolutely love to hear them. You can post your suggestions here, e-mail me, post them on my forum (on my site) or call me at 918-322-5416. I am really glad to see this discussed, because I think websites say alot about the knifemakes. I want mine to say professional. If you can help me with that, please do.

Thanks,


------------------
Lynn Griffith-Knifemaker

My website
GriffithKN@aol.com


 
Alex,
We are in perfect agreement, we're even at the same price point. There are for me at least more than enough makers, with nice web sites, for me to select from. The good news, it's just going to get better, as these great makers become great at E-commerce.

Lynn, I've been to your web site, many times, you know what your doing.
 
I have an idea. Tell them to contact Spark and myself so we can build them a new site
smile.gif




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Mike Turber
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Do it! Do it right! Do it right NOW!

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This is a very intresting subject. The only customs I've seen in person were at the one knifeshow I went to. Other than that, everything else I know about custom makers is word of mouth, or from their websites. Many makers throw up a website, but don't really maintain it. I've also noticed that a few makers have been slow or not at all with responding to email. Sure, I may not be able to afford their $600 knives right now, but it'd be nice to know that they at least care a little bit, because in a few years I will be able to afford their products. When I can afford nicer knives, I will be going to makers who were very nice to me, even though they knew I would not be an immediate sale.

I'd like to make notable mention of Newt Livesay, Lynn Griffith, Allen Elishewtiz, and Tom Mayo. All of these makers have been very nice at responding to questions I've had, and all have done a good job at maintaining and improving their websites.

~Mitch
 
Mitch,
Do you have a URL, for Newt Livesay? His name is really coming up a lot, I check BF links, and didn't see one.
TIA
PhilL
 
If you see a name missing, feel free to click on the "add a site" link and add it on in.

Spark

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Kevin Jon Schlossberg
SysOp and Administrator for BladeForums.com

Insert witty quip here
 
Thanks Mitch, I had just found it through Jeff Randalls website. I do appreciate it.
 
Check out BladeGallery.com, Daniel O'Malley has done a great job at showcasing several makers with prices, descriptions,availability,links, etc
 
Mike, you're right, one of the best sites, they make it very easy for you.
 
Guys,

You here on this forum are very comfortable with the web. While it is increasing every day, web sales still only constititue about 1% of all retail sales.

Most people in the US do not have computers in their homes. The vast majority that do have access to the web is at work, where they are not allowed to surf the net on company time.

My own web site has been up for 18 months and I find I am still updating and changing things.

The one thing I have learned about web sites is that they are never done and never perfect. They are ever evloving.

So while you are upset that a picture may be not to scale or there may not be a price or they do have their site up and running.

Boys and Girls, these are the top 10% of knife makers in regards to the web.

Most makers still rely primarly on print advertising, catalogs and knife shows to let people know about their knives.

For those of you who have never put together a catalog of custom knives it can be a daunting task.

It's easy enough to say, just put up a web site. But what about knives to photograph?
Don't forget to go out and buy that digital camera, then learn how to use it so the pictures look good. Oops, forgot, I don't have a computer to get the email from my site, guess I need one of those too. Wow Im up to $3,000 - $4,000 and I don't even have the web site up yet. Don't forget that domain name. Also, how about registering for those search engines...sure they will put you on with out payment!

All the above statments are accurate, I know makers who have a web site and no computer. So how do they get their email and respond?

Guys, it's going to take awhile for everyone to catch up. So for now, the best things you can do for these makers is to send them construtive critisism about their site. Please dont just send them email that says things like "hey how come your knives arent priced?" List specifics, tell them why it is important to you to know the prices.

Don't expect miracles overnight. Most of these guys spend their time at their full time job, then come home and make knives. Doesn't leave a lot of time to fine tune those metatags!

Les
 
Heck all this time and I never knew about bladeballery! Thanks for the heads up guys. I do know what you mean about having all the extra stuff on the sites. As Les said it takes time. The average maker does not have a site and many do not even have net access. The ones that do barely understand what is going on here on the net concerning knives. This of course is based on conversations I have with them at knife shows. In my view we are just now seeing the very tip on the iceberg. Many more makers and collector's will be jumping on board. I would not be shocked if our numbers more than double this next year.

Regards,

Tom Carey
 
Tom & Les,
I'm in E-commerce, I meet with business owners every day, showing them why they need to do this for their business. I compliment all of you makers, and dealers that have taken steps in the right direction. Some are better than others, some don't see it as a priority.
I met with a business owner 2 weeks ago. He said he couldn't think about the Internet now, he had just finished building a 200,000 square foot store in N.J. I said congratulations, he had just built a Dinosaur. 60-70,000 new people go on the INternet every day. The Internet is the best selling tool that ever was, the least expensive, and the fastest. I asked him, "Is waiting to get on the Internet, saving or costing you money?" Guess what his answer was?
Right now, only 5% of the business' have Transactional web sites, 85% want one. The other 10%, won't be in business in 2 years. By 2006, half of the workforce in this country will be in e-commerce. These aren't my projections, but I don't doubt them. Whatever business you do now on the Internet will grow, any other way is obsolete. Don't believe me? Wait a year.
 
I want to rant about the growing trend to put music on websites -- things that blink at you and moving animations aren't annoying enough for the dorks any more; now they want to annoy us with sounds, too! There's nothing like putting on some Coltrane while I do some web surfing and finding myself at the website of some dork who thinks I'll enjoy listening to a movie theme played by his retarded aunt in the key of D along with Trane's solo in Db -- most of the dorks don't put in any easy-to-find button to turn off their horrible noises, either -- maybe they want to force me to listen whether I like it or not? You lose, dork; I've got a "back" button and I know right where to find that one....

Did I mention the retarded aunt who records the music for the dorks does it on an electronic keyboard she bought at K-Mart for $19.95, is tone-deaf, has no sense of rhythm, only has eight fingers, and never can remember which fingers she's missing? Of course I know her only through her music, but those seem the only possible explanations for the musical talent she displays on these websites....

Thank you, I feel better now.

-Cougar Allen :{)

P.S. If anyone reading this has music on his website and thinks I don't mean you ... because your retarded aunt recorded your theme in Bb instead of in D, or she only has seven fingers instead of eight, or whatever reason you think you are in any way different from the dorks flamed above ... don't worry about it; I won't visit your website more than once anyway....

-Cougar :{)

P.P.S. If after reading this post you still imagine someone, somewhere, might conceivably wish to listen to your retarded aunt's keyboard playing while visiting your website, put a START BUTTON on your page -- not a stop button, no matter how prominently displayed, a START button -- and then that someone somewhere you imagine might exist in your demented lunacy can click on the START button and start the music if he wants to.

:{)


[This message has been edited by Cougar Allen (edited 05 December 1999).]
 
Cougar "dork" Allen,

ever thought of turning off your computers sound while surfing? Or maybe use earphones if listening to your own music while surfing? maybe not surfing at all since it seems you hate everything but pure boring sites.

you should probably never go to my site since it does have a couple of cool animation effects and not a boring white background.
no music though. i guess just us dorks like a little variety to break the boredom of all
these sterile business like sites.

ps, did your seven fingered aunt drop you on your head as a child?

[This message has been edited by HermanKnives (edited 06 December 1999).]
 
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