What do you look for in a maker's website?

NDallyn

NDallyn

Joined
Jun 22, 2006
Messages
814
I am going to be rebuilding my website in the upcoming week (if I can manage to stay out of the shop long enough), and got to thinking -

What makes a good website for knifemakers?

My current site is my first amateur attempt at website design and is lacking in a few areas (namely small pictures). Being as I don't have sufficient means at the moment to have a site built professionally (would cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $2-3500 here in Calgary - money I would rather put into tools and materials) I will be trying my hand at it again.

So, what do you as collectors look for in a maker's website? Do you like to see pictures of things other than just knives (work in progress pics, shop tours, etc.)? Do you like to see personal info on the maker - or do you prefer just a straight to business type of site.

Any suggestions or ideas would be greatly appreciated and a big help to me as this is outside my normal area of expertise.

Have a good one,

Nathan
 
Hi Nathan,

Like building a kit knife, let others do ALL the hardest work. I suggest you look into this site for an already-designed template. I did last year, and built my own site myself, like you are going to do. Cost: about $150 and a LOT of my newbie time.

http://allwebcodesign.com/

Good for YOU!

Coop
 
SharpByCoop said:
Hi Nathan,

Like building a kit knife, let others do ALL the hardest work.

Coop
Click to expand...

Ha! I've never actually built a kit knife, something about it just never seemed right to me. My knife making beginnings started out with lots of "gift knives" for family and a lot of ruined steel (not to mention a few dents on my head from beating it against the wall). Anyway, thanks for the link Coop!

By the way, my fiancee, a complete photography nut, was wondering what type of camera you're using (she figured maybe a canon 5D ? I don't know, the techie stuff is out of my area). Totally random aside.

Have a good one,
Nathan
 
Hi Nathan,

You do what so many other knife makers do...NO PRICES on your knives in your Gallery. I have never understood this.

Easy enough to put "As Shown $...."

Generally, no pricing is enough to stop me making any further inquires.

As I have found the main reason that makers do not price the knives in their galleries is they are "price sensitive" to what others may be charging. That is to say the maker knows their prices may be a little high. Yes, I understand the sales tactic "Start the "conversation "with" a potential client". By doing so you can explain to them why you price your knives they way you do.

Personally, I am very big on a makers "market position" and subsequent value pricing. Value pricing does not equate to "Cheap" or "Lowest" Price by any means. Value pricing directly relates to the value of the makers work compared to what their competition is doing world wide. This is where the Internet comes into play.

However, I would suggest to you that by pricing your knives you will implement an even better marketing/sales tactic..."Pre-Qualifying the Buyer".

That is to say, they like your work and they are comfortable with the price and will be in an immediate position to move forward. As opposed to having to ask the price and then break off communications while they consider it.

As knife making time is generally at a premium for most knife makers...why would you waste your knife making time answering emails...that would have not been necessary simply by putting pricing on your website.

If your prices go up...you can always raise your prices on the website.

Takes about as much time to do that as it does to answer 1 email.
 
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I think Les makes a really good point. Putting your prices up there also shows a certain level of confidence and confidence is what drives sales!
 
Things I look for in no particular order of importance:

photos
your knife photo gallery w/ generic pricing
shop/equipment photos

knives available for sale page

shows attended

materials, testing and heat treating information

mission statement

awards/designations

bios
primary or past careers
teachers
styles most interested in
other interest outside knives

organization in which you are a member

merchandise if offered

contact information

industry links
 
Make sure Coop shoots some of your knives. He makes them pop out in a vivid fashion and I think its very important for marketing.
 
jonathan brand said:
Make sure Coop shoots some of your knives. He makes them pop out in a vivid fashion and I think its very important for marketing.
Click to expand...

while I absolutely love Coop's work and personally use his services for all of my professional shots.

ANY professional level knife shots are better than what the average knifemaker is able to do

there are VERY few knifemakers who can take pictures anywhere close to the quality and "pizazz" of a real knife photographer.
 
^^^ Yeah, that.

I have a note on my website about good quality images:

You have four choices:

You can use me.
You can use someone else.
You can do it yourself.
You can do nothing.

I suggest you do something.

Thank you, Jon and Stephan.

Nathan - Yes, I have a 5DmkII and a 5D (as my backup).

Kit knives 'not right'?? Maybe, just maybe, had you built a kit knife or two you might not have beat your head so hard or thrown away steel. He he he! (Who is a STONG proponent of kit knives as a great experience, as much as building a smart website.) :thumbup:

Coop
 
Kevin's list is absolutely smart. It has professional and wished-for components.

In this field, we place a LOT of value on the experience WITH the maker. That said, make sure you have a quality photo of yourself on a bio page, so the internet viewer and potential client have a feel for the human they are interacting with. It's a golden opportunity.

Coop
 
Yeah I also love Eric Eggly's work (point seven) and Buddy's and the other fellows'. All great stuff and worth the buck.

I have a weird habit of going for knives that photograph well. If I see a picture of decent quality, and the knife doesn't pop, I may rethink a potential purchase.
 
Les Robertson said:
You do what so many other knife makers do...NO PRICES on your knives in your Gallery. I have never understood this.

Personally, I am very big on a makers "market position" and subsequent value pricing. Value pricing does not equate to "Cheap" or "Lowest" Price by any means. Value pricing directly relates to the value of the makers work compared to what their competition is doing world wide. This is where the Internet comes into play.
Click to expand...

Thank you for that Mr. Robertson, and thank you Mr. Jones for the list (I am still salivating over your Fisk collection in the display thread, very nice. I would love to get my hands on them for an hour or two). The lack of a pricing structure in the gallery pages was a complete oversight on my part (doing things in a hurry and lacking experience) and it will be corrected in the update, as you say it would make things much easier (I have already sent out a few quotes with no follow-up, may eliminate a certain amount of tire-kicking).

As for my place in the market, I am well aware of where I stand at this point - on the outside looking in. Everything I have sold to date has been in the sub $400 range and has been mostly local sales through word-of-mouth and self-promotion (with the occasional online sale to add to the mix). Currently, I am in the process of organizing my knifemaking into a legitimate proprietorship so I can take the taxation benefits from my input costs and set Dallyn Knives up as a business entity rather than a hobby, and the website is a large part of that.

Mr. Coop, I have enormous respect for what you do. There are very few people in the world lucky enough and gifted enough to earn a living from their passion, from what I've seen of your work I would say you are a very lucky man. However, my current stance in the marketplace makes hiring out photography a somewhat daunting proposition as I find it hard to justify paying out $100+ for professional photography of a $2-300 knife (the profit margin is just too slim to make it feasible) so I may just have to struggle along as a do-it-yourselfer until I reach a level where it can be more easily justified. If I'm making a mistake here, please correct me - I just don't think that I'm at that level yet, and may not be for some time.

Thanks to everyone for your input, it is greatly appreciated.

Nathan
 
I too look for prices but of course that concept is most important on the "available knives" page and in this case the set of Kitchen knives does have a price.

My biggest concern is with the photography. Coop has a link to how to do images and I have posted often my techniques and equipment and I certainly don't use the camera that Coop does because he is making prints and I simply create images for the internet which is basically what your wife will be doing as I recall she is the photographer.

If you want the link let me know and I can post it. You might also visit the CKCA Forums and read about photography and view images done by others to assist in your endeavors.

also have larger images available via a "click" so that the viewer can see more than a thumbnail.

rather than having to return to the Home page each time to advance to another page, include the links to other pages on each page one views.

Also, words such as Dad and Grandpa should be capitalized.

Break up the text into smaller segments for easier reading and paragraphs that relate similar sentences. Use the whole "canvas" of the webpage.

Here is a sample of the latest knife I have obtained so you can see directly one of my images done with my basic setup and a simple Nikon 995 which is 8 years old and 3.2 Megapixel camera all using completely auto settings. The digital image software used it Microsoft Digital Image 2006.

orig.jpg
 
SharpByCoop said:
Kit knives 'not right'?? Maybe, just maybe, had you built a kit knife or two you might not have beat your head so hard or thrown away steel. He he he! (Who is a STONG proponent of kit knives as a great experience, as much as building a smart website.) :thumbup:

Coop
Click to expand...

Sorry Coop, I just can't do it. I already had a lot of experience working steel as a welder and growing up on the farm before I started making knives so it made no sense to me to let someone else have all the fun while I just put things together and finished it. Besides that, I'm stubborn (at least that's what my mom used to tell me, and I think she may be right), I have always learned more from failure than from success. I did pull apart a lot of factory knives just to see how things were put together when I started.

Doomed to destroy steel in the pursuit of perfection,

Nathan
 
Thank you for that Mr. White, I was just on Coop's site and was looking at his light box construction link. I was thinking of welding up a foldable or collapsible version out of tubing and will have to see if I can work out a design for it. Nothing against the PVC pipe design, I just hate plastic and have limited space.

Thanks,

Nathan
 
Nathan -- that is the method I once used but have long since moved to another system which can be seen in this thread

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=369096

add a bit of plasticine to adjust the angle of some of the trickier knives with double hollow grinds etc and you will be finding image making both easier and results more satisfying.

I do suggest following the instructions as presented for best results.

Let us see what you come up with.
 
Looks like you have more than one project to take care of this next week.... :eek:

I'd just as soon 'teach a man to fish', especially if you are shooting knives regularly and they are relatively inexpensive. Look at what powerhouse Mike Snody does for himself.

Coop
 
You do what so many other knife makers do...NO PRICES on your knives in your Gallery. I have never understood this.
Click to expand...

That is a sure way to discourage customers , no prices , or INQUIRE FOR PRICE , drives me away from the website right away.

List the specifics , dimension , materials , etc.

If someone took the time to go to your website , they should be able to find all they need to know and decide if they are going to place an order. They shouldn't have to go inquiring to find more info , other than maybe wait or lead time.

Quality pictures are a must , and if a thumbnail is clickable , it should open in a size larger than the thumbnail that was clicked. Many sites I have visited the pictures opens just slightly larger so why bother ?

Keep the navigation simple , avoid wild flashy background colors that distract , don't go over the top and put so many bells & whistles that customers get lost.
 
NDallyn said:
However, my current stance in the marketplace makes hiring out photography a somewhat daunting proposition as I find it hard to justify paying out $100+ for professional photography of a $2-300 knife (the profit margin is just too slim to make it feasible) so I may just have to struggle along as a do-it-yourselfer until I reach a level where it can be more easily justified. If I'm making a mistake here, please correct me - I just don't think that I'm at that level yet, and may not be for some time.

Thanks to everyone for your input, it is greatly appreciated.

Nathan
Click to expand...


I QUICKLY found that when I get my work shot professionally it pushed me to a new level. I'm still in the sub-$400 range for most of my work as well but make it a point to get a few knives shot every now and then. it REALLY is that important.

Obviously getting every knife shot is an expense that you and I can't handle right now, but you NEED to do a few
 
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