Cindy Strnad on wed 27 dec 00
Hi there.
I agree with most of what Don wrote, and think it will bear out to be true.
There are a few things, however, which aren't always the case. First, I
registered my .com site for $75 for 2 years, and at the time, that was the
going rate. Now, however, there are plenty of people offering this service
free of charge or at a greatly reduced rate.
Second, I recently signed up with wholesalecrafts.com, and can affirm that
they don't cost nearly as much as going to Philly--even if you live there.
They do advertise with Niche magazine (among others), and many of their
clients do the show in Philly, though I've never done it. The cost for a
year is between $400 and $500, depending on what kind of sales they have
going.
Don't know yet how good it will be for me, but I do know that many of the
people I talked to before deciding to "take the leap" were very pleased.
Others weren't. So, you take your chances, but that's the way it is with any
kind of advertising. Just wanted to clear up those two points.
Cindy Strnad
Earthen Vessels Pottery
RR 1, Box 51
Custer, SD 57730
USA
earthenv@gwtc.net
http://www.earthenvesselssd.com
Don Jones on wed 27 dec 00
Susan,
I have had a web site up and running (walking) since 1994. What follows is
my own experience since then. It may not be the best for you.
At that time, the best thing to do was register it with Yahoo, Lycos, Web
crawler, and other major search engines. The best response though was by
listing it at major clay sites such as the big clay Universities and
schools. There was a site called The Potters Page that was the only thing
going at the time. The more clay sites I got on the more interested
response I got. A lot was from teachers and students wanting more
information. I started trading links with other clay people and craft
sites. I started printing my site on my business papers.
I think it is a gradual process. Since my article came out in Discover
magazine, I've had 400 hits in just a week. But over the year, I've had
over 2000 hits. There are various sites on the web that will help you
register your site for free. You can also pay someone about 40.00 to
register it with over 150 search engines. I did that but got little
resonse.
It would be my advice to save your money for a while and see if you can get
your site to pay for itself for the first year after just your own efforts.
I have heard that Wholesalecrafts.com is good but for the money you can
take your work to Philadelphia and have more fun and make more money.
It costs (I think) a lot of money for a .com site. Domain registration and
setup fees can cost in the hundreds. A .com site is 50.00/mo. versus
19.00. I do not have a .com site for that reason.
Paying another site to link with yours is risky but if you have the money
then try it for a year.
I stopped trading links because I am extremely lazy in updating my site and
these links become obsolete in a short time. It takes constant maintenance.
In conclusion, my site is doing just what I want it to do:
1. Act as an online brochure for my work so that others I meet can see it.
2. Generate enough sales to pay for email and web access fees.
3. Act as an online lottery ticket or fishing lure. You just don't know
who will bite or what it will generate.
Respectfully,
Don Jones
>I have just created a simple website through AOL and hope to expand it soon.
>There seem to be so many sites such as Guild.com, Wholesalecrafts.com,
>Artffinity.com, Atmallofamerica.com, Artmecca.com, Craftsonline.com
>Craftsfaironline.com, Passion4art.com, etc., and so many search engines to
>list with.
>
>I would appreciate knowing what web-based options other artists have found
>success with. Any advise would be appreciated.
>
>Susan
>
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www.highfiber.com/~claysky
SusanRaku@AOL.COM on wed 27 dec 00
In a message dated 12/27/2000 2:47:51 PM Eastern Standard Time,
claysky@HIGHFIBER.COM writes:
<< A .com site is 50.00/mo. versus
19.00. >>
Don, thank you for so sharing and providing information on your personal
experiences.
What is it that you are paying $19 for at this time and where is your address
currently listed?
Susan
Jim Bozeman on thu 28 dec 00
Simplenet.com only charges $12.00 a month. That's the server I use for my
website. It's paid for itself many times over.
_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
Marie Gibbons on thu 28 dec 00
Many good points being made here on this thread.
I must add my 2 cents, which is about what I try to spend for web
exposure.... there is sooo much out there, you just need to be able to find
the time to find it and use it.
As far as search engines, I spent many many nites just bringing up the diff
search engines and if you scroll down to the bottom of the page you usually
will see something like 'submit a site' that is where you want to go and
follow their format to submit your site.
There are many many places to list, related to your 'type of site' and also
just for general searching, the more you can add into the better.
Some will add you to several when you sign on with them (for no cost) one of
these is http://www.addme.com Also I have several Online links on my link
page of my site, that will offer links to sites. You might want to take a
look.
Another thing I have found extremely helpful is exchanging links with artists
whose work you feel is in the same league as yours... I know when I visit a
site, I always look at the link page, and go exploring even further from
there. If you want to check and see how often your name / sites name comes
up one site that I have found that does excellent searches is
http://www.google.com, it even pulls up emails posted to clay art!
There are sooo many free resources on the web..... site trackers, guest
books, forms, search engines... the list goes on and on, you just need to put
some time in... if time is an issue then sometimes paying for it is the best
thing to do, you just have to deceide what it is you can invest... money or
time.
marie gibbons
Marie Gibbons
Arvada, Colorado
sculpture in clay & mixed media
www.oooladies.com
please visit my work, and sign the guestbook!
Thanks!!!
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