RJ Shaw on sat 18 nov 06
Hi folks, Rita here.
Since we have set up http://shawpottery.com, from time to time, I run
across websites that have listings various artists and may/may not
show their ware.. Sometimes they specialize in one form of art,
others are a bit of everything. Different styles of what you could
call on-line galleries.
We were wondering if any Clayarters have tried these out, found some
that suit their needs, or perhaps others you shouldn't touch with a
hot kiln shelf.
What should we look for in this style of website, do most charge
commission to the artist, the buyer; are more artists on the site
better than less, what should you expect in the way of exposure,
advertising, how difficult is it to keep them up to date with sold
items..new items, etc.
On the whole, we have had good response to our new webpage. The
critique we received was helpful, but some we have no idea on how to
meet. A few folks commented that the top of the page was too high,
one said the type color was hard to read, and one said they could
only get bits and pieces of the page. I realize that some of these
problems are because of the variety of operating systems and styles
of monitors, but how far do you go to correct the issues? Of course,
if 20% said the pages were not loading correctly, that would be a
major problem, we realize, and would need immediate response.
Part of that issue is we are using a Mac program with it's own
templates, since this is our first webpage. I hope to take a class at
Allan Hancock soon in web design, if I can determine it is not all
windows bases but cross-platform instead.
How often do you update your webpages? Since we have only had one
sale from the webpage itself, and 99.9% of our sales from the Beach
Show, our needs are definitely different from a potter who depends on
high sales from their webpage. I fully expect that the latter might
be true for us as time goes by, tho. We are both disabled, and
setting up an entire display 50 - 60 times a year is wearing on
bodies that have a collection of ouches and whoops. Someday we will
want to retire, or cut back significantly from the weekly 150 mile
round trip and two-hour setup and teardown routine. Usually the sales
are what we need to survive, some days are fantastic, a few barely
cover expenses. So, someday, someday...
Long story short... As time goes by, we will need to place our pots
in a gallery, or two, or ???, and have a strong webpage that will
provide us enough sales to supplement the trickle of SS that flows
in, to keep us in crackers and water, at least.
Are there good books and articles you folks have found that help
retirees educate themselves on some of these issues? As they say,
it's not hard to be your own boss, but it's damn difficult to be your
own employee.
I also found one webpage that showed photos of Clayart folks,
http://amsterlaw.com/clayart.html. It seemed slow to load and the
photos keep running together. Are there other sites? We would like to
get to know you better! Oh, yes, one last question.... do you
actually call them websites, webpages, or what? I see a bit of both.
Thank you one and all,
Rita and Joe Shaw
--
http://shawpottery.com/
mailto:rjshaw@shawpottery.com
806-937-7495
Kathy Forer on mon 20 nov 06
Hi Rita,
Your list setting may be no-repro as your message went to the list
though you didn't seem to get a copy of it. Check your settings at
http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
On Nov 18, 2006, at 3:00 PM, RJ Shaw wrote:
> On the whole, we have had good response to our new webpage. The
> critique we received was helpful, but some we have no idea on how to
> meet. A few folks commented that the top of the page was too high,
> one said the type color was hard to read, and one said they could
> only get bits and pieces of the page. I realize that some of these
> problems are because of the variety of operating systems and styles
> of monitors, but how far do you go to correct the issues? Of course,
> if 20% said the pages were not loading correctly, that would be a
> major problem, we realize, and would need immediate response.
The design is nice, fresh and complements the work, and navigation
works well. The top hand-written look labels should probably have
transparent backgrounds rather than the solid white you have there
now. You'll learn about making graphics transparent in any class you
take.
I don't use iWeb so can't advise there. I looked at the code though
and an avid apple fan, was surprised to see it no better than the
junk MS Frontpage generates, lots of 'absolute divs' not a lot of
browser "flow." But that's all academic and it really shouldn't have
browser errors. Write to Apple if it does!
> Part of that issue is we are using a Mac program with it's own
> templates, since this is our first webpage. I hope to take a class at
> Allan Hancock soon in web design, if I can determine it is not all
> windows bases but cross-platform instead.
If you want to see how your site looks to different browsers, try
browsershots.org (free but very slow and erratic -- right now various
windows browsers are inexplicably unavailable) or browsercam.com
(reliable, more pro tools and costly but a free 24 hour trial).
> Long story short... As time goes by, we will need to place our pots
> in a gallery, or two, or ???, and have a strong webpage that will
> provide us enough sales to supplement the trickle of SS that flows
> in, to keep us in crackers and water, at least.
You probably need to let people know your work is for sale, what the
prices are or how to buy.
> Are there good books and articles you folks have found that help
> retirees educate themselves on some of these issues?
The best books are probably browsing through the various sites
clayarters have created. There are various lists of them, you've
found the one at bill amsterlaw/helen bates's http://amsterlaw.com/
clayart.html also try russel fouts' http://users.skynet.be/
russel.fouts/favorite.htm and don goodrich's http://members.aol.com/
goodrichdn/clalinks.htm#artists
> As they say,
> it's not hard to be your own boss, but it's damn difficult to be your
> own employee.
Don't forget to be good to your own employees!
Kathy
--
Kathy Forer
www.foreverink.com
Kathy Forer on mon 20 nov 06
> Your list setting may be no-repro as your message went to the list
> though you didn't seem to get a copy of it. Check your settings at
> http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
I knew there was an "ack" in there...
I've been gently advised that the setting should be
[NOACK REPRO] and not just no repro.
ack refers to Acknowledgments, the section of the setting page.
Check your settings might be more accurately and better said as
revise your list settings.
Kathy Forer
@foreverink.com
Chris Campbell on mon 20 nov 06
Rita
Your site loads WAY too slowly ...
get rid of that slowly emerging color
background ... waste of time!
I am looking at it with an iMac and
did not have the patience to sit and
wait for it all ... so I cannot comment
much on content ...
'click away' time on the Internet is
under 8 seconds so no one will hang
around waiting for it to load ... never
mind actually try to buy something.
Look into wholesalecrafts.com to
see if their services might suit your
needs. They do all the promotional
and website work so you just have to
take care of your page and sell pots.
Chris Campbell - in North Carolina
Chris Campbell Pottery LLC
9417 Koupela Drive
Raleigh NC 27615-2233
Fine Colored Porcelain since 1989
1-800-652-1008
Fax : 919-676-2062
website: www.ccpottery.com
wholesale : www.wholesalecrafts.com
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