Is there any point in creating a website, if I don't want to spend much time on SEO

[Not your average framer]

I used to be not bad at writing basic HTML and I've produced a few websites for friends all be it a while ago. I never learnt to write Java, or CGI scripts and know nothing whatso ever about stuff like that. I was originally interested in perhaps selling on Etsy, but that was before I found out that I need to do plenty of SEO, keywords and tags to have even the remotest chance of buyers even seeing any of my items, let alone buying them. I had no idea that this would involve so much fiddling around just to even get items on there.

So perhaps just a basic website, might be better than nothing, or so I am thinking! What's do people think about this? I'm I wasting my time, or is it worth doing?

Thanks,
Mark.

[Rainbow]

Absolutely Mark! You do all these wonderful things but you hide your light under a bushel. You have a completely unique service to offer, which some people might travel a long way for. You mentioned on another thread that there is a new housing estate on the edge of town but that the "new people" tend not to come into town. You can bet your bottom dollar that those people will be searching for "picture framers near Bovey Tracey" or "picture framers in Newton Abbott" or whatever. If they don't come into town, it won't occur to them that there's an expert picture framer on their doorstep.

Tell people what you do, what expertise you've got, put some pictures on showing what you've done and what you're selling now (make sure the files are not too big), put your contact info down, and that's all you need for a basic web site. If you can get testimonials, so much the better. Decide what your key words are (ie what terms people will be using to search) and work them into your text, particularly the home page, but not too much that it's overdone. You need plenty of text - that's mainly what Google analyses (images too, provided they are identified, but the text is the most important).

Just as important as a web site is getting on to Google My Business so that you show up on maps. It's free to have an entry on there.

You're in a niche market so it shouldn't be too difficult showing up in the top few results on Google if you get the text right. You don't need to spend money on Google advertisements.

Feel free to PM me if you want any more advice


PS. You mentioned HTML, Java etc - you don't need any of that these days, there are many web site programs which are designed for non-specialists that are more user-friendly.

PPS. New houses are likely to want contemporary frames rather than the traditional frames that your existing customers want, so you'll need to make sure your web site appeals to both types of customer.

[Not your average framer]

Thanks very much,

Mark.

[Justintime]

Totally agree with Rainbow! The combination of our website and Google My Business has brought in so much new business since the end of lockdown.
Wordpress is a very popular platform to use. We've moved over to www.siteground.com/go/successplan for our hosting which has improved things considerably, from iPage I think.
I can't say that we have noticed much from our Facebook posts, but Instagram has definitely helped spread the word, establish us in our local creative community and has brought in some good customers. For us it has been about tapping into our local network of businesses and like-minded people.

[Not your average framer]

I was not sure what you guys might have to say about this, but I think that you are saying a lot of the things that I was hoping for. I have started to get a local painter and building maintenance friend to start giving my business a bit of a face lift. You know repaint the shop front and help sort out the internal fixtures and fittings, so I feel that I should be moving in the right directions. I am also feeling a bit positive at the moment as I have been given the go ahead, to start taking driving lessons in a disabled adapted car, with a view to being back driving in the next few months. Maybe things are starting to get better for me.I spent much of this afternoon making a batch of antique pine square frames in different sizes.

It's partly that I need to find more space, in terms of available moulding storage space, but also a few really nice looking frames in the shop windows, will make it look like good things are happening. Which ever way that you play it, the coming recession is not going to be all that easy for any of us. A lot of my strength as this recession comes along is probably going to be based on what I can do with a rather large quantity of old and well out of date stock and left over bits and bobs, together with how I can breathe new life into older stuff. I am already well into producing stacked moulding framing profiles, so I guess you could say that a lot of this is not going to be teaching an old dog new tricks, but just dusting off a few of the old tricks that I already know.

I don't think that I need to be hugely successful, but just to keep the bills paid and maintain something in the way of positive cash flow. My wife and I are used to previous difficult times and will get by as best we can. I see producing some really nice high class frames for stock, as a way of picking up a little bit of extra income as separate from the normal bespoke side of the business, this side of things does not need to be massively succesfull and only needs to tick over steadily. I have good hopes for a few box frames as not everyone does much in the way of box frames, as they are not automatically particularly great sellers, but if I can advertise these on the internet, then maybe things will be different.

So as you can probably imagine a little help from the internet might make a lot of difference, I hope!

[GeoSpectrum]

If you get a good provider the SEO is built in. I only sell online via my website and it gets a lot of traffic and a good deal of purchases. At the very least you need one as a ' shop window'. Try a simple Wordpress site as a starter, you can switch to something more sophisticated later.

[whitbyframer]

I created my website using Go Daddy as it was a very simple and quick method to get one designed and up and running. I don't use it for selling work, but its invaluable in directing people to me as I'm slightly off the beaten track. I also made use of Google maps and Facebook. So yes, do it.