debjohns Report post Posted February 28, 2009 Hi everyone! I found this site thru a link on "Bad Ass Seats". I was looking for other sites to link to mine to network with. As far as I can tell, I've been the only leatherworker of this magnatude anywhere in Florida. I've done it for a hobby for over 30 years and have just decided I needed to do something more with it. In the past, before internet, it was too hard to market myself and work a full time job both. But now with the world opened up to me, and the luck of having a very talented son who has a web design business, the timing is right to put myself out there. Imagine my total surprise to find all these thousands of people all linked together who do leatherwork. How grand!! My website is debbiejohns.com. Take a look and let me know what you think. I've been so isolated that I don't know how I stand. Anyone who has any ideas that I could improve on, I'd be happy to hear them out. And the same goes for anyone that might need something I can help them with. It will be a pleasure to hear from you! Deb Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Colman Report post Posted February 28, 2009 to LW Deb! Glad you found us. Your carving of "Mustangs" brought a smile, it is one of my favorites. Johnny Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
debjohns Report post Posted February 28, 2009 Thanks Johnny! I noticed it said on your bio that you were interested in learning detail/realistic carving. It's what I specialize in. How does everyone teach without being hands on? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
King's X Report post Posted February 28, 2009 Welcome to the Forum! As for your last question, most craft "people" will take photographs and add a short description as to what is going on and post it as continual tutorial. It has worked well for me, so jump right in if you have something to teach. Good luck Greetings from Round Rock, Texas Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
debjohns Report post Posted February 28, 2009 thanks atx Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tat2 Report post Posted February 28, 2009 Hello Deb Stephen emailing from Ontario Canada. Welcome to the website there is a wealth of infomation on the website here you'll find everything you need here. I bought all my leather Machiney here. I hada look at your website. It looks more like your a custom person. Doing anything order people require. Making sure you take pictures of everything you do. I would get a product list up showing a variety of products for sale, offering again a variety of leather services. Knife scabbard section etc.You look like your very decent with the craving knife and people always want an art piece. So perhaps having and art section on your site. You write up on yourself is great as it adds a more personal touch. I know a couple people with do website design and who be of help. One in canada so you save more as its in Canadian dollars. My website is www.greenmanleather.ca the bulk of our sales is from belt and custom orders. My sustom section needs more work too. We need to be as descriptive as possible from selling leather goods. almost like painting a picture of the most amazing product they need to have! When having a website site its all about having the rgiht ketwords attached to your site so when people do a search they will find you! I wrote hundreds of key words on a word doc and sent it to the web maker to attached to my site, Linking your website promotes you better and you get better hits when connected with other sites. Its free too. you can pay google a pay per hit but its very costly!! Updating your site is always going to be ongoing, Its fun to do and helps motivate you to do more work. Also lastly find a product that is your "thing" take care and talk again. Stephen Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
debjohns Report post Posted March 1, 2009 Hi Stephen Thanks so much for your interest and your advice. The website just went live and we are far from done with it. I have over 30 years of photos we are wading thru, they all have to be "handled", that is, cropped, the background removed, made sharper, a new background put in. It's very time consuming. My son is the web designer, so for obvious reasons I can't use anyone else, lol. He has a very profitable business in Orlando, Florida. Besides, I'm actually very happy with the results so far. We are also working on my being able to input by myself so I could actually do "articles" or "how to's" right on the site. I actually received my first "hit" last nite from a rock group out of Orlando who want their costumes to resemble groovy warrior robots. Some of the costume they want to be leather. Cool, cause I've never done anything like that before. So I'm definately going to be using the "help me" portion of this forum for some advice, lol. As you mentioned, I very much want to link to other sites, I think it's a win win deal. The most amazing thing so far on this site is being able to talk to people like yourself, from all over the world who I wouldn't have had access to just 10 years ago. Seeing how other people do the same thing differently, more efficiently, have better short cuts, or just plain out there, is nothing short of a miracle to me. I'm not going anywhere soon! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
debjohns Report post Posted March 2, 2009 Holy Cow! 99 people have viewed these posts! I don't think I've talked to 99 leather people in all 30 years I've been doing this, lol! This is too much like fun! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
