Website And Its ?

[JLSleather]

  On 2/25/2010 at 8:18 PM, tireytv said:

for me, etsy is too 'crafty' and it commoditizes your skills and product and its all too easy for the shopper to compare you with others on the site.

Jeff

This is an issue with me. Had a guy here about a week ago, looked through some of my stuff. Holding a new bilfold wallet, he looked at me with pleasant surprise and said "And it looks FINISHED. It don't even look like crafts".

Too many "crafters" seem to think if you bash it a bit with a stamp (and maybe add some lace and/or beads) then it's "crafted" and somehow worth about 15 times what it cost in materials. End result, much of the "outside" thinks it's SUPPOSED to look like you dragged it behind your truck.

I would have thought that comparing my work next to some others' would be my best advertising. Yeah, I know that's arrogant, but if I didn't think I was doing it right, I'd do it different. I'm not kidding ... some of this stuff makes me wonder -- WHAT DID THAT COW EVER DO TO YOU? I'm always trying to improve ... it's not that I think I'm doing it all flawlessly , just that some of what I see is THAT bad.

But, truth is, quality means little alot of the time. I've seen (LOTS) times where a very nice, attractive, functional leather item has been passed over to get at a rough-looking, clearly inferior product. In fact, there's the point ... they appeared to want the "crafty" one. Lace with frayed edges, plated tin buckles, heavy applications of acrylic dyes, etc ...

Now, long as I'm on that line, I want to just say that because the items are selling - does NOT equal quality. I could go on (and on) but here's a couple of short examples to make that point ...

The guy who "invented" the "pet rock" ... $millions

The guy who came up with "Got milk?" .... $millions

SpongeBob SquarePants ... yeah, we all know that one ...

[whinewine]

  On 3/8/2010 at 1:49 PM, JLSleather said:

"And it looks FINISHED. It don't even look like crafts".

Too many "crafters" seem to think if you bash it a bit with a stamp (and maybe add some lace and/or beads) then it's "crafted" and somehow worth about 15 times what it cost in materials. End result, much of the "outside" thinks it's SUPPOSED to look like you dragged it behind your truck.

I'm always trying to improve ... it's not that I think I'm doing it all flawlessly , just that some of what I see is THAT bad.

But, truth is, quality means little alot of the time. I've seen (LOTS) times where a very nice, attractive, functional leather item has been passed over to get at a rough-looking, clearly inferior product. In fact, there's the point ... they appeared to want the "crafty" one. Lace with frayed edges, plated tin buckles, heavy applications of acrylic dyes, etc ...

My point exactly- there is a tremendous amount of 'arts & crap" out there, both in etsy and on ebay, too. A lot of people truly think that their poop is worth more than gold- and their selling prices do reflect that philosophy- but said items usually remain unsold. The other side of the coin is that some finely crafted items look so perfect that, on a website, some have trouble distinguishing between that quality & the low quality found at wallyworld, because of the inability to do a side by side comparison. This is what I mean by 'finding one's niche'- make your product so it stands out in the marketplace- make some distinguishing feature that sets your stuff apart, so it doesn't look like it's machine made.

russ

[particle]

Monica Kuehn Leather has an excellent (and free) website. She simply took the free Blogspot site and built her own right there. Blogs are easy to update, quick to stylize, and you're only out your time to build it.

http://monicakuehnleather.blogspot.com/

I have one too (so you can see another skin of the same Blogspot layout), but I haven't bothered updating it in ages.

http://particlerealities.blogspot.com/

[JLSleather]

Wow, open that site (Monica) and there's a single holster in yer face (NICE). Good even tone, good color, nice stitching.... sue-weett.

I DO know what you mean, WW ... I have a few craftaids, but I try to make each one a little different. I wonder if some folks realize just how many patterns they really have. Oh, well, that's another topic, and you've covered this one well. THANKS!

[jbird]

wow!

thank you all very good stuff!

me one last question is this if you do a blog site does it ever get viewed?

Josh

[UKRay]

  On 3/9/2010 at 2:12 AM, jbird said:

wow!

thank you all very good stuff!

me one last question is this if you do a blog site does it ever get viewed?

Josh

Here are the stats from a few of my 'signpost' blogs for the past month, Josh:

www.barefootleather.blogspot.com 272

www.1940sleather.blogspot.com 92

www.lurchercollar.blogspot.com 82

www.bikeleather.blogspot.com 75

www.whippetcollar.blogspot.com 43

Yes, people do view them and they are a powerful free marketing tool. They don't work on their own though; you need to promote them as often as possible in every way you can. They also need to have a clearly defined objective and this doesn't have to be sales. After a lot of trial and error research I do not believe people will buy as much from a blog site as they will from a well designed online shop.

My blog sites only have one objective: that they should direct people to my main e-commerce website and I believe they do this well. Google Analytics stats show all these blogs as being in the top twenty referring sites to www.barefootleather.co.uk

www.barefootleather.blogspot.com is a clear leader with 85 direct referrals which is a huge percentage of overall visitors.

Ray