# Newbie website



## Hamlinwoodshop (Nov 21, 2012)

Hello all,

If you get a few minutes, I would appreciate some feedback on my new website. I am an amateur woodworker and work out of the back of an old barn. I really wanted to get a website for family and friends to visit so they can see what's new in the shop and what projects I have been working on.

Of course a few bucks in my pocket would help too…

Anyways, I am looking for feedback on navigation, content, pricing, etc. I know my photography sucks and I am working on that!

Thank you all and happy woodworking,

Terry

www.Hamlinwoodshop.com


----------



## gregb (May 24, 2009)

Very nice website! I like that it is clean (not littered with ads and banners), straight foreward and easy to navigate. The pictures are fine, I actually had to re read your post to make sure I read it right lol. The only question I have is why is the "contact us" link under, or a part of, the "past projects" link at the top? (when I hover the cursor over the "past projects" the "contact us" is in a dropdown menu). other than that, you did a very nice job and I wish you all the best!


----------



## RHolcomb (Mar 23, 2010)

I agree with gregb about the contact us link. Separate makes it easier for people to get in touch with you. One other thing I think you should do is put pricing on everything that's for sale. Other than that it's a clean crisp and very well thought out website. Great Job! Happy Thanksgiving!


----------



## jap (Oct 10, 2012)

nice


----------



## huff (May 28, 2009)

Terry,

Very tastefully done. As a first time visitor I found it professional, easy to understand and navigate. A nice selection of pictures that I felt showed off the quality of your craftsmanship. I can't help you with any of the inner workings of the site, but as a visitor, I liked what I saw. Good luck.


----------



## Hamlinwoodshop (Nov 21, 2012)

Thanks everyone for the kind words…

I edited the website and fixed the contact us link. I am limited in how it looks but I think it definitely draws more attention and is easier to access now.

I was in such a hurry to get the site up for the holidays, I haven't had time to price everything. Hopefully when everything slows done I'll be able to get to it and expand the site.

One more question please…Do any of you know where I can post my link (without acting like a spammer!) that may draw some attention to my website? Maybe even trading links with someone. I am just learning about SEO and it sure seems complicated!

Thanks,
Terry
hamlinwoodshop.com


----------



## bruc101 (Sep 13, 2008)

The most important thing you have done is your ease of navigation of your site. 
Your site is not cluttered and junkie looking and is extremely user friendly.

If it's possible on your template: go to your contact page and the top of your home page and put this on both of them.

Hamilin Workshop is Located in "the name of your city or town"

If you do this you may see your site showing up in Goggle in a few weeks if you're not located in a large city when anyone does a search on your location.

Go to Manta http://www.manta.com and list your site with their free admission.

Merchant Circle http://www.merchantcircle.com and do the same.

Google any LOCAL SEARCH in your area and list your site in those.

List your site in the Yellow Pages and White Pages.

List your site on Google Maps.

Google what you do and you will probably find many more internet marketing companies that you can list your site on for free.

If you're not listed in these groups then it would be doubtful that you would show up in any of the search engines unless you do a lot of time consuming work getting back links and other seo work. When you do see it beginning to show up then start doing a search for your site on Bing and Yahoo.

And understand this: if you have a hit counter and it shows "per say" 200 hits that doesn't mean you have 200 viewers to your site. That means 200 things on your site have been pulled from the search, not total visitors. You want to look for "unique visitor hits and returning visitor hits". A unique visitors are new viewers to your site, returning visitors are people that have returned to your site for more than one time and each thing they do on your site could be considered a hit, not a visitor to your site.

Congrats on the work you've done to make it clean and interesting for your viewers.

Both stats are from two different sites for one 24 hour period of visits to their sites. The 2nd one is not clear but if you zoom it you can see the difference between hits and visitors to your site. Bounce rate means a percentage of visitors to your site who entered and left the site without continuing viewing other pages within the site.


----------



## donjohn24 (Oct 15, 2010)

My understanding of web search engines and how sites appear in their listings is that they take account of the number of links *to and from* on a site. So, your thought about trading links with other sites is a good one - get as many as you can, it helps both you and the sites with which you swap.

Your site looks good (although I personally found the green background slightly overpowering)


----------



## Hamlinwoodshop (Nov 21, 2012)

Wow.. a lot of information there.

I registered with Manta this afternon and will follow the rest of your advice. Good stuff and Thank you!

Don - Thanks for your thoughts. The website has limited options on the colors, theme, layout etc. so that one is the most appealing to me at the time.

Terry


----------



## roman (Sep 28, 2007)

luv the barn


----------



## bruc101 (Sep 13, 2008)

And a few more things you need to do:

Sign up for Google Webmaster Tools…Google it. 
You need to verify your site with Google and you can do that through Google Webmaster Tools.

You need to submit your site to the three major search engines…Google, Bing and Yahoo. Go to each one of them and you should see something like..Submit Your Site.

It also would help to submit your site to Altavista, Ask, Lycos and find any site related to woodworking that will let you submit your site to their sites. If you see Submit or Add Your Site to just about anything woodworking do it as long as it's a reputable woodworking site.

It also wouldn't hurt to have a blog and keep it updated. Some people use WordPress..the default template is usually the easiest to use. It's free at http://www.wordpress.org
A lot of people also use both WordPress and Facebook.

Put your web site address on business cards and leave them with any business that has a place for folks to leave their cards in public. Most of our small business clients tell us they get good returns from builder supply stores, restaurants, beauty salons, lawn & garden and gift shops…and most anywhere a female will shop. I know, I've got five of them that love to shop and they're always bringing business cards home with them. I think all of them have a business card directory.

Try to get your site listed on craft sites..women are always on the hunt for craft sites.

The more you market your site the more traffic you will drive to it.

Just because you have a web site doesn't mean it can be found in the search engines…something has to be done to make it happen and unless you want to pay someone big bucks to do it then it's you that has to do it.

When you submit your sites use the least amount of KEYWORDS describing your business.

Hope this helps any of you with web sites.


----------



## Tennessee (Jul 8, 2011)

I linked my site to a page I created for my guitars on Facebook. I put my stuff on Interest. I traded site names with about ten others. One great way to get hits is to list a couple things on eBay. Overall, I get around 400 hits a month on my site and no PayPal or shopping cart. I always have a guitar or three to build, or repairs, for over two years.


----------



## superstretch (Jan 10, 2011)

The contact link still drops down to the next line for me-If you shorten up the text in the links or decrease the padding on the buttons, it'll pull right back up.

As for getting your name out there, some of the advice offered above is good, and some of it isn't relevant anymore (old-school SEO advice is a bit deprecated now). For the most part, you'll want to focus on local exposure, but having a social media presence is a good place to start. Get connected to some shops in the area (Wegman Hardwoods comes to mind.. they sell lumber and do basic things like milling and glue-ups, but I'm sure that with some reciprocity, they can forward people on to you who are looking for end-results. Rochester has plenty of flea markets, shows, events, etc where you could grab a table and sell your wares. A contact of mine sells 20-40 cutting boards a weekend just around the area.

Anyway, good luck, and its always nice to see a fellow Rochesterian!


----------



## bruc101 (Sep 13, 2008)

Well I'm going to disagree with you on your remarks about the seo advice I wrote in my post. My wife has two seo guru's in her office that are keeping 100's of their clients happy in the search engines using those and a few more things.

Those same technics have got five of our sites listed on the 1st page and 7 places on the second page of Yahoo and close to the same thing on Google and Bing.

I'm off to get in more firewood and drawing a set of plans for the china cabinet in the photo I put on another thread. I've had several Jocks contact me wanting a set of plans for it. When I have time I'll put up shots of the search engine pages.


----------



## TedW (May 6, 2012)

Nice website, Terry. I like the colors and the overall layout - looks very clean and professional. I hope you plan on hanging around and becoming an active part of the community here at LJ. Post some of your stuff in the Projects so more people will see it. Also, add a link to your site in your signature.


----------



## Momcanfixit (Sep 19, 2012)

Hi,
Your website is easy to navigate, and clean looking.

The only thing I would suggest is tightening up the language a bit to eliminate any uncertainty for the buyers. For example: 
"This is a new process to us, but I am sure you will be pleased with the results!" 
Personally, I'd take out the first part of that statement.

Good luck to you!


----------



## Hamlinwoodshop (Nov 21, 2012)

I signed up with statcounter.com and embedded the code in all the pages. Really cool information coming from that. You guys have been great because I noticed so many views from all over the world. Amazing to say the least!

I also emailed some local businesses but have not had any replies. I wonder if my emails are going right to their spam/junk folder and should just get out and do some old school sales face to face…


----------



## bruc101 (Sep 13, 2008)

You need to sign up with Google Analytics also. Gives you just about any stat you need. We prefer them over Statcounter.

http://www.google.com/analytics/

Don't forget to sign with Google Webmaster Tools also and get your site verified with Google. Lot of good information there also. Lot of info there from Google to help you understand more how Google works.

https://accounts.google.com/ServiceLogin?service=sitemaps&passive=1209600&continue=https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/&followup=https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/

It takes time and work to get you ranked up in the search engines. Looks like you're getting off to a good start..keep it up.

I'll give you a heads up now…some of those hits coming from all over the world could be spam bots.

We block a lot of those countries when we see they're bots hitting the sites.


----------



## TechTeacher (Nov 3, 2011)

Looks really nice and clean. What software did you use to make the site?


----------



## helluvawreck (Jul 21, 2010)

I think your site looks fine and that barn sure is pretty. You're using HTML5 and css and that's ok too. Did you buy the template?

helluvawreck aka Charles
http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com


----------



## Hamlinwoodshop (Nov 21, 2012)

I used the free site weebly.com but paid extra for the domain and some add ons. Template was free. I tried using websitetonight with godaddy at first but weebly is much easier for newbies in my opinion…


----------

