samdwenger_11
Active Member
I am looking to have business cards, brochures, and a website made. If anyone has any suggestions or ideas on who to go to for that i would be very greatful!
Business Cards, website, and broschures
- Thread starter samdwenger_11
- Start date
Frank Hunter
Well-Known Member
When I got started I had my cards made up by vistaprint.com, the total cost was 12-15 dollars for 500 of them. The cards are 1.99 and the rest of the cost was in the shipping, although they did arrive within the week. Their online card builder is pretty easy to use, I'm pleased with the result considering I'm not much of a graphics guy. They also do brochures in the 3 fold style, if I remember right. My web hosting is all though ipage.com, the cost was is about 40 a year without any upgrades, and once again with no experience at it I think the result was well worth the money. Ipage has paypal (if you have no other payment options) integration with buy-now style buttons and the whole bit, good selection of themes too. There are other solutions out there, this is just what has worked for me. Good Luck!
Frank, Blackwolfarmory.com
Frank, Blackwolfarmory.com
Travis Fry
Well-Known Member
My wife does web design and has done 3 sites for knife makers, in addition to lots of others. She designed my cards too, and cards for lawyers and restauranteurs as well. She's done brochures on occasion. Her website is http://www.carafry.com. For examples of what she's done, check out http://www.travisknives.com and http://www.frycustomknives.com. PM me if you want more details.
EdCaffreyMS
"The Montana Bladesmith"
I discovered early on, after searching for someone to build a website for me, that it's very advantageous to learn how to build and maintain a website yourself. With a little bit of study, it's not difficult. For much of mine I use a program called Kompozer, which is a free internet download. Once you grasp the basics of pages, pictures and text/other items being all separate "pieces", it's pretty easy.
The advantages of doing it yourself are many.....
1. Cost
2. Make changes as/WHEN you want them (for example if you finish a knife and want to put it up for sale on your site, you can do it right now, versus waiting for days or weeks for the website administrator to do it.)
3. YOU have complete control to represent yourself the way you want......I find that far too many web designers (but not all) operate off the "SELL! SELL! SELL!" mentality, often making you come off looking pushy and less than trustworthy.
Business Cards: Personally, I design and print my own. I use photos that I take of knives, then use glossy business card stock to print them myself. If you can put an image on a cd, your local Staples or Office Max can make cards for you.
Brochures: Unless you have a specific set of "models" you make and sell, and do not intend to every deviate, I think brochures are a waste of money. They are expensive to have made/print, and any changes made are costly....they are just not a good "bang for the buck". I once had brochures made up, but my knifemaking soon surpassed what was in the brochures......that was over 15 years ago, and I still have over 100 of them gathering dust on a shelf.
The best bang for the buck for a knifemaker (in my opinion) is to routinely send high quality photos into the major magazines, and to keep your website up to date/current. If visitors to a website see the same thing every time, they quickly loose interest, and will not visit that website again. (another plus for maintaining your own site)
The advantages of doing it yourself are many.....
1. Cost
2. Make changes as/WHEN you want them (for example if you finish a knife and want to put it up for sale on your site, you can do it right now, versus waiting for days or weeks for the website administrator to do it.)
3. YOU have complete control to represent yourself the way you want......I find that far too many web designers (but not all) operate off the "SELL! SELL! SELL!" mentality, often making you come off looking pushy and less than trustworthy.
Business Cards: Personally, I design and print my own. I use photos that I take of knives, then use glossy business card stock to print them myself. If you can put an image on a cd, your local Staples or Office Max can make cards for you.
Brochures: Unless you have a specific set of "models" you make and sell, and do not intend to every deviate, I think brochures are a waste of money. They are expensive to have made/print, and any changes made are costly....they are just not a good "bang for the buck". I once had brochures made up, but my knifemaking soon surpassed what was in the brochures......that was over 15 years ago, and I still have over 100 of them gathering dust on a shelf.
The best bang for the buck for a knifemaker (in my opinion) is to routinely send high quality photos into the major magazines, and to keep your website up to date/current. If visitors to a website see the same thing every time, they quickly loose interest, and will not visit that website again. (another plus for maintaining your own site)
James Terrio
Well-Known Member
My business cards are from VistaPrint, $15 shipped for 500 like Frank said. My website is run through GoDaddy. I can update, make changes, etc at will. There are all kinds of "widgets" I haven't installed yet, like the PayPal buy-it-now buttons and so forth. It costs me basically $100/year, that included registering my domain name. There's a learning curve to get it all set up but I managed. Every word on it is my work, not some tech guy who doesn't know or care anything about knives.
Ed, can I have one of those old brochures of yours? That would be kind of cool
I do agree with your point about having a bunch made up. It would make more sense to lay them out yourself and just run off a few very current ones at a time when you need them. (For a specific show, for instance) Like most things, the cost of having printed materials done is mainly in the set-up (expect to pay $50/hr and up to have a graphic designer put your photos in order and "typeset" what you want him to). The actual printing can be done pretty cheaply at Kinko's, Office Max, etc.
Ed, can I have one of those old brochures of yours? That would be kind of cool
I do agree with your point about having a bunch made up. It would make more sense to lay them out yourself and just run off a few very current ones at a time when you need them. (For a specific show, for instance) Like most things, the cost of having printed materials done is mainly in the set-up (expect to pay $50/hr and up to have a graphic designer put your photos in order and "typeset" what you want him to). The actual printing can be done pretty cheaply at Kinko's, Office Max, etc.
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DonL
Well-Known Member
I've owned and ran several small businesses for over 12 years now. Small business marketing as well as Internet marketing is something that I've been doing for the last few years full time. Here's my take on your question.
IMHO, I'm not sure why you would need brochures. I've been to a lot of gun & knife shows and can only remember a few who had brochures, but I couldn't tell you their name or what their knives looked like now. However, I do have quite a few knife makers business cards. I keep them and every once in a while, go through them to find websites to visit and see what they have going on at the moment.
From a consumer standpoint, anytime I see a homemade computer printed out business card or a freebie card (they have Vistaprint logo or advertising on them, generally on the back), the card just SCREAMS "CHEAP!" As a consumer, if I believe you're too cheap to buy professional cards, then I'm certainly going to think you my cut corners on your products as well. Whether you design them yourself or not, make sure they look professional!!! It's only your image your portraying with them!
As for websites, stay away from GoDaddy. I know a lot of people use them, but take an hour or two and read through their user agreement and you'll see why. In a nutshell, they can take your website off line, keep your money and your domain (if it's registered through them) without giving you a reason or refund.
I like HostGator, BlueHost and HostMonster for all my websites. I've got accounts on all of them and they've never given me a problem and their Customer Service has been top notch.
For your website, use a Program called WordPress. It was originally designed as a blogging platform, but has evolved into a very easy to use but powerful CMS platform. Most webhosting companies have one click installation. If you can use email and upload pictures to forums, then you have the skills to use WordPress. Plus, there are literally hundreds of thousands of free templates and even the custom ones will set you back less than a $100 if you wanted to go that route.
At all cost, avoid free webhosting platforms such as Blogger and WordPress.com (this is a different animal than WordPress.ORG that I mentioned above) They can, and probably will at some future time, shut your website down for no good reason.
FYI, if you're planning on having a website for the sake of having a website, I'd suggest saving your money and buying some more knife making supplies! You have to think of a website as a marketing tool. Like your safety glasses or your respirator, it won't work if you don't use them. You'll need to take a crash course on how to market your website. Don't worry, it's not hard. If you have any questions, I'd be glad to help.
Good Luck!!
Don
IMHO, I'm not sure why you would need brochures. I've been to a lot of gun & knife shows and can only remember a few who had brochures, but I couldn't tell you their name or what their knives looked like now. However, I do have quite a few knife makers business cards. I keep them and every once in a while, go through them to find websites to visit and see what they have going on at the moment.
From a consumer standpoint, anytime I see a homemade computer printed out business card or a freebie card (they have Vistaprint logo or advertising on them, generally on the back), the card just SCREAMS "CHEAP!" As a consumer, if I believe you're too cheap to buy professional cards, then I'm certainly going to think you my cut corners on your products as well. Whether you design them yourself or not, make sure they look professional!!! It's only your image your portraying with them!
As for websites, stay away from GoDaddy. I know a lot of people use them, but take an hour or two and read through their user agreement and you'll see why. In a nutshell, they can take your website off line, keep your money and your domain (if it's registered through them) without giving you a reason or refund.
I like HostGator, BlueHost and HostMonster for all my websites. I've got accounts on all of them and they've never given me a problem and their Customer Service has been top notch.
For your website, use a Program called WordPress. It was originally designed as a blogging platform, but has evolved into a very easy to use but powerful CMS platform. Most webhosting companies have one click installation. If you can use email and upload pictures to forums, then you have the skills to use WordPress. Plus, there are literally hundreds of thousands of free templates and even the custom ones will set you back less than a $100 if you wanted to go that route.
At all cost, avoid free webhosting platforms such as Blogger and WordPress.com (this is a different animal than WordPress.ORG that I mentioned above) They can, and probably will at some future time, shut your website down for no good reason.
FYI, if you're planning on having a website for the sake of having a website, I'd suggest saving your money and buying some more knife making supplies! You have to think of a website as a marketing tool. Like your safety glasses or your respirator, it won't work if you don't use them. You'll need to take a crash course on how to market your website. Don't worry, it's not hard. If you have any questions, I'd be glad to help.
Good Luck!!
Don
maarrkk
New Member
Business cards, websits and broschures are play a vital role in making a business successful. These all used to promote a business and they have direct access to customrs. A large number of potential customers can be targeted throgh business cars, website, and broscures.
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business coaches
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business coaches
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rhinoknives
Well-Known Member
I agree that Brochures have been a waste the two times I had them done for local shows and stuff.
I found a local printer that I work with that does QUALITY graphics and printing and even if it costs you a bit more it is worth it! They do my two sided four color cards for my Sharpening & Cutlery store. Also my Rhino Custom knives card you see in my Avatar.
I have used Godaddy for about 15 years for my two sites and have never had a problem with them.
Laurence
www.rhinoknives.com
www.westsidesharpening.com
I found a local printer that I work with that does QUALITY graphics and printing and even if it costs you a bit more it is worth it! They do my two sided four color cards for my Sharpening & Cutlery store. Also my Rhino Custom knives card you see in my Avatar.
I have used Godaddy for about 15 years for my two sites and have never had a problem with them.
Laurence
www.rhinoknives.com
www.westsidesharpening.com