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Kai Vanuffelen

Kai Vanuffelen

Frequent Poster
Messages
1,278
Loc
Feilding 4702, Manawatu, North Island, New Zealand
Company
Kai Vanuffelen Pictureframer
Just had a new website made up under the domain
www.vanuffelen-framing.com
I am very happy with it as it is clear and colorful. Not finished yet, for some photos have to be added.

The website was designed by Kristin Brinner of the company Bevelsmith
www.bevelsmith.com
Kristin is a member of PPFA and specializes in setting up websites for small businesses including pictureframers.

It is possible for yourself to set up a website using Bevelsmith or Kristin can do it for you. I chose the latter and paid some extra for the time she spent doing it.
The price paid for the entire Pro package is very reasonable and affordable.
Every professional framer these days needs a website to get potential customers to know that you exist.
 
Kai Vanuffelen said:
...Every professional framer these days needs a website to get potential customers to know that you exist.
Click to expand...

Kai,

You are absolutley correct - it is a paramount component in having a business today. Sarah had a customer walk in just yesterday who had moved up from Milwaukee (90 miles South) and it was his Internet search that made him come into our shop.

Unfortunately, your website does need a fair amount of work for people to find you. (I realize that you just launched it, but thought I would share some key elements with you.)

  • Rotating images is not a bad idea, but I think that some completed work would relate more to a customer viewing your web page than corner samples and frames.

  • Your third coner frame has a fairly conspicuous gap in the corner - you might want to change that out.

  • You really need to create a 3rd-4th and perhaps 5th page to your website as soon as possible. A two page web site typically will not gain much respect from search engines or human visitors...DONE - You probably already know this.

  • I would recommend getting most of your personal credentials OFF of the Home Page and place them on an ABOUT US Page...who you are and why you are the framer to patronize. Think about why customers browse the Internet for a framer...they have a problem and they need a solution! The have a picture and they need it framed. Think like a potential buyer when designing your site. Your home page should probably be more about what you can do and less about who you are. ;)

  • SEO - Drop the word HOME in your meta title - it really does nothing. Considering expanding your meta title from "Framing @ Vanuffelen" to something like... "Framing at Vanuffelen - Custom/bespoke picture framing in Feilding, North Island, New Zealand". This would significantly help you on the search engine results pages (talk to Kristin).

  • SEO - Your pages need meta descriptions as well (talk to Kristin)

Keep on going. Keep in mind that as you work on your website, you are designing it for the human visitor (potential customer) and for the Search Engines. Both are equally important.

Good Luck!

John
 
I would expand John's great suggestions to also change the title of the page, which will have a HUGE impact on SEO, to include some of the key phrases and words that people will be likely to search for. Those should also be included in the body of the page. Right now it simply contains the search/key words "Home | Framing @ Vanuffelen". Search engines look at the TITLE stronger than anything else. This could be expanded to something that has some of your desired search phrases and location, perhaps. example: "Picture Frames and Art on North Island from Framing @ Vanuffelen". Meta keywords have had 0 weight for the major search engines since about 1996, but the other metas are still very important. Even though keywords are obsolete, they should still be included. Natural body text in Headers, Bold, Italics, image tags, how old the page is, when it expires, and page content are also big factors for consideration. Content is king.

It's a good practice to "think backwards", as a consumer/customer. What are the words or phrases someone local will be searching, to find my business? If it was searched strictly for a specific qualifications, I think your site would be on top. But if it was for framing, or even a certain type of framing project (example "Framing a diploma North Island"), it probably won't come up at all. With this in mind, the wording and page title can be designed so it will appeal to and attract your target audience. This should be done for each sub page within the site, as well. Each page should have a different focus and a different target. Duplicating the same title to each page would have negative implications, to the search engine gods.

Keyword/keyphrase density used to be a big factor, but not as much in the past few years. It is still factored in, however.

Here is how it currently ranks for search phrases:

Density Word/Phrase
6.82% Street
4.55% macarthur
4.55% macarthur street

SEO is a constantly moving target, because they are always changing the rules. No one knows for sure, except the search engines (google being #1). That is my interpretation of seo, in any case. Good luck with the new site!
 
John and Mike are the kings of SEO so I won’t even touch that. I’m more than happy to share some other general thoughts though:

Stop thinking like a framer and think like a consumer. Ask yourself what sort of information you look for when viewing a website. Some of the top things will likely include: Does this place provide what I need? What’s their phone number? Where are they located? I see that you have that on the Contact Us page, which is linked conspicuously from the home page. But where is your phone number? I would suggest moving all of your contact information to the top of that page and put the form at the bottom. By the way, is that note about the privacy policy required? If not, drop it.

As John pointed out, customer relate to framed artwork, not corner samples. Framers love their samples to the point of fetishizing them, but customers don’t care. Seriously, stop showing corner samples. And framers, please stop showing pictures of yourself holding an empty frame in front of your face. It’s tired.

Put everything into terms that show a customer a benefit to them. Your qualifications, for example. Just putting them there means nothing to a consumer, who is likely to ask “So what?” Show the benefits. For instance: “Kai’s qualifications are unparalleled in New Zealand. He has proven his framing abilities to the two major framing trade associations, earning him the titles of Certified Picture Framer and Guild Commended Framer, including advanced qualifications. You can feel safe with your treasures in Kai’s capable hands.”

Along the same lines, it’s great that you’re a frequent contributor to the forum, but how does that benefit your customers? How can you rephrase it so that customers see it as a reason to come to you?
 
Kai,
These guys are giving you expert info. I'm currently building a new website and I'm taking notes on what they say.

I agree that you should be showing what you do, on your home page so visitors will be blown away and have to come to your store. This area is not about you, it's about what you can do for someone. Customers only care about themselves, and how a framer can satisfy them!

No-one would even know what Framer's Corner is, so it's not going to impress anyone that you are a frequent poster!
 
Thanks for the great feedback

Thanks to everyone for the useful information - it's so nice to be involved in such a helpful community.

I wanted to respond to a number of items and hope to keep this conversation going.

Rotating images: my thought here is that since the aspect ratio of these rotating images is fairly extreme (4:1 width:height), it's more visually appealing to have some striking images on all pages in these rotating images, and then use a Portfolio section of the website to highlight work (see http://store.bevelsmith.com/portfolio for an example). The corner shots are just placeholder free images as we start to look through stock image sites for other options. Kai originally asked me to remove all but the home page, so I did pull down the Portfolio section, but we're working together to get images of his work so we can fill out a Portfolio page. Would like to hear your thoughts on this option.

Multiple pages: Bevelsmith websites come out of the box with the following page options: About Us, Services, Portfolio, Offers, Testimonials, and Blog. While we're building Kai's site, many those have been taken down, but I wanted to clarify that Bevelsmith websites do automatically offer all of these options.

SEO: I totally agree with all of the SEO points raised in multiple comments. Optimizing for search engines is easy with Bevelsmith - we make it possible to change the Title, meta keywords, and meta description on every page. We just haven't gotten there yet for Kai's website.

Phone number: At the bottom of every Bevelsmith website page, there are areas for social media, contact information, store address, store hours, and store phone. Kai asked that we not list his phone number, but I agree in general that is useful information for consumers.

I'm relatively new to the framing community, so I appreciate your insight. I built Bevelsmith to be a turn-key website tool specifically for picture frame stores - store owners can use my tool to build their own website (it takes less than 5 minutes to get the initial website up) or they can work with me in more detail to help them with their site. For those who are more independent/tech-savvy/adventuresome they would be able to totally manage the website without me. But I'm there for anyone who wants more support. I am always improving the tools so keep the ideas flowing!
 
Kristin,

Welcome to Framer's Corner!

Please understand that these were just some constructive suggestions, and we know that it's a work in progress. I'm sure Kai's page will continue being developed, as he comes up with text and other content to fill up all those pages. It'll be great when completed, I'm sure.

Your services are something that many framers need. Many of us aren't very technically inclined, so it's a good match. Perhaps some time in the future, we could persuade you to be one of the sponsors of this forum? :) (with banners all over, as you see for the other sponsors).

In any case, I just wanted to personally welcome you and to say hi!

Mike Labbe
Get The Picture Framing
Lincoln, RI

Kristin Brinner said:
Thanks to everyone for the useful information - it's so nice to be involved in such a helpful community.

I wanted to respond to a number of items and hope to keep this conversation going.
I'm relatively new to the framing community, so I appreciate your insight. I built Bevelsmith to be a turn-key website tool specifically for picture frame stores - store owners can use my tool to build their own website (it takes less than 5 minutes to get the initial website up) or they can work with me in more detail to help them with their site. For those who are more independent/tech-savvy/adventuresome they would be able to totally manage the website without me. But I'm there for anyone who wants more support. I am always improving the tools so keep the ideas flowing! [/COLOR]
Click to expand...
 
This is a really helpful thread. Thanks John and Mike for your comments. Welcome Kristin. As a framer (one with a not so expansive checking account...) I decided to do my own website. I totally respect those in the field and it is worth every penny that you pay them. They are the experts as I'm sure that we can all relate to those who think that they can picture frame.

Kai, you are very brave to put yourself out to for review. Thanks for doing it and really I've gotten some suggestions from the comments.

I've been tweaking and improving my site non-stop for almost a year now. I hate to admit it, but I bet that John can relate, the website stuff is pretty cool and gratifying too. I even did one for our PPFA chapter. Perhaps some of the framer personality and skills go hand and hand with web stuff?

Just wondering, what are some of your favorite, well done framer websites? How do you find great ones? I am constantly searching. Sad to say, just because you are a framer in the limelight doesn't mean your website is stellar. A once super website can turn into a not so desirable website unless revamped every so often.

Susan
 
Here are some of the many good websites of framers around the world.
I can spend all day behind the screen looking for really good framing website, but others can add as well

www.framingmatters.com.au
www.harlequin-frames.co.uk
www.theframeworkshop.com
www.fringearts.co.uk
www.abacus.com.au

Others can be found by going to the website of the Fine Art Trade Guild and click on Find a Member by country
Website of the PPFA Find a Framer, click on country. Those with a CPF or MCPF designation often have a good website.
 
Kai,
Thanks for the ideas. I especially thought that Framing Matters was appealing to the eye. I don't know how to check the back end, like John usually does. I'm not sure about the chair that's half on the floor and half into space though. Cute dog. Pets sell.
Susan

PS: One that I think is well done is http://www.mframing.com/
Whatever Matt does always looks clean and classy.
 
whispering woods

Had a look at the website of Susan Gittlen, Whispering Woods Gallery.
The colors are really nice and soft to the eye. The entire webite exudes class and quality.
I could not find the PPFA logo on the site, nor mentioned that she is a member of the PPFA.

The Hotlist certificate is not that clear and difficult to read. Perhaps another picture can be taken of it.
The framed MCPF certificate was part of a slideshow. Maybe make it a fixed feature on a page.
Lots to read. How long does it take for a potential customer to read everything?
Are the superb triangular frames made by Susan or made somewhere else?

How about adding a photo of the outside of the shop, inside of the shop, full photo of Susan and the workshop?

These are some of the things I picked up. Hope you don't mind Susan. Overall a very good and appealing website.
 
Hi Kai,
You are so right about everything. There is too much too read! Website visitors don't want to read too much. They are only browsing and maybe want to click on a link. I need to fix that!

The outside of our shop is pretty boring, so I need to find a solution to that.

The triangular flag cases are made by an American company named Spartacraft.

There is a whole page devoted to MCPF, but I guess that it was hidden. That's not good!

Most of my customers are older, and I try to appeal to them. I wanted it clean and untechy looking. Look isn't everything, I need to come up on the searches better. Using Wordpress.com is a little limiting for SEO, but hopefully I can work on that.

There's a good book, which is a bit older but still relavant, that I liked. It's by Steve Krug and is called "Don't Make me Think. A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability." I got it from my local library. There is so much to learn!

Thanks Kai! Your suggestions are helpful.
Susan
 
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