GuitarMaker.com - new website

Talk about musical instrument construction, setup and repair.

Moderators: kiwigeo, Jeremy D

Post Reply
Richard
Myrtle
Posts: 75
Joined: Tue Feb 19, 2008 7:12 pm
Location: Brisbane
Contact:

GuitarMaker.com - new website

Post by Richard » Thu Jul 03, 2014 11:49 am

A bit of a brief background... my day job is in marketing and web development and for around 18 months I've been working on this concept of online marketing tools for luthiers. The final product is Guitar Maker -- essentially a place for luthiers to build a portfolio and showcase their instruments.

http://www.guitarmaker.com

I think in general luthiers don't do the best job of marketing themselves online. With this site I hope to basically bring the concept of guitar shows/festivals online; a critical mass of like-minded builders in one place showcasing their instruments in a player/collector (i.e. customer) friendly way. It's mobile-friendly and considerable effort went into search engine optimisation to make instrument categories and the 'Luthier Directory' section hopefully rank high in searches.

Oh, and it's free :)

I only launched the website a few days ago so right now it's a bit sad with only a few of my guitars. By all means check it out, sign up and try adding a guitar or two! Right now I'm keen for thoughts and feedback....

User avatar
56nortondomy
Blackwood
Posts: 674
Joined: Sat Jan 14, 2012 11:56 pm
Location: Melbourne western suburbs

Re: GuitarMaker.com - new website

Post by 56nortondomy » Thu Jul 03, 2014 12:34 pm

I think you've come up with a really good idea Richard, i'm sure there will be plenty of builders that'll sign up. You've obviously gone to a lot of trouble, thanks for taking the time to do it.
Regards Wayne
Last edited by 56nortondomy on Thu Jul 03, 2014 12:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Ormsby Guitars

Re: GuitarMaker.com - new website

Post by Ormsby Guitars » Thu Jul 03, 2014 12:35 pm

Luthiers do a TERRIBLE job of marketing themselves. Not a week goes by when I don't speak to at least one guy looking for help in that department. Whilst I do believe websites like you've created are useful, you'll find that luthiers are generally pretty lazy when it comes to presenting themselves, and before long the initial enthusiasm of uploading models etc wears off. They feel awkward or uncomfortable doing so, or simply don't know how to sell themselves.

Which then leaves YOU to do their marketing, or the site will fall further down the search results.

Without a sales page (maybe that option is there, couldnt see it), its basically just a directory, so you have google, luthierbuilt, destroyall, LMI, guitarlist, guitarwall, and many more etc etc to compete against. And then there is facebook...

It will be a hard slog to get it going, and keep it active, but I do wish you the best of luck. It is a free way of getting the word out about products, but they should not see this as the only solution... just another string in their marketing bow. Or rather, it's more of their 'places to be seen' than marketing.

Richard
Myrtle
Posts: 75
Joined: Tue Feb 19, 2008 7:12 pm
Location: Brisbane
Contact:

Re: GuitarMaker.com - new website

Post by Richard » Thu Jul 03, 2014 2:35 pm

Good feedback Perry -- you were certainly someone I hoped would offer some thoughts. A lot of what you've said is what I was thinking about initially when developing the site. I'd say it's certainly not intended to be a magic solution but rather part of the mix for luthiers who are already doing the right things.

I've spent a lot of time on the sites you listed and many others over the past couple of years. For the most part I see cluttered, outdated and confusing sites that don't really offer anything by way of a user experience. While the directory is one component of the site and has indeed been previously with limited success, the core offering to luthiers -- the ability to put together a fully indexed/categorised portfolio -- I think is a unique one with merit.

A sales section may happen down the track. I left that idea out early on because I think it's been done before (though again, not terribly successfully) and would dilute the core idea with bells and whistles that exist for the sake of it.

Thanks Wayne too -- and thanks to the handful of folks that have signed up. Can't wait to see some guitars other than mine on there!

User avatar
kiwigeo
Admin
Posts: 10582
Joined: Sat Sep 29, 2007 5:57 pm
Location: Adelaide, Sth Australia

Re: GuitarMaker.com - new website

Post by kiwigeo » Thu Jul 03, 2014 7:51 pm

I've joined up.....out of support for the site more than anything.....I chose not to have my name added to the list of "Professional Luthiers" :cry:
Martin

simso
Blackwood
Posts: 1768
Joined: Mon Apr 25, 2011 10:36 pm
Location: Perth WA

Re: GuitarMaker.com - new website

Post by simso » Thu Jul 03, 2014 9:20 pm

Ill second the fact that luthiers are lazy on this front, but if you are good at your job, you do not need to advertise, word of mouth is enough to keep anyone employed in this field
Steve
Master of nothing,

Do your own repairs - http://www.mirwa.com.au/How_to_Series.html

User avatar
rocket
Blackwood
Posts: 1210
Joined: Thu Apr 30, 2009 8:43 pm
Location: melbourne,, outer east
Contact:

Re: GuitarMaker.com - new website

Post by rocket » Thu Jul 03, 2014 9:42 pm

Thanks Richard, i registered too, its a nice looking website,,,, good opportunity to get a bit more exposure.
Cheers,,
Rod.
Like I said before the crash, " Hit the bloody thing, it won't hit ya back

www.octiganguitars.com

User avatar
needsmorecowbel
Blackwood
Posts: 974
Joined: Sun Oct 04, 2009 7:48 pm
Location: Melbourne

Re: GuitarMaker.com - new website

Post by needsmorecowbel » Thu Jul 03, 2014 9:54 pm

Just join the Romance section Marty :lol:

User avatar
Shane Briggs
Gidgee
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Dec 18, 2011 11:01 am
Location: Melbourne

Re: GuitarMaker.com - new website

Post by Shane Briggs » Fri Jul 04, 2014 8:48 pm

Thank you Richard much appreciated.

Shane
Shane

Ormsby Guitars

Re: GuitarMaker.com - new website

Post by Ormsby Guitars » Fri Jul 04, 2014 9:20 pm

Richard wrote:Good feedback Perry -- you were certainly someone I hoped would offer some thoughts. A lot of what you've said is what I was thinking about initially when developing the site. I'd say it's certainly not intended to be a magic solution but rather part of the mix for luthiers who are already doing the right things.

I've spent a lot of time on the sites you listed and many others over the past couple of years. For the most part I see cluttered, outdated and confusing sites that don't really offer anything by way of a user experience. While the directory is one component of the site and has indeed been previously with limited success, the core offering to luthiers -- the ability to put together a fully indexed/categorised portfolio -- I think is a unique one with merit.

A sales section may happen down the track. I left that idea out early on because I think it's been done before (though again, not terribly successfully) and would dilute the core idea with bells and whistles that exist for the sake of it.

Thanks Wayne too -- and thanks to the handful of folks that have signed up. Can't wait to see some guitars other than mine on there!
I would say that sales may lead to issues. EG: a guitar is listed up, forgotten about, sold off the web, and it sits there... for sale... for a long time. That not only hurts the luthier "Why cant he sell a guitar?? Must be something wrong with it!", but makes your site look like it isnt the fresh and respectable portal it could be. Not to mention what would happen if you brokered a deal that couldnt go through.

However, that doesn't mean you can't offer a premium service, above and beyond the free service, which generates an income. That could be by giving paying members a priority on searches, listing them on the front page, blogging about their stuff, or allowing them the ability to post and share more stuff. Maybe premium members get videos included, or a higher quality of photo (or simply more of)... email links... social media plugins... more 'words' to discuss their stuff, etc etc etc etc etc. There a numerous ways to do it, but you need to work with what your comfort levels are.

Then, you'll attract a larger type of business (or maybe "serious" is a better word than "larger"), which is searched for more often, and will increase your traffic, which in turn drives more people to the luthiers, which in turn encourages them to upgrade, etc etc.

Richard
Myrtle
Posts: 75
Joined: Tue Feb 19, 2008 7:12 pm
Location: Brisbane
Contact:

Re: GuitarMaker.com - new website

Post by Richard » Wed Jul 09, 2014 2:56 pm

Yep, if sales were to happen it'd have to be a fixed-length listing type arrangement where it's up to the luthier to renew their listing or create a new one if it doesn't sell. There's another site that offers just this (guitar-for-sale listings for luthiers), and it's had the exact same guitars listed on it since I first saw it a year or so ago.

Premium offerings are possibly on the cards down the track as value-adds for users on top of the core "free" functionality. Some of the resource intensive or technically challenging things you mentioned like attaching video/audio are the sort of things that would be a good candidate, but at the moment it's all about growing an audience and making the site a resource that potential customers of luthiers would want to use.

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 120 guests