One more Statesman

[WoodChucker]

If I don't start selling some pens soon, I may have to stop turning them for a while. I really enjoy making them, but it's getting to the point where it doesn't make much sense to keep doing it just to look at. Anyway, this is my last Statesman pen and it's made from a Birdseye Bocote blank that I got from Bill. Thanks for looking!

R.T.

 

[Fred in NC]

Very pretty, R.T. !

I am just about out of pens right now, and won't be making more until next year... No shows until early Summer, and the big season almost one year away. So soon it will be time for me to start building my inventory again. I want to be better prepared next year, I could have sold more pens this month.

 

[Tom McMillan]

Beautiful pen!!! I understand the dilemma---I'm unemployed right now with no funds for pen kits. I give most of mine away---gonna have to change that habit---but, I really get more enjoyment giving them than selling them (yup, gonna have to change that too, huh?) Anyway, we need to keep at this addiction---maybe we just need to buy a bunch of tubes so we can turn, and hold em til we sell more.

 

[dougle40]

Man , that IS sharp .
Just got some new kits in so I'll be happy for a while .
Gonna try a Deer Antler pen first . Firsy time !

 

[Fred in NC]

Tom, that is not a bad idea, especially if you have wood! Will work best with slimlines, europeans, cigars, etc. I would leave the end of the barrel that meets the tip a hair oversized just in case.

 

[PenWorks]

That pen is Gorgeous ! I don't know RT, who wouldn't buy this and the last Statesman you made to the first person you show them too. You need to get out of the house and take a drive to the old precinct. You should be able to sell out there.

Tom, your absolutely right about turning just barrels. I do that all the time, it is almost as much fun. I have about 300 finished barrels. Anthony

Now get off your *ss, and go sell something!

 

[Daniel]

there are some bummer sides to this craft, the fun is in the shop but to kep up the reason to make them they have to move also. you can go the givem all away route. or try to find soemone that excells at sellign them. preferably soemone that enjots selling as much as you enjoy making them. a web sight can help but it hs taken mine nerly two tears to start showing results and then not alot. that is an art in itself.
show them off, show them off, show them off. that's the best advice I can give.

 

[jkirkb94]

Great looking pen RT! My local Woodcraft had some birdseye bocote that I didn't know what it was until I got a blank from David. Went back and bought all they had. Tom, good luck in selling some pens.[] Kirk[8D]

 

[WoodChucker]

Thanks everyone, I do show them to several people and they all like them. But not one person has wanted to buy any. I think people around here are mostly low income and just don't have the money to spend on nice pens. I've given away several pens thinking it would get them some exposure, but so far no one has bought any. My prices are low compared to what some of you guys are able to sell at, so I don't know what the deal is. Oh well, If I still have them next Christmas then I'll give them all away and be done with it, maybe it's just not meant to be around here. []

R.T.

 

[PenWorks]

Just wondering RT, how much are you selling the statesman & the cigars for? Anthony

 

[WoodChucker]

Anthony, the Statesman I sell for $50.00, the Jr. are $40.00 and the Cigar is $ 35.00

I know this is way low, but there not selling.

R.T.

 

[Guest]

Beautiful pen!!!!!!!!!
Bocote is like Forrests Gumps chocolates,you never know what you are going to get until you "bite" into it.
If you ever get any bocote in wider stock you might try this:
http://www.penturners.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2481

 

[woodpens]

R.T.,

You are selling them awfully cheap. I understand how local sales can be. If I relied only on local sales, it wouldn't pay for my CA glue. I actually sell more pens to customers in Greece than I do in Alabama where I live. I put a lot of time and effort into my website, but it produces at least 99% of my sales. You have to find a way to get your pens in front of the right people. I sold a pen for Bob S. in TX for $180.00. It was a platinum slimline pen made from walnut. I was almost ashamed to post that price, but Bob's strategy was to ask high prices, and when the right person comes along, it will sell. Before I started selling pens for others, I was having trouble keeping up with orders. I raised my prices considerably to slow things down. This actually resulted in MORE sales. I didn't understand it at the time, but it made those long hours worth it. [] A website may not be where you want focus. Craft shows or fairs may be your ticket. I prefer selling from my office where I don't lose any time if sales are slow. Maybe when I retire I will try some shows, but I will stick with the internet for the time being.

Good luck!

 

[WoodChucker]

Thanks Eagle, that sure is a nice looking pen you got there.

woodpens, I think it's great that you do so well selling your pens from your web site. But most of the people I talk to say it's not that good. So I guess I have to ask what it is that you do differently that makes web sales work for you? Thanks for you input!

R.T.

 

[woodpens]

A lot goes into making a website successful. This probably isn't the forum for this discussion, but I will speak in general terms giving you an overview of what I am talking about. The website needs to target certain keywords. These keywords need to be prevalent on the page you are promoting. If they show up too often, then the search engines think you are spamming and will reject your site. You have to continually promote your site to the major search engines. I use automated software to do this monthly. You need a lot of sites linking to your site. There are a lot of search engines that use a pay-per-click strategy. This puts your site among the top three "sponsored links" on many search engines. I typically pay $100 to $300 a month on this, and it pays for itself every time. In addition to making the search engines happy with your site, you have to make it very user friendly for your visitors. Customers typically have a very short attention span, so you have to get them from arrival to shopping cart as effortlessly as possible. I just searched Yahoo Search for "wooden pens" and "wood pens", and my site is currently the #1 (non-sponsored) site. It is also the third sponsored site on the right hand border of the page. Yahoo has always been tough for me to get a good ranking with, but it looks like I finally got there.

That's probably about all I should say here. The bottom line is, you cannot build a site and expect people to visit. You need to have a plan to get people to come. You can pay "experts" to do this for you, or you can learn and do it yourself. Somebody has to do it though, if your site is to be effective. I'll be happy to answer any questions anyone has related to websites, but I suggest starting a new topic in the marketing forum for this.

 

[DCBluesman]

I decided to just copy this on over to Marketing so it doesn't get lost in this thread. Thanks for sharing your experience and the valuable tips, Jim!

 

[WoodChucker]

Jim,

Really appreciate all the info and I will give this some thought for sure, and then take you up on your offer in the marketing forum. I always wondered why some web sites get so many more hits then others, this is good information for me, thanks!

R.T.

Thanks Lou!

 

[woodpens]

Thanks, Lou. This is probably a good topic to get started in marketing.