Continued from Part 5

Part 6: Online Store Builders

If you've decided to have an online store, or even full web promotion, then you're going to be looking at a kind of web host called a "site builder." These businesses offer point-and-click website design using custom software and templates, and can be used to build very attractive sites. All of them charge monthly fees that increase based on which features you want to use and the size of your site and/or store. You need to have your own domain for these.

While you certainly can design a site "from scratch" using HTML, CSS, and Javascript, if you have the skills for that you probably shouldn't be reading this article. For what it's worth, I do have the skills, but I still use a site builder because it's easier.

All of these site builder hosts are largely interchangeable, so I'll list them below in escalating order of cost and capabilities. Do note that, if you host your site on a site builder, you cannot move it to a different one without recreating your site design from scratch. None of them are free; if you find one that appears to be free, they're just hiding the charges. Pricing below assumes that you are using online store features, which are optional for some providers.

BigCartel is the most affordable of online store builders, mostly because it is only an online store and not a general site, blog, studio tour, or anything else. Choose this if you don't plan to expand your site beyond a simple online store, or if you have hosting for other portions of your site elsewhere. Pricing from $10 to $25/month. Founded by two artists who were fed up with Etsy.

OtherPeoplesPixels is another artist-created hosting company, and offers a full suite of site services, including blogs and video hosting, for $16 to $26 per month. While they are competitive with SquareSpace and Wix on listed features, their design system and templates are a lot more limited since OPP is sideline for a Chicago-based web design company. Their online store system is also very bare-bones.

Squarespace is one of the most mature hosting companies, with a very slick point-and-click site building interface, probably the best in the industry. Recommended if you want a site that really looks good without hiring a consultant, or want a blog, news page, virtual tour, etc. as well as a shop. Generally $30 to $40/month. Squarespace is the only company on this list with offices in Portland. Confusingly, they are not related to Square-the-credit-card-processor.

Wix is a direct competitor to Squarespace, with the same pricing. Their design tools are more friendly to professional designers, so if you have web designer assistance they're going to like Wix more than Squarespace. Otherwise Wix is a very similar offering with the same terms and limitations.

Weebly.com is owned by Square-the-credit-card-processor, so offers some advantages if you already use Square to take in-person payments. Costing between $20 and $30 per month, it's slightly cheaper than SquareSpace, although it lacks some of SquareSpace's sophisticated content templates and plugins. Has a very advanced online store, though, including inventory management in the higher priced plans.

Shopify is possibly the "high end" of online stores, offering sophisticated ways to combine online and offline inventory, as well as very advanced shipping and tax models. Their online store theming and graphics are maybe not as slick as Squarespace, but if you sell a lot of pottery both online and at shows, as well as taking special, batch, and wholesale orders, then you might take a look at them.

One other option I need to mention is Wordpress (WP), which is open source software with a galaxy of plugins for various purposes, including several online store options. There are a number of very affordable online hosts for WP, down to $5/month, including Wordpress.com and Dreamhost. However, WP is not point-and-click easy to set up a site; you will need a web geek to help you. That said, many college students who are currently off school have enough expertise to design a WP site, but you still need to budget a few hundred dollars and some time to get your site built out. You'll also have trouble modifying it yourself unless you learn some software skills.

Getting Going

Hopefully this has given you enough information to make some sense of the bewildering array of options when you decide to take your pottery business online. Just remember some important principles and you should be fine navigating the online wilderness:

• You get what you pay for (or less);
• Be realistic about the amount of work you can put into an online store;
• Everything on the web is subject to frequent change;
• And there is no "best" option, there is only what is best for you.

Take a deep breath, make a plan, and I'll see you online!

So you've decided that, due to the virus or otherwise, you want to get an online presence for your pottery studio. This series will outline the steps you need to take and the decisions you need to make in order to make your ceramics web presence a reality. Since it assumes that you are starting with no prior knowledge of the web or available services, folks with a little knowledge may want to skip ahead to the review of online store hosts.

We will cover:

1. Choosing Your Online Presence
2. Domains
3. The Social Media & Shared Market Alternative
4. Business Card Sites
5. Etsy and Its Competitors
6. Online Store Builders & Conclusion

This series will not cover online advertising, SEO, photographing your work, how to use social media, or how to put video online.

Part 1: Choosing Your Online Presence

We're going to start with the hardest part: deciding what kind of online presence you want to have. There's three basic levels of internet involvement for a ceramic artist, with escalating levels of online activity as well as requirements from you to make a site happen and to maintain it.

Business-Card Site: the appropriate level for many artists, the Business Card Site (hereafter "Bcard") just presents a few static photos and contact information for your studio. People find your site, then phone you, although a lot fewer of them than would patronize an actual online store. This is the appropriate level for you if you're not able, or willing, to spend significant amounts of time online, and is by far the cheapest. It only requires you to update your site once every few months, and costs between nothing and $35/year.

Online Store: Given lockdown, though, many artists want to sell their pottery online, which means escalating to the "Online Store" level. While there are a range of options here, from 3rd party marketplaces like Etsy to building custom ecommerce portals, all of them cost money, either as a percentage of your sales or a monthly fee of $10 to $50 a month. You also need to be prepared to upload and maintain an online inventory of your work, respond to messages from your online store quickly, and ship purchases promptly when an order is completed.

Full Web Promotion: Some artists have decided to use the web as their primary means of reaching the public. As well as an online store, this generally includes artist statements, a blog, videos, maybe even a virtual studio tour. While this level is too much for most potters, it's appropriate if you want to teach pottery online. In addition to a tremendous amount of your time, and hosting costs between $30 and $150 a month, this level will generally also involve hiring a web consultant to assist you in design and functionality. Since this level is never appropriate for your first web site, I'm only mentioning it here because you may want to plan to eventually "grow into it."

You need to decide what you want to do with your online artist presence, what you hope to accomplish, and importantly, what you're capable of doing to get it. Since most readers are deciding between a BCard site and an Online Store, here's five questions to help determine where you are:

1. Do you want to sell pottery online?
2. Can you create an inventory of your work, including attractive photographs and measurements?
3. Does spending between $100 and $300 a year on web hosting and support make sense for you?
4. Are you prepared to respond to online messages almost every day?
5. Can you box and ship orders within a week of receiving them, and do you have experience shipping your artwork?

If all of the above questions are "yes," you're ready for an Online Store. If all or most of them are "no" then you should think about a Bcard site. If it's a mix, then you might think about one of the low-commitment shared site options I will outline in Part 3.

Once you've made your initial decision, it's time to move on to Part 2: Getting Your Domain.

The last of the Christmas/Hanukkah orders are shipped out. If you didn't get around to ordering yet: sorry! I won't be shipping more pottery orders until January 3.