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The Internet provides a formidable sales frontier that, once mastered, gives an average antiques dealer an unparalleled opportunity for growth. Whether you're working out of a spare bedroom or a Madison Ave. showplace, you can create a dynamic Web page that attracts customers and increases sales.
Forget that you have little or no computer experience. It doesn't matter that you haven't typed a thing since high school. And you needn't worry that html commands look suspiciously similar to a ninth-grade algebra test. Success is within reach if you follow a few simple suggestions.
Start with two cliches: FIRST IMPRESSIONS COUNT and TIME IS MONEY.
A positive first impression takes place in a split second. In that second, the customer sums up what you sell and the professionalism you employ. It is up to you to determine a suitable "style" for your Web page. One classic image is heavenstobetsy.com. Peach tones give way to an inviting wallpaper embossed with the company name. Take notes on how quickly you discover where you are and what this company sells. Your eye is immediately engaged and this gives a little breathing room while the graphics appear on the screen. Heavenstobetsy.com evokes the loveliness of nineteenth century romanticism, yet, this positive first glimpse pales as you scroll down to confront the meat of the message. The one criticism of this page is that the dreamy design gives way to a nightmare because the small typeface becomes illegible against the busy background. A solid color panel behind the words, as you see in the company logo, would be the quick fix needed to make this a nearly perfect Web page.
Time counts for customers reaching your Web page. If they're left waiting for glitzy images to load, you'll find them scurrying elsewhere. And that means lost sales, no matter how much effort you put in to making a sharp image.
Antiquetalk.com is a good example of speed and clarity. Wayne Mattox developed this site to augment his antiques business in Woodbury, CT. As a 20-year veteran of the trade, a former president of the Woodbury Antiques Association, and a regular columnist with the Waterbury Republican-American newspaper, Mattox was one of the first antiques dealers with a Web page in Connecticut. "Years ago I knew the future for the antiques business strongly depended on the Internet."
He was right. Antiquetalk.com has registered as many as 60,000 hits each week, broadening Mattox' customer base worldwide and extending his buying range by at least 500 miles. He attributes this success to a simple, memorable name and the skill of Lion Design. Each week Mattox works to make the page current. "All I do is take a current photograph and reduce the size to the smallest high quality resolution, same as I'd do for eBay," he states. It's important to make the site speedy to load, he adds, and advises designers to shun what he calls "gobbledygook."
Why avoid bells and whistles? Mattox explains, "I don't think people who work intimately with computers are impressed by tacky gimmickry. They're practical people." He also avoids allowing other people to attach their name to his site, despite the growing number of offers he receives from big-name companies. His opinion is that the site is meant to encourage customers to buy from you, not provide a portal elsewhere.
Steve Blenus of stevescollectibles.com (http://www.stevescollectibles.com) disagrees and appreciates the monthly stipend his contractual affiliations provide. His bright site portrays plenty of pizzazz, using color and whimsy to tout the collectibles and screen savers he regularly sells on eBay. The highlight of this page is a live chat window where you can talk to Steve online. "I strive to be different than the others," he readily admits.
Before you get the impression white is right and shun the darker colors, take a look at Edith Weber Antique Jewelry at antique-jewelry.com. Barry Weber created a luscious backdrop of swirled Prussian blue satin overlayed with brushed gold metallic lettering that creates a dramatic message. Notice the top of the page. The Webers cleverly sidestep a potential problem with the suggestion that this site appears best on Netscape and includes a link to get you there. This is one of the drawbacks to the dimmer hues-- what appears spectacular on one browser may be muddied on another.
Once you determine the look you want it's time to start construction. The quickest and easiest solution may be to join a collective site like antiquesource.com. This acts as an online group shop with each member receiving a standard Web page filled with pertinent information. But this solution won't distinguish an individual site and should be temporary at best. Another quick option may be to contact your Internet provider to see
if they provide Web page space with drop and click templates you can use.
A company like valueweb.com targets small businesses, giving ample space for image storage and neat packages that allow for multiple mailboxes, online purchasing with a shopping cart, credit card services, and all the accoutrements for conducting business online. This will also give you the space for a Web page that you have to provide. Their fees range from $19.95 to $49.95 per month.
You can always take a leap and look for a professional Web page designer, but that can be costly, running anywhere from $3,500 to $25,000, according to New England Internet Publishing's Web page net-modules.com. Or, you can construct your own Web page using a program like Microsoft Word and html.
Yes, you CAN do html if you visit a couple of sites and practice what they teach. The following sites are useful: htmltips.com for an overall lesson, home.flash.net/~drj2142/pages/rgbhex.html for a hexadecimal color chart, and the Big Blue Post on eBay's book chat room for the basics and creating tables. Steve Blenus' site took about two hours to construct. "I use Netscape Composer, which contains a nice friendly html editor. Sometimes I use Cutehtml to supplement (a piece of Freeware that came with my ftp software- cuteftp)." Globalscape.com provides this addition to their cuteftp service.
Ftp is the file transfer protocol that takes what you compose and transfers it from your computer to your Web site. It works in the same way as when you load graphics onto eBay except that instead of the usual .jpg at the end of the file name, you'll use a .htm. Steve explains, "Usually the software shows a graphic of your hard drive files on one side of the screen (called the local location) and your Web site location files (called the remote location) on the other side of the screen. You choose the files from your hard drive and click send them to the right side (your Web site). You can delete or rename them at your remote location in the same manner."
Now that you know the basics, you can give it a try or at least begin some intelligent browsing for ideas. You'll soon discover that it's easy to learn the basic steps to transform your business into anything from a homespun general store to a sophisticated salon. Once you're through, sit back and let the world see what you've accomplished. You'll know it's a success when the orders come in and you're sending merchandise from Duluth to Timbuktu!
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