My New Website!

Framar

WOW Framer
Joined
Jul 24, 2001
Posts
26,420
Loc
Buffalo, New York, USA/Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada
I have been working day and night on this website, I have driven my partner and her husband absolutely crazy and I am dog tired - BUT, the website is officially open for business!

Check it out! No doubt a portion of you Grumblers will loathe it on sight, but some of you may actually like it! There are pictures galore and LOTS of words!

Also be sure to click on the little flash book in the upper left page. That is our Scrapbook, which is a really cool feature! I have made sure that the whole site is easily navigable and I have edited it within an inch of its life.

I would like to point out to you the goals for this website.

1. To entertain and educate my existing customers.

2. To make it easier for these existing customers to "tell their friends."

3. New tool for impressing walk-ins.

4. A place to showcase my artist customer's work.

5. Eventual placement in search engines.

A word (or two) about the domain name. Since I am one of how many dozen frame shops called State of the Art, that was out. I had to find something that folks would remember. I think I did.

So, without further ado, here it is:

www.framaree.com

Now I only have two things to do tonight - add my URL to my profile and take a nap!
 
MAR! Your web site is
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fantastic
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It very successful on all the points you set out to do. It must be a true reflection of who you and Kim are 'cause I feel like I know you after seeing it.

Congrats! And I love the "we survived the 80's" portrait of you two - very Warhol.
 
Great site! And I only have a premade template site, how disappointing. Maybe someday, I can afford to have a neat, informative site like that created. It won't be by me though, not even the book, "Websites for Dummies" can help me. To old to learn all those new tricks. Admire people who can.
 
I have that "Hi and Lois" cartoon framed on my front counter. It's a good illustration of what to look for when framing something. The miniature frame shop is very cool. There has to be several thousand dollars worth of labor time in that. Clever use of found materials.
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Rick
 
Oh - my - word...many many thoughts sparked by your website!

Is it painful to walk around with so much talent and creativity in one body?
what a fun, inspiring and informative website!
Fave quotes: In response to custom framing being expensive.."compared to what?" Love the bit about the air just being too dirty to have naked (or as we say in the south- nekkid) needlework hanging on the walls!
I don't know what is more intriguing - the miniature frame shop of Maree's, or the scrapbook! Can you make that icon a smidge bigger?- wouldn't want anyone to mistake it for a guestbook and possibly miss all that great stuff!!

What a great site!
 
It's wonderful, Mar! The bright yellow bothers me a little, but other than that, it just may be the best web site I've ever seen.
 
Oh yea my new site got 2 measly "It's okay" comments. You would think that Framar just won 'Website of the Year'.

Just kidding. It is easy to navigate. You already addressed this a little, but I assume you are planning to put some pictures in the "Custom Framing" area? That’s actually the part I have been working on too. Websites do take allot of time and planning. I'm sure the investment in time will pay off well. Good job!
 
The site's a lot of fun and it hit your target goal's bullseye, as I spent way too much time there...I loved all the cartoons. Nice quotes too, Horatio.
 
Mar,

Your site is terrific!! Wow - what an accomplishment. I can only imagine how much time in planning alone it must have taken you to do!

It offers so much information and examples and is so "personal" - I just love it!

My only comment, to copy Jo Burns' is about the color of yellow. Seems to overpower some of the images... and content. Other than that.

You did a great job and your work is wonderful as well.

I hope to see it in person at some point - although my store hours/days match yours.. so I would have to play hooky one day (that is highly likely!)

Roz
 
Wonderful. Great to incorporate humor into business. As one who builds wooden ships, I appreciate the world of miniature that you have created. And you are right .. working in miniature is a great way to relax and lessen the strain.
 
WOW,
Your creativity is Awesome! Your web site inspired me to get busy and start being more creative. I love the front of your shop. My shop is an older building with character also. I love the atmosphere it brings. Customers feel more at home and tend to feel a little more loyalty because of this. If you gave a class in Atlanta on creative designs, I would be the first to sign up.
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And btw, Your web site is exactly what I think a web site design should be. When I'm ready to have one, I would love to get who ever did yours to help me!
See you in Atlanta,

Jennifer, TN
 
Goodness gracious! Here I am bracing myself for brickbats and I am receiving bouquets! Thank you! Thank you for your input!

A note on the color scheme: I see saffron, which matches my shop walls. After two months of intensive work I was beginning to get sick of it myself, but I love the combo with the burgundy lettering.

I am not sure Mike would be up to dealing with any more framers - he was the utmost in politeness in dealing with my daily phone calls - but I believe he only did it because his wife is my partner! LOL!

I did most of the work in Front Page and used blank pages instead of their lame templates. For instance, Mike used the program's template for our Site Map and it kept automatically adding great long lists of each and every image. I figured we could "fool" the program by starting over with a blank page and calling it a Table of Contents - so we ended up with exactly what we wanted!

For my part, the program was just like working in Word. Mike did all the navigation and linking and such. And he found the shareware Scrapbook - since I am on dial-up (not even DSL is available where I live) it takes forever to upload pages, but once I start I can't stop. The next chapter will be Poetry and I also plan on a chapter devoted to the OTHER cat boxes I have made (there are about a dozen in all - I just have to photograph them with the digital camera!).

What made me so nervous about this whole experience is just when I had completed all of the writing part - that's when the Framing Websites thread popped up with all the discussion about how horrible words are on websites. Took me aback, let me tell you!

It makes me feel good to know that if folks who don't know me like it then my customers will go bonkers!

Thanks y'all!
 
Where would I find what edition I use? The little intro card that sez Front Page is only on the screen for a split second and I haven't been able to glimpse anything like 2.42 or 3.65. What and wear should I be looking? Remember - I have cataracts!

That was one of the worst parts about editing my text - I cannot tell commas from periods unless the text is really big and bold. Many times, when I wasn't sure if I had typed the correct mark, I deleted it and re-typed it, making sure I was hitting the correct key! Sometimes when I am tired enough I can't even see which is which on my keyboard!

I am sincerely hoping to be having at least one eye ready for surgery soon - this is making me crazy!
 
MAr,
Insomnia pays off once again! Love your web site!
Particularly the animal pix.
(You never told us you were so tall. Or you've surrounded yourself with short women...)

Very well constructed. Links well to various 'places' on the site. I think I like your storefront best of all. It invites you in to look around. Your shadowboxes are fantastic! Having had just a little experience with shadowboxes, I applaud your love for tiny things, frames, photos, etc, within the shadowbox! And the patience and skill to make them come out so well!
 
Charles - I'm only 5'8' and all my girlfriends, now that you mention it (!) have always been shorter! Must be an unconscious thing...

Kim will be adding "dog art" to the scrapbook as soon as she recovers from all the work she did for me! We try to keep a balance between the cats and the dogs in the shop. The front room is mostly cats on the walls, and the backroom is 2 live Jack Russells and mostly dogs on the walls.
 
I thought y'all might get a kick out of this! I printed up a bunch of web pages (as well as this thread) to show my soon-to-be 89 year old Mom today. She not only caught a couple of spelling errors on the website - she pointed out I had spelled "wear" when I had meant to write "where" in one of my posts!

If anyone wants to hire these eagle eyes for general editing work, I can put you in touch! And I sincerely hope I fixed my errors before Captain English caught them!
 
I spent some time yesterday looking at the scrapbook pictures of your animals. They are just superb. I have a Seddi look alike.


Do you sell your cat boxes?
 
Jo - To sell any of the boxes I have made would be like sawing off an arm - they are a part of me - I still own most of the artwork I have ever created (including macrame!).

I have always felt that I should be "doing something" with them and the Internet is the perfect solution. I like showing them to folks, and I LOVE talking about them (!) and I could probably even make one for someone if I knew from the get-go that it was leaving my life forever (arrrgh!).

I used to make memorial shrines for cats and dogs and horses (these were the precursors of the roomboxes) but I became way too emotionally invested in them to continue. It always amazes me that any artists are able to part with their work, but I guess this is why they invented reproductions.

All of my artwork will eventually end up in the Scrapbook - next up: some animal shrines (already have the pix of these!).
 
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