Is having a web site, for a small builder, worth the expense and hassle. For those of you that have been down this road, has it paid for itself?
Yes.
Harry, With very little experience you can put up a decent website for about $250 a year, cost, somewhat higher if you need credit card/online purchasing functions. Compare that to something like $4000 for a quarter-page ad in one issue of Surfer. Hard not to make that pay off, but of course that can be done too… Nels
For a small shaper you can use the hosting option that comes from some ISP providers. I have a subscription with comcast, and they offer a limited amount of space on their web servers. If you’re looking for something simple, that might be the way to go.
I built - www.hollowsurfboards.com - last year… I used Microsoft Front Page and did it mostly by myself, with some generous assistance from Tom Sterne and Mr. Swaylock…It had it’s challenging moments, but it works ok, and I learned a lot… So far I’ve sold some fins and tools…Which are mostly break even deals…I’ve had a bunch of people say “When I get some money I’m gonna have you build me a board”…That has yet to happen…And I’m not the type to “push for a sale”… I consider my web-site an open book, with what I’ve learned about hollow boards…If it helps others, I’m happy… It cost me little to register the domain name, and the monthly service is $9.95…I’ve pretty much paid for it myself…Such is life…But I won’t refuse a donation…Hint, hint, hint… Paul http://www.hollowsurfboards.com
Harry, I put together the 4 websites below, they are all works in progress because I havent got the actual products in and up yet, but I can build you something pretty fast and cheap depending on what you want, Flash or HTML www.surfboardglassing.com www.ovellesurf.com www.hardinsurf.com www.paradoxdistribution.com http://www.surfboardglassing.com
Harry, Below is the site I built for myself when i was learning Macromedia Dreamweaver. Created the graphics with Macromedia Freehand, composited them and made them web ready with Adobe Photoshop. This site hosted free on my ISP web space. Will be moving it to my reserved domain name 808shapes.com and redesigning in the future. This is good for letting people know you are serious about building boards if they are sketchy about getting a board from you. Just plain fun to do otherwise, I would say its worth it just to say to yourself i can do it; just like making boards. Aloha, 808 shapes http://home.hawaii.rr.com/makani808shapes/
As a professional web designer/author and an amateur shaper, this is an interesting thread! Yes, Swaylockians, you can do it yourself. Professional web folks are sometimes worth the money, though. That being said, here’s my $.02: 1) If you go to the trouble of creating a site, keep it current. Add something every month or so, even if it’s next to nothing. 2) Supply many photos of your shapes. Get a cheap digital camera and have a board gallery or something like it. People like photos.
I second that, also, the host group in florida will host a site for $10/month. I built the tylersurfboards site, and the toughest thing was photographing the logs. another shameless plug: www.tylersurfboards.com The flash & the glare on the polished boards could be a real bitch. as for the site, it’s all about the boards. “the main thing is keeping the main thing the main thing”. Keep the site fresh, with new pics, I agree. Far easier said than done. cheers http://www.tylersurfboards.com
I agree that keeping the site current is very important and adding images of new shapes is a great way to do it - just think how lame it was when you’d go into your local shop and they’d have the same boards all the time. Talk about a shameless plug: I shoot for a living so send me to your work and I’ll knock out some shots for you. Boards are not that easy but if you play around you’ll get it. If your not shooting in a studio for catalog work your best bet is to shoot during one of those wonderful overcast socal mornings. To make dropping out the background easier take some black or white bedding and stand it up behind your board. Your shots will look great. There’s nothing wrong reflections on the board - that just shows how nice the finish work is. Just be sure it’s not a mirror image of you (holding the camera) reflecting in the board unless you’re doing a self portrait. Also use a tripod and turn off your on camera flash, there’s nothing as distracting as a secular highlight right in the middle of the board. The attached are two shots done relatively quickly for your viewing - one with a bit of contrast and the other pretty flat. Surfore 
I bought a 4’ x 12’ piece of cheap black fabric… I use it as a background when shooting board picture… It’s easy to “Photoshop” a board on a single color background… http://www.hollowsurfboards.com 
faaaaaaaaaantastic boards…