Blog vs webpage

Are you wanting or needing to make an online merchant presence for your new or existing business but are not sure what would work better,  a blog or a webpage?  There are a few questions to take into consideration when making this decision.  First of all, do you plan on selling a lot of merchandise online?  And do you want to have a web address that doesn't include additional words like, blogspot or wordpress etc.?

If you have a Paypal account, you can sell merchandise on your blog!  With the Paypal website, once you've become a registered merchant,  go the the Merchant Services tab where you will see many excellent services available such as layouts, checkouts, even invoicing.  Unfortunately your blog address will always have those additional words on your internet www address, but take into consideration that a blog is free! You will discover that some blogs (such as blogspot) will offer you the option of creating separate "pages" which will allow you to direct your readers to a page on your blog solely dedicated to selling your products.

When you want to have many items for sale, including pictures which may take up a lot of GB's (gigabytes), you might consider spending some money to get a dedicated webpage.  First you will need to register a domain name.  A lot of service providers include domain name registration in their webpage hosting packages.  The domain name can be fairly inexpensive unless it is being sold by a broker, then depending on the name, it can be quite expensive!  It is best to either use your business name, or a word that describes your business that customers will remember.  The shorter, the better!

The amount of data you think you will need to put on your page, plus other options like additional email accounts, bandwidth, secure server, and developing software options will be among some of the packages web hosting services will offer.  It is also important that your computer's operating system will be compatible with your web host's developing tools software (if needed) before signing the agreement.  Some hosts will allow customers to agree to a month to month agreement which will allow you to cancel anytime.  Others have other contract agreements such as 12, 24 or 36 month contracts.

All in all, both blog and webpage are excellent sales tools.  Do your homework and choose wisely.

Glass Eye 2000 software videos

Click here to see these two You Tube videos teaching how to use Glass Eye 2000 video software part one and Glass Eye 2000 video software part two.  This is an excellent computer software program for drawing stained glass and fused glass patterns.  In these videos, learn how to draw an arched sun design for stained glass.  Harrach Glass art glass studio has the professional version of Glass Eye 2000 and we highly recommend this software.  It allows users to draw patterns to exact sizes and dimensions.   We use our program for not only stained glass patterns but for creating a simple outline for mosaic patterns and fused glass art.  With the software we are able to email our designs to our customers for review.  You can also add a variety of glass (and colors) from quite a few glass manufacturers so as to give customer and artist a realistic image of the completed project.

Glass Eye

Today I thought I'd write a little bit about the program Glass Eye 2000.  Sorry, I know that I am not writing about beads today (actually I haven't written at all lately) but that's because I have been slowing down on bead production since the economy is so bad right now and my beads have not been selling as well as they used to.  Hopefully things will pick up again soon and I can make more beads, right now I have too many beads sitting here waiting to sell and I don't want to make such a huge inventory.

Glass Eye 2000 is a program used for drawing and sizing stained glass windows.  I totally love it and use it every time I make a stained glass window.   You can take any picture, and then draw a pattern of that picture by uploading it onto your computer and setting it as a background on the Glass Eye program and finally you basically trace the image.  It is also great for using pictures you find online and doing the same thing!  And you can also scan a picture from a book or other print media to draw a pattern as well.    

The program has a lot of glass samples to plug into the window to give you a better idea of what it will look like when completed.  That makes it wonderful when working with customers who want to see a completed "sample" of their window before buying.  When working in a studio setting, a customer can actually choose glass colors and textures, even glass manufacturers from which you can create a sample of their desired window before fabrication.  

It is easy to re size the pattern to the exact dimension of the finished piece!  It is important to either start with that dimension or create a shape that is close to the size needed so that when resizing, the pattern doesn't get distorted in any way.  If the window is to have an arch or other shape, it is still possible to get the correct size by using the software correctly.  

There are a few different versions of this program available.  It is better to spend the extra money to get the best version possible!