Hey, I thought I'd try to use this place more

[LothianWoodwork]

Hey everyone, I’m Moray and I run Lothian Woodworks, a small laser engraving and woodworking business based in Scotland.

Over the past few years I’ve gone from learning on a basic diode laser in a shed to building a business creating custom engraved products, awards, medals and personalised pieces for customers and events around the world. Some of my recent work has included awards for hard enduro events like Roof of Africa and Junior FIM Hard Enduro.

One of the biggest things I’ve been working on lately is rebuilding and improving my Square website. If I’m honest, getting found online has probably been harder than learning the laser side of things. Making products feels natural to me, but SEO, Google Merchant Centre, analytics, keywords and trying to turn a website into something that actually brings enquiries in has been a completely different challenge.

I’ve spent a lot of time recently improving my homepage, rewriting product descriptions, sorting image SEO, learning more about Google indexing and trying to make the site feel more focused around custom work instead of just looking like another gift shop.

Running a small business while also being a full-time carer at home definitely adds extra challenges, so I’m always trying to make the most of the time I get in the workshop.

I joined this community because it’s good hearing from people who are figuring things out as they go too. I’d love to connect with other businesses using Square and hear what’s worked for you when it comes to getting traffic and enquiries through your site. I'd love some constructive criticism on my site  if that's of interest to anyone

[Minion]

Welcome @LothianWoodwork 

I remember when I first started my business, I used a WordPress site picked a theme (that seemed to take hours to finally find one) and then edited it for weeks/months.  It because part of my daily routine to make sure things were updated, running properly, so on and so forth.  The SEO part took a long time, but when I finally had it where I wanted it for Speed, ranking and aesthetics it was one of the best feelings.  

I checked out your site briefly, and I like it.  It's well organized, easy to navigate and easy on the eyes.  Do you run cloudflare with your square site?  Although I didn't notice much loading lag, it's never a bad thing to look into as you begin to add more items and images.

From a personal perspective, I think your first two sections could be switched around/played with.  I really like that photo you used, and it's to eye catching to not be the first thing you see .  Just something to think about.

Keep in mind, WE all as small Business owners are learning as we go.  Without learning something new everyday, none of us would grow.  

[LothianWoodwork]

Thanks, I really appreciate that. It’s honestly reassuring hearing that other people went through the same process with websites and SEO because it can feel like a full-time job on its own sometimes.

I’m still very much in that stage of constantly tweaking things, checking analytics, changing layouts, rewriting descriptions and trying to improve how the site performs in search results. The making side of the business comes naturally to me, but the website and SEO side has definitely been a steep learning curve.

I actually don’t know if I’m using Cloudflare or not to be honest. I’m using basic Square Online for the site, Definitely something I’ll look into though as I keep adding more products and images.

That’s really interesting feedback about switching the first two sections around as well. Funny enough, I’ve been going back and forth on the homepage layout quite a bit recently trying to make it feel more custom-work focused rather than just another online gift shop, so I might experiment with that.

Really appreciate you taking the time to have a look through the site and leave feedback.

[rtfulk]

@LothianWoodwork Welcome to the community. Getting traffic is hard, we have found the loyalty program helps. People signs up and they sorta become invested in you. I would also recommend doing some local fairs to get your name out and drive people to your website.

[LothianWoodwork]

Thanks, I appreciate that. Traffic definitely seems to be one of the hardest parts. You can spend hours improving a website and then realise getting people to actually find it is a whole separate skill.

The loyalty programme idea is interesting actually. I’ve mostly been focused on improving SEO and trying to push more custom enquiries through the site, but building repeat customers is probably something I need to put more attention into.

I used to do local fairs years ago when I first started out and they were good for getting my name out there. Most of my work now is custom orders and event awards, so I drifted away from fairs a bit, but you’re probably right that they still have value, especially for getting local people familiar with the brand and website.

Really appreciate the advice.

[schaefferjosh]

I really like the site! I think that the layout is good, it's very inviting and informative. Your pages look great, and it looks like you are setting up for more press stories as they happen. You can just input them easily. Traffic, I think, is your biggest concern, and unfortunately, it takes time. We do farmers markets and alot of craft shows, and we utilize a QR code that sends people to a linktree page with all of our socials and our website. You could set this up to just send to a dedicated landing page on your website. Like your About Me or the Contact Us page. 

On the point of fairs still having value, I actually had a vendor do custom on-site engraving just a couple of weeks ago. I am not sure if this is an option, but it could be a good way to draw up business and put on a demo of your work.

This is my site if you want to check it out. It isn't great by any means, but to give a different perspective for you.