Recently, I was working on a new header for my web site. Well, I don’t mean working on the site itself, my son Michael does the technical part. www.mikejuly.com . I was putting together a few ideas for him to incorporate into the new look and to make my web site more user friendly. I had decided to feature “Custom Woodworking” and support it with a short bio about my business.
Per Mike’s suggestion, I did a little research on Google Adwords, www.adwords.google.com and found a gazillion references to “custom”. OK, maybe not a gazillion but several hundred million. Listed were thousands of sites for custom cabinets, custom furniture and custom kitchens ( just to name a few) and at first I thought,wow, there are a lot of people in the business of building custom everything. , Using Google, I dug a little deeper and found everything from custom cars to custom t shirts to custom finger nails and we can’t forget custom nose hair trimmers. It’s true, you can’t make this stuff up. Is the word “Custom” over used to the point that it’s no longer taken seriously? Has it become a tag that’s added to everything without justification? More specifically, is it meaningful when attached to woodworking?
Custom
(Or “bespoke”) An adjective describing any product that is special in some way, individually created for a specific user or system, as opposed to generic or off-the-shelf. Source: Free Online Dictionary of Computing http://foldoc.org/custom
How would you define custom woodworking? Do you think the tag “Custom” is over used?
By the way, I am reconsidering using “Custom Woodworking” in the title page of my web site.
Keith
Afternoon Keith. Good read as always. As you know i use the words “Bespoke” more than i do custom well actually i have never used it. But i would find most users of the word would find it hard to find another one that does what it says. yes there are others like handmade home grown or handcrafted but in most cases Custom can be use to cover all where as handmade finger nails just would not do hehehehe. It would be nice if people would take the time to use other words as there write ups would attract far more customers with a bit of detail in the wording for example
“custom made furniture” to “traditional handcrafted furniture” or “individually crafted furniture” even maybe “tailor/tailored made furniture. Dont get me wrong if it works dont change it its just there are choices out there.
mark
Hello Mark,
I hope that you are doing well.
The link you sent for Alan Wakefield’s web site was great. Thank you
http://alanwakefield.co.uk/bespoke.html
Mr. Wakefield does an excellent job explaining Bespoke cabinets. A quick look at his web site and it is clear that he is also a skilled craftsman.
I agree, custom does seem to cover it all and I think that is why it is seen attached to every type of product or service.
As far a custom finger nails…I think I’ll stick to growing my own. :->
Keith
Hey Dad,
Thanks for the shout out. You’re right – the word ‘custom’ has become so overused that it has become stale and really doesn’t stand for much anymore – and this is true for a lot of different industries. Custom websites, custom cabinets, custom stereo systems… the problem is, if you’re looking at search volume, you have to deliver what people are looking for – and you should deliver it to them in the most convenient method possible. There’s a reason Home Depot doesn’t build stores out in the middle of nowhere.
There’s an inherent challenge with reinventing the wheel when it comes to going against the grain of traditional wisdom – because what you’re trying to do is develop a new way to think about an old concept. It comes down to branding. It’s doable… think about products like Advil, Xerox, Google, Skil, Dremel – none of them invented anything – they’re just rebadged items that were already in existence. The problem is getting exposure to the point where everyone else is trying to catch up with you.
I recommend you approach the concept of ‘custom’ similar to how I approached what I do. The phrase ‘Internet Marketing’ doesn’t mean a whole lot specifically, but it’s how people identify with what I do. Once I have their attention though, I establish myself as a ‘Web Strategy Development Consultant specializing in visitor experience optimization’. But type that phrase into the keyword tool and see how many people actually search that way. You have to get them in the door, first.
MJ