Customer interview with mrsboldart

Can you briefly introduce yourself and the project you present on your website?

Uchral: I’m Uchral, and I’m a lettering and watercolor artist based in Vienna. In the beginning, I mainly offered workshops in this field to share my passion with others. Over time, I started personalizing creative products with my lettering and illustrations. Because of this, I registered a business so that I could sell them.

Did you teach yourself lettering, or were you always artistically gifted? How did you come to build a business out of it?

Uchral: Yes, I taught myself. In 2017, lettering wasn't as well-known as it is today. It’s partly derived from calligraphy, which originally comes from Japan and China—basically anywhere where brushes are used for writing. In my home country, Mongolia, these techniques are also very well known, though it’s more traditional calligraphy with a brush.

I came across a "brush pen" in an online video and saw someone using it for modern art. I thought it looked amazing—like a magic pen. So, I dove deeper into the topic. At first, I thought it was just the pen; I thought if I bought the pen, I could write beautifully too. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case! Still, I couldn't let it go and wanted to learn the technique.

I was very creative as a child and loved to paint. When I look at old letters I wrote to my friends, I can see I was already playing with fonts, shadows, and effects back then. That spark came back when I started lettering. Of course, I broke many pens at the start because I didn't know the technique. After two or three years, it "clicked," and I reached a point where I felt I could teach others.

I derived five rules from my own learning process. This way, my workshop participants don't need three years like I did; they can benefit from my experience and learn lettering much faster.

Very exciting. To start, could you briefly explain how your website fits into your business?

Uchral: I’ve been self-employed since 2020 and spent three years without a website. Previously, I just opened an Instagram profile as a hobby and posted my work there. At first, I didn't feel the need to create a website.

Over time, however, my services and products changed. The offer kept growing. It became increasingly difficult to present and show my products or services, especially at markets and events.

I realized that not everyone has Instagram. And even if they do, it was hard to show everything clearly just from the feed. That's when I thought: okay, I absolutely need a website.

What is the specific goal you are pursuing with your website? Are you showing people what you do, or do you want to reach new customers with it?

Uchral: Exactly. My work is very visual. I want to use images to show interested people what I do so they can visualize it better. That's why having a website was very, very important to me. Instagram was a beautiful platform for images, but once my offer expanded, it became harder to present everything clearly there. It just didn't fit anymore, and I had to look for a different solution.

I needed a website where I could present my services and products so people could see and understand what I mean when I talk about my passion. Many people don't know what it means when I say I’m a "lettering artist." I want to use my website to show them what that is and what I offer.

If my goals as an artist change or grow, I need to be able to represent that well on the site. One of my next goals, for example, is to expand my on-site services. I really enjoy live calligraphy, engraving, or lettering at events. Before, I mainly lettered live at creative markets, personalizing products for customers right before their eyes. That is always very well received. At creative markets, visitors are already used to creative things.

Recently, I offered the same at a different event – not a creative market, but the relaunch of a well-known brand. The clientele there wasn't as used to watching handmade things being created in real-time. They were even more amazed, and that fascinated me. I want to expand my services in that direction in the future, and the website should support me in presenting this offer and winning over new prospects.

How long has your website been online, and what was the creation process like?

Uchral: My website has been online since September 2023\.

I didn't want to hire a web designer or developer who would just build it once and that’s it. I wanted to handle it myself so that I could constantly expand or adapt the content.My services and products are always evolving. That's why it was important to me to use a website builder that allows me to reflect these developments on the site. The content is updated repeatedly, and new things are built. A modular system is exactly right for me.

With the world4you website builder, there are so many templates, and you can customize them beautifully. You can really change everything. If I look at the original template and then see my website, it’s completely different. I was given a good structure and adapted it to my wishes. You can design everything so freely; I loved that.

How do you manage to consistently bring new users to your website?

Uchral: Currently, I use my website almost like a business card. If people want to know more about my services or products, I link to my website. They get more detailed information there. I also use my Instagram profile for this, where I regularly post new pictures that link back to the site. Otherwise, it’s mostly direct traffic when I tell someone about my web presence.

I haven't focused on search engine optimization (SEO) yet. That was a learning curve for me at the beginning; I thought that if I created a website and put it online, it would be found immediately and rank right at the top of Google. Unfortunately, that’s not how it works! It takes a bit more time, and I need to dive deeper into that topic. Currently, if you search on Google, you find my Instagram page or other links associated with my name. In the future, I want to move up the rankings with my website.

My first goal is achieved: I have a website. At least I have something I can show or give to interested people at markets, events, or workshops. I can present my services and products clearly.

What challenges do you face in connection with your web presence?

Uchral: My passion is art. On the other hand, I’m not very familiar with building websites. However, I’m generally a very curious person and like to try new things myself.

The world4you FAQ helped me a lot. Even people who know nothing about a specific topic can find answers there. If I hear a term and know it's important for the website, I type it into the FAQ and find so much information. When I have time to invest in my website and read through the FAQ, I find solutions and can try them out immediately. It’s so intuitive, and I love that. You are guided from one topic to the next.

For example, regarding the security of my website: I heard that SSL is important so the site is reachable via https://. I didn't know anything about that, but I found information in the FAQ on how to simply activate it in the customer area.

For people who have no clue – like me – it’s so helpful. When you don't know anything, you don't even know where to start. The FAQ helps me there and leads me through the process. It’s structured so that related important things are shown one after another.

Do you have tips for others who want to build a successful web presence?

Uchral: I have something here so people can learn from my mistake. Before you start building the website, you need to think very specifically about what you actually want. Only then can you choose the right package or the right template in the website builder.

You should visualize the website in your mind. Do I need sub-navigation? What should my homepage look like? What do I want to customize? You can individualize a lot in all templates, but it helps enormously to think about it beforehand. You can design the font, color, and everything else well, but the basic structure of the template is fixed in a website builder and cannot be completely redesigned later.

I built my website alongside my job, my household, and my self-employment – mostly at night for a few minutes or hours. Therefore, I didn't spend much time on planning but just started and picked a template.

Now that you’ve dealt with the topic of web hosting a bit more: what is particularly important to you?

Uchral: I think what’s important to me in web hosting is that it’s reliable and secure. Additionally, the price should be acceptable since I’m a small business owner and have to keep an eye on costs.

I also love recommending the website builder to my fellow artist colleagues. We are all active in the artistic field, but we aren't very familiar with the digital side. That's why I like to share that I was able to build my own web presence with this product and encourage my colleagues to get a website too.

We’ve already touched on some functionalities of the website builder. Are there any other features that are particularly helpful for you?

Uchral: I like that the customer area is so clear. Using the FAQ, I was able to set up the SSL certificate and many other things for my website.

As you’ve noticed – I’m a big fan of the FAQ, so I would count that as a functionality or service that is particularly helpful. I didn't spend a lot of time looking at everything; my goal was to get my website online. I achieved that, and I’m happy about it. But I will read more about the features and apply them for myself.

Since all my products are personalized, I don't sell them through a shop but via individual inquiries through the website. Nevertheless, I thought it was great that you can also implement an online shop with the website builder. I even tried out what it could look like and would use it if it became relevant for my products.

Was there anything that surprised you quite positively?

Uchral: FAQ, FAQ, FAQ! \*laughs\* The website builder is very intuitive, and you can build your own website independently. It was great that I could just create my web presence myself and engage with the topic. Information is offered in a way that people who aren't experts can understand.

There are many videos on YouTube or other channels that I don't understand, for example. The FAQ or blog posts from world4you are structured so clearly and linked so that I can dive even deeper. That’s exactly right for me. The FAQ is my guide.

Do you also have suggestions for improvement?

Uchral: I’ve hit the limits of my template in the website builder here and there. Since I’m very active on Instagram and that was my starting point for self-employment, I wanted to link my Instagram channel and my website more closely.

In my template, I could adjust all colors and fonts very well, but unfortunately, the feature for displaying the Instagram channel on the homepage didn't work as well. I didn't like the implementation, and in my opinion, it didn't fit into the overall concept of my website since I had already heavily customized the original template.

We are happy to pass that feedback along. Is there anything else you’d like to mention at this point?

Uchral: No, not really. I’m just happy that I was able to build my own website with the help of the website builder, the FAQ, and my colleagues. Many thanks to world4you for the opportunity and to my colleagues for the support.