Cabinet maker finds Web home

By Billy Liggett
bliggett@dailyworld.com

Sometimes, it helps who your friends are.

For Arnaudville carpenter John Savoie, a friendship with local Web site designer Karen Lagrange eventually led to the creation of his new business site, www.kajunwoodworks.com. And that friendship is paying off, business-wise.

Launched on Dec. 1, the site already is getting Savoie potential business, thanks to an attractive design and the ease in finding it on popular search engines like Google and MSN.com.

"Karen talked me into it," Savoie said. "I didn't know how it would affect my business. But then I started getting phone calls, and I've gotten three possible jobs from it. It's pretty good considering this is a slow time of year."

The site offers a showroom of Savoie's custom cabinets, as well as a listing of handicap renovations he can make to a home and other home improvement tricks of the trade he can perform. The site also includes pricing, testimonials, contact information and a short bio of Savoie.

A former homebuilder, Savoie, 53, said age was the biggest reason he turned his attention to specialized carpentry.

"I was building houses for about 10 years, but as you get older, it gets harder and harder," he said.

As for Savoie's site, Lagrange said www.kajunwoodworks.com is more of an online brochure than anything else.

"He can reach more potential customers on the Web. John's business doesn't really appeal to a global market, but the site is still benefiting him. Many who know of him may not know of all the things he can actually do."

Lagrange said the site received more than 300 hits its first month. Web searches for "Acadiana home improvement" display his site first on search engine MSN.com and near the top in Google.

"We're working on the search engine optimization," she said. "We want you to be able to find him better in the future."

Originally published in Daily World, Opelousas, LA - January 8, 2006

Daily World Article

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