Lyman Byxby etchings are collectible
LymanByxbe.com is an active website I built using Weebly about 12 years ago.
We had just discovered Byxbe’s beautiful & affordable etchings and knew we wanted to build an extensive collection.
We also realized that when time came to sell some of them it would be nice to have a website that already ranked for his name. LymanByxbe.com is still on the first page of results of a search for the name, but hasn’t been updated for years. We bought a lot more of his work over the years and have about 300 which need to be photographed and published.
There have been a lot of developments in web design and building so the old site needs a rebuild.
Rebuilding Lyman Byxbe dot com
Traffic to the Lyman Byxbe website comes from people who find one of his works at a thrift store, consignment shop, someones trash, or other odd location and want to know what it is worth.
The etchings all have a title in pencil on the lower left and his signature on the lower right.
However, valuation is not as simple as that.
Byxbe liked to use the same name for different etchings. For example, there are at least 20 different images titled “Bear Lake”.
He also liked to extend the life of his etchings by re-scribing areas, or trimming the original plates. Determining the correct value requires careful measurement and comparison to known works.
The website needs filters that help the visitor quickly narrow down their search.
Tech stack
I think Bricks plus Custom Post Types and Advanced Custom Fields will provide the power needed to make the searches quick and easy.
Onces I have a new site build I can begin the process of 301 redirects to start sending visitors to the new site without damaging the organic rankings of the existing site.
Photography
Many of our Byxbe’s are framed. That means taking photographs through glass, which is something of a challange.
Each one must also be measured, down to 1/8″ accuracy to be sure of identification.
All that takes time, so rebuilding the site is a slow process.
LymanByxbe.com was first registered in 2012.
