Antique Marks Navigation

Fixed Footer Navigation

This is found at the bottom of each page and usually remains the same throughout the site. Hovering over the headings in this section will reveal further options that will take you to one of the sub-sections of the site, including the antiques shop and the antique business listings and the auctions calendar. There are also direct links to the various antique marks pages, the full alphabetical listing for the antiques glossary, and site information pages such as our privacy policy and contact form.

Social Media Icons

The footer navigation also includes icons representing various social bookmarking and sharing sites and clicking on one of these icons will open a new window allowing you to login to your account and bookmark or share the antique-marks page you are currently viewing.

Site Search Tool

This is found at the top of the right hand column and allows the visitor to search the entire antique marks site.

The site search tool is powered by Google and once a search query is submitted will return with a new page displaying pages for all sections that match the visitors search term.

The user then simply clicks on a relevant heading to be taken to that page or section.

Our site search tool is quite versatile and allows the user to refine specific searches to allow for targeted content results. Is is also one of the quickest ways to find specific information.

Antique Marks Sitemap

You can also click through to the antique marks sitemap and use this index of all the main pages to quickly find the subject you are interested in.

A single click will then take you directly to that section or the specific page you choose.

Backtrack using your breadcrumb trail

At the bottom of every pages main content section there are breadcrumbs, which can be used to progress back through the logical structure of that page, ie; the sequence of pages you would logocally follow to get from the antique marks hompepage to the current page.

Simply click on one of the preceding page links to to be taken to that page.

Finding Information & Antique Marks

In a large complex website such as antique-marks.com, which contains more than a thousand individual pages covering subjects from collecting antique ceramics to buying at auctions; finding your way around and the information you are looking for requires a little bit of forethought.

1. General Navigation Principles

Every webpage on antique-marks.com contains a variety of navigation options and you can use these to find the information you want quickly or to get back to a section you have already visited. (click image to enlarge)

• Site Navigation ... is located at the top of every page and will take you to the start of each main section
• Site Search Function ... located at the top right on the shaded bar above the right sidebar. Use this to search for specific content or all pages containing a subject or term.
• Social Bookmarks ... located to the right of the fixed footer bar. Click on the relevant icon to bookmark the current page using your preferred social media site
• Section Navigation ..., located in the right margin. Options available will change depending on the section visited
• In Page Navigation ..., Text underlined and outlined in blue. Not all pages will have this, but for those that do this function helps the reader navigate through related parts of the subject.
• Breadcrumb Navigation ..., located at the bottom of the main content in that page. useful if you wish to move backwards through the logical steps to that subject or re-trace your steps.
• Site Information Navigation ..., located to the left of the fixed footer bar and includes links to important site information such as our privacy policy, the sitemap, the latest updates, our contact page, etc;

2. Finding Antiques Information ...

Antique-marks is organised in a way that makes this relatively simple. so, as an example let's say we want to find a a date for a Doulton stoneware vase.

• From the home page select 'Collecting - Antique Ceramics'
• Click 'Royal Doulton' in the right navigation to open the Doulton section
• Click on 'Doulton Marks' link in the new right margin section navigation
• Browse the marks until you find the one you're looking for
• NOTE: In regard to marks you can also use the one-click index of popular marks in the footer bar

Follow a similar path to find information on other antiques. Whether you're looking for examples of Worcester fruit painted porcelain or Troika Pottery marks.

3. Finding Antique Marks & Other Antiques Information

Antique-marks contains a wealth of antique related information and advice. Some of this is specific to manufacturers such as Royal Doulton, Sevres, Wedgwood and others but the Antiques Glossary contains a lot more antiques information; as do the Buying, Selling and Caring for Antiques Sections.

There are various ways to locate this information ...,

• Navigate Through Sections ..., eg; if looking for information on Selling Antiques at Auction click on the Selling Antiues section and browse the section navigation in the right margin. If looking for information on Cuckoo Clocks click on the Antique Clocks section and scroll throught the clocks sections.
• Browse Section Home Pages ..., eg; have a look at the main Collecting Antique Ceramics page and you will see that it contains links to almost all manufacturers and subjects in that section. Other sections have similar pages.
• Use the Site Search Function ..., simply enter the phrase or term that covers what you are looking for and click 'Site Search'. You will be provided with a page listing all antique-marks pages that contain that phrase or search term and you can simply select the most relevant.
• Use the Sitemap ..., The antique-marks sitemap is an index of all pages within all sections and is very easy to use. Most sections have their own icon, which makes them easy to locate and simply clicking on the subject you are interested in will take you straight to that page or section

Using a combination of Sitemap and Site Search is probably the simplest way to find specific information, however it does mean you could miss other interesting information you may not know or have thought existed.

Including your Antique Business or Service or website on antique-marks.com

The best way for a business or antique facility to use antique-marks is to add your own page about your antique business.

Creating your own business page and using the built-in comment feature is really easy.

• You navigate to the relevant section
• Use the submission form to add your details (click image to enlarge)
• Add up to four photos of you, your business or your service
• Accept the terms and submit your page

Once your page has been created you can add comments or notifications ...

eg; special offers, seasonal notices, auction schedules, contact updates and other items you wish our visitors and your clients to know about. All by using the comments function.

And; of course, your clients, customers, friends and family can also support your business by adding their own comments.

All this activity will bring your business to the attention of our other antique collectors and readers.

And, the more positive comments you have ;

• the more stars you are awarded;
• the more stars you have, the higher your listing appears in your category
• this encourages visitors to read your page and hopefully, to choose your service

In addition your page will also feature in our RSS feed (What is RSS) and in our Antiques Blog Page.

PLEASE BE AWARE: All submissions are checked by a member of our team. One liners that don't even provide basic contact information to help potential customers contact you, rarely make it through.

Using Antique Marks - A Business Listing Example ...

Let's walk you through a simple business listing.

Say you are an antiques shop called Tudor Antiques and you serve the UK antiques community. The logical place to promote your business is in our UK Antique Dealers section.

• So, simply navigate to that section and use the submission form ... UK Antique Dealers
• Add your title ...
  which is important as it will become the name of your page ... eg; Tudor Antiques will create a web page (URL) called www.antique-marks.com/tudor-antiques.html
• You then add details of your specialist antique services, your location and how potential clients can contact you. Include any accreditations or specific antique qualifications and associations
• You can then include up to four photos of your shop, or you, your clients, your antiques or other facilities.
  It's up to you how many but we do optimise these for you in order that search engines will place them in relevant image search results. so, the more the better.
• Add your Author details ...,
  (always best to be your name rather than your business name as that is already in your title).
• Add your location ...,
  We suggest using the format of ... town, state or county, and country (eg; York, Yorkshire, England). That way your listing will be found if visitors search for specific locations.
• Finally, accept our T&C's, enter the security code, (which helps prevent spam), and click the submit button.

You will then be given the opportunity to view, check and amend your details, as well as the option to receive notifications by email when other antique visitors comment on your listing.

NOTE: It's up to you whether you want to be notified or not, but obviously, the quicker you know about comments and enquiries the faster you can respond. If you choose not to be notified, don't worry we will never send you any other communications, nor will you be notified of comments or enquiries.

Now let's say Tudor Antiques also hosts antique auctions and lectures ...

The best place for Tudor Antiques to promote these is in our Auctions Calendar

Adding auctions and events is quite simple ... see the Adding Events tab for help with this.

Once they have included their auctions or other event in the auctions calendar, Tudor Antiques would then increase the auctions exposure by posting notices, catalogue details and/or auction results using their business listing comments function.

This ensures readers that are following Tudor Antiques updates are notified immediately of this new activity and that Tudor Antiques are pro-active and keen to encourage new clients

Adding Your Antique Auctions ...

Adding your own antique auction details and events is easy. And; it's also easy to include links to your auction catalogues.

• Browse to the Auctions Calendar home page
• Choose the relevant country from the central drop-down menu
• Scroll to the auction year and month using the calendars at the top right and left
• Once at the correct month - click the small plus-sign '+' in the top right-hand corner of the auction date
• This will open up an auction submission form and all you need to do is complete the details and submit your auction details.

Help: Adding auction Calendar Entries

The add antique auctions form includes the following fields and we explain here, what you should enter in each field.

• Brief Description: Provide a short description (about 20 characters) of the auction. This will represent the auction when visitors view the main calendar.
• Full Description: Complete details of the antique auction. This information will be seen when a user views the auction details page or they mouse-over the brief description.
• Category: Click Edit (a small window will open) click on your country in the left side. Click the middle arrows and your selection will move across. Now click 'OK' to finalise your selection
• Location: Enter brief event location details. eg; town, county/state post or zip code. Your full address should be in the full description
• URL: Enter the internet address for the auction catalogue.
• Date: Specifies the date of the auction. This defaults to the date selected if you use the Add Antique Auction instructions.
• Time: Specifies the time of the auction. Selecting an option will provide other options. Selecting a timed event will present you with a start and end time: The end time specifies the time the event is expected to end
  • "Untimed event" (for an auction that does not have a limited time (like an auction that lasts more than one day)
  • "Timed event" (for an auction that is scheduled during a specific time on that day)
  • "All day event" (for an auction that takes all day)