Hotter than Hell Tattoo:
Helping JFK stay awesome

When you hear JFK, you probably think of Jeff JFK Kohl, the owner of Hötter than Hell Tattoo in Edinburgh. Ok, well possibly he is not the first person you think of. But maybe he should be. His work is amazing. He did his first tattoo when he was 15. On himself. It was the Slayer logo, inked in his home town of Lincoln, Nebraska. Since then, he has gone on to ink 50,000 tattoos across the world.

Describing Lincoln as a whole lot of nothing, it is unsurprising that Jeff upped sticks to Minneapolis, Minnesota, pretty early on. Since then he has taken his skills to Amsterdam, Philadelphia and North Carolina, where he opened his first shop and had his first child. Finally, Jeff ended up in Edinburgh, where his wife was from, and opened Hötter than Hell Tattoo.

When asked what got him into tattooing Jeff jokes he, has a passion for not being homeless. He used to work six days a week from 10am to 2am doing 10 to 20 tattoos a day. But JFK's being modest. He doesn't tattoo just to pay the bills. He clearly loves his work and has been awarded for his artistry.

I'm on the website quite a lot. It gives us a place to really tell our story. Everything is in one place and, it's really easy to use. We're busy and need to focus on customers, not the technical side of things.

I've won awards, he eventually admits. I got first place, best tattoo at the Amsterdam Convention. I got the same in New York. And in Hollywood. I've been on TV in seven countries. The Edinburgh Evening News named him third best tattoo artist in the city, a title he is both proud of and contests at the same time. The guy in first place is dead and the second one is a fictional character. So, I'm the best, he smiles. I'm awesome and great at what I do. Over the course of 35 years I've probably done 50,000 tattoos.

One look at the Hötter than Hell Tattoo website and you can see why Jeff has had such an illustrious career. The work is awesome. Even if you don't have a tattoo, you might leave wondering what would look best. It's a simple, but effective website. Nothing fancy. It does the job.

Most of our promotion is through social media, but we still need a website. It was created in 2015 and we've rebuilt it a couple of times, says Jeff's studio manager, Fiona. People can find out about us, see our work, book a tattoo or buy our merchandise. We also post our latest offers and vouchers there.

The website also makes us real and reputable, adds Fiona. If you look up a business and it doesn't have one, you kind of wonder if it's somewhere you want to deal with. The website reassures people. The trick is to get people to visit it. Anything that gets us more visible is important.

I know how much it costs me because I see the bill each month. It's £12.99 compared to the thousands I spent with the other guys.

Fiona is the one who manages the digital side of things for Jeff, using Website Builder from Fasthosts. I'm on the website quite a lot. It gives us a place to really tell our story. Everything is in one place and, it's really easy to use. We're busy and need to focus on customers, not the technical side of things. It's also been good throughout the pandemic. We can update people about what we're doing to be safe.

When asked why he chose Fasthosts, Jeff recalls that a previous store manager set it up. Then he'd been wowed by a sales pitch to get a bespoke site from a small agency. I paid 'em about £3,000 to build it and £200 a month to maintain it, he says. But it was a disaster. They didn't do half the things we were promised. Jeff went back to Fasthosts and is far happier with the service. I know how much it costs me because I see the bill each month. It's £12.99 compared to the thousands I spent with the other guys.

When asked if he has any advice for small businesses, Jeff jokes, Yeah. Don't open a tattoo shop in Edinburgh. There's no space for any more. But Jeff doesn't have to worry. His work is stunning and he'll make you laugh with his stories as you sit and get inked.