Turn Your Jewelry Website into a Store Window

Some of the shots are great. Some are so dramatic, I'm surprised at the one which is used as the main home page image. Personally, I'd love to see either the headless model or the image with the red/orange beads when first arriving at a jewelry site. The image with the high heel shoe, fishnets, and beaded necklace adds so much personality.

My recommendation would be to only choose the best images. There are some that are so much stronger than the others, it would pay to focus on those.

Thanks for your thoughts on my home page, it's always good to hear how something appears to another pair of eyes! To be honest, I have been thinking of having more impact in that main frame area and as you say, some of the shots say so much more than the "pretty" shot I used.

What I really do need to improve on is the "Register Here" facility as only a small proportion of visitors actually go on to register on my site. I am thinking of turning that whole central area into a "Register Here" prompt , perhaps with a stronger offer than is currently available. Anyone got any tried methods of increasing registrations? What carrots worked for you?

Do you want people to register with your site or to join your email list? For us they are two seperate things. Although I do not have a proven answer for you, Free is the main and only incentive I've read about - everywhere. Free could be anything from a PDF of information or informative newsletter to a coupon for an actual product. I think it was Bath and Bodyworks that would email a coupon to be used in store for free lip gloss if you signed up on their email list. They had a HUGE response. Part of the email game that I am still learning also gets into future emails actually being wanted by the person and not just annoying them. They mark your email as SPAM and it can hurt the future of your email campaign.

You have some really strong images. Personally, I would suggest a combination of the strongest images and prominent register here. Possibly Sign Up Here for Free … with the box to enter an email address visible and an Add Me button. Would you register at a site just because it was telling you to and gave you no incentive? You don't want people to never go beyond your home page. If its all registration no image, that may happen.

I've been thinking about a Free Polishing Cloth or "Jewelry Lover's Survival Kit" of an extender, some jump rings, polishing cloth, earring backs… coupon to use in store or online. The customer would be responsible for shipping so it wouldn't be a killer. Who are your customers and what do they want?

Hi , thanks again Nina for your advice, which I will follow. I am going to simplify the e-mail sign up process and offer a free gift. Rather than something which would have to posted, I am going to produce an"Essential Guide to Jewellery" with hints, tips advdice for jewellery etc. This can be emailed, and infact could be automated with the response to the customer. Fingers crossed, I should get a better sign up rate!

I am in the process of building my own web site, so your artlicle and photo examples are really inspiring.
For your email registration I might suggest a short simple statement as to how to remove yourself from the email list. An easy removal statement at the bottom of any email sent is also welcome. I often base by decision to remain on a list by how easy it would be to remove myself from the email list.

Thanks, that's a really good point, will make sure I add in an opt out facility. I'm having a go this weekend with a big campaign to get people to sign up for my newsletters. I've printed umpteen brochures which will be given out at a craft fair, encouraging people to log onto my site and send me their e mail details in exchange for a free little gift. I'll see what sort of activity my web sites statistics show for over the weekend and see if this sort of direct customer marketing works. I'll be looking for a bit of a "spike" on the graph of hits, indicating that people had taken a look and also , hopefully, new e-mail addresses on my register.If not, I'll have to think of some other temptation!
I'm glad you like the photos used on my website, they've been great for setting the scene for my shop window, but also so useful to have a collection of good shots which can be used for flyers, brochures and even sending in with applications for shows etc - well worth the investment.

I would also recommend having mailing list forms at your shows that they can give you their email and snail mail information in. If you manually sign them up through your website, they will still receive the welcome email and any autoresponder and would still have the option to opt out or change options.

Dawn,

I was wondering about the "quality" of visits you got immediately after your article? I would assume that most of those visitors where fellow jewellery makers that had an interest in jewellery biz issues as they came to your site mostly from Rena's site. Those visitors are not necessarily future customers but just people who are interested for their own business purposes. What is more interesting really is whether you got more sales just after your article was published? The fact that you got inbound links from Rena and as I understand it other places as well is a great thing, will help your rankings so that should do you good indeed. Just a thought!

I just built my website http://www.fashionandbeyond.com recently and am a subscriber of Rena's site. I am looking for ways to drive traffic to it. How can I find sites that will link to my website. Any suggestions would be greately appreciated. Thanks

Thanks for your question, this is a very good topic for discussion and one which I have had e mails about since my articles were published. You are right to suspect that most of the hits I received on my site were probably from fellow jewellery business owners - ie not from customers and , yes, (unfortunately!) this was reflected in sales trend.
However, I do think that "being published" has been a very positive experience and has helped me for the following reasons:- Firstly, it has undoubtedly helped my google rating and the number of google listings my site now has. The lisitings which resulted from the published articles were high up on the google list ie position 4 or 5 out of the 20 or so which are listed for my site- so google did like these listings . Secondly, as I try to bulid my business, it looks far better to customers to see a couple of pages of listings about me and my site than just one or two .It's all about perception and as we all know, in marketing terms, "Perception is the truth". Thirdly, looking at my website statistics following the intitial "spike" of activity generated after publication, the daily base rate of hits is now higher than it was before. Even if these visitors are jewellery business owners what's to say they are not future customers? I own jewellery and wear jewellery from other designers, so here's hoping!! Finally, As I mentioned in my last article, I find that my link is appearing in many different sites, some not directly relating to jewellery business owners, so again, potential for sales.
From a personal point of view, I now feel more confident to go ahead and write some articles which would be of interest to customers and have them published in places where my target customers visit……only wish I knew where that place is! Anyone got any ideas on that one?

Sounds like you've gained a lot from your articles, brilliant! I am thinking of trying to "get published" myself actually and that's why I was interested, and had questions. Thanks for your honest and informative reply!

Dawn….great photos…..great idea. Thanks, Kari

Hi Dawn:

I just had to butt in here and leave a comment. I am a self-proclaimed jewelry/bead-aholic and am trying to muster up sales myself but I just started a couple months ago. I'm usually just a quiet observer as I'm busy feasting off other people's trial and error, but I just had to post a note.

First and foremost, I thought you should know that your website is magnificent!!!! I'm very partial to that style anyway and you certainly accomplished your desire. I was magic carpeted off my recliner and into a boutique on the cobbled streets of Paris….the perfume bottles, boa, and the high heel really rocketed me into the element you wanted to create.

Anyway I'm trying to get my creative juices centered into one idea and theme and you really inspired me to try to pull my act together.

Secondly, by reading your sucess story about your article the light bulb finally went on in my head about the validity of networking; blogging and submitting articles, etc. I've read about it in forums but reading about the spiderweb of success you had gives me the courage to get out there and make myself known. ( My condolences to the world in advance)

At any rate, whether we're starving artists or successful it's always nice to hear a compliment and I thought this one was well deserved.

Best wishes,
Lorri

Thanks so much Lorri for your kind thought on my website - As well as being an important business tool, it is my hobby/ obsession and I'm always looking out for new ideas on how I can improve my website. In fact, I don't mind where I get my good ideas from and it is surprising just how much we can learn and pick up form having a good look at fellow jewellery business owners sites. I'm not suggesting that we copy or steal ideas, infact I really dislike copycatting, I prefer to be true to myself and my interpretation of the ideas i pick up. Don't expect your site to happen overnight, mine has been evolving for some time and has some way to go. But I do think that selecting a theme or an identity can be the best starting point and will help to give your shop real personality and differentiation from the masses. Look forward to reading your articles and future blog postings and to seeing how your shop front turns out,
Kind regards,
Dawn

Thanks for the encouragement, Dawn. I really want this to work out so you'll probably hear from me from time to time.

PS - It was kinda weird seeing my name near yours - Dawn is my middle name….