Selling Jewelry Online
How to promote your work successfully
in any online venue
by Carolina Gonzalez.
Selling jewelry online isn’t as difficult as it may seem. It’s mainly a matter of persistence, professionalism, and promotion. Below, Carolina Gonzalez explains how to get your jewelry noticed in any online venue – plus the basics of turning your visitors into buyers.
Carolina’s “Good Luck Charm” promos
Promote the Venues
Where You’re Selling Jewelry Online
On one hand, I absolutely love the Dawanda online marketplace.
I’ve had the pleasure to confirm the efficiency and maximum care for sellers that the site’s administrators have. I love the politeness on the forums there. Oh, and listing is free! I do not even consider moving my shop to “other” online venues with more traffic.
On the other hand, I really dislike that “ohmygod I’m not selling” attitudes from some Dawanda sellers.
If venues like Etsy have such success, visitors and sales, it’s 80% due to the sellers’ efforts. Etsy sellers are fans of Etsy; they buy there, organize themselves in Street Teams, write blogs, make blogrings, Flickr groups. . . and a million things. They promote Etsy everywhere, all the time.
If what we sellers need is traffic, then it’s our responsibility to bring it in, in all the ways we can.
We cannot just list things and wait for sales to come – selling jewelry online doesn’t work that way, on Dawanda or on any other digital market.
Hard Work, Patience, and Professionalism
Pay Off
To be honest, the only seller who makes a success is the one who works hard and patiently.
You can’t expect a flood of customers if you have only five items, which are badly photographed with your camera phone.
You can’t make what everyone else is making.
You have to become a real professional in order to have a successful life selling jewelry online. From banners to categories, from pic’s layouts to business cards, everything is equally important.
Look for an art/craft seller who’s making a life out of the Internet, and 9 out of 10 of them sacrifice long hours, sleep and personal life as much as someone who has a “physical” shop.
Detail of necklace from Carolina’s
Undersea Creatures jewelry set
If you really think there is success and future without complete commitment to your jewelry business, maybe you should be doing something else.
Do everything that’s available to you to promote your jewelry online, avoid shortcuts, and learn from those that you admire. And when you’re on the forums, spend your time learning – becoming a better artist and businessperson.
9 Tips for Becoming
a Better Online Seller
- LOVE what you do.This is the key to it all. If customers can’t feel your passion about what you make, you will never sell it, no matter how well done your product is. You have to be in love with what you create to make others love it too.I think that the secret to find our true creative energies is to give it time and be humble. Look up to artists you admire, but don’t copy! As we are all unique, there IS a unique way for you to express yourself.
- A cohesive look.Your banners, advertisements, business cards and pic layouts should all belong to a theme, so customers can identify you easily and quickly.Iconographic branding is one of the most important parts of your jewelry business, believe it or not! Your image should reflect not only your personal tastes, but also the market niche you want to get to.
- Good photographs.You won’t make a sale without them. Learn to use your camera’s macro settings and be playful and original. Attractive colours and textures can say more than any description, and they are the calling for impulsive buyers.
- Good descriptions.The more information, the better. Customers love to read a mix of personal stories, inspirations and commercial details about the product (size, weight, uses, etc.).Take your time on your writeups!My tip: Write descriptions in a document instead of in the listing window. I always write longer and better descriptions when I can see the whole text, and I can use the spell check. Then, after polishing my writeup, I can copy-and-paste it into the listing window.This kind of product description is key for non-impulsive buyers, especially when you’re selling jewelry online.
- Professional customer care.There are quite a few online sellers I will never buy again from because they didn’t even bother to send me a thank you note, wrap the parcel securely and attractively, and things like that. A good presentation and safe shipping are a must to make your business known.Your customers are your only investment – treat them as they deserve! Always send them a thank you message after their purchase, and another one when their item is shipped.
Detail of Carolina’s Snake Goddess necklace
- Networking: be everywhere!Organize groups, participate in sample gatherings, promote other artists in your blog, write in forums, write in Squidoo, Stumble your friends’ pages. . . again, the more the better. You won’t attract traffic if people can’t find you.
- Organize your time.Check the traffic at your page and learn to select the places where good traffic comes from, and leave others aside, so you get targeted traffic. Targeted traffic = sales.Each day you should devote some time to promoting your jewelry online – 30 minutes, for example – and keep inside that timeframe!
- Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.Diversify the applications of your knowledge by teaching, giving seminars, selling locally, selling at home parties, etc.Online selling has ups and downs, and you don’t want to rely all your income on it.Also, the more things you do, the most interesting your blog will be. Customers want to know about the artist as much as they can, and who wants to know about the life of someone who’s always at the computer?
- Become an expert.First, learn as much as you can about your craft; then, help others learn for free.Writing articles, making tutorials and helping in forums is the best way to earn a good reputation, and will always bring you sales.
Conclusion
Selling jewelry online is not instant success; it needs commitment, sacrifice, and above all, it needs true Love.
Because if you don’t love what you do, you will grow tired of it quickly – and patience and continuation will be very much needed to make your online jewelry business succeed.
This process can take a long time and you shouldn’t be afraid to make sudden turns and change your business direction until you really find something you can’t get tired of exploring. There are no failures, only new beginnings!
Author Carolina Gonzalez actively networks and promotes her work online.
