September, 2008

How to Keep Up With All The News When You Have No Time

Submitted by StanSavitsky on Mon, 09/29/2008 - 09:00

rss iconWould you like to know my recipe for keeping up with a lot of information? It is as simple as it really is:

Use RSS!

It was made for everyone who has a lot of things to keep up with but no time to do it. That is all of us. Right?

Imagine that instead of looking through 5 multiple newspapers you would select your favorite columns and then you would daily receive just one newspaper with the only type of information that you have pre-approved. That would be quite similar to what RSS can do for you.

Now, how you would leverage that technology to save time?

  1. Go to http://google.com/reader/ and sign up for a free account.
  2. These two news channels would be a good start:
    http://feeds.feedburner.com/NationalJewelerNetwork-LatestNews
    http://feeds.feedburner.com/NationalJewelerNetwork-FashionNews
    National Jewelry Network is a very good source of current news stories on jewelry trends, jewelry marketing, and retailing.

Should you remember just one thing about RSS - then it's all about you getting news on your terms, the way you want them in one easy to read interface and without all that distraction that we face online.

If you are ready to jump right in and want more information here is a good video that explains what RSS really is:

Here is another good video explaining Google RSS Reader:

Now try it yourself and do not forget to subscribe to this blog.

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Erayo is on a Mission to Connect Independent Jewelry Designers and Retailers

Submitted by StanSavitsky on Wed, 09/24/2008 - 12:11

jewelry wholesale photo
original photo by Roger SmithA new website is on a mission to connect emerging and established designers with independent boutiques and retailers worldwide.

Mentioned at Forbes in an article about costume jewelry, Erayo for the moment features 77 wholesale jewelry designers presenting 2135 products.

If you are looking for wholesale opportunities and ready to compete globally, try their Web 2.0 platform to distribute your creations to thousands of independent retailers around the world as well as to learn, network, communicate and be inspired by another designers.

In the time of writing more than 5,500 buyers from 55 countries registered with the site.

On top of all that, Erayo provides counseling on business issues such as pricing, branding and marketing.

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Art & Craft Galore at Virginia Wine Festival

Submitted by StanSavitsky on Mon, 09/22/2008 - 15:11

Virginia Wine Festival
September 27-28, 2008

 

"The Virginia Wine Festival is the oldest wine festival on the east coast, now in its 33rd year. This event has a solid track record of attracting a very large, affluent DC metropolitan audience with an interest in wine, gourmet products and fine arts & crafts. This is the ideal venue to market wine and gourmet products, fine arts & crafts, giftware, gourmet kitchen items, home improvement services and other "finer things in life" products."

If you live in Washington DC metro area do not miss this coming opportunity to present your jewelry. They welcome artisans and crafters and are going to attract over 20,000 guests this year.

Art/Craft Space (products handmade by exhibitor) is 10’x10’ space on grass for artists own canopy a bit pricey - $400.

See you there.

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Online Jewelry Store Makeover

White Flowers NecklaceI recently spent couple of days helping a jewelry designer with a website makeover. I hope these few things may be useful to share since I see them very often.

Email Newsletter Subscription

Why don't you have an email newsletter subscription at your website? If you do, why it is down there at the bottom of the page where nobody can see it? Even if it's easy to find, why do you think people will subscribe if you offer nothing in exchange?

Give your visitors a reason to share an email with you and your list of potential customers will grow faster as well as your business.

Search Engine Optimization

Making sure that your website is search engine friendly do not forget that, after all, we create websites for humans. Do not go extreme with SEO. We create jewelry websites not to trick Google but to serve people. Your website should be all about that.

Make Your Business Stand Out

Google returns almost 2,000,000 results for "handmade jewelry". Most of them make the same handcrafted (unique, handmade, artisan, custom, you name it..) jewelry. Ask yourself: how am I different from everyone else? I believe that you are special but here is the challenge: can your website visitors find that out in 10 seconds or less just looking on your front page? If they can't - they will go somewhere else rather quickly.

Choose Original Web Design

Try hard not to make yet another Overstock.com. If you have less then 100 items, you do not really need a full-scale e-commerce solution. If your jewelry website looks as a discount online retail store, your visitors will expect a lot of products to choose from and low prices. Is that what you try to do? In your case, original and stylish online boutique may work better.

Multi-Channel Selling

Your online store is just one of many possible channels to sell your jewelry. Do not forget about eBay.com and Etsy.com and stay alert for craft shows around.

Networking

Meet new people and make more friends. Remember that nobody buys from a stranger. These days a lot of people network online. You should consider using social networks like Twitter, Facebook and MySpace.

Be Patient

Nobody can make a successful online jewelry store overnight. It takes time. Make sure that you have a good plan and a right mindset. Then stick to it and act every single day.

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Is Your Email Signature Up to Date?

Guy Kawasaki pointed out a link to The Social Media Email Signature at Web Market Central.

That perfectly matches to what I use:

footprint photo
original photo by Vu Bui

I see more and more people who do specify several ways to reach them and that works.

Although, most jewelry designers that I know don't do that yet.

May be they should...

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Why Do People Leave My Website?

Submitted by StanSavitsky on Fri, 09/19/2008 - 08:27

There are many possible reasons, but I would point out two of them:

  1. You do not have relevant traffic. In other words, you get visitors that seek something different from what you offer;
  2. You have relevant traffic, but you have usability issues. For example, somebody came to your site looking for an accessory, but couldn’t find the right one even though it was right there.

Usability Testing
original photo by CayusaTo solve the first problem you need to get traffic analysis for your website. There are many free tools available, but I prefer Google Analytics over the others. Using that you can see where people are coming from, where they "landed" on your website, how much time they spent there and from which page they left. You will have a lot of information to think about and that alone may help you realize what is wrong.

The second problem is more challenging, because you can't see how people actually behave when visiting your website. Fortunately, there is a simple and very affordable solution for that. You can try a low cost usability testing. You will receive a video on how a real person would use your website for only $19.

When building your website try to think from your customers' perspective instead of focusing on what you offer.

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You Cannot Outsource Marketing

I am often asked: can you do the marketing for me?

Strategy is crucial
original photo by pshutterbug

No, I can't.

There is no way you can outsource your marketing to anyone. At least not in the way that I feel marketing should be done.

For example: you can get a babysitter for your child, but can you outsource being a parent?

Same here - there is only one person who really cares about your business, and that is YOU.

In order to succeed you need to know:

  • marketing is not the same as search engine optimization;
  • marketing is not having a website;
  • marketing is not advertising;
  • marketing is not the many other things that people tend to believe it is.

Marketing is a STRATEGY. Only you can decide how you are going to design your products and services, build your brand and reach the right audience. That is your true plan - the blue print for your business.

You can seek advise, you can outsource most of the individual tasks to certain professionals and have them do some of the heavy lifting for you, but never let anybody decide what should you do with Your Business.

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Grade Your Website

Submitted by StanSavitsky on Wed, 09/17/2008 - 23:28

Website GraderThere is a very useful service called Website Grader.

"Website Grader is a free seo tool that measures the marketing effectiveness of a website. It provides a score that incorporates things like website traffic, SEO, social popularity and other technical factors. It also provides some basic advice on how the website can be improved from a marketing perspective."

You may have a FREE detailed report in a few seconds, which usually costs few hundred if you hire an expert. Skilled professional, though, may do a better job then the Website Grader but it is a very good start to check your jewelry website.

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Are You Passionate Enough?

Accidentally I got across Benjamin Zander's talk on Ted.com.

It is amazing. He will make you love classical music even if you don't.

Ted.com Talks - Benjamin Zander: Classical music with shining eyesNow here is a question for you - are You THAT passionate about what You do?

Just imagine how differently you could influence other people if you would have such an obsession yourself.

Shouldn't we all really surrender to our dreams to have a never-ending source of energy and inspiration?

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Get Yourself a Blog

Submitted by StanSavitsky on Mon, 09/15/2008 - 09:48

If you think about creating a web store for you jewelry business but did not make it happen yet then I'd like you to consider an alternative way to extend you brand to the online arena and have a web presence today.

You can easily start from having a jewelry blog to share what you create and already start building you list of followers. Who knows, may be on you web store opening you will have a bunch of ready to buy customers waiting in line. Sounds good? Get to work then.

link to blogger.comIt especially a shame not to have an online presence when nowadays it is free. If you feel that you have no budget for your blog yet - go to Blogger or Wordpress, compare their features and get a free account. You may have your blog up and running in few hours if will start NOW.

I hear you saying that you already talk about your jewelry designs on an online forum and people like them. That is all right but in that case you work to promote some other website. Would you rather like to have your own popular website? Of course you do and the good news are: it costs very little or nothing and it is very easy.

But do not take only my word on this. See what a jewelry designer has to say about blogging.

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