It is a very good idea to have your own website showcasing your work. Even if you don’t sell your jewellery online a page showing a gallery of your work and information about how to contact you will let people know what you do and where to find you.
The first step with setting up your website is to decide what kind of website you want. There are 3 main types of website with increasing levels of complexity and ability to update the information on the site.
The first is a static or ‘brochure’ website, this is a site which is rarely changed after it is set up. If this site is set up by a web developer then they will charge you for any changes you make after it is completed. A static site usually costs from around £300. Setting up a static website is relatively easy, there are ready-made packages out there that you can tailor to your needs.
The second type of website allows you to change the site content yourself, they are often known as Content Managed sites. This sort of site allows you to upload graphics and change text and are ideal if you want to have control of the information on the website. They are more expensive to set up and usually require a web developer. They cost around £800 to £1000.
The third type of website is an e-commerce site, this site allows you to
sell your jewellery online. It has the capability to take credit card payments
and to keep details of customers and sales. An e-commerce site costs from
£1000, depending on how much functionality you want. Taking payments
over the Intenet can be quite complicated and you may want to employ someone
to set it this sort of site for you.
What website pages do you need.
The minimum your website needs is:
- An introductory page (often called the home page or index page).
- A page about you, what you do and why you do it.
- A Gallery page showing some pictures of your work.
- Details of any retail stores or galleries where you work can be found.
- A show schedule of all the craft fairs you will be attending.
- A contact page to let customers know how they can contact you.
- A links page, to allow you to set up links to other sites. This can raise your profile on the Internet.
- and, if you are an selling your jewellery on your website, a terms and conditions page including your returns policy.
Keywords
Before even setting up your website you need to think of a list of keywords for your website, for example Silver Jewellery, Handmade Jewellery, Pearl and Crystal Jewellery etc.
You then need to try and work these keywords into your text to make you more likely to be found by search engines when people use those keywords.
Tips for making a good website
There are a number of ways you can make your website work more effectively.
- To grab your visitors attention on the first page, put your best pieces and any special offers in a prominent position.
- To encourage people to keep returning to your website update it regularly. This will encourage people to bookmark you and keep returning to see what new stock and offers you have.
- Include information on your site that people will want to read, such as properties of crystals, jewellery care information, birthstone information etc.
- Have an ‘About Me’ page with information about you, your inspiration and why you do what you do. This enables people to connect with you and to realise you are a real and trustworthy person. It can also take away some of the impersonality of the Internet. Write about yourself as though you are talking to the customer. Adding customer testimonials is also good for instilling confidence, but make sure you get permission to use them from the customer.
- Adding pictures of people wearing your jewellery, especially at weddings, will give an idea of what your jewellery looks like on a real person and also shows that your jewellery is in demand.
- Always include contact details on your website, but never put your email address in the text as it can be picked up by spam bots and then you will get hundreds of spam emails. The best way to get around this is to have a contact form that people can fill in if they need to contact you.
- Do not make the file size of the pictures on your website too large as it can make your site very slow to use.
- Always include a navigation bar that is the same on every page so that visitors can easily find their way about your site.
- Try and match your website to the type of people who are likely to buy your products, for example if it is a young customer, use bright colours and a more modern image, if it is wedding jewelley make is sophisticated and glossy looking.
- Always give good product descriptions. Your website is many customers only contact with your products so tell them every thing you would want to know if you were buying the jewellery.
- When choosing a website package choose one that allows you to link similar and matching items together. This encourages customers to buy matching items, for example necklaces with matching earrings, and will increase your sales.
