3 Things to Ensure Your Web site has a Professional Look & Feel

If you are currently using an e-commerce site (aka web site) to sell your jewelry, make sure that you do these 3 things to ensure your potential customers stay long enough to look!

1. Your web pages should load quickly.

• Selling jewelry means you want to show off your gorgeous creations but that also means using web ready images (72 dpi) so your page loads quickly!
• If your e-commerce site has been developed by a vendor, ask for CSS coding of repeating items (header, footer, etc) to ensure quick loading time as well.
• People have the "drive-thru" mentality while shopping/surfing on the web which means that you have seconds to capture their attention. The majority of people will leave your site if it takes too long to load so don't get talked into using flash on the home page!

2. Your web pages should all have a similar look and feel.

• As a visitor changes pages within your web site, your template should remain consistent (colors, location of links etc) so they know that they are still on your site and have not been transferred somewhere else on the virtual web!

3. It should be easy to navigate around your web site.

• DON'T make the mistake of making people have to search to the end of the page or content to link to other areas of your site. If you use graphics for a link, make sure there are text links as well (do NOT assume they will know to click the picture for more information).
  

Online Marketing-Social Networking Sources

Put it online and they will come and buy? If you've been using the internet to sell your artisan jewelry (e-commerce, E-Bay, Etsy, etc) ,you realize it is not just a simple task of putting on the www and customers immediately "buy"!

Content is the tool that drives online marketing
People are drowning in the volume of content, your job is to find and promote content that is relevant.

Content is the commerce of social media. But, relevant content, the stuff your customers and prospects actually want to know is the pure gold. Constantly cranking out this gold can sometimes present creative challenges.

So how do you know what to write about, how do you keep the ideas flowing, how do you keep the content relevant and popular?

There are a number of ways to address these important questions, not the least of which is simply paying attention to what your prospects and customers ask on the daily basis. There are also growing numbers of free tools that, not many small businesses know much about, but can provide a wealth of great content ideas.

Let me make one thing clear, however, I’m certainly not advocating using the sites below to copy and paste content. While some of the content you discover does come with permission to reprint with credit, I am talking about using these sites for inspiration and education for your own content creation.

Yahoo Answers – [answers.yahoo.com] Millions of people go to Yahoo Answers to get answers to questions on just about every topic known to man. Yahoo members are free to answer these questions. If a number of people are asking the same questions, and they are, then maybe the market is ripe for your blog post addressing the question.

Google Alerts – [google.com/news] By setting up custom searches on Google News you can receive daily emails, called alerts, on any subject, industry, company or name. This can be a great way to keep up with a topic on a daily basis

Digg – [digg.com] Members of Digg submit websites and other content and the most popular as voted by other members rises to the top. While this site is particularly heavy on tech, you can get a quick view of what’s popular and find sites that you may never discover otherwise.

StumbleUpon – [stumbleupon.com] When you create a free account and install the StumbleUpon Toolbar you can simply click on and button and be sent to sites that match your preferences. For example I surf to sites related to marketing. I usually hit 10 or so a day to see if I stumble upon any nuggets that I would never find on my own.

Delicious – [del.icio.us] delicious is a social bookmarking site. Members bookmark sites or content they visit and then tag or categorize it based on how them want to remember it. This is a great tool for doing your own research by bookmarking sites you want to revisit on a certain topic but it’s also a great way to see what sites others have bookmarked on the same subject. By paying attention the sites that make the front “popular” page you can also find rising trends almost immediately

DocStoc and [docstoc.com] Scribd [scribd.com] DocStoc and Scribd are online gold mines of forms and documents. Users upload templates, forms, contracts, presentations, white papers, you name it, and you can get some great ideas and shortcuts for creating just about document you might need to run your business.

Spend a little time getting familiar with the above tools and you will never want for great content ideas again.

Related article - Search Engines Explained

Reprinted with permission: John Jantsch is a marketing and digital technology coach, award winning social media publisher and author of Duct Tape Marketing. He is the creator of the Duct Tape Marketing small business marketing system. You can find more information by visiting www.ducttapemarketing.com

Blogs & Social Networking-Why You Should be Including this in your Marketing program

Whether or not you have an e-commerce jewelry site, you should be making using of the internet to market your jewelry by allowing your potential customers to get to know you.

Blog......It doesn't matter which blog you choose (paid vs free) but you must start right now! This is a fantastic way for potential customers and that includes MEDIA to get to know you and your jewelry products offered. This is a fantastic way to share your design inspirations, your muse, your story, etc....this personal close-up will let you connect in ways that just doesn't happen in "sell mode"! Through The Switchboards, several members have been contacted by NATIONAL MEDIA from magazines, newspapers and TV (like Martha Stewart), etc....because of a post they had written had gotten the attention of an editor or a producer. Now, how does that sound to you??? Personally, I was just recently contacted by Australian Beading to write a jewelry tutorial and offer a fused glass jewelry kit for an upcoming issue with the possibility of another article in the fall. I've been blogging ever since I started my jewelry business (yes, even when I did NOT have an e-commerce site) and I can't tell you how many times a blog post has gotten me PR or a contact that I wouldn't have had a chance of getting (you know the term when pigs fly!).

I currently use a FREE blogger account and have 3 blogs that I post to. I will be switching to WordPress this summer but I've heard wonderful comments about TypePad as well.

Blogging is the "absolute minimum" you should be doing for online "social networking". Does that mean you should have an account on every popular Social Network from MySpace to Facebook? NO....it just means that you have to find what fits you personally so you come across as being authentic. Find people who have similiar interests to you.....maybe you're a fitness buff, like old movies, etc...always have your information in your signature tagline and include a new jewelry design every now and then again in a new post. The point of social networking is to reach out on a personal level and business will follow because they have a "relationship" with you even if they have NEVER met you!

Are you nervous? Don't be! It will take time to find your writing voice or maybe you have hidden talent for writing. You can always write a few posts for a few weeks and save them as drafts (not publish them) until you're comfortable with your style/voice.

And please don't forget that anyone can read what you write on your blog or social network so please remember your manners and refrain from bad language in poor taste, etc...you are still making an impression without coming face to face......just be yourself and sit down and type like you were talking to a good friend!

Here's to your online social networking success to grow your business!

Have a comment , question or rant? Drop me a line!