internet marketing/getting links, ISGB listings, etc.

Top-25 hasn't done much for me, nor has Artzee, to tell the truth... but the extra 50 bucks to ISGB has gotten me over 350 visits in the two months since my link has been up.

-Kalera

Pam wrote:

This domain sends me traffic pretty often. This domain is host to a number of different top site lists, link directories, etc, so I think that might be why it scores high in the search engine results.

There really is no secret to it all from what I have found. It just takes time and research and hard work. If you search for "handmade lampwork" on google I usually come up 5th or 6th. For just "lampwork" I have no idea where I rank - not near the top. Same with "beads" and "lampwork beads". So the keyword "handmade" is doing something for me.

I admit to not knowing a lot of the technical reasons behind all this. I have tried all kinds of things though, and I know what works best for me and what returns traffic. Having content that people link to is helpful. Using Meta tags is helpful - even if some search engines ignore certain things, there are always some that do not. Submitting to search engines does end up helping eventually, but it takes time and sometimes money. Word of mouth most definitely helps. Having your website as a sig line everywhere you go online certainly helps. I can't think of any other ways that haven't been mentioned, other than buying print ads, which might help a lot depending on whether you have a product that people will want when they see the ad.

Anyway - It's great to see all the suggestions. Pam - I didn't know your level of expertise when I posted - I was just answering the general questions - so if I came off....um....self important or condescending, I do apologize.

Really? It's been the opposite for me. :) Hmmmmm

Not at all Kandice! Search engine stuff is so different today from what it was 5-7 years ago when I would have said I was an expert in it - back then it was actually pretty simple - if you had good tags and submitted them -

Promoting the beads - I have my head wrapped around that - as a bead buyer/user I know what the market is like (I'm part of it), and I've been here long enough to see how other lampwork beadmakers market their beads - it makes total sense. My market would be crafters/jewlers/collectors. Ebay and the internet are going to be great tools for selling.

The jewelry on the other hand is still a little out there for me - I would never buy ad space in a craft magazine to sell my jewelry - I would get bigger bang in a fashion mag I would think. And online, well I just don't know of fashion web rings or fashion newsgroups (if there was one, I doubt I could stomach that - can you imagine! LOL!). Besides which, what if I did advertise in In Style for example - my inventory is do small, one ad would maybe wipe me out (if people liked my stuff that is) so that would be over kill. Plus, no matter how good my photography is (and I know there is still a lot of room for improvement), my pieces still look better in person - and look even better when tried on... so maybe online is not going to be my number one selling tool for my jewelry like it might be for my beads some day. Shows, getting them into some local botiques, jewelry parties... I don't know what all. See - I still have a lot of thinking to do on this one.

So, again, I really do appreciate any discussion/thoughts/advice :) Plus it's kind of nice to be thinking about things other than kids, dogs, what's for dinner, how'm I going to come up with some $ to buy those beautiful beads...... ;-)

Pam

oooh! now that's encouraging! Thanks Kalera :)

ooh, and there go my hopes dashed right back down to earth ;-) None of this is set in stone I guess and well, it's like life, the same thing is not going to work for each and every one of us. Not that we'd want it to, but it would make some stupid things simpler, hu?

Maybe it comes down to the way your links look on ISGB - I'm not sure what they are - but maybe Beadwife sounds more interesting than Air and Earth to the people clicking there? And on Artzee and Top 25, the top people get more click than the lower ranked people so it would really pay to get your links ranked higher?

Just brainstorming... I shouldn't do that before I have my coffee ;-)

Pam

I know what you mean about selling jewelry. :) It's much tougher than selling beads these days. And targetting the right audience is so hard! When I sold jewelry, I had a small presence online, but most of my customers were people who saw my stuff off line. My mom's bunco group loved my stuff - they still ask me to make things once in awhile. I would do little mini shows for them when they had their game at my mom's house. 12 women and jewelry - that was so much fun. Selling jewelry off line is kinda like selling Avon. You don't need to really go door to door - just let people around you know you make jewelry. Pass around business cards when people comment on something you are wearing. Anyway - I wish you lots of success!

vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from "Kandice Seeber" :

]Selling jewelry off line is kinda like ]selling Avon. You don't need to really go door to door - just let people ]around you know you make jewelry. Pass around business cards when people ]comment on something you are wearing.

and ALWAYS wear it when you go out. and if you see someone wearing something you like, comment on it - "because i make jewelry, and i really like that piece."

or, if you're going to lunch with a friend, take several pieces with you to show her - - because you'll have every waitress in the place watching and you can hand out cards.

if you see what i mean.

----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)

Not everyone here *makes* jewellery, some just make beads... I think you do have a jewellery-buying market here too.

Ads on Google are fairly inexpensive and you can set things up with them so that you only pay a specific amount per day. I haven't set up ads on Google, but I have used them as a buyer.

Oh! You are right! I pretty much assumed that bead makers were also jewelry makers but of course that's not always the case!

Thanks Stef - that looks very interesting and even affordable!

That sounds like it was fun Kandice! I met a woman last week who used to make beautiful jewelry before she had her kids - her friend was a hair stylist and would keep a tray of her jewelry in a drawer - instead of offering her clients a magazine, she would pull out the tray and suggest they look at her friend's beautiful jewelry - or if it was valentines and she had a male client she would help him pick out something nice for his wife/gf.

I do - a walking billboard of sorts. I need to set a couple friends up with some jewelry and some cards too ;-)

vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from "Pam" :

]I do - a walking billboard of sorts.

exactly

]I need to set a couple friends up with ]some jewelry and some cards too ;-)

i did that, too. and one of them now has my things in a jewelry store!

----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)

Oh, yeah - now that's marketing! :)

One of my friends (who is my single best customer!) says she gets a lot of compliments when she wears my jewelry and does carry some cards to hand out, but as far as we can tell this has not yet generated any sales. I suggested that perhaps she should write on the back of the cards "'s jewelry" so that when the recipient cleans out her purse 6 months down the road and finds the card again, she'll remember what it was for. Dunno if that'll make any difference or not.

Celine

Here is something I never saw before:

Yep - this is their commercial website search engine. It's not nearly as well known as Google, but it's pretty comprehensive. Launched sometime last year I believe. You can submit a data feed to them to get listed, or just wait for it to spider your site. I submitted a while ago, but haven't been listed yet. It lists products and images rather than URL's.