The jewelry business is booming so now is definitely the time to get in on the action. With close to 72 billion dollars being thrown around in the jewelry business why wouldn’t you want to get in on it? However, selling jewelry can be difficult unless it’s done right. If you do it right your bank account will see a big bump. It doesn’t matter if you have a brick-and-mortar store or are at home thinking about starting your business, having an online jewelry store is absolutely necessary to becoming successful. As exciting as it sounds you may be thinking where do I start? How do I get my name out there and bring people to my website? There is a process you should follow to help make your online jewelry business a success. Step 1: Gather Details The first step to creating a solid online jewelry business is ensuring your prep work is done correctly. Before even thinking about building your website you should gather the following information: • The pieces of jewelry are you going to sell. • The amount you want to charge for each piece. • Your company name (include a few backup names). • Your brand (what message you want to convey to people). • The colors and themes you enjoy and what you think your audience would enjoy (find some websites you like). Once you have these details worked out you can move on to the next step. 2. Find a Website Development Company You need to find a website developer who can create your website. Another option is to do it yourself with an eCommerce website builder. If you want the flexibility to do what you want in terms of design and functions then an eCommerce website builder may not be the best solution because there are limits to what you can do. In this case, you should reach out to various companies like SDI who can create a custom website that you and your customers will really enjoy. A proper web development company can also help create a seamless user interface (UI) and user experience (UX). It can be difficult to figure out on your own but hiring professionals can ensure you have everything you need to draw people in and keep them coming back. 3. Finalize Design Design is incredibly important which means you should focus a lot on this. If you have hired a web development company then they should have designers which will create design options for you. They will work with you to create something beautiful. Ensure they know what functions you have to have and who your users are. When your website goes live you’ll be surprised how the design will help you sell jewelry online. 4. Gather Marketing Materials and Purchase the Domain Name While your website is being built is the perfect time to gather your marketing materials and buy your domain name. You can check to see if your domain name is available on websites like Godaddy and Network Solutions. Remember those backup company names that were mentioned in step 1. They may come into play here. If your company name isn’t available for a domain you may want to try those backups. This is also the point where you can start gathering your marketing materials. Who do you want to market to? Which avenues should be used? Who you want to reach will determine what kind of marketing should be done. You should also focus on getting all your products listed out and taking photos of various angles of each product. Ensure your photos are professional looking. Create your descriptions of each piece. Start writing your about story and various elevator pitches. 5. Legal To sell jewelry online or anything for that matter you should protect yourself. You need to understand your tax obligations. You should know what kind of materials you are using in your jewelry. You should know the quality and where they come from so there are no surprises. You will need to protect your user’s information as well so sign up for a proper payment gateway system. Security for your whole website is very important to ensure your user’s information is protected. There are a lot of options out there but your web development company should be able to help you with this. 6. Add Your Jewelry to the Website Provide your development company will all your images, names, and descriptions of your products. They will upload everything to your online jewelry store. Here is where you can ask your web development company if they have writers who can help edit your descriptions. Stay away from simple and boring because it needs to be fun and enticing to get people to buy it. Make sure your pictures are clear because this is how you are going to sell it. Having a real person wearing it makes a big difference. Since customers can’t try it on themselves you have to provide as many visuals and details as you can. There should be categories as well so that users can easily sort through and find what they are looking for. You should also show the price right off the bat. No one really likes it when they have to hunt for the price. 7. Set up Cart and Payment system The sole purpose of creating this store is so you can make money selling jewelry. In order to do that you need to set up your cart and payment system. There are a lot of payment gateways out there. How you want to receive your money is really a personal preference. You can use Paypal, Apple pay, or Stripe, which are all pretty popular. Since there are so many options out there if you are unsure what will work best for you just ask your developers. They have probably created many eCommerce websites and would have all the information you need. 8. Shipping Before your website goes live, you need to have a shipping method in place. Where are you going to ship from and which company are you going to use to do the shipping. You can choose where you want to ship to as well. Do you want to be global or national? How many states or provinces do you want to ship to? You have to take this cost into effect as well. How are you going to charge your customers? Free shipping is the best for customers but it should be done so it doesn’t financially hurt you. You can have a minimum purchase amount to get free shipping. You can even do a flat rate as well. Charging customers the exact shipping price is a bit more difficult because with so much free shipping customers tent to stray from buying if shipping is expensive. 9. Test and Launch You should always test your online jewelry store to ensure everything is working properly. If someone makes a purchase everything should go through smoothly. Make sure all the images and text look correct, and that the links are working. Your web developer will have a QA team that will test this as well but you still want to make sure for yourself, after all, it’s your brand. Once everything is fully tested and looks good it is time to hit that launch button. Now comes the exciting part because you are out there for everything to see. Now is the time to go forward with all your marketing. 10. Marketing Although there is no magic button that will bring everyone to your website right away there are a vast amount of marketing activities that will help. Here is a list of some key activities you should be doing. SEO – will help with your Google rankings so people will find you quickly when they search for jewelry online. Social Media – jewelry is made for places like Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook. When people are scrolling and they see a beautiful necklace they simply tap to see your stunning jewelry with a quick and easy buying process. Influencers – connect with influencers and have them show off your pieces. This will have a huge effect on bringing people to your online store. Email Marketing – encourage users to sign up for a newsletter to learn about new products and other information. There are so many marketing options out there. If you aren’t sure where to start or how to go about it ask your development company if they offer marketing services. 11. Manage Inventory There is nothing worse than having a bunch of orders and low inventory. It’s a good idea to have inventory tracking which lets you know exactly when stock is starting to run low. That way you can place whatever orders you need to replenish that stock before it’s too late. It’s something to keep in mind especially when trying to keep track of a lot of items. Having a jewelry business online can be amazing. You have your own custom jewelry you want to share with the world and having that online store can definitely help you with that. This list may seem like a lot but starting a business or a new website is not a small task. You have to be dedicated to it. It can be a side thing but it still needs some attention. Something to keep in mind if you are going to hire a web development company to create your website. You should hire a company that can do it all. Many companies will just provide the design and development services but there are companies like SDI that can do everything from helping you gather information to marketing and maintenance. They can help guide you and provide whatever information you need at every stage of the process. If you have questions about creating your online jewelry store then contact an expert here.