Tips on starting an online Jewellery Store

Advice on selling Jewellery on the Internet

Search for jewellery on Google UK and 73 million pages relating to jewellery appear before your eyes. Inspired by the fact you may design and make your own jewellery it seems a good idea to compete for a share of the huge online market that feasts your eyes for the first time.

The problem is is that jewellery retail online is about as competitive as anything else these days that companies vie for on page one of google. Some of the larger high street names take top positions due to there huge marketing budgets and strong branding. The jewellery business really does pay serious dividends for some but any young designer can't help thinking how wonderful it would be so take a portion of this sales.

It is obvious from the start that competition is fierce and only the most determined will succeed in generating an income online from selling jewellery. Don't even attempt to try a business of this type if you expecting immediate riches as this simply wont happen. Time is of the essence to establish any new business and the same goes for businesses that require a strong online presence. However if you think you can handle the challenge then do consider the following first.

Firstly before you even turn on your computer take a look at the products you intend to sell. Do your market research carefully - just because your friends and family may buy your products, would a complete stranger? However you can't sell anything on the internet with out good images of the jewellery. Professional photography can be very expensive and for many this will be the only option unless of course you are a budding photographer yourself.

Next up is the web site. Thought of name yet? Has that name already ben taken? Yes - Oh well, lets try another....and another...and another. Great! found one after a dozen goes so quickly register it somewhere online. Do this now! Having a website made is quite easy. You may even get one done for free that lists all your images with descriptions. It probably looks great if not fully functional as an ecommerce shop but you can take cheques of course. If you need full ecommerce capabilities you will need to find a solution to do this either using an off the shelf software one or find a company to create one for you. Either way you now need to start investing in your online venture. At this stage finding a descent web hosting package needs to be considered. Points to consider are reliability of your host and the speed of the website for visitors. You get what you pay for so don't go for the cheapest deal you come across.

So now you have the website up and running but not a single sale. Firstly submit your site to the big search engines. Google is the defacto choice but don't forget Yahoo also. Weeks later still no orders? Then maybe you aren't listed yet. You can confirm your fears and type in your domain into Google. The trick is is to get other websites to link to you which to be honest is virtually impossible for brand new sites. Google likes longevity hence no such thing as overnight riches for anyone. Nothing for but to just keep working on the website and keeping everything crossed. However Google clicking is another option but again very expensive if you are serious. It can take some experimentation to hone this into a fine art.

One day an order comes in. An 18ct gold diamond ring for £3,000. Looks like the weeks of work have paid up and there will be plenty more of these to come but hold on its a size H and needs shipping to Nigeria. But the customers address is Chelsea in London. Credit card fraud? Oh yes! Just close your eyes take a deep breath and tell yourself this could take a long time. Starting an online jewellery business is only recommended for those that really have nothing to lose.