Your suggestions and advise please.

[Crystal Jewels]

Ok so I know you've probably been asked this a million times over but here it is once again! (Sorry) :rolleyes:

I am looking for new places to advertise my company. What do I do? Well I design and handmake jewellery and headwear. To give you an idea of where I have already advertised:


Magazines ( huge fail )
Paid online advertising ( a few more hits on the website, no sales )
Local business advertising ( again a few hits no sales )
Leaflets
Shop windows
All the 'FREE' advertsing I can find online
Sponsored Events both locally and nationally
Discounts and giveaways run on Facebook & Twitter

Is there anything else I can do to drive people towards my site?

Any ideas would be appreciated.

Thank you in advance. :D

[deniser]

Is your site down at the moment?

[Crystal Jewels]

Is your site down at the moment?


I think it might be. Just tried to get onto it and it won't load.

Apologies. It doesn't normally have any issues.

[Crystal Jewels]

Should be fixed now. :D

[1weekSEO]

Hiya I see you are in Bristol, I connect with a dating site called Fuse in Bristol and we have banner ads on their site in exchance for a mention in the blog on our site, and also engaging and retweeting on Twitter.

DM me and I'll pass on some contact details, jewellery might be a good partner far a dating site?

Have you tried eBay? Gumtree Bristol? Jewellery parties?

[Crystal Jewels]

Hiya I see you are in Bristol, I connect with a dating site called Fuse in Bristol and we have banner ads on their site in exchance for a mention in the blog on our site, and also engaging and retweeting on Twitter.

DM me and I'll pass on some contact details, jewellery might be a good partner far a dating site?

Have you tried eBay? Gumtree Bristol? Jewellery parties?

Hi Gina.

Thanks for the Fuse mention. I'm actually good friends with Kerry so know all about it. We're also linked on Twitter. :D

I gave ebay a shot at least 3 times and it's was a waste of time and effort. :(

[Piqueperfumes]

You have not mentioned wedding fayres or gift fayres (Christmas etc) but I guess you already do these. Locally (and I accept its no good to you) the Children's Hospice South West are having a jewellery sale with local businesses such as yours coming along. We are too even though we are not doing jewellery! They have a hospice in the Bristol area so it could be worth a contact. Its hopefully a double whammy, get to support a wonderful charity and promote your business. Sponsorship could be a thought with the same charity as many of their events are targetted at women.

Nice site by the way

Regards

Phil

[1weekSEO]

I'm actually good friends with Kerry so know all about it. We're also linked on Twitter. :D

So am I following you on Twitter?

I'm @1weekSEO and also - as my final week at work as a pigeon - I am representing @Thefunkypigeon on Twitter.

[Crystal Jewels]

You have not mentioned wedding fayres or gift fayres (Christmas etc) but I guess you already do these. Locally (and I accept its no good to you) the Children's Hospice South West are having a jewellery sale with local businesses such as yours coming along. We are too even though we are not doing jewellery! They have a hospice in the Bristol area so it could be worth a contact. Its hopefully a double whammy, get to support a wonderful charity and promote your business. Sponsorship could be a thought with the same charity as many of their events are targetted at women.

Nice site by the way

Regards

Phil

Thank you Phil.

I will have a look into the Childrens Hospice.

With regards to wedding fairs. .... I have indeed tried these and in my opinion they are not worth the effort and time that goes into them. But that is just for my type of business.

[Crystal Jewels]

So am I following you on Twitter?

I'm @1weekSEO and also - as my final week at work as a pigeon - I am representing @Thefunkypigeon on Twitter.


I am definitely following the Funky Pigeon and have done several RT's with and for them. Will find your actual twitter account in a tick hun. :)

[chrislyons]

Hi

Am i right in saying you are marketing this more towards bride/wedding or are you marketing this as handmade jewellery.

The reason I ask is that I have just done a search for both "handmade Jewellery" and "Handmade Wedding Jewellery" and I didnt see your website in any of these catergories, and I carried on like a typical searcher and went to page 8 of Yahoogle.

I dont know if you know much about webdesign/development but the thing I did notice is that when I searched "Handmade Wedding Jewellery" the top slot was taken by a website made in frames, (not the easiest to gt to the top of yahoogle) I think most web designers SEO specialists will agree that frames are very very old hat and not really liked by yahoogle.
This makes me believe that your online prescence and getting to the top of google for search terms "handmade wedding jewellery" wouldnt be to difficult for an SEO specialist.

The best advice I can give is define your market and research the competition use keywords that you think the people using your service wuld use, write them in different search engines see what sites come in the first page and scour them and keep asking yourself why are they at the top.
Have they got more content than you, what keywords does it look like they are using, whats in their title, header etc. Links to and from, how much info are the giving the reader and is it accessable.
Once you have a clear idea which way to push I would recommend you approach an SEO specialist.

To be honest some of the sites at the top and the state of their jewellery is much to be desired...yours looks superior to some I have seent his morning.

Hope this helps

[Crystal Jewels]

Thank you Chris.

Whilst the majority of my designs @ Crystal Jewels are geared more toward the wedding market I do cater for other aspects. So events and gifts etc.

There are a fair few keywords related to my business all across my web site but I will do as you suggested and have a look at competitors sites.

Thank you for taking the time to look into this. :D
Hi

Am i right in saying you are marketing this more towards bride/wedding or are you marketing this as handmade jewellery.

The reason I ask is that I have just done a search for both "handmade Jewellery" and "Handmade Wedding Jewellery" and I didnt see your website in any of these catergories, and I carried on like a typical searcher and went to page 8 of Yahoogle.

I dont know if you know much about webdesign/development but the thing I did notice is that when I searched "Handmade Wedding Jewellery" the top slot was taken by a website made in frames, (not the easiest to gt to the top of yahoogle) I think most web designers SEO specialists will agree that frames are very very old hat and not really liked by yahoogle.
This makes me believe that your online prescence and getting to the top of google for search terms "handmade wedding jewellery" wouldnt be to difficult for an SEO specialist.

The best advice I can give is define your market and research the competition use keywords that you think the people using your service wuld use, write them in different search engines see what sites come in the first page and scour them and keep asking yourself why are they at the top.
Have they got more content than you, what keywords does it look like they are using, whats in their title, header etc. Links to and from, how much info are the giving the reader and is it accessable.
Once you have a clear idea which way to push I would recommend you approach an SEO specialist.

To be honest some of the sites at the top and the state of their jewellery is much to be desired...yours looks superior to some I have seent his morning.

Hope this helps

[chrislyons]

Thank you Chris.
No problems

What keywords are you pushing, because to be honest I cant make what your main ones are...I see the word wedding a few times but that is about it.

The best thing to do is look at "jewellerybyjo" and look at her front page and see just how many times "Wedding Jewelery" then go to their site map at the bottom of the page and see how many times you see the word "Bridal necklace" "Bridal Tiara" they haver catered for most peoples searches and looking at the sitemap of Jo's pagves she has excessive amount of information for the customer to to read up about.

But dont panic because if you look at the site with the frames
twiceasnicetiara the information on this page is in my opinion awful.
Not much content poor accessability, but again used the words bridal necklace, bridal jewellery on a few occasions.

So if twiceasnicetiaras can do it with that you have no excuse Im afraid:)

[Crystal Jewels]

haha I will consider myself told. :p

I will definitely be checking that out this afternoon. My content was written by some one else (some one who writes copy for a living), so it looks like I will have to tweek it.

No problems

What keywords are you pushing, because to be honest I cant make what your main ones are...I see the word wedding a few times but that is about it.

The best thing to do is look at "jewellerybyjo" and look at her front page and see just how many times "Wedding Jewelery" then go to their site map at the bottom of the page and see how many times you see the word "Bridal necklace" "Bridal Tiara" they haver catered for most peoples searches and looking at the sitemap of Jo's pagves she has excessive amount of information for the customer to to read up about.

But dont panic because if you look at the site with the frames
twiceasnicetiara the information on this page is in my opinion awful.
Not much content poor accessability, but again used the words bridal necklace, bridal jewellery on a few occasions.

So if twiceasnicetiaras can do it with that you have no excuse Im afraid:)

[chrislyons]

I am hoping that the copywriting was a favour, please tell me you didnt pay for that to be written.

Could I also add a few more things for you to look at when pushing the site.
I know ecommerce sites are a little more difficult to get to the top of google.
And I will open a slight can of worms especially as I am not a SEO specialist but here goes.

Meta Data...debates if this works or not but it wont harm having meta data in your site,

this is jo's meta data
<metaname="description" content="Unique hand crafted tiaras and jewellery. Stunning range of Wedding Jewellery, Bridal Tiaras and evening jewellery at affordable prices. Full online Tiara & Bridal Collection" /><metaname="keywords" content="Wedding Jewellery, Tiaras,Swarovski Crystal,Tiara,crystal Jewellery,gift,present,bridal Jewellery, bridesmaid jewellery, handcrafted, handmade,Side Tiaras,bridal Tiara, wedding jewelry, crystal" />


this is twice as nice's meta
<metaname="description" content="Stunning designer collection of contemporary handmade tiaras and jewellery in the UK with Swarovski crystals; semi-precious stones and freshwater pearls. Bespoke work on request!">
<metaname="keywords" Content="tiaras bespoke, tiaras uk, pearl tiaras, handmade tiaras, pearl necklace, designer tiaras, tiara, tiaras, TIARAS UK, CONTEMPORARY TIARAS, wedding tiara, handmade jewellery,CONTEMPORARY JEWELLERY,DESIGNER JEWELLERY, bespoke jewellery, wedding accessories, bespoke tiaras, WEDDING JEWELLERY, beaded jewelry, costume jewelry, customised tiaras, bridal tiaras, Swarovski jewellery, Swarovski jewelry, charm bracelets, charm bracelet, Swarovski bracelet, freshwater pearls, semi-precious jewelry, Nancy Laverge, Twice as Nice, beaded jewelry, Christening bracelet, childrens jewellery, baby jewellery, childrens bracelets, baby bracelet, HEADPIECES,HEADDRESSES, hairslides, haircombs,hairclips, beaded CHOKERS, beaded necklace, wedding hair, hair jewelry, hair jewellery, CROWNS,bridesmaid gifts">


this is yours
<metaname="description" content="Unique wedding Jewellery from Crystal Jewels. Each design comes in a range of colours and styles and is made exclusively for you" />
<metaname="keywords" content="crystal jewels" />

A bit of a difference.

I would also suggest that if you are getting peoples info like email addess contact details you need to have a terms of use and defo a privacy page to let the consumer know what you are doing with their information.
I would then look at Jo's site and again look at her sitemap and compare it to yours and take bits out that you like and think are relevant to your market. Looking at your sitemap and Jo's it is "being brutally honest" poles apart she has tenfold the amount of pages you have. Again one thing that makes yahoogle happy is content content content. That is updated on a regular basis.

I think the first and most important thing you should do is either market it for "Handmade Jewellery" or "Wedding Jewellery"
Like I think I stated earlier I think you will have a harder time getting to the top of "Handmade Jewellery" than you would "Wedding Jewellery".
But again that would be for an SEO specialist to say.

Oh and one final word of advice if you are going down an SEO route and you pick up the phone to a SEO company, if you hear the sentence.."We work very closely with Google" giggle and put the phone down and move on to the next. They are full of Rubbish.

[1weekSEO]

this is yours

<metaname="description" content="Unique wedding Jewellery from Crystal Jewels. Each design comes in a range of colours and styles and is made exclusively for you" />
<metaname="keywords" content="crystal jewels" />


Good spot Chris, I didn't think to look at the bloomin obvious, April, drop me a DM :redface:

[Crystal Jewels]

Thank you muchly for your time and advice.

I've added it to the list of things to talk about with my web designer/business partner in our next meeting.

I am hoping that the copywriting was a favour, please tell me you didnt pay for that to be written.

Could I also add a few more things for you to look at when pushing the site.
I know ecommerce sites are a little more difficult to get to the top of google.
And I will open a slight can of worms especially as I am not a SEO specialist but here goes.

Meta Data...debates if this works or not but it wont harm having meta data in your site,

this is jo's meta data
<metaname="description" content="Unique hand crafted tiaras and jewellery. Stunning range of Wedding Jewellery, Bridal Tiaras and evening jewellery at affordable prices. Full online Tiara & Bridal Collection" /><metaname="keywords" content="Wedding Jewellery, Tiaras,Swarovski Crystal,Tiara,crystal Jewellery,gift,present,bridal Jewellery, bridesmaid jewellery, handcrafted, handmade,Side Tiaras,bridal Tiara, wedding jewelry, crystal" />


this is twice as nice's meta
<metaname="description" content="Stunning designer collection of contemporary handmade tiaras and jewellery in the UK with Swarovski crystals; semi-precious stones and freshwater pearls. Bespoke work on request!">
<metaname="keywords" Content="tiaras bespoke, tiaras uk, pearl tiaras, handmade tiaras, pearl necklace, designer tiaras, tiara, tiaras, TIARAS UK, CONTEMPORARY TIARAS, wedding tiara, handmade jewellery,CONTEMPORARY JEWELLERY,DESIGNER JEWELLERY, bespoke jewellery, wedding accessories, bespoke tiaras, WEDDING JEWELLERY, beaded jewelry, costume jewelry, customised tiaras, bridal tiaras, Swarovski jewellery, Swarovski jewelry, charm bracelets, charm bracelet, Swarovski bracelet, freshwater pearls, semi-precious jewelry, Nancy Laverge, Twice as Nice, beaded jewelry, Christening bracelet, childrens jewellery, baby jewellery, childrens bracelets, baby bracelet, HEADPIECES,HEADDRESSES, hairslides, haircombs,hairclips, beaded CHOKERS, beaded necklace, wedding hair, hair jewelry, hair jewellery, CROWNS,bridesmaid gifts">


this is yours
<metaname="description" content="Unique wedding Jewellery from Crystal Jewels. Each design comes in a range of colours and styles and is made exclusively for you" />
<metaname="keywords" content="crystal jewels" />

A bit of a difference.

I would also suggest that if you are getting peoples info like email addess contact details you need to have a terms of use and defo a privacy page to let the consumer know what you are doing with their information.
I would then look at Jo's site and again look at her sitemap and compare it to yours and take bits out that you like and think are relevant to your market. Looking at your sitemap and Jo's it is "being brutally honest" poles apart she has tenfold the amount of pages you have. Again one thing that makes yahoogle happy is content content content. That is updated on a regular basis.

I think the first and most important thing you should do is either market it for "Handmade Jewellery" or "Wedding Jewellery"
Like I think I stated earlier I think you will have a harder time getting to the top of "Handmade Jewellery" than you would "Wedding Jewellery".
But again that would be for an SEO specialist to say.

Oh and one final word of advice if you are going down an SEO route and you pick up the phone to a SEO company, if you hear the sentence.."We work very closely with Google" giggle and put the phone down and move on to the next. They are full of Rubbish.

[efficiencycoach]

I've had a quick look at your site & twitter stream. I am no SEO expert and I think that the previous posts have quite accurately pinpointed some opportunities for you.

Your twitter stream looks to be well balanced, lots of replies, and a good balance of tweets.

My suggestion is to look for mutually beneficial partnerships and collaborations. For example, image consultants? Wedding dress shops?

[Samchez]

If you are looking for other way you can advertise and get more traffic and sales, have you tired creating a host beneficiary relation? or Joint Venture partnership? these can be very powerful and profitable.

Another idea is to approach other website owners with in your market or in related markets and ask them if you could put a link to your product on their "thank you' page after t6heir customers have already brought one of their own products. The people seeing your link are hot hot hot and it is not taking any sales away from the other site owner because the visitor is only seeing your link after they have already made a purchase. you can offer the website owner a commission on what ever sells from that links - as an affiliate

I hope this is not to confusing PM me if it is

Thanks

[joomlads07]

You should try to concentrate on forums & blogs along with social websites.

[SusanBryant]

Hi,

My friend does similar work and has had quite a bit of success on etsy.com Have you tried there?

It might also be worth considering who you are specifically trying to sell your products to. Is it special occasion jewellery, or every day items? For an older or younger audience? Considering your target market will help you to devise the most relevant and targeted methods of marketing.

I hope that helps,

All the best,

Susan

[kimouse78]

you have covered most things. Have you tried to do any stalls at charity events?