How To Sell Jewellery Online
How do you start selling jewellery online?
It doesn’t matter whether you are a jeweller, goldsmith, designer-maker or reseller, in the modern world, you have to have an online presence.
And in this post I will go through the things you need to know to help you start selling your pieces on the interwebs.
What Do I Know About Selling Jewellery Online?
Before Haywoods Gems, my business was called Haywoods Jewellery (I’m very creative when it comes to names) and unsurprisingly, I sold jewellery but it was 100% online and some quick facts:
After I stopped selling jewellery online, I set up another business, called EcommerceGold, that has helped hundreds of people start selling online and I have also built numerous other websites for side projects along the way.
That sounds like a pitch from one of those online gurus but this isn’t to brag or bull myself up, I just wanted to show you that when it comes to websites, getting traffic and sales, I have actually been there and done it, which makes this guide a bit different to the majority of them out there.
In this guide, I am just going to focus on the practical aspects of getting your business online, as I am going to assume that you already know the type of jewellery that you are going to be selling.
1. Branding Your Jewellery Business
Branding is hugely important when it comes to any business but I’m not so much talking about your business name, logo or packaging here, instead, I’m talking about owning your brand name online.
By this, I mean that you want to have everything online related to your business name, including:
For anything where you use a username or handle, you want to use the same one across all of your accounts as this gives you brand continuity across all platforms.
But why do you need all of them?
- Ownership – by having all of them, even the ones you don’t plan on using, it gives you complete ownership of your name online
- Protection – if you have them all, then no one else can use your handle, which makes it more difficult for scammers to impersonate your brand
- Flexibility – by having all the accounts, it gives you flexibility in terms of marketing and sales channels, which allows you to easily change and adapt in the future
Tip – Use a dedicated email address when registering for Social Media accounts and don’t use it for anything else.
Your Domain Name
Your domain name is your online address, for example, mine is haywoodsgems.com and when it comes to getting a domain name, there are some guidelines that can be helpful:
I know this isn’t always possible but it is best to stick as closely as you can to these, as your domain name will be the core of your online presence.
Tip – If you are using a country-specific domain, get the .com as well and redirect it to your main domain.
When it comes to buying a domain name, avoid sites that offer 99p or similar offers for the first year as the renewal fees are usually very high and they usually charge a transfer fee to move it to another registrar.
2. Choosing A Website Builder
Your website should be the core of your online presence, especially as you want people to buy your jewellery but I completely understand that building a website can be intimidating, so I will try and make it a bit less intimidating.
There are a lot of website builders (I know, I’ve tried and reviewed most of them) and choosing the right one for your business can be challenging, so I will simplify it:
These are all what are known as SaaS platforms, which stands for Software as a Service, which means you pay a monthly fee that includes the website builder, hosting and support.
Tip – NEVER have your domain name registered with the same company you use to build and host your website, keep them separate.
The reason why I like and recommend the platforms above are:
- They are pretty easy to use – they still have a learning curve but a lot easier to use than some others
- Lots of online resources – due to them being so popular, there are lots of tutorials and large communities to ask questions etc
- They take care of the technical aspects – they take care of all the behind-the-scenes stuff like performance, uptime and a lot of security aspects (you still need to have strong passwords and 2-factor authentication for log-in etc)
- They are reasonably priced – the monthly fees are not excessive for what you get
I would avoid WordPress or any website builder where you need to buy your own hosting and then install the website builder yourself. They may seem cheaper than SaaS platforms but they have a steep learning curve and put a lot more of the technical burden of running a website on you.
This is coming from someone who uses WordPress for all of my sites but I have been building websites for over a decade and have spent hundreds of hours fixing my site rather than running my business.
3. Building Your Website
Obviously, it will depend on the website builder you choose as to the actual process of building your website but I can give you a list of 10 things that will help you not only have a good-looking site but also one that offer a great user experience…
1: Make Sure It Works On All Devices
One big mistake people make when building their first website is that they just design the desktop version of their site and as over 50% of website traffic comes from mobile devices, you want to make sure it works on mobile devices as well.
And while pretty much all website builders have mobile-responsive themes, you still want to manually check to see how your site looks on mobile and this can be done by:
You want to check your homepage, category, product and checkout pages to make sure that they all display properly.
2: Make Sure It Is Easy To Navigate Your Site
Ever been on a website and found it hard to find what you are looking for? Yeah, you want to avoid that on your site and there are a few things you can do:
- Make your navigation menu easy to use by having clearly labelled headings
- Have an easy-to-find and use search function
- Have a good category structure for your products, such as by product type (rings, earrings, pendants etc) and also by any collections you may have
- Have filter options on your category pages, such as by metal or gemstone
Basically, you want to make it as easy as possible for potential customers to find products that fits what they are looking for.
3: Colours And Fonts
This one is quite simple as the aim here is to make all the writing on your site easy to read, so make sure:
Tip – Use a different colour for your Add To Cart/Buy Now button so that it stands out against the rest of your website.
4: Images
Images are incredibly important when selling online and you want to make sure:
This helps stop images from being distorted or appearing grainy on your site, which makes your site look a lot more professional.
I’ve written a guide on how to photograph jewellery, which might be worth a read, especially if you are struggling with product pictures.
5: Make Information Easy To Find
The goal of your site is to make people want to buy from you and in order to that, they need to trust your site and one great way to build trust is to make information easy to find, this can include:
You can put links to your about and bespoke pages in your main nav menu if you want, the rest can be put in your footer as this is where people expect them to be.
The aim of this is to remove objections, which is basically reasons why people shouldn’t buy from you and whatever you do, don’t bury it all in your terms and conditions.
6: Have Clear Contact Info
You want to make it really easy for people to get in contact with you and you want to offer multiple options, including:
A contact form alone just isn’t enough and the more contact options that you have available, the more trustworthy you look to potential customers.
7: Streamline Your Checkout Process
You want to make it as easy as possible for your customers to go from landing on your site to getting to the order confirmation page and you really don’t want more than 4 pages:
- Cart
- Checkout
- Payment
- Order Confirmation
I would also look to remove distractions such as discount codes, if you don’t offer them, then make sure there isn’t a discount code box on any of your checkout pages.
Recommended or related products are something that it is worth testing to see whether they increase order value or cause people to leave the checkout process, this will vary between websites.
Tip – Consider offering free delivery as delivery charges are one of the main causes of abandoned carts, just factor the cost of delivery into your sale price.
8: Offer Multiple Payment Options
Not everyone likes to use the same payment method, which is why it is best to offer a couple of different payment options. The two basics are:
- PayPal
- A Credit Card processor – such as Stripe or Shopify payments
I know PayPal sucks for sellers but people trust it and many potential customers might not know you or your business, so feel more comfortable placing an order using a payment option they trust.
As your business grows, you may want to offer additional options such as flexible payments (pay in 3, for example) or bank transfer for more expensive and bespoke orders.
Tip – To help reduce disputes/chargebacks and fraud, read and follow payment gateway guidelines such as using stricter filters, only sending to the registered address and using a tracked service for posting.
9: Make Sure Your Site Is Legal
You have to make sure that your website is legal and complies with any rules and regulations relating to the country/countries where you are selling your products to.
I can only speak of the UK, but some things that you need to consider are:
You do need to be aware of all of these as failure to comply could result in serious fines or worse and it is your responsibility to make sure that your website is legal.
Tip – If you need to display an address but don’t want to use your home or workshop address, consider using a virtual office.
10: Ask For Feedback
It can be very easy to get tunnel vision when building your site, which is why I always recommend asking for feedback.
And it is best to find people who are going to give you honest feedback, not just say ‘Yeah, it’s lovely!’.
I see this happen quite often in jewellery groups on Facebook and having multiple fresh pairs of eyes looking at your site can help spot issues, sometimes get people like me who often come up with a long list of suggestions (just don’t take them it personally, we are trying to help).
Once you are up and running, ask your customers, as they are the ones actually using it.
4. Marketing Your Website
I’m going to give a quick overview of some of the marketing options that you can consider using for your business.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
The aim of SEO is to rank your website in search engines with the aim of driving traffic to your site that will result in sales.
When it comes to SEO, there are three key components:
And you want to optimise different pages for different intents:
SEO has become more challenging over the last few years, especially with the rise of AI, but when done right, it can be a very effective marketing method.
Tip – Aim for long-tail keywords rather than broad terms like ‘Sapphire Rings’, they can be easier to rank for and have a more focused intent.
Social Media Marketing
This one is quite self-explanatory as it is marketing your business through social media platforms.
As jewellery is very visual, image and video-focused platforms like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok generally work quite well.
Some tips for social media marketing are:
If you do social media correctly, it has the potential to not only grow your presence a get people buying your jewellery but also to generate a secondary income (even if quite small).
There are also two things you should absolutely avoid when it comes to social media marketing:
- Don’t Buy Followers – it is a waste of time and money, build an audience organically, it might be a lot of work but it will pay dividends in the end
- Don’t Run Competitions – this is a commonly pushed tactic for gaining followers but they are only following you because they want something for free, not because they are interested in your business
A lot of social media marketing is trial and error to see what works and what doesn’t.
Email Marketing
An often overlooked but incredibly powerful marketing tactic is email marketing.
Building an email list often comes as a result of other marketing efforts, as you need to get people onto your site in order to give them the opportunity to join your list.
But how do you get people to join your list?
Being consistent with emails can also be challenging, which is why I recommend aiming for 1 a week and as with your socials, don’t just make it about trying to get people to buy things.
Add value to your weekly email, with things like:
- What have you been doing this week? Maybe working on a new collection or spending time at the bench working on bespoke commissions
- Any upcoming plans – maybe you are doing a craft fair, pop-up shop or showcasing your work at a gallery
- New product launches – got some new products? Let your email list know before you launch them publicly (exclusivity sells!)
- Having a sale – offer your email list some great deals
For many businesses, their email list is the most valuable marketing tool they have as it is the only marketing channel where they have direct contact with their customers, as it doesn’t rely on algorithms.
Tip – Start marketing before your website is live, start posting on your socials and building your email list, this can help you hit the ground running when your store goes live.
Conclusion
I could go on and on with this post but I think it is long enough as it is!
I do hope that there is something in here that you have found helpful.
I’m not going to sugar coat it, selling online is challenging and definitely not as easy as some people make it out to be but it can be really beneficial to your business.
Just remember to keep learning and most of all, keep adapting as things change constantly.
I'm Paul Haywood FGA DGA, the owner and founder of Haywoods Gems, I'm a fully qualified Gemmologist and Diamond Grader from the Gemmological Association of Great Britain.
