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Make Money Online Selling Your Jewelry or Craft Business. Start Your Own Website
By Lisa Jay
Lantana
Designwear
Updated 1/15/2005
I have researched
all of the aspects on how to make money online for months. Some of the information
was hard to come by. This letter is designed to outline the steps of setting
up a home based internet business, as well as giving you numerous resources
for you to check out. I hope that the information helps you in some
way. Grab a cup of coffee!
So you are thinking
about starting a home based-business to make money on the internet, but that
is as far as you have gotten. Well, let me tell you my story. I am a stay-at-home
mother with four kids and an extremely supportive husband. I always have a
hobby, project or craft that keeps me busy. I used to make and sell crafts
in a local consignment store. I wove baskets, tole painted, made jewelry,
cross stitched...You name it, and I did it. That was until baby number 3 came
along. Then I had no time, no energy and no room to craft. As the years went
by and we now have our fourth child getting older and very independent, I
started thinking about what I would like to do with myself and how could I
contribute to our income, rather than deplete it with my hobbies.
This is where
my journey into the jewelry design business begins:
I researched
all aspects of an on-line jewelry business for 6 months. I researched suppliers,
new jewelry techniques, wire wrapping techniques and polymer clay. I suggest
that what every you you choose to do, for your new home-based business, the
first thing you should do is learn everything possible about it. Whether it
is web design, crafts, jewelry or making gourmet dog biscuits (the list of
possible home based businesses is endless!) learn, research and read! I went
to About.com and joined
some of the forums. Forums let people post a question or a picture, and others
write back. These are a group of highly experienced individuals giving out
their best kept secrets and advice, as well as a wealth of resources. Through
these forums, I was able to find suppliers, books, and resources to help me
learn more about the art of jewelry making.
Ok, you’ve done
your homework, and you are ready to get busy.
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Start out
by getting your sales and use tax number. I really urge you to get your
tax ID number. I only paid around $17 for mine. Many wholesale businesses
require tax ID numbers before selling supplies to you. This will allow you
to save money. When you go to the store, you present your ID number, and
you don't have to pay tax on the supplies that you will be using to resell.
I am working on compiling a
link to all of the states
web sites that offer specific information for each state.
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Time to order
your supplies from wholesalers. You should have a list of suppliers that
have reasonable prices with products that you are interested in. I make
a spread sheet in Excel with columns and rows. Across the top I write the
suppliers name and on the side I write the supplies that I need to order.
I then get on the internet and write down the price that 3 or 4 suppliers
charges for each item that I am looking for. Don’t forget to add shipping
into your prices. Some companies pocket money for their shipping. Others
are real reasonable. Most times I have to order from a couple of suppliers,
because I cant seem to find a supplier that has everything that I am looking
for.
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Once you have
some products in stock, you want to get your business on the internet. This
is where it gets hard. You think researching your trade was hard, getting
your business on the internet will take you weeks or months of research
comparing the different possibilities. You can’t just build a site and they
will come! There are a lot of steps involved. The first thing that I realized
about an internet business was that a lot of people have sites on the internet,
but they never make any money online because their website name never comes
up in the search engines. I am not a real patient web surfer. If I search
for something, I will look at the first few sites that came up in that search,
and then quit. I won’t look at number 120. I really wanted to be in the
top 10 and not get lost in the crowd! But how?
SiteSell
has a fantastic course on internet marketing and making money on the internet.
They have a program that will reveal numerous ways to get your internet
business rocking! Making some real money online. It is called
Make Your
Site Sell. (Look at the bottom left of this page and click on the link
that says
Make Your Site Sell They have a FREE trial that you can look
at to see what is offered. Just go to
FREE
TRIAL. I already got my moneys worth out of the program. It is so reasonably
priced that you cant go wrong. I honestly believe that I would not be making
money online, if I hadn't spent my $29 and ordered the program. I cant say
enough good things about it. If you are serious about making money online
I highly recommend that you visit this site, otherwise you are just going
to be another one of those businesses that gets lost in the shuffle.
You would not be visiting my site today, if I had not found this program!
Another really good site with FREE (I love that word!) information
is called
Selfpromotion It too has information that will really make your site
a success.
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Now’s the
time to decide how you are going to build your web site. There are many
options and opinions about what program to use to build your web site. I
checked into Dreamweaver, and FrontPage. I have heard good and bad about
both. One person said that they wouldn’t pay $169 for FrontPage, because
you will lose thousands of dollars in business if you use it. Hmmm! Guess
that means they didn’t like it. Others have said how great it is. Dreamweaver
was out of my price range at the time, so I went with FrontPage 2002. I
know that FrontPage 2000 had some problems, but I will tell you that FrontPage
2002 is a dream! I honestly can’t tell you which to choose. You may
chose to go with a professional to build your site. I didn’t check into
that too much. I knew it would be out of my price range anyway. The one
that gave me a quote said around $600 for 4 pages! Not an option! Another
fantastic option is to sign up with
SiteSell
They have ALL of the tools to build your website. You don't need to know
HTML. All you have to do is add your information and then build your page.
SiteSell
has everything that you could want in a host, plus a lot more. They host
your site, have a program to help with your link exchanges, and they even
have a program for your newsletter. Yes, you need to have a newsletter!
More on that later.
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I recommend
learning a little bit of HTML. You need to know this whether you use a program
or HTML to build your site. There is a great site,
Davesite that will
give you a FREE tutorial on HTML that does not take long. You will
see why it is so important to know this once you get into the course.
Davesite also has
tips and tricks to help you optimize your web site. This is a must see site!
And it is all FREE info for the taking.
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One really
important step that must be taken when building your website is to make
your web site search engine friendly. If you can not get listed in the search
engines, how will your potential customers find you? Google has an outline
that will tell you how to do just that at
Google information for Webmasters.
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Now that you’ve
spent weeks or months getting your web site built, you need pictures of
all of your projects to put on the internet.
Photography for Your
Jewelry and Craft Website is an article that explains some techniques
that will help you to make the most out of your pictures.
Resizing Photos for
the Web is another article that helps to show you how to resize
your photos so that they will load quickly.
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Next, it is
time to decide who will host your site. The host is the company that you
pay to put your site on the internet. What ever you do, do not go with a
free or low cost host because you get what you pay for. With the low end
sites, you get all of the banners and advertisers on your site and you have
no control over who advertises on your site. Just like the guy that does
not accept credit cards or have a shopping cart, you will be viewed as a
small time business. I always picture these people sitting at their cluttered
kitchen table, working in their boxers. Not a good vision but possibly true.
You may be working in your boxers too, but at least people will THINK you
are a true professional and that is what counts. There are all sorts of
places out there to get web hosting. Ten people will tell you ten different
hosts that you HAVE to go with if you want a profitable business. No matter
what anyone tells you, DO YOUR RESEARCH! You need to decide what is right
for you. Don’t take my word for it. A few of the options that I would look
into are
Homestead,
I Power Web Hosting, SSHost and SiteSell
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You may want
to consider an on-line craft mall. These sites will give you all of the
tools that you need to build your site and publish it for you. To check
out just a few of the on-line craft malls that are available,
click here.
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Now is the
time to decide what company you will use for your shopping cart, and to
accept credit cards. This is something that I recommend all businesses do.
Have you ever gone to a site that just had a phone number to call or an
e-mail to place an order? Did you order from them? I haven’t. I probably
never will. They just showed me that they are some small time business and
you know what I am thinking! (remember the boxers?) I have had someone recommend
a company that would set me up for e-commerce, having a shopping cart on
my web site and being able to accept credit cards. Perfect! Exactly what
I was looking for! It ONLY (that is a very sarcastic, ONLY) cost $400 to
get set up and cost $45 a month in fees!! Wow! I didn’t realize that it
would be so expensive to set up an e-commerce account. Well, it doesn’t!
Most hosts provide a free shopping cart with their hosting package. Some
only offer
PayPal. NOTE:
PayPal has recently improved their shopping cart. Now your customers
can use either PayPal OR their credit card. At one time, if you used the
PayPal shopping cart, your customer had to pay using PayPal. Not so anymore!
That is a big bonus in my book!
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Now for the
credit card company. You want to make sure that your credit card company
and shopping cart are compatible. I applied with
U.S. Merchant Systems and I was approved with no problems. It was great.
I really anticipated problems with this. I have no business credit! I had
just started my business when I applied. But they didn't see any problems,
and approved me. Tech support helped me get set up to work with my shopping
cart and I was up and running within minutes. Now I can look like a pro.
Another great source for accepting credit cards is
PayPal.
If your customers use E-bay, they probably already have an account, and
it is a low cost alternative for you.
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Your site
is complete! You believe that your site is as accurate as it can possibly
be. I would suggest that you have someone check it out for you. I thought
mine was perfect. But I went to
Netmechanic and
used their FREE tool to check my HTML code. They do 5 pages for free.
I checked out my web site and each page had 35 errors! I couldn't believe
it! I would never have known.
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Now it is
time to get it number listed #1 in the search engines! You will find all
of this information in the course, Make Your Site Sell Another fantastic
FREE site that will help you to get listed in #1 is called
Wordtracker. It tells you what the top words are that were searched
in your category. Say you sell "dog biscuits".
Wordtracker tells you that "dog biscuits" were searched 11000 times
in the last month. But "dog bones" were searched 28000 times. So, obviously
you would want to use "dog bones" in your site.
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I highly recommend
submitting to the search engines yourself. The ones that you should absolutely
submit to are:
*Aeiwi Submit page
*Alexa -
Submit page
*Alltheweb -
Submit page
*Alta Vista - Submit
page
*AOL Alta Vista -
Submit page
*Exact Seek -
Submit page
*Google - Submit
page
How
to submit your site
*National Directory -
Submit
page
*Search Hippo -
Submit
page
*Search It - Submit
page
*What U Seek -
Submit page
*Yahoo -
Submit
page How
to submit your site
*MSN - Submit page
I am sure
that you could find hundreds more to submit to, but start with these.
Note: If you use
SiteSell
they submit each and every page for you as you build your website. No worries!
Let them do all of the work while you concentrate on more important things.
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You've got
yourself submitted to the search engines, now you have to wait (sometimes
4-6 weeks) to see if you are listed. Make sure that you use all of the
FREE tools in
SiteSell
to see if you are listed. Also, now is a good time to start checking out
your competition to see how they are ranking. Download the FREE
Alexa toolbar This is an indispensable tool that allows you to
view data on any site that you visit, such as traffic data, site stats,
and contact info. The toolbar is placed at the top of your browser and is
very un-obstructive. This is a great way to keep an eye on your competition
as well as see how your site is ranking.
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Make sure
that you are getting up to date information. I can't stress how important
this is. Sign up for the only newsletter that you will ever need, other
than ours, of course. It is called SiteProNews. It is a free Webmaster ezine
full of information on web development and search engine optimization. There
is a sign up form in the upper left of this page. Sign up! Read it! You
will be glad that you did. And PLEASE sign up for our newsletter!
Sign me up!
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Keep in touch
with your new found customers! I have found that a lot of people will
visit my site once and then forget about us. That is why a newsletter
is so important. Once your potential customer signs up for your newsletter,
you will be able to remind them about you every month. For quite some
time, the only people that purchased from our website was from our newsletter
subscribers. Do not underestimate the power of a newsletter!
We checked all of the prices on the net for a good newsletter program.
Most were the same price at the bottom level, but once you started to get
a lot of subscribers some companies prices went WAY up. That is why
we use Intellicontact.
Their prices are the best that we have found and they are fantastic to work
with.
The more knowledge
that you have on a subject, the more ammunition you have against the people
trying to take advantage of your inexperience. I had asked a young gentleman
what he thought of the e-commerce program that cost $400 to set up. He told
me that I would have to hire a consultant to look over the program. He would
be glad to do it for $150 an hour and it would take two hours to do. Ha! No
thanks! I did my own research and I will tell you for FREE, right here,
right now, that you can get e-commerce a lot cheaper than that! That just
saved you $300 in consultant’s fees. On the other hand the $400 program may
be exactly what your business needs. If you are going to make millions on
the internet, then that may be the way to go. I really don’t plan to make
that kind of money, so the $45 a month for the privileged of having a shopping
cart and accepting credit cards was way too much for me to pay. You decide.
Research it! That is my point. Be informed and don’t let someone talk you
into anything that you really don’t feel is right.
(A note about
the above referrals; After deciding that I would recommend the businesses
that are listed above, I went to each and every one of them to see if they
offer an affiliate program. (something else that you will learn in the Make
Your Site Sell program from Sitesell) Some did, some did not. An affiliate
program is when a company pays you a referral fee for sending customers their
way. The point that I would like to make is that I am not referring these
businesses to you because of the referral fee, I am sending business their
way because I feel that they are outstanding businesses to deal with, and
you will profit from using them. In fact, I have gone back several times and
deleted companies that I am an affiliate of because I no longer felt that
they were a good company to deal with. But I still would like to receive
credit for referring you, so please visit their site from the links above
so that I can get credit for your business.)
I hope that
this article has helped steer you in the right direction for your new internet
business. Please Sign up for
our FREE irregular newsletter and periodical specials.
Would you like to start an Internet business and work from the comfort
of your home? Do NOT Just "Put Up A Web Site"... Build A Business.
I hope that you found this information informative. If you liked my site,
will you please consider putting a link to it on your web site?
More resources to help you get started with your own on-line craft or
jewelry business:
9 Ways to Make Money
Online with your Jewelry and Craft Website - The title says it all.
You don't have to limit your income just by selling your goods. Diversify!
Photography for
Your Jewelry and Craft Website - We've covered all of the basics for
taking fantastic photographs for your website.
State by State Business
Start up Informational Web Sites - We've listed all 50 states and
their websites that tell all of the information that you need to start your
small business.
Do You Make
Money with your Jewelry or Craft Website? - A question that I am asked
quite often. Of course you CAN make money on the internet. You
just have to work at it! Find out how.
On-line Craft Malls
- We've listed a few of the on-line craft malls that are the best that we
have found.
Resizing Photos
for the Web - Great article Brian Appell of
ArtsEfest.com
that tells how to optimize your pictures for your website.
Odds-N-Ends - We have
created this page to share some of the unique items that we have found on
the internet. It is still a work in progress so watch your step. Most are
pretty useless, but they are fun none the less.
Website Marketing Strategies
to Promote Your Website Offline - Don't miss this article by Bill
Walters of Plum River
Marketing. We work so hard on promoting our business on-line but
forget the importance of off-line promotions.
10 Ways to Milk Another
Hour or Two Out of Your Day - Time Management - There is never enough
time in the day. Learn ways to do double duty and make the most of those
few precious hours in your day.
Please submit your articles
to be included in the JewelryMakingHQ Newsletter - We are ALWAYS looking
for well written articles to cover a wide range of topics: jewelry making,
issues dealing with juggling family and work, WAHM - work at home moms, SAHM
- Stay at home moms, work at home, product reviews..... the list is endless.
Lisa Jay is a freelance writer and the jewelry designer behind Lantana
Designwear. She has combined her love of writing and jewelry making to create
a website that is dedicated to assisting other artists discover their love
of the art of jewelry making, www.JewelryMakingHQ.com
Copyright © 2005, JewelryMakingHQ
To receive exciting, informative articles dedicated to the art of
jewelry making and the jewelry business delivered to your e-mail box every
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www.jewelrymakinghq.com/newsletter
You have our permission to re-print
this article in your website or newsletter. Please give credit to us and provide
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