Selling Handmade Jewelry Online

The internet gives jewelry artisans so many new opportunities to sell their work and reach a far larger number of people. This lens gives an overview of things to consider before selling your jewelry online.

Selling online is both easy and difficult. Getting your shop set up and items listed for sale can be very simple but the fine points of writing good descriptions and bringing customers in takes time to learn.

Jewelry making is a fun hobby for many people but if you're reading this I'm guessing that you either have already taken the step to sell your work or are considering it. Jewelry is a very competitive market because there are so many choices. What are the key things you need to sell your jewelry?

1) Stand out from the crowd. Having jewelry that is unique or different in some way rather than producing the same things dozens of other artists are doing is the best way to stand out.

2) Keep an eye on trends. Don't follow them slavishly but if a certain color is really hot or a type of jewelry (say cuff bracelets) is really popular try working it into your line but do something fun with it.

3) Show your personality. Make your own personality and sense of style a vital part of your jewelry. If you wouldn't want to wear it then you really shouldn't be making it.

4) Be professional. You are now running a business, organization and planning are important and matters to your customer.

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Here are the 5 things that have worked best for me in promoting my jewelry.

1) Wear your jewelry. When you're out in public, whether at work, shopping, dentist's office etc. wear some of your jewelry designs and be prepared to hand out a business card to anyone who compliments them.

2) Write good descriptions and take good photos. Online the only thing your customer has to go by are the photos and text of your listing. Give them as much information as you can, including materials, size, inspiration, etc. Check out this article of tips of photographing your jewelry.

3) Blogging. You can get a free blog from Blogger or Wordpress, talk about your jewelry, design process, new materials or colors you're working with, etc. Give your customers a face and personality to associate with your product and get them interested in what you're going to do next.

4) Squidoo! I love Squidoo you can make lenses on yourself, your company, individual jewelry lines, jewelry advice, etc.

5) Social Media. Talk about and share your jewelry on sites like Facebook, MySpace, Ning, Del.icio.us, Stumbleupon, etc.

Bonus: Don't overlook running ads on other websites. Project Wonderful, Google Adwords, and Facebook Ads are all affordable ways to run advertising within a budget you set.