Having your own sales platform not only gives you a professional advantage, but it also means that all of your marketing efforts will be directed toward driving buyers to your own site and shop window rather than a platform with many handcrafted vendors selling identical things.

It has never been easier to develop a stunning website that appears slick and professional and, more importantly, makes it easy for your customers to buy. However, there are some common errors or oversights that jewelers make time and again.  The goal of this blog article is to highlight a few of these so that you may take efforts to guarantee that your website is set up for success from the beginning. 

Wisely select your platform 

There are numerous platforms accessible these days for creating a stunning website.  So, take your time and test a few different possibilities to ensure that your selected platform offers the capabilities you want and need, is simple to amend and update, and will grow with you.  Given how much labor is required in establishing an online shop in the first place, the last thing you want to do is to switch platforms in a year or two.

The following are the primary e-commerce platforms:

• WordPress
• Shopify
• Squarespace
• Wix

All are wonderful platforms and all have the ability to offer you with a gorgeous e-commerce site.  However, each has drawbacks, so it is critical to strike the correct combination of functionality, look and feel, and simplicity of maintenance for you and your organization.

Comprehend how you will drive traffic to your website 

You can create a beautiful website, but the days of “build it and they will come” are long gone.  To get sales, you must attract visitors to your website.   People that visit your site and then buy have a 1.5% conversion rate.  So, if you’re not generating the sales you desire, it’s not necessarily a website issue; it could be a traffic issue! 

Once your site is built and launched, you must engage in a variety of actions to drive traffic to it.  Here are some suggestions:

Being active on one or more social media networks on a daily basis

• Regular blogging 
• Email list building 
• In-person events 
• Public relations 
• Collaborations

We recommend that you connect Google Analytics and install the Facebook Pixel as soon as your website is online.  This means that these tools are collecting data that will assist you in refining your website and creating targeted adverts to bring more visitors to your site when you are ready.  If you set up the Pixel, all of your everyday activities ‘feeds the pixel,’ resulting in a ‘warm’ audience to whom you may target adverts when new product releases and events occur.

Ensure that your shop is easy to find

One of the most common blunders we encounter is jewellers hiding their SHOP and making it difficult to find.  Your SHOP should be at the top of your primary navigation (and secondary navigation if you have one), and there should be buttons and links to your online shop on your homepage.  Your main ‘Call to Action’ should be to persuade them to buy from you, so make it simple for them.  Have a SHOP ALL page as well as breaking your products down into categories.  Ideally, you want your customers to be able to find your SHOP and items with just one or two clicks!

Include links to size guides and charts 

Again, you want to make it as simple as possible for clients to purchase from you.  And if customers are unsure of their ring size or necklace length, and you do not provide tools to assist them in determining this, you may be losing money.  Because once customers leave your product pages to find their ring size, they are unlikely to return.  Include links to sizing guides and charts that appear in a light box, allowing them to quickly and simply choose the correct size and proceed with the checkout process.  This might be as simple as providing them with a free ring sizer, or having them purchase one for a low cost and deducting the amount from the overall cost of the ring.  The idea is to make purchasing simple for your customers and to anticipate their every requirement.

Branding that is clear and uncluttered 

A good website may truly shine with great branding.  Your logo should not take over your site, but it should be visually appealing and aid in guiding customers through your information.  You want a clean, straightforward logo that is easy to read, a consistent color palette, a carefully chosen font combination, and a consistent graphic style.

As a good starting point, we recommend two major colors, an accent color, and 1-2 neutral colors for backdrops.  Your primary colors can be complementary or in a similar tonal range, depending on the vibe you want to convey with your brand.  Typically, your accent color stands out from the main colors because you want to use it to bring attention to particular headings or buttons.  Neutral backdrops behind text can help split up material and make different portions of your site stand out.

We recommend 3-4 fonts maximum on your site.  You want to have a Main Heading font, a heading font, and a body text font.  If it suits your branding, you might want to use an accent or display typeface sparingly to give a little of flair to your site.

Branding assists your customers in understanding who you are and developing trust in you. This is crucial for a luxury, visual product such as jewellery. 

Include social media handles

This is an excellent method to boost trust in yourself and your brand.  Social proof, such as testimonials and reviews, are techniques to demonstrate that you are trustworthy and a fantastic person to buy from, and that others have done so in the past.

You can also get plugins that alert people viewing your website that other customers have recently made purchases.

Finally, you can include logos from other firms you’ve worked with, professional organizations you’re a member of, and any accolades you’ve received for your products and services.  All of these are excellent strategies to demonstrate that you are a professional and trustworthy company to do business with.

Include plenty of white space 

Every website should have plenty of space around the text imagery and buttons to allow the viewers eye to see clearly what is going on. Less is more; if you website feels overcrowded it is unappealing to buy from. Give your jewellery some space to be seen. 

There is nothing worse than a cluttered and fussy website that makes it difficult for customers to know where to look.  A cleaner aesthetic draws your customers eye to where you want them to look and makes it clearer what you want the customer to do.

Compelling photography 

We all know this one, right?! Good photography is ESSENTIAL.  But so often we see brilliant e-commerce websites that are badly let down by poorly lit and fuzzy images.  Your images are so crucial in making those online sales, especially if they have never seen your jewellery in person. People want to see in detail what you have to offer and you almost have to replicate the in-person buying process where people look at a product in detail, at all angles, and maybe hold up the piece to see how it would look on you.  Your photography needs to do all this.  So show your jewellery at different angles, demonstrate size and scale, ideally on a model (modeling it yourself counts!), and show the back of the piece and how it will be packaged.

And you want some stunning, hero images that are beautifully styled for your homepage that emphasize your brand and make your jewellery feel luxurious and a great fit for their lifestyle (actual or aspirational).

So do spend time perfecting taking your photographs for your website, or look to hire a product photographer who has a track record of creating great photographs for designers and makers.

Add videos 

So if you have done all of the above you are doing great.  But there is one last thing you can do to make you stand head and shoulders above the crowd.  This is more advanced but very effective. Jewellers with short videos on their site about them and their jewellery business make more sales. If you don’t have one, consider adding it to your plans this year to hire a videographer (or friend with a good camera/ phone) for a day and make a short promo video talking about yourself, your process, where you work, and the inspiration behind your product range.  It might be a bit scary, but we guarantee that it will be a gamble worth taking. 

So hopefully this article has been useful and can act as a checklist of things to consider when building your website.  And don’t forget, you don’t have to do all of this at once.  Your website will never be finished and you will always be updating and amending it so focus on the areas that are most important in terms of improving your site and then gradually work up to the rest.