Building an effective website for selling jewellery
Blog
As part of the new book ‘Start and Grow a Profitable Jewellery Business’ with Jessica Rose, a handful of talented and successful, handmade jewellers were invited to be interviewed about various different elements of their business.
Each jeweller was chosen specifically to talk about a particular area of focus within their business which they were doing brilliantly at, to share their real life experience and demonstrate how its done. One of these areas of focus was building a website that sells…
If you’re keen to sell online then having your own website is ultimately the way to go (rather than selling on other platforms such as Etsy). Building one has never been easier with platforms such as Square Space and Shopify, but knowing how to put together an effective website that sells is key.
So for this chapter of the book, Jess invited established jeweller Sophie Arnott of Anvil & Ivy who not only has her own shop, but who also has a great website where she sells online to talk about her top tips for creating an effective e-commerce website.
Here’s what Sophie had to say…
Sophie in her workshop
How long have you been a jeweller for?
I started making jewellery as a creative escape from an unfulfilling day job in 2014. It began as a hobby and ended up being my dream career. I have been a full time jewellery maker since 2016.
How did you start making jewellery?
I was gifted some beginners silver jewellery evening classes at London Jewellery School for my birthday. From the very first session I knew I was hooked. I remember sitting on the train home and purchasing all of the tools I would need to get started at home. From these classes I then spent all my spare time after work and at the weekends in my makeshift workshop in the garden shed. I made a lot of mistakes, some very questionable pieces and had a lot fun while I was learning my craft. Eventually I started to sell to friends and family, at local markets and gradually built up the confidence to start my jewellery business.
Sophie’s packaging and branding for her jewellery business Anvil & Ivy
have you always sold online?
I set up an Etsy shop very early on in the process of starting out in business, it took me a little while longer to think about setting up my own website. In the early days I mainly sold at craft markets and through social media so Etsy felt like a great way to get my product online without the initial set up costs of an e-commerce site. I was then lucky enough to open a bricks and mortar shop on the high street so the website always took a back seat. I had a very basic website with some simple products online but to be honest we didn’t really sell an awful lot via the site pre pandemic.
Once the pandemic hit and the world turned upside down I was spurred into action. I spent the first lockdown creating new collections that I was proud of, invested in some professional product photography and completely rebranded. It meant that after the first couple of months of lockdown I had a fully functioning e-commerce site which has absolutely transformed my brand and the way that we do business.
how did you build your website?
My first basic website I had was created with Wix, it was great for a beginner and a starting point but I have since moved over to Shopify. It is such a brilliant option for Ecom stores, with so many useful features and analytic tools. I had some help initially from a web designer who helped with my rebrand and built the bare bones of the site. But I now do all of the updates and changes myself as the software is so simple to use. It took a while to add all of my product catalogue and get things looking just right, but I am now really happy and proud of my website.
how do you drive traffic to your website?
I am actually incredibly lucky that I get a good amount of organic reach to my site without having to spend out on lots of ads. Instagram is the easiest way for me to drive traffic with tagged products and links. My email list are really engaged and tend to visit the site every time we have a launch. We have experimented with some advertising on google and Pinterest which have done fairly well. We have found Facebook/instagram ads a lot less successful these days since the privacy changes. We also have been featured in a few Bridal/wedding magazines and websites which seems to send through some traffic along with Not on the High Street.
What do you think are the most important parts of a website for jewellers?
I think first and foremost the website has to be easy to use and attractive. I personally hate websites that are all over the place and have no clear customer journey. The Shopify templates can be really handy for this if you’re just starting out.
Secondly your product photography needs to show your products in their best light. Clear, well lit and in focus photography is key. The best thing I ever did was invest in product photoshoots for each collection. I used to absolutely hate trying to take photographs of my pieces, I would just end up frustrated and waste time. I strongly believe that you should outsource your least favourite parts of your business to professionals who do them really well.
Thirdly I think that you should put time and effort into your product descriptions. Ive given all of my engagement rings names and personalities. I spent some time describing each ring and the type of person who would wear it best. Several customers have now emailed to say that they really resonated with the personality traits in the product description which led them to make the purchase. It is certainly worth spending the time to write engaging and creative copy across your site.
How has selling online helped your business to grow?
The growth that we have had since since our rebrand and website launch has been incredible. Our turnover tripled for the year and we sold so many engagement and wedding rings that I never thought would have been possible. We’ve had orders from all over the world and all across the UK. This would have never happened without the improved website and the investment into the rebrand and new collections.
I love having a bricks and mortar shop but without the website we would have found this past year tricky, with reduced footfall on the high streets. This way we get the best of both worlds and our customer base is not limited to the local area.
Want to know more?
If you’d like to learn more about how to sell online and put together a website, as well as read Sophie’s top tip for new jewellers starting out, then you’ll find it all here in the new book - ‘Start and Grow a Profitable Jewellery Business’ with Jessica Rose.
want to learn more about building a website for your jewellery business?
If you’d like more help with learning how to sell online and building a website for your jewellery business then why not consider taking our flagship programme - The Jewellery Business Bootcamp which is open for admissions at the start of every year. Click below to find out more…
