Northern Girl Jewelry
Posts: 199
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« Reply #2 on: August 23, 2009, 09:21:28 pm » |
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Hi Rhonda,
I know you posted this a while ago, but I've just found some time to take a closer look at your shop. I'm certainly not an expert either, but I've been fortunate to get some feedback from a variety of sources, and I know how helpful I have found it.
First off, congrats on listing so many items! That takes a lot of work, and I think that having a good variety for buyers to choose from is important. Also, your pieces really are lovely. You have a nice eye for colour.
Photos:
Photos are the number one most important thing for selling on-line. You have only a few seconds to grab someone's attention, so you need a good, compelling photo to do so. The photo either grabs the potential buyer or it doesn't. If the photo does grab the person's attention, they may click on the photo and take a closer look at the item. If the photo doesn't grab them, they don't click, they won't see your item and they certainly won't have the opportunity to buy your item.
If I were you, what I would work on the most for the shop would be the photos. The photos are somewhat blurry, and they are not showing your pieces off to best advantage. If you have a macro setting on your camera (usually symbolized by a little flower icon), use it. If you don't, I would recommend buying a camera that has a macro setting. It doesn't need to be an expensive camera, many point and shoots have macro settings. For jewelry, shooting in macro mode is an absolute necessity.
Also, think about the styling of your photos. Right now, your photos all have the same look. They are all shot the same way, with the same head on angle. While cohesiveness for a shop is good, I find that your photos all resemble each other so much that the individual items start to blur together and don't stand out. Experiment with shooting from different angles and see where it leads.
Go browse in other shops (here, on etsy, on artfire, independant websites, etc.). Check out the jewelry photos of shops that are selling well. See what grabs your attention. Then analyze why the photo grabs you and how the seller achieved it.
Taking good photos is hard. Especially for jewelry. Mine are far from perfect. I'm constantly working to improve them. When I decided to sell jewelry, I didn't realize that not only would I need to have solid jewelry making skills, but that photos skills would be critical to it all. But with practice, it's getting easier.
Descriptions:
A couple of suggestions for your item descriptions. When you give measurements, give both metric and imperial. Right now you only have imperial (inches) and many, many people (myself included) are more comfortable with metric.
Also, add the dimensions of the pendants. It's hard for people to judge how big something is just by a photo, so in addition to the length of your necklaces, tell people how big the pendants are (is the pendant 2" x 2" or 1/2" x 1/2"?). This will help people to have realistic expectations of the piece and not be dissapointed when they receive it in the mail (because it is much larger or smaller than they thought). If you could also include a photo that shows the relative size of the item (by having it next to something that is a standard size), that can also help, especially for those that are more visual and don't translate numbers to reality very well.
Policies:
Your store policies are in place a very clear. That's good.
In general:
Browse through other shops on the web. It doesn't have to be just jewelry. Find items that you are drawn to. Then check out that item carefully to decide if you would actually buy it or not. Is there enough information for you to confidently buy the item? Is there anything in the item description, price or shop policies/info that is missing or that turns you off? If you would be willing to buy that item, what is it that makes you feel you could go ahead and buy? Do the photos make you feel like you were holding the item? Is the description funny, does it tell a story that makes you fall in love with the item, does it engage your senses (smell, sound, touch), etc.?
What prevents you from buying? When you know that, make sure you avoid doing the same thing.
What convinces you to buy? When you know that, apply it to your shop.
Sorry, didn't meant to write a novel... I hope it is helpful for you.
Julie
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