Posted April 27, 2004 Copyright Charles Lewton-Brain
This is the text of a talk on the web, and its impact on jewelers, in particular
the themes of how to make it work on the web. This talk was the second part
of a speech about the history of the Ganoksin
web site and its growth. The presentation was give in March 2004 to the
SNAG conference in St. Petersburg, Florida. It is followed by a compilation
of many of the survey questions and answers that led to this paper.
The paper is still in DRAFT mode, and is made available for contributors and interested parties to read, even though it is unfinished. You may read this paper for personal use, and it may not be copied or distributed, or quoted without consultation with me. No comercial use of this copyright text is permitted without consultation and terms being worked out. For privacy reasons the identifying initials have been omitted from the survey section.
The Ganoksin Project, The Orchid List and Jewellers
making it on the net.Back
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This talk will range over the history of the Ganoksin project web site, the
Orchid mailing list and the community it has engendered. We will touch on its
founders Dr Hanuman Aspler and myself, and on Karen Christians and other people's
contributions in the last while. Then, still discussing the web, we shift gears
and have a look at how jewelers can make it on the web, what the chances are
of selling art jewelry, or jewelry in general on the internet. From altruism
to commerce.
The Ganoksin Project is now 8 years old, born in Bangkok and Calgary in 1996-97.
In Thai Ganok means pure gold, Sin means art, and together they can be thought
of as meaning 'The Art of Gold'. The Ganoksin logo was designed by Shakine,
an israeli artist whose work is on ganoksin, a childhood friend of Hanuman,
who says "The logo represents human culture and existence. It is almost
a blending of the selves. It represents nature and the universe. You will find
a stylized tree, human figure, fresh leaves, moon and the sun. It also might
be looked as the connection between an individual and his culture."
Ganoksin has grown a lot. A web site, a library of informaton, the 500 plus
pages of my writing which started the project, the Orchid list, bench exchanges,
galleries, the Orchid archives and more. Ganoksin now has agreements in place
with a number of magazines to publish their articles, going back years in some
cases. A singular success has been our partnership with SNAG and the agreement
to publish Metalsmiths articles. Several are already up, and these constitute
the first set of serious critical content for jewelers on the web. Ganoksin
is the worlds largest educational internet site for the jewelry, gemology and
metals field. And then there is the orchid community which has emerged from
this project.
Ganoksin is a place for knowledge and discussion to make metal-artists lives
easier. It is a place to dismantle the traditions of secrecy and not sharing
information found globally in the jewelry world. It is a place of information
exchange, lively debate and documentation. Ganoksin is about community and sharing.
It is through this access to each other that we all learn and improve production
and our business. It is about making jewelers lives easier and safer. Although
English is the predominate language at this time, and most Ganoksin and Orchid
participants live in the United States, each year more participate from other
countries. Translation engines have improved to the point that many site visitors
actually read the pages in other languages. Ganoksin provides metalsmiths worldwide
with a way to communicate, which was its intent.
Ganoksin is the most important single source for jewelry/metals information
and searchable archived content on the web. A search on google for 'ganoksin'
currently brings up over 200,000 web pages. Hanuman comments: "Today we
are transmitting about 50gig/month of data through our website and lists. We
occupy 1gig of disk space just for text and an additional 500 Megabytes for
graphics."
The Orchid list is a moderated discussion group which has over 5000 members
who recieve it daily. The list is moderated by Hanuman and his assistant Ton,
and delivers up to 50 messages a day to each recipient. Because Bangkok is 14
hours ahead of much of North America when they edit and post the list during
their day. Therefore the digest is a collection of yesterday's imput. Orchid
traffic in terms of the number of postings increased by 30% from 2002 to 2003.
Because getting 50 different messages at once is a large chunk of reading and
deleting many recipients choose to get it in digest format, where all the days
messages have been edited and reformatted and then delivered in one easy to
read large email. 65% of Orchid participants prefer the digest because it is
easier on their mail account. . The list was born in the summer of 1996 several
months after the project began, and has been archived and searchable since 1997.
Aside from the registered orchid members who use the site thousands more use
the orchid archives for research and mine them for information. Many read there
daily. These orchid users are not counted except as site visitors, but they
constitute a significant number of regular and repeat Orchid information consumers.
From the orchid discussion group, from the place of exchange and sharing that
is the heart of the site, has emerged a grassroots community, quite intriguing
how it grew by itself, an expression of group mind, of belonging, and the word
‘family’ is used by its members. This group has had marriages, births,
deaths, shared events beyond the business of learning and educating each other
about the metals field. Group members now meet for celbratory dinners and get
togethers, usually linked with industry events like the MJSA show, Tucson Gem
show, SNAG and others. Up to 350 people have shown up for the Tucson gathering.
This community is very diverse, vibrant, and sharing, about helping each other,
and that, at the core, is what the project is all about.
Here are some numbers about the site to give an idea what traffic is like. These
are the for the 2003 year
There were 30,155,000 hits with an average of 89,000 a day.
There were 14,174,000 Page Views in a month, with an average of 41,808 a day.
Of these there were some1,612,000 unique users in the month, averaging 4,755
a day. The number of pages viewed by each user on a visit averaged out at 8.8
in the year.
So how did it happen?
Hanuman had built a first web site in 1996, but it was pretty empty of content,
as were most sites at that time. I was looking for a place to publish lots of
my writing, and found the site soon after it opened. I was the first person
to click on the 'submit an article' link. I offered my writing. Hanuman leapt
at it, we both had the idea of idealistically spreading information and helping
others. Shortly after that Orchid was created, and the rest has been work, enormous
ongoing construction by Hanuman, and growth. Ganoksin is now in a stage of intense
partnering and collaboration. I believe that Ganoksins and Orchids influence
extends to engendering the increasing number of institutional and corporate
partnerships that are occuring today in the jewelry industry.
The intertwining paths that led us to each other were made possible by the net,
where like minds can reach towards and touch each other. The stories are hard
to tell all at once, so we'll approach it with each other's paths outlined.
We'll start with Charles, then Hanuman and finally Karen Christians, whose efforts
and hard work have energized the project in the last two years.
Charles' Journey
I grew up till the age of 12 in Tanzania, then lived in New Paltz, New York,
went off to Halifax, Nova Scotia for Art school. I spent some time in Germany
studying and working,
and have lived in Calgary, Alberta since 1986.
My journey began as a workshop teacher and writer. Starting in 1987 I was translating
the German Theory and Practice of Goldsmithing into English and bought a Mac
SE for this labor - an imporvement over yellow legal pads. I assembled a set
of eclectic teaching notes, information for the field, on stonesetting, critique
of work, gemology, good sources for tools and equipment and the like. I would
permit people to copy these when I taught workshops and the handout ended up
at about 180 pages. One day in 1992 I asked a group of people in Los Angeles
who amongst them would like a disc instead of paying to have the handout copied.
Half the class, some 14 people said 'Yes', and I knew something had changed
in my world. In 1995 I got onto the internet, and after looking around for six
months or so realized that there were a lot of jewelry sites, but almost no
content. There were one or two places, like the Society of American Silversiths
and the ArtMetal project which did have information, but in general there was
lots of 'front end', with nothing behind it, just emptiness: no content of note.
I felt I was a perfect fit for the net. I was used to giving information away
widely, was interested in an idealistic position on sharing information, and
I had hundreds of pages of my writing and technical drawings already on my computer
ready to go. When I searched the net and found a site I thought educational,
and open minded I would offer my writing,, tons of it, for free to publish,
with the only stipulaton being a byline and an email link as well as a rule
that readers were free to read, print out and share my information, but were
not permitted to duplicate it or publish it for comercial gain. My thought was
that I wanted to build such a strong and widespread web presence that any question
about jewelry making would find me, and near the top of the results at that.
This goal has, through my partnership with Hanuman, been fullfilled exactly
as planned. I hoped as well that the articles and increased profile would sell
my books. I am not sure whether putting up so many extracts from them has had
a positive or negative effect on sales. But there has definitely been an increased
profile for myself and my writing as a result.
The occasional site would accept my offer of free content, but only to the extent
of a cautious article or two. None wanted to really go for it. It was as if
they distrusted the offer of all my writing, as if they thought I was scamming
them, tricking them. All the North American sites I offered this to rejected
the offer. I came across Ahmed Shareek at Jewelrycombine.com in Sri Lanka whose
site was starting and he welcomed the idea. It was early 1996.
Then I found the ganoksin site. It had just started and I liked the statement
on the site, the feeling that it was altruistic and wanting to help goldsmiths.
I offered Dr. Aspler all my writing, for free, he said "Great!' and I began
to send him articles, which he installed in the Tips from the Jewelers Bench
section. He had taken a year off work to build the site. With the new content
Ganoksin now began to grow, and to attract visitors. Our partnership, friendship
and collaboration developed as well. It was six months of working together before
I thought about and even figured out that Hanuman lived in Bangkok. I remember
saying "you live where?!!"
I often wondered why I had such a hard time getting a North American site, even
a public education one, to take me up on the offer. At one point I realized
that the two people who had really welcomed the idea were Buddist. Coincidence?
Maybe.
Its worth mentioning what Ganoksin taps into in terms of the field, why people
are so committed to the site. There is a sisterhood and brotherhood of metalsmiths.
I found this out when at age 21 I travelled around the world on a ship for four
months, visiting goldsmiths and jewelers in every country we went to, dressed
politely, carrying my camera, notebook and a handful of my pieces, my chasing
hammer and a selection of tools. These served to validate me a fellow goldsmith,
and I was universally accepted and welcomed, fed in people's homes, taken care
of, treated with respect and my questions about life as a jeweler answered in
depth. Ganoksin taps into this place, a place where our tactile understanding
of the material, our intimate understanding of this stuff we work with and the
important role that jewelers play in rites of passage and in everyday life come
together. Jewelry is important: anthropolgists claim that ornamentation of the
body was one of the earliest acts that define humanity, and came before organized
tool use. And as a jeweler you share understandings with others in the field,
no matter what the culture or language you live in. Other factors include the
sense of belonging to a group, access to information otherwise unattainable
and the practical demonstration of the old adage "If you want to make a
friend ask someone for advice". One of the effects has been innumerable
friendships and activities between members in their everyday lives off the computer.
The careful construction by Hanuman of the Orchid message format helps as well.
There is a clean, simple, uniform style to the presentation, the way a snippet
of a previous message is quoted, the way that the name of the poster is placed
on the page. All designed to feel warm rather than cold. The formatting unifies
the feel of the posts, offering the user a clean look regardless of the system
they are using. The ease of posting to such a moderated list rather than a newsgroup's
extra steps makes a difference as well in the immediacy and closeness that people
on the list feel.
Hanuman believes that "once a message is delivered to someone's mail box,
they naturally feel a sense of intimacy, after all it is their own mail".
Content is the Sticky Trap.
My vision of the internet was that of the 'rubber sheet' model of the universe,
where heavy gravity sources like black holes create distortions or dents in
the sheet by their density and this then tends to attract more particles and
matter, automatically. They spiral down towards the density distortion, thus
adding their own selves to the mass and increasing its gravity even more, drawing
ever more into it. The metaphor was content density as gravity source, and particles
drawn into it being people searching for jewelry terms and information. The
idea was that Ganoksin would, through the content, become an ever enlarging
entity, a snowball gathering volume. Hanuman's vision of the internet is "The
internet is like a bowl of spagetti, all points are both very far away and very
close to each other. A good website is one which manages to touch as many noodles
at as many points as possible".
Shortly after we began to collaborate Hanuman suggested adding an email news
list, similar to rec.crafts.jewelry news group, which was at that time a mess
of comercial messages and flames, which led to a public vote on whether to make
it a moderated list. SNAG's Peter Rowe stepped up to the task and has tirelessly
slaved away as the moderator of the news group ever since, and because of his
writing there and later as a very active Orchid participant has achieved through
the net some of the renown and respect that his intelligence deserves.
My memory of Orchid's birth is very distinctly that as Hanuman and I were talking
about creating a new discussion group an Orchid blew in the window and landed
on his desk. Even my wife remembers this. Hanuman however does not. He says
he saw the flower from his window while we were talking, "but not actual
flying flowers' LOL (Laughing out loud). .Ah well, I'll keep the romantic image
in my mind, it is nicer that way.
Orchid developed as less comercial, more specialized, more professional place
than other lists on the net.
Hanuman says "What is Orchid for me? At the risk of sounding mysterious,
Orchid is my second self. It is a space where I find my own identity; it is
a magic space that fills me entirely. It is the family I never had, and the
friendships I never forged. I believe that many Orchidians also find this magic
space, and I hope it opens new paths for new creative ideas and maybe some new
perspectives on our trade for jewelers and metalsmiths world wide."
Orchid has also been a place for critique, and repair of business mistakes on
the part of suppliers and companies who sell products to the jewelry industry.
Some regularly trawl the archives to see how they are doing, and many have employees
and managers who monitor the list. If a problem comes up and a company is being
criticized we will contact the company to offer them a chance to address critique
and post an answer to the Orchid community. This research aspect is used regularly
by companies, magazines and book autors. The list is used a group mind by its
members and by others. As an example I remember a problem with a developemnt
project in Nepal. The village was so high in altitude that torches were having
problems working. Orchidians piled in with comments, and the problem was addressed
in short order. This type of thing happens all the time.
Here is a hint of what editing the list is like for Hanuman and Ton. For a start
there are between 40 and 50 postings every day sent out to the Orchid list.
This works out to be over 200,000 outgoing emails a day from Orchid. Anyone
who is on vacation or whose mailbox is full bounces everything back to Ganoksin,
creating a huge amount of incoming bounces. Then there is spam. And finally
there are the real emails. There are 5000 incoming emails a day, 70% spam, 4%
viruses, the rest bounced undeliverable mail. Hanuman says " these are
the skins we have to peel in the correct order to reach the true orchid posts.
Then we create the digest and send it out first. giving a couple of hours for
the digest reader to have an opportunity to respond before the next wave of
posts begins".
This used to be a horrendous manual sorting job for Ton, but he wrote programs
to filter and sort better, lowering the work time a lot. It does not however
cut out much of the hands on work. Each genuine Orchid content has been carefullyt
filtered to remove the junk from the genuine. Each is formatted to make the
list content as clean and readable as possible. Flames are not allowed (though
sometimes comments come near that boundary). If a posting is meant for someone
particular then the message is hand forwarded to the correct person. Comercial
ones are allowed if phrased with taste. Suspect ones may be sent back to a sender
for clarification. And all have extraneous letters, address information, and
email junk individually removed by hand. Only then are the final groomed messages
published to the list itself.
Since 1996 we worked together on ideas for the site, on putting up articles,
and Hanuman paid for the site. He has funded the whole thing from his own pocket
since the beginning, and it is just in the last couple of years that donation
income and support has offset the costs of the project to any degree.
In fact large parts of the story have been figuring out where to find funding,
and striving to do so in as many ways as possible. I for instance wanted a subscription
base at an early date, and Hanuman resisted on idealistic grounds. We both agreed
that the site should be available easily and free for the world, and that access
to information was vital. Hanuman believes that "those who can benefit
the most can afford the least". We did eventually come to an agreement
that if a subscription was offered that the fairest thing to do was to ask people
to pay the equivalent of three hours pay a year, so if you were a store owner
in New York it might be $150.00, but if you worked as a goldsmith in a third
world country maybe this was three dollars. We never implemented those subscription
plans.
By 1999 I was writing extensive business plans, grant proposals and proposals
for backing the site. I contacted many large jewelry industry companies, with
some positive response from some, but no real deals at that point. Hanuman was
trying to make deals as well, and we were looking for major sponsorship. Early
on we decided that any support would have to be arms length, that we would not
give up the service ideals of the site, or compromise comment because of sponsorship.
The idea we were working with was Co-spheres. While Ganoksin was still small,
we had content, lots of it that could be offered to the clients of a sponsors
site. And we would provide density on the web, thus attracting people through
the ganoksin site to the sponsors site. Because of our clean, trustworthy profile
we would attract an educated class of user, self motivated, interested in self
improvement and learning. We knew we had an economic good that might be of interest
to sponsors. However, we saw our visitors primarily as information users and
participants in education, not as customers for a sponsor. We were very close
at one point to consumating a partnership with a large, well funded diamond
selling site. But then the dot com bubble burst, and companies crumbled around
us. Hanuman continued to subsidize the site, and continues today to pay Ton's
salary out of his own pocket.
Orchid grew, the archives grew beyond all count and we continued to seek content
partners for the site. Other authors added articles to the tips pages. And Dave
Arens started a dinner at the Tucson Gem show, for Orchid members to attend.
The first one had twelve people. This action was to grow into dinners and get
togethers at most of the major jewelry events in North America. Dave and his
wife organized another one in Tucson, then it began to grow. Dave Sebaste organized
one at the Richmond SNAG conference in 2001. Kenneth Singh has organized several
in New York and elsewhere. Sam Patania organized the first really huge one at
the El Parador in Tucson, then another and another. The dinners are attended
by the press, magazine editors, company representatives, ganoksin sponsors,
and of course crowds of Orchidians. Speakers from the industry address the meetings,
for instance at the 2004 Tucson one Rich Youmans of AJM magazine and Andrea
Hill of Rio Grande spoke as well as Hanuman himself.
There have been dinners in New York, San Francisco, Santa Monica as well as
Tucson. Kenneth Singh has been a long time Ganoksin supporter and participant
as well as his putting together Orchid meetings. The SNAG conference in San
Francisco had forty four people come. It was organized by Molly Guettinger.
This time in Tampa there are over 55 people coming, organized by Joel Schwalb.
In general there are innumerable times that Orchid members have helped the project
and offered their aid and advice. These meetings have been organized by Orchidians
for Orchidians and Hanuman, Karen and myelf have been lucky enough to be guests
at a number of them.
And the dinners served another purpose besides celebration and meeting face
to face. This was to let people know about who was behind ganoksin, to let people
understand that it was not a corporate entity, but a huge construction with
just a couple of people behind it, that Hanuman had built it by himself, and
was paying for this idealistic place to exist. There were some banner ads, especially
from Daniel Grandi's Racecar Jewelry who gave solid support from the beginning.
Alan Revere and Amy O'Connell were also strong supporters. Fund raising becamae
part of the Orchid group gathering's activities. Silent auctions were added
to the dinners, and all kinds of wonderful items auctioned. This has become
a tradtion at Orchid events. In 2003 the Rio Grande company who had looked kindly
at our business proposals in 1999, really threw support behind us. They donated
a super high tech J2R casting machine for the raffle, and did it again in 2004,
joined by Lee Marshall's Bonnydoon press company. A number of other suppliers
have sponsored tables at Orchid dinners. Rio Grande continues to be strongly
supportive tof the Project in all kinds of ways.
In 2002 Karen Christians of Metalwerx began to offer occasional ideas, as well
as critique. After the 2003 Tucson Orchid dinner Karen offered to help the project
and spoke on Ganoksin's behalf to SNAG. Later in 2003 Ganoksin and SNAG announced
they were looking at ways to support each other and work together. Karen has
really leapt into work for the project since then and has been a driving force
in the progression of events. Her work and untiring energy have really got things
rolling and her timetabling, action plans and great professional attitude have
been vital in Ganoksins increasing success.
From 2002 onwards various projects have been underway. Jesse Kaufman has led
a slowly building FAQ on CADCAM, and there is a very active group of CADCAM
using jewelers who belong to Orchid.
The last three years have brought recognition from the Industry, from magazines
and from suppliers and other major players in the jewelry world. Ganoksin is
regularly quoted as a source in magazine articles, and is seen as a major resource
for the field.
Those partnerships that we've been working on include collaborative projects
with MJSA, AJM and SNAG. MJSA has donated Orchid booth space at shows, as had
Rio Grande. There is an Orchid Tips book underway, drawn from the archives.
Karen Christians is working on this project, a partnership with AJM magazine
who will publish and market the book, with more to come down the road.
Hanuman's Journey.
Dr. E. Aspler, known to Orchidians as Hanuman, was born in Jerusalem 42 years
ago, travels on a French passport, is a son to a holocaust survivor from Romania
and a Tunisian mother, the grandson of an Italian wine merchant who had 14 wives
through his long life. He speaks Hebrew, English, Thai, functional French and
has a basic command of Arabic. He has lived in Thailand for the last 17 years.
Hanuman was trained as a Doctor in Israel. He writes: "I was fortunate
to get my medical education in what at the time was considered to be a revolutionary
new institute, a community oriented medical center in the Negev, the southern
desert area of Israel. We were educated in medical sociology, a new science
at thetime, and where encouraged to do community work. We trained to see the
patient in his whole environment, rather than concentrating on the illness itself.
the use of cartoon drawings to convey information, medical drama (imitating
illnesses) and body language made us better physicians with a better understanding
of the human being."
"We where designed to be culturally sensitive doctors, who approached any
treatment with respect of the patient's beliefs. Being only 18 at the time,
this was a major influence on my attitude as a grown up. With the years of not
practising medicine, I forgot many of the drugs names, but not the essence of
human nature I learned about. I am still using a lot of my knowledge gained
at this community oriented medical school to moderate orchid."
He worked with a mobile care unit with Bedouin, performed General Surgery, Pediatric
Surgury and as a young Doctor at 24 was in charge of the Trauma Emergency Room
at his hospital, one of the busiest in Israel. From what I can see he cared
a lot for his patients, more than is perhaps wise or bearable. He says "At
the time I felt just too young to deal with such pain and sorrow everyday. I
was a good, fast and gifted sorgeon. I was not able at times to be detached,
as required by the profession. Some cases really touched me, leaving me sharing
the patent's miseries. It became clear to me that I needed a change. "
Hanuman lost his father at this time at age 48 to heart disease, with many of
his dreams unfullfilled. His understanding that time is limited and the difficulites
of medical responsibility combined to bring him to reevaluate his life, and
to visit Asia and its cultures, something he had yearned to do for years. He
continues: "I was dreaming of a tropical climate, palm trees and fresh
open air. I decided to go Far East, to Thailand. Soon, what was lost in long
years at the university and hospitals was gained back on the exotic beaches
of South East Asia. I was happy and suntanned, but as usual I was looking for
new things to do. On the road, traveling, I started dealing with silver Jewelry.
I found myself increasingly involved in the Jewelry trade, and decided it was
time to set up a small workshop." "Jewelry was the prefect profession
for me, it had so many similarities to medicine, the interaction with humans,
the art and the science behind it. It was a natural transition."
"In Thailand, It is a tradition to get a monks blessing before starting
a new business. I thought that it would be a good idea. When I told the monk
that I was born on Saturday, the year of the tiger, he closed his eyes in deep
concentration and made me wait for long twenty minutes. He was mysteriously
calculating my destiny. Than he looked at me and said, "Your company name
should be Ganoksin, and by the way, you might not become rich, but you will
be famous". That is how Ganoksin was born in 1993.
While he maintained his jewelry company he later worked as a buyer for the French
company Societe Foncoice, and dealt in silver jewelry and antigue clothing.
As the ganoksin site grew his workshop could not produce enought income to pay
for the site. Hanuman rentted his services and his internet skills. He worked
for a large jewelry company as production and product manager and eventually
became manageing director.
Thailand was a powerhouse in the early nineties. The economoy was great and
foreigners from around the world arrived looking for opportunties. Hanuman writes
"cultural differences kept many of us, the foreigners, isolated. In Bangkok
in those days, the infamous chaotic traffic made it very difficult for people
to socialize. For example, I could talk with my friends everyday on the telephone,
but I would meet them only twice a year. I could lose hair, gain weight, even
have my eyelids pierced with weird body Jewelry and they would not know about
it." In 1994 "All that changed with the arrival of the most important
peripheral of the decade - the modem." Hanuman got his first modem and
shortly after joined a local BBS (bulletin Board).
Hanuman says "The need for communication explains why the first virtual
community in Bangkok, The SalaThai BBS, was an immediate success. With the opening
of SalaThai suddenly we had News groups, Chat rooms, everybody was having fun
using fake identities and 'out_of_this_world' screen names, but the most important
thing was that it was a major source of information for us. Members would post
information about new visa regulations, New drinking holes and cultural events
in town."
"I noticed though that the most powerful thing about it was that people
were more then willing to share and exchange information online. For some reason,
more then they would do in real life!! Everyone felt that they are on stage,
and every one else was listening to their words of wisdom. This was a fundamental
observation. Actually this was, and still is the seed, the concept that made
Ganoksin what it has become today. "
By 1995 he had decided to start Ganoksin.com. He was experimenting with the
new medium and wanted to find ways of promoting his business. The first name
for the site was Ganoksin Online. The site was scheduled to open in January
1996, but because of delays at the domain name registration body it was launched
in April. Our conversation with the Orchid and the discussion group's birth
was in May and June of 1996.
Hanuman writes: "We started as an online Catalogue. Let us be frank. Catalogues
are boring. I tried to spice it up with bits and pieces of interesting professional
information. Basic alloys data, charts and stories from the gem trade in south
East Asia, were put together to create the 'Tip's from the jeweler's bench'
Website.
We opened our site to local jewelers and designers. Content was the magic word
that was driven us these early days. We were fortunate. We did not have to wait
long. One morning two months after starting I received an email from Canada.
Charles Lewton-Brain a writer, a man with vast knowledge and experience was
offering us what I was dreaming of. Professional, valuable content, and for
free. Over the years Charles become a guide, a friend, an advisor, the mentor."
In 1996 Hanuman wrote "I am dedicating all my efforts, time and resources
to make it work" and "I took a leave from my daily job and until October
1997 I was building the site, and publishing Charles's articles. By October
1997, a few months into running Orchid, I realized that the snowball was rolling.
Input to the list was steady and the community, yet young, was actually born.
Orchid in its first months was not moderated. Spam was not an issue. Our main
issue was infinite loops, where "Out of the officeî" vacation
messages were sent to the list and in one case generated 5000 emails to every
user within an hour. This incident made me close the list and start the moderation
process. Moderation solved other issues we were struggling with, especially
repeating quotes within posts, the visual feeling of the text formatting and
maintaining the correct noise to content ratio."
In 1997 - 1998 there was a major Hardware Upgrade. For 6 months the digest version
was off line because Hanuman did not have the time to create it by hand. He
writes "A second major achievement was that we installed the first version
of the Orchid archives, under the name "The orange pages". In 1999
Ton joined the Ganoksin team as a part time volunteer. He wrote a script to
convert the mail box to a digest format and the digest was back on line. Orchid
doubled its users overnight, by offering an alternative to the open forums.
In 2000 there was another Hardware Upgrade. Ton joined us full time, and was
now on a payroll. Hanumand and Ton upgraded the archives into daily auto-generated
static pages, index and thread sorted. The same scripts are used for this today.
In 2001 the searh engine was upgraded. The site had no income from 1996-1999.
In 2000 and 2001 donations and banner ads paid a little of the bills. In 2002
the server fees were fully paid for the first time, though not other costs,
such as Ton, were covered. 2003 shows some improvement. Rio Grande has been
a significant benefactor of the site, with in kind and other donations.
By 2002 the mass of spam was growing,. Email harvesters and other leeches hit
Ganoksin badly on a daily basis. For example a company might send in a spider
program to sample our entire site for comments about them. Everytime one of
the larger companies did this to us it could cost us some $200 extra in server
fees for the bandwidth they used up in scanning us. In response to this clear
privacy terms were applied and scripts written in 2002 to mask and encrypt all
email addresses in the archives. The server rules were configured with the aid
of few scripts to automatically deny access to Bad-bots. In 2003 there was another
Hardware upgrade.
There was a redesign and rewrite of the Library directory, and an addition of
the shopping site script.
Although during the last few years other internet forums have emerged Hanuman
decided to keep the original engine that runs orchid instead of the new technologies.
Hanuman believes that "the simplicity of the system helps to keep the forum
sprit alive, it has the correct balance between anonymity and user interface
that generate the correct dose of content rich postings versus chit chat".
Karen Christians, after several years of communicating with Charles contacted
Hanuman in December 2002 to ask for some soil and dirt to be incorporated into
her resin jewelry project. She met Hanuman at the February 2003 Orchid dinner
and gave a commitment to help. The vital energy she brought to the Project revived
out flagging spirits. After all, though donations were trickling in, there was
no financial saviour found yet, and money problems and job worries were in the
air. Karen's unflagging enthusiasm and incredible drive reaanimated the site
and its efforts, and coordinated beautifully with the increased recognition
and importance the site was gaining. At this point Karen is an essential partner
and co-worker with the Ganoksin Project. We are iimplementing various growth
plans. Hanuman comments: "Karen helped on many projects, but her greatest
contribution was to strengthen the bonds and create the motivation for a much
closer collaboration and group work between all of us."
A combination of hefty renegotiaton of our server fees to our benefit and increases
in donations, banner ads and fund raising benefits have combined to pay the
basic running costs of the site, but do not yet cover Ton's salary or give anything
to Hanuman or others. The immediate goal of finding enough income to buy Hanuman
free from his day job to concentrate on the site, and to pay for the software,
hardware and staff needs is not yet realized. Here is where I exhort you to
consider supporting the site, especially if you use the site and its information.
I thought it of interest to see a typical day for Hanuman. He wakes up at 5am,
runs the software that generates the digest, and answers some short emails.
He does some administrative work and leaves Ton notes with new information and
jobs to do. Ton begins work at 8-9am and Hanuman is at his day job. He keeps
an open unix window to the server on his computer the entire day, so he can
see what happens in real time. He and Ton are in continual communication until
the orchid work is done. Hanuman gets home at 6pm and by 7 he is online again
until midnight. This time is dedicated to answering emails, coding, site updates
and research. Then he heads off to sleep and wakes again to another orchid day.
It is this utter dedication and idealistic commitment that permits the entire
project to run.
One of the new initiatives is the Orchid Shop, which has Orchid pins. Donna
Shimazu from Hawaii desinged the first one for the site. Sumner Silverman of
New York spent six months painstakingly carving an entire suite of ten Orchid
pins which he has thrillingly donated entire to the site. These are available
in sterling silver, and are quite exquisite. A symbol of belonging to Orchid
and a donation at the same time. They are currently more of a sign of community
than a money maker.
When asked what he enjoys about the project Hanuman says "I would definitely
say that the strongest memories are relating to getting to know the users personally,
sharing their moods on a daily basis through their posts, their success and
failures, their birth and deaths."
Karen's Journey
Karen never thought she'd grow up to be a metalsmith. Educated as a biologist,
she was, as she puts it "more interested in the pond scum under a slide
than the world of art". In 1987 she took a jewelry course at the Cambridge
Center for Adult Education and found the experience transforming. Several years
later, she applied to the Massachusetts College of Art, where she obtained a
Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1997. She never lost her love of science, which is
now one of the foci for her art. Together with a partner, Karen founded Metalwerx
in October, 1998. She is currently the sole owner and operator. Orchid was at
her side for advice and information for much of the time she has spent creating
Metalwerx.
Karen writes "When I started Metalwerx, my goal was and continues to be
about community. There is something almost spiritual when a group of people
take the time out of their day to stop and help another person. That kind of
energy is special and I see it in the Orchid Celebrations and each day when
I log on. I have been blessed by the spirit and
comaraderie that this group portrays. Ganoksin has enriched my life by the friends
I have made and for the places I have traveled. I am committed to jewelers who
feel the need to sit at their bench, day after day, and have the drive and passion
to make beautiful objects. I
am committed because I answered a simple question for myself: What do I want."
Karen's internet expereince began long before there really was an internet.
She says "I first discovered a way of sending email to a boyfriend in Amsterdam,
while I was working for General Electric in San Francisco in 1979. He logged
on by modem to one of GE's Superservers in Holland. We worked out a way to send
messages back and forth, sucsessfully defraying telephone charges that would
have busted my paycheck of $800 a month, before taxes. When I was about to leave
GE, I told them about the system in their employee "Suggestion Plan".
This process gave a way for their engineers to communicate instead of using
the phone, and was especially useful when they were overseas in Japan. GE figured
that it saved them $20,000 a year in phone calls. I got a check for $2000 which
was the largest they every issued to an employee. The money however, lasted
longer than the boyfriend! I first began to actually use the internet when I
worked at Harvard University as a secretary in the biology department. A professor
needed to transmit an urgent message to a colleague in Israel. Someone had begun
using a unique email program called "bitnet". We got a modem at the
lab, and soon after an ethernet connection. The hard part was finding the software
to send messages. Mosaic came shortly after and the rest is history. This was
in 1987."
Karen first met me in 1991 at a Snag conference. She says good things about
me, and apparently I was nice to her. She attended several lectures of mine,
and later communicated with me about Orchid issues from 2001 onwards until her
engagement with the site in 2003.
She writes "I first came to Ganoksin in 1998, right before I started my
school. I had the idea of creating a place to teach a few classes and sell a
little jewelry to pay our rent. Jennifer Bowie was my partner then. I polled
Orchid for a choice of names. They picked Metalwerx and the rest is history.
I would write to the Orchid Forum about my teaching experiences, both triumphs
and failures. It was great to hear from like-minded teachers who had the same
issues and fears I did. Each year I would give a progress report to the group.
I would hear back from many of them who encouraged me to take risks and meet
the challenges head on. In 2002 I really began to get more involved. I had a
lovely trip to Hawaii and met Orchidans abroad for the first time. By 2003,
I knew that Ganoksin/Orchid was a part of me. I began attending the Tucson Gem
Show in 2002 again, after a lapse of several years. My heart is with this group
and they are a part of me like my goodbye kiss from my husband and my morning
coffee."
I asked her who had been important to her on the Orchid list in the early days.
She comments: "When I really got rolling on Orchid, there were several
people whom I began to admire. Names that come to mind are John Burgess who
gives such sound advice on the safety of using chemicals in our field, Brian
Adam, who later came to teach at Metalwerx and who always inspired me to try
quirky things, Pam Chott who is a very nice person both virtual and real. The
one person whom I think really touched my life was Dave Sebaste. He loved to
make jewelry, risked everything, quit his job and stayed with it for about two
years. Unfortunately the economy was not kind and he left the field to pursue
his other passion, scuba diving, where he works as a manager at a local scuba
shop. Messages began to pop up on the Orchid Forum. Where was Dave Sebaste?
I asked the forum and got a phone number. He was very glad that I called and
touched that we all cared. It's that kind of story that makes Ganoksin/Orchid
unique."
Karen describes a common occurance on Orchid. "A person is traveling to
abroad and wants to know of some galleries. Not only does an Orchidian write
in with suggestions, they invite the person to meet them. That is what I love
about Orchid. It happened to me as well. On a trip to the Hawaiian Islands,
I met John Flynn, his lovely wife and Will from Maui. John and I hung out all
day at his shop and we talked about jewelry, his bead blaster and some etching
he was doing. I know I will always have an Orchidian friend no matter where
I travel on this earth. Each year, I get to see John at the Orchid Celebration
in Tucson. December and January this year took me to Thailand and Nepal for
a month with Hanuman and Ton. We have become very close friends and now I have
the priviledge of working with them as part of the Ganoksin Team."
I first contacted Hanuman in 2002 when I saw his photographs on the site. In
2003, I got involved in working with the Tucson Orchid Celebration. We emailed
each other back and forth a bit. Then we finally met in Tucson. I am proud to
say that we are very close friends. Our paths had been on a paralell course
for many years, but in Tucson, they became one. Ganoksin is the perfect virtual
community, Metalwerx is the tangible one. This year, Ganoksin, Metalwerx and
BrainPress combined to create a dynamic team for the community of jewelers and
metalsmiths everywhere. Each of us have great strengths and we rely on each
other quite a bit. As part of the Ganoksin Team, I probably work close to 30
hours a week in writing press releases, going to shows and giving talks on marketing.
Charles, Hanuman and myself, meet every Wednesday for a virtual meeting. This
has been essential for developing content, troubleshooting problems and giving
ourselves e-hugs. Now I am at every Orchid Celebration (Orchid dinner) talking
to people, and enjoying their stories and company. From 1998 when I first opened
Metalwerx, to now, there a day does not go by that I don't thank Ganoksin and
what this group has brought to my professional and private life. My business
has prospered in ways which amaze me. Community is everything. Community demands
respect and ethics, and I have become a better person for the experience."
There were a lot of people who had things to say about the Ganoksin Project
and the Orchid list, most of them nice. The themes included:
° access to great information, without the interference of geography. Access
to some of the leaders in the field.
° advice and self education in all aspects of the jewelry world, business,
ethics, gemology, technical, aesthetic and so on.
° meeting and getting to know like minds, making deep freindships through
the site and the Orchid list.
° improving working, safety, and business skills, many people comment on
how Orchid has tangibly improved their business.
° Making connections with long lost friends.
° finding sources for supplies and services, not to mention free samples
from suppliers.
° being quoted in magazines after being noticed on Orchid.Patricia Hicks
says: "This is the most amazing collection of wonderful people, all at
the touch of a keyboard. "I seriously doubt that without the Orchid community
and its sense of Can Do, and offers of help for any subject or source, and all
my new friends, I would have found the motivation and inspiration to take up
my tools and wax again. That's what Orchid has done for me.
Over the course of years I've picked up many valuable tidbits to help me along
with not only my jewelry making, but promoting my jewelry as well. I don't really
know any jewelers in the area so to be able to interact with this large family
of jewelers is such a lift for me every morning. It's my little ritual, along
with my a.m. coffee, prior to going to my studio! That alone makes Ganoksin
very special to me. Lisa Hawthorne
From there the networking just continued until I now have a lot more people
with whom to discuss metalworking and a lot more time-saving tricks, tool recommendations,
visual images from all over the world and sources that I would not otherwise
have if it weren't for Orchid.
Very shortly after I joined there was a long thread about people trying on earrings,
the problems with enforcing the health regulations and the ramifications of
turning down a customer's request to try on a pair of earrings. Someone shared
their trick of using a clear plastic straw with a hole at both ends so that
a customer could easily hold the earring up to the side of the head without
the hand being in the way. I now use this method at every show. I have had very
few people complain now about not being able to try on earrings and feel a lot
more comfortable about being able to adhere to health guidelines.
The second trick I use all the time and just this morning showed to a student
is the one of picking up from a graphite drawing on tracing paper with tape
the shape needed to cut out a piece of metal.
These two tricks alone are worth so much. They're such simple but elegant solutions.
I guess the real power of Orchid for me lies in this concept of simple elegance.
From my first reading of an Orchid posts, so many of the suggestions have been
about simple solutions and there is about all of Orchid an elegance and grace
of giving that has disappeared from many of the interactions among people in
this world. I cherish that sense of community.
Linda Moughemer
Since 1997 then Orchid has become part of my daily routine. I look forward to
reading the digest every night before I go to bed. I can honestly say that I
have read almost every daily digest since Orchid began in 1997. It is a wealth
of knowledge for me. I have learned more about more aspects of jewellery making
than I could have any other way, except for maybe being immersed full time in
the Jewellery business. ( I am an engineer and make jewellery as a hobby) Orchid
has been there for every significant purchase that I have made for my jewellery
studio. I have used it for consumer advice on purchases of my rolling mill,
flex shaft, flex shaft hand pieces, little torch etc. When planning vacations
and business trips I have used advice from Orchidians about the jewellery sites
to see. I have received superb technical advice to solve fabrication problems.
When ever I have an idea and am having trouble with a fabrication part of it,
I send in a post to orchid. To date all problems that I have encountered have
been solved in some way by an Orchid post. I know of no other medium where I
can access such a diversified wealth of detailed knowledge. My day would not
be complete without my daily dose of Orchid. Milt Fischbein
Having been raised on a farm in Central Missouri I was used to the solitary
work that befalls many craftsmen working long hours in the studio. As a self-taught
jeweler I faced the challenges of obtaining necessary trade information through
community libraries that did not have the focus on metalworking that I needed.
The internet has changed all of that and is the library I have always dreamed
of and thanks to the Orchid listserve the social, sharing, and educational forum
that has never existed in my world. It is a tremendous resource to have available
the collective knowledge of literally thousands of years of experience available
to me through this forum. This forum has allowed me to make informed purchasing
decisions in running my business, allows me to understand procedures that were
unknown to me before, and also is a resource to recommend to any beginning or
experienced jeweler that I come across.
The benefits that Orchid has provided me has translated into my having the time
and resources to work to better my community. Because of the Orchid e-mail listserve
I have been better able to understand that I am not the only person in the world
facing the problems I have in running a small business. It has helped me to
realize that one person can make a difference and helped me to have the courage
to stand up and fight for the economic development opportunities that artisans
need to make a living in a world that is taking us for granted. Because of the
Orchid e-mail listserve I do not feel like I am alone! I know that it is possible
to have the answer to important questions answered within 24 hours and that
if I have something to share with the jewelry industry I can do so in the same
time period.
Ken Gastineau
From Susan Wade's article: Seeds of knowledge.
"For me, the best thing Orchid provides is a huge breadth of responses,"
says Larry Seiger of LS Hancock in Cary, North Carolina. "[For example],
I put out a message asking for help finding someone to custom cut a watch crystal
for a watch I am building. Though no one had any idea about where to contact
a watch crystal cutter, I received several responses with such innovative solutions
that I began to refocus my attention to making one myself. I was able to create
my own crystal out of Pyrex glass in my studio. You just never know with Orchid
where your question will take you."
"One of the things that I simply love about Orchid is the 'A-ha!' experience
I get almost daily," says Karen Goeller, an artist-jeweler in Doylestown,
Pennsylvania. "Someone writes in about a problem or a technique they've
used, or a new material or tools they've tried, and light bulbs go on in my
head. These are not things you'll learn in school or even from a single apprenticeship.
They are the collective wisdom of multiple generations of artists and craftsmen
worldwide, passed along in an oral tradition."
The list archives are another important resource. "An example [of the usefulness
of the archives] is my recent interest in a magnetic pin finisher," says
Allen Beck, a goldsmith and lapidary from Meridian, Idaho. "From the Orchid
archives, I learned valuable tidbits such as: I could use it for stone-in-place
castings; Ajax dish detergent works better and is more economical than burnishing
soap; dropping the water level slightly gives better results; flat Rubbermaid
containers work as well as the original bowls; and small, round stainless shot
does better on flat surfaces than the supplied pins. All that from one episode
of archive searches!"
Beyond sharing tips and tricks, Orchid's deepest value to jewelers is as a community
of peers. "It's not the mechanical or tangible result that makes Orchid
so valuable to me, it's the people," says Dave Sebaste of Sebaste Studio
in Charlotte, North Carolina. "For once in my life, I feel connected with
people of like minds and spirits. The friendships and acquaintances I've made
through the Orchid community have given my life an added richness that cannot
be measured."
"Many of us work in a fairly isolated setting, often spending a whole day
in the studio with no outside contact," agrees Joel Schwalb of Joel Schwalb
Studio in Nyack, New York. "Orchid has become a major source of communication
with the world outside my studio. The constant open exchange of information
is important, but it is primarily the sense of community that is most important
to me. This is a very giving community, and we all benefit from participating."
"Orchid has been like an online apprenticeship for me," says Brad
Smith of West Los Angeles, a retired engineer and Web site designer turned jeweler.
"A given class only exposes you to a limited set [of techniques]. Books
and workshops give you a wider appreciation, but it is the Orchid forum that
has built the depth of my knowledge. Orchid educates me on the finer details
of a process, allows me to ask questions (where a book doesn't), opens up my
mind to problems I would never have considered, alerts me to scams and pitfalls,
and gives me a sense of community from an otherwise solitary workbench."
For jewelers located far from the jewelry centers of New York, Los Angeles,
and Providence, the forum has also provided a much needed resource for locating
suppliers. "I found two suppliers-one caster and one die maker-on Orchid,"
says Sam Patania of Tucson. "I have been in the jewelry business all my
life, and I need to work with quality suppliers. Without Orchid, I would not
have been able to get to know these people before I started doing business with
them. Orchid gave me an informal meeting place to meet others in the industry
where I would never have been able to."
For suppliers, Orchid is a way to stay in touch with their market. "As
a supplier of tools and equipment to the jewelry industry, Orchid discussions
are a valuable resource for ideas for new products and services," says
Elaine Corwin, vice president of technical services for Gesswein in Bridgeport,
Connecticut. "It's like attending a focus group of jewelers every day."
The Orchid community extends beyond the electronic, and beyond business relationships.
Orchid members frequently meet other members who live nearby, enjoy get-togethers
at trade shows, and even stay in each other's homes when traveling. At least
one marriage has resulted from contacts first made on Orchid.
While the Internet may not have lived up to the early hype of changing the world,
in this little corner of the information superhighway, Orchid has created a
genuine global village.
The
Portion of the Talk on the Impact of the Web on Jewelers.
Back
to Top
DRAFT FEB 22/04
Besides information and community the inteternet also offers a way to earn money,
to sell work using the web. This part of the talk is about how jewelers and
metalsmiths are making it on the net. My personal interest was to see if I could
learn from others and sell my work well and at higher price points on the web.
I wanted to look at existing models, to see if I could identify the themes that
run through things, to find the core principles to follow in choosing to market
and sell on the web. While some principles were obvious, the very repetition
of similar comments by people I talked to drove home important points. There
are a lot of them.
It used to be an assumption that you could not make it on the net, that internet
commerce was far harder, and more expensive than supposed. This was bolstered
by the many dramatic crashes of dot com companies. But all the while the grassroots
level of the web has trundled along, and it is there that the lessons I am interested
in can be learned. The gist of of it is that ecommerce works for jewelers at
the low to higher ends. That treating it as a serious branding method for yourself
is a good idea. While all sorts of work sells, there is a solid place for art
jewelry and niche work of all kinds. Custom work too is facillitated by the
net.
My premise here was that I felt the web paradigm has changed. By watching the
Orchid list, and reading the occasional piece in a magazine there were hints
that things were going well for some in the Jewelry Industry on the web. Business
to business networks like Polygon and others are well established, and comfortable
doing business on the web. Internet diamond selling sites were doing well, or
at least the survivors were. Companies that sell gemstones seemed to be selling
away. I am personally aware of one gemstone web site that normally sells over
two million dollars a year in stones, and that was considered to be small potatoes
compared with other sites marketing gems. And in the trade press the occasional
article would mention an internet company like Blue Nile which sells jewelry
and lets you cleverly 'design your own mix and match diamond rings'. Blue Nile
sold over $125 million dollars of jewelry in 2003, up from $70 million in 2002.
With only 115 employees they are "one of the top 15 largest specialty retailers
of jewelry in the United States." They are the Number 2 buyer of certified
diamonds in the United States. A similar company, Ice.com made $15 million dollars
in 2002. Sales of jewelry on the web in 2003 are estimated to be 577 million
dollars. (Danner, 03) At established jewelers like Tiffany's internet sales
now exceed catalog sales, with ecommerce growing about 50% a quarter. (Moscato)
And I knew people like Jim Binnion and Steve Midgett, whose sales on line were
so successful that they live, and prosper, just from their web sites. I wanted
in on what I percieved as the adevantages of web income from my work. Especially
intriguing was Midgett's comment on his web experience " I make twice as
much income and work less hard".
I contacted the main magazines and trade organizations in North America, and
a number in other countries. AJM was most helpful. No organization however was
able to provide me with statistics on jewelers business on the web. A survey
of some 25 questions was written, and it is around peoples answers to them that
this portion of the talk is based.
I trawled the net using keywords like art jeweler, jewelry designer, ecommerce,
fine jewelry, goldsmith, various spellings of words and so on. Some 150 web
sites of interest were found and contacted this way. As well, I posed the question
on the Orchid mailing list. About 50 people responded in some depth.
So what sells on the Net?
Bascially any kind of jewelry seems to sell on the net. Main categories include
commodity, custom work and niche interest work with body jewelry, mokume wedding
rings and bolo ties as examples. The unusual also seems to have an edge on the
net.
Nancy Bernadine says "From my experience, I think any type of jewelry is
appropriate for the net. Whether you are successful or not will be due to the
type of marketing you do, how appropriate your website design is to the product,
how well you are listed in the search engines and/or how good your other marketing
strategies are (print, magazines, galleries, TV, etc.)."
Information content on a web site attracts searchers of like minds automatically.
If you publish content of interest to your buyers, they will eventually find
you. This means it might be a good idea to survey your clients so you can find
out why they like you and your work. And then make a place of interest to them.
Price point
Price point mattered in my survey, with 73% of sales being less than $500. Interesting
to me though is that 15% of peoples average sales were over $1000, at an average
of $1,440.00. As a comparison the regular jewelry trade average web sale was
$2,200 in 2002. According to the New York Times Blue Niles.com's average sale
price for a ring was $5,200 each in 2003. (Tedeschi).
There is definitely a place for the low end, the medium and the high. The distribution
of average sales prices was interesting. 47% of the average sales were under
$200, 26% were between $200 and $500, 3% between $500 and $1000 and 15% over
$1000.
How high will people go in price on the net
The highest amount that pieces sold for varied widely. The highest amount a
work had sold for was $13,000. Blue Nile has sold single stones in the $50,000
range. Of respondents 34% had sold pieces between $1000 and $3000, 12% between
$3000 and $5000 and 14% had sold pieces over $6000.00.
What forms sell?
The bridal market is important, Mondera noting that 80% of its jewelry sales
are engagement rings and wedding bands. (Moscato) Jewelers like George Sawyer,
Jim Binnion, Steve Midgett sell mostly wedding rings. There is a thought that
young, tech savvy professionals who have grown up on line are getting married
now and are more comfortable with online shopping than older people. He feels
this is one of the reasons that wedding rings do so well.
Rings were listed as selling most by 27% of respondents, earrings next at 17%,
custom work and bracelets at 14% with pins and hair clips making up 6%. Other
answers included neckpieces, name brands, affordable, work and innovative jewelry.
JM says "all kinds, but I have had success with unique "art jewelry"
Note that 37% said that the internet was their main sales outlet and 63% said
it was not.
Commodity
Several people commented that commodity sells well on the web. In this sense
a commodity is a known quantity, a brand name, a book, a computer, an air ticket.
Fashion and costume jewellery fit into this as well. It is something that you
know exactly what you are going to get. Here is where Blue Nile and the regular
jewelry store can sell well. For instance Walmart reports strong sales in jewelry.
It is why, even with the problem of sizing, that wedding rings and engagement
rings do well on the net, providing that trust exists for the purchaser. It
might even be said that niche market items are a commodity, as they are a 'known'
item to the person searching them out. An example is "body jewelry"
which brings up some 850 thousand sites on google. And "gold jewelry"
brings up over 5 million.
I always tell my students "You are not making toasters" when it comes
to making art jewelry, and several respondents were pretty vehement about not
wanting their work to come across as a 'commodity" through their web site.
A number of people said that they avoided having a shopping cart on their site
to keep away from looking like a commodity.
Niche
Everyone says 'Niche marketing' works on the web. What this means in practical
terms is that work which is easily findable as an identifiable speicalty has
a chance of doing well. Examples include mokume wedding rings, body jewelry,
titanium wedding rings, pride jewelry, bolo ties, collar tips, western style
work, elk ivory jewelry. Identifiable styles work. George Sawyer says "do
not be generic".
Two successful megasites, Blue Nile and Mondera note that men constitute 50%
or more of their buyers of jewelry. A premise of these sites is that men are
"often intimidated and confused in making a jewelry purchase", and
they have therefore designed their interface and educational offerings for such
men. Ice.com, as does other fashion jewelry sites, orients itself to female
purchasers.
There is the niche of yourself, your name, your work. Here is where the net
offers the art jeweler a special opportunity, providing that it is part of larger,
holistic marketing plan. What Bruce Metcalf calls your Brand. Sawyer comments
"It is your media to brand yourself". Because you have control over
how your site looks and works you have that ability to treat yourself as a brand.
To portray yourself as you wish to your audience. This means that a marketing
plan is a necessary part of selling your work and representing yourself on the
web.
People comfortable with computers and using the internet are more comfortable
buying on line than others. It has been shown that people who have already purchased
books, travel or electronics online are more likely to be trusting of jewelry
sellers.
The Dissolution of Geography.
The internet dissolves geographic boundaries. It removes physical distance as
a factor in ways that aretruly new: and an example of a pradigm shift.
Custom Work
Somewhat to my surpize a significant number or respondents said they do custom
work through their web site. This ranged from communication and decisions about
patterns in mokume rings to more complex interactions involving faxed images
or drawings posted on a private web page for a client to look at.
It appeared that many customers wanting custom work did not have access in their
home community to someone who did custom work, and some may find it more comfortable
or convenient to get custom work through the internet. There is a real place
for custom work on the internet.
Interestingly much custom work seemed to be rings. This presents problems with
ring sizing. Many sites offer print out pdf ring sizers, but consensus is that
the paper sizers are not accurate enough. What seems to work well for people
is to mail out a set of ring sizers to the customer and have them mail back
the one that fits. The ring is then made according to this size.. Sawyer does
this, and Midgett mails out metal rings in the same size and shape as the final
band for the customer to check and return.
Besides clear cut sales of work pictured on a web site there is an unmeasurable
series of sales where the web site plays a significant part, where the flux
of communication means that someone sees the work on the web, and this leads
of other sales, not of the object pictured but of other work, often custom,
often expensive. Sometimes people will buy work from the site that they have
seen before in an exhbition and regretted not buying then.
Why people have an internet site
The anwers to this were varied but themes did emerge. Georgraphy was a factor:
people living far from major markets now have access to sales they did not have
before. 59% said their site was primarily intended to show work off, to have
exposure, advertising, 41% said its main purpose was to sell work. Communication
was an important function of a site for people, particularly in regard to custom
work.
Areas where markets are seasonal, such as tourist towns are provided with a
year round market through the net. Having a predictable steady income was important
to people and it provided that as well.
Connectivity, network and being visible were mentioned. Web sites worked as
advertising for people. A site was very important for self promotion, and promotion
of related things like workshops or videos and books. Jim Harmon says: "There
is no better format for exposure than the web."
Validation comes with having a web site. It can give you similar access and
looks to what a large company has It gives you credibility, legitimacy and lends
credence to your project.
Communication for existing clients, for new ones and for custom work is an important
function for people. A site permits a more sedentary lifestyle, to stay at home
and work less hard. To have a less physcially demanding time of it.
Seeing a site as a catalog, a brochure to refer people to was very important
to a number of people. It was also seen as a way to get a color catalog of ones
work published, far cheaper than a print version. Many places that print catalogs
are seriously looking at online versions or PDF files, where it becomes 'print
on demand', and simultaneoslyu displaces the printing cost onto the person who
wants to have the catalog.
Oh yes, lots of people said it was to sell their work. It also seems to be a
great way to deal with marketing work when the output is not high, when a large
volume of work is not available. It can eliminate the middleman between maker
and user, shortening the connection, making a more direct communication with
customers.
Being hip, modern, cool and part of the future was another reason given.
Some people used their site as an 'archive' of their work, that is a place to
publish and view their historical work. A portfolio of work on the web can have
an archive function. The site offers the chance to create and publish the provenance
that is useful for collectors and buyers, partcicularly for art jewelers. I
have noticed that most sites are not very deep in this regard, very few full
CV's, articles about the artist/maker etc as backup information on a site. If
you make a site, you can do something about this.
I have over 50 pages of responses, analysis and information about this subject,
far more than can be attemped to discuss here. I will be distilling this as
an independant document.
So, to sum up, please come and visit Ganoksin
and the archives if you have not done so. Please consider supporting this project
by donations or by volunteering time to its activities. And remember, it seems
there is a place on the web for one of a kind art jewelry, as niche work, with
you yourself as the niche, as the brand, providing you combine it with a holistic
marketing and branding approach.
Thankyou.
Here is where the Survey response compilation begins. Back to Top
This is a series of questions and answers that were posed to a number of people. Over 150 enquiries were sent out and some 50 responses in depth resulted. The question asked is given with its answers. It was carried out from Fall 2003 to Spring 2004.
What kinds of jewelry do you think are appropriate for the
net?
Why do you have an internet site?
How much did it cost you to build?
What is the ongoing maintenance cost?
How much time do you (or your employees) have to devote
to the web site?
Do you have a shopping cart function?
Do you work with an affiliate programming on your site?
What is the cost to you of making a sale for fees and other
costs (visa etc)
What is the cost to you in terms of time spent on the sale?
What kinds of items do people buy the most on-line from you?
What is the average sales price of a sale?
What percentage of your total sales are through the web
site
What problems have you seen?
What successes spring to mind with your web site?
What are the top three things to remember when doing
this?
Have you ever been hacked, and if so what happened?
Is the internet a main sales outlet for you?
It is an extention of or coordinated with print advertising?
What is the primary use/function of your web site?
What further advice would you give a neophyte?
Technical Tips
Ideas about font,
pagewidth, contact information, design, metatags etc?
What is important about a background?
Do
you have your own server and if so why?
Tom Shofner says "One of the most important aspects of web site development
is how the site is marketed to the major search engines. The strategy behind
this can become quite complex, as the various search engine algorithms are complex
and differ engine to engine. The issue, of course, is to position your site
to score high in the major search engine "sweeps" so as to be one
of the first sites in any search listing. For me, this is one of the most important
aspects of site development, and one which I will leave to a qualified professional.
But who are those most qualified to do this, and what is the cost? Related to
this then, is the amount of traffic each web site recieves. And further, what
percentage of the visitors to a site become buyers? Web content is another important
aspect of development. You must have interesting content to minimize the click-thru's,
and encourage 'surfers' to stay awhile, and to come back. Which brings me to
another helpful stat, that of the click-thru ratio. How many hits are just click-thru's,
meaning the web surfer who hits your site does not linger, verses those who
'visit' awhile and browse around. After thinking through all this, it occurs
to me that web site providers probably differ in the statistical information
they provide their clients.
What kind of statistical/demographic data does the host provide?
What kinds of jewelry do you think are appropriate for
the net?
Survey contents |
Back to Top
SL: I do not hink there is a right and a wrong it is all about finding your
market getting them driven to your site and haveing a product that is desirable.
However the drive is always begun on a paper source of advertising generally
or from a self generated email list
DH: I think that most kinds of jewelry can find their market niche on the web.
it may be difficult to sell highest end (gold/platinum) jewelry through the
net, but I don`t know, since I mostly work in silver
BM: Name Brands ... affordable ... innovative.
JL: Any kind. Expensive fine jewelry is probably better off bought in person.
NT: I really believe that you could sell anything at all on the net. You might
not be able to line up people to buy goods directly in a shopping cart but at
the very least you can create a way to find prospects and create valuable
follow-up.
TM: Good question, since I only deal with one style of jewelry, I represent
a narrow part of the spectrum. So much about jewelry is impulseive, the need
to see jewelry up close and to touch it are very important to the sale, I think.
I honestly believe you have to be a bit of a gambler to buy jewelry off the
net, and a big gambler when buying high ticket jewelry, but on the other hand,
the credit card companies are reassuring, because you know that if you get ripped
off, you have them behind you.
GB: All kinds, but not too high end. Rings are a bit of a problem as fit if
so important and you cannot tell how a ring will rest on your hand from a photo.
Earrings and pendants are best.
NB: From my experience, I think any type of jewelry is appropriate for the net.
Whether you are successful or not will be due to the type marketing you do,
how appropriate you website design is to the product, how well you are listed
in the search engines and/or how well your other marketing strategies are (print,
magazines, galleries, TV, etc.).
NB: I know successful net jewelers who are selling simple $10-$50 jewelry items
to those that sell very high-end work costing $5-$20K. Those selling low-end
jewelry will have much more competition though and I think it will be much harder
to be successful with this.
DR: First of all - I'm a one-man shop. Low voluje and high quality. The WWW
works for me and I sell all over the country. Whatever sells.... What works
for me is custom one-of-a-lomd pieces. You have to have a niche - be different
from the competition.
TMS: well known names of silover & gold jewellery, Fashion and costume jewellery
BV: Who knows. I am sure the lower price points sell better but then they always
do. We can only present the best of our own work.
AF: all types
BJ: All kinds of jewellery for all kinds of people.
RS: Specialty Items that are hard to find, like bolo ties, elk ivory gold rings,
ect.
JM: I suppose all kinds, but I have had success with unique "art jewelry"
JB: Commodity items are definitely the best sellers on the internet, just look
at Amazon and the other major internet retailers. This is because there is little
need to actually "sell" a commodity like a
book or CD every consumer knows what they are purchasing when they look for
such an item on the net so there is very little work to sell such an item. Selling
commodities has mostly to do with the price and speed of delivery. However that
being said you can sell just about anything over the net as the many different
successful types of web merchants demonstrate, but it requires more work, you
must actually "sell" the item
(Note: accidentally stopped asking this question in second round of emails)
Why do you have an internet site? Survey
contents |
Back to Top
SL: I live in a remote area that is seasonal and I wanted to find a market that
is year around
DH: because I live in the sticks, don`t like to travel much and the website
provides me with a somewhat predictable income
BM: It's the future.
JL: So I'll be easy to find. Give folks examples of what I do.
NT: For years we had reps and reps. That's a very tough thing and it is also
difficult for the person whose work is being repped. The internet gives the
jewelry maker a chance to connect very directly with potential customers, wholesale
or retail. We no longer need reps. The internet is our rep function.
TM: To learn and build an account base for the future. I believe, like most
retail stores, that if you treat people right they will come back again, and
unlike retail stores, there's a lot less overhead, plus, you can email your
customers agressively as you like to inform them of sales and specials. Like
sending out flyers but with a lot less work and money.
GB: It helps my existing customers see what is new in my line. It shows new
customers my entire line without the expense of printing and mailing catalogs.
It allows me to offer special sales without the expense of mailing notices.
NB: Because I did not want to do wholesale, did not want to do shows anymore
and wanted to make some money doing what I love.
My experience may be different than most of those you will be speaking to though.
This is my third or fourth career. I ended up making jewelry after I was caught
in a huge lay off when NASA changed a major contractor. Decided I was tired
of the corporate world, was old enough I didn't need to support anyone but the
dogs and myself and decided to go full tilt into something artistic that I had
longed for all my life. I don't need, or want, to do what is necessary to make
a lot of money. I just want to do what I enjoy and make enough to be comfortable
along the way. I have been online since 1997. That first site was undoubtedly
the ugliest, most ill designed site ever viewed with horrendous images of scanned
jewelry. However, unbelievable as it was, I did get a few sales. Since 1999,
I have had my own domain, better images and far better usability.
DR: The internet allows me (normally a bench jeweler) ti interact with the retail
customer.
RMS: I'll be happy to answer the questions to your survey. I greatly believe
in the internet for selling specialty items. If it wasn't for the internet,
I would have NO business. When I started to sell bolo ties on the internet,
my wife said that I would never sell bolo ties on the internet. It was the opposite,
I can only sell bolo ties, on the internet. www.bolotie.com
BV+ I am taking the time to answer your questions as I feel the more fine art
jewelry sites on the Internet can only help all of us. It is going to take time
to gain the confidence of the buyer to enter the Internet market.
We want to give you a bit of information about us, so that you will better understand
our answers to your questions. At various times we have an employee or two but
have basically always chosen to be true studio jewelers, doing every part of
the work ourselves. We have not had an employee for the last 10 years. We have
been doing juried art fairs for about 40 years. We have sold wholesale, retail
and through reps. Now, in our 70s, we need a new way to market our work. Our
real love is the creative process, and we have found selling a necessary chore.
BV: We are hoping to develop internet sales.
AF: To have a worldwide exposure
BJ: As a an affordable sales aid / colour catalogue.
SM: I have two Internet sites. www.sharilynmiller.com is used to promote my
business as a workshop instructor in wire- and fiber-art jewelry, my books,
soon an instructional DVD, and my new venture into travel-art cruising. www.sharilynmiller.biz
is used to sell jewelry. So far, I have not sold much jewelry through my web
site, but it has worked well as a promotional site. When I teach workshops,
oftentimes I'll bring my jewelry for sale to the classroom and students will
mention having seen it on my site. They will then buy it directly from me. The
web site that I promote the most heavily is www.sharilynmiller.com, which has
been instrumental in my business. It's safe to say that I could not run my business
effectively without it.
SP: 1) To expand our customer base and broaden our reach; 2) To increase visibility
and credibility; 3) To increase sales; 4) If you don't have a web site in today's
world, you are not considered to be in the main stream.
BN: At first I paid someone $50 per page to put up about 5 pages. That was slow
and cumbersome. I realized that I needed to learn to do it myself, so I bought
Frontpage 2000 and redid it completely myself. I also bought a digital camera
that allows me to take pictures and upload them immediately. Now I can make
quick changes and add things in mere minutes. That makes it possible to do things
like my Super Deals page which is very popular.
RJ: to have an online portfolio, to develop our business, to make our craftmanship
known, to have an open window to the world, we are
in the 21th century.
DS: Five of us share our web site. We started out using it when we had trunk
shows to show customers a greater selection of our jewelry, in addition to what
was on the postcards we mailed.
STM: (Mokume) Currently it is my sole source of income. When I began it about
7 years ago, it accounted for about 10% of my overall sales. After about 3 years
it took over my business. Since I make more than twice as much money on my internet
sales than by wholesaling, and since my work is very labor intensive and available
in limited quantities, I switched over to all retail internet sales to maximize
my efforts.
SYW: Since we don't have a catalog, we wanted
a place to refer people when they wanted to see examples of Jude's work.
KR: I'm not a big user of my website for selling, more just for reference and
connection, but it has been helpful. I have it so that Wholesale inquires have
a place to begin: A way for existing wholesale and retail customers to reach
me, know what shows I'm doing etc.
DW: We have been in business for 30 + years, having started in Germany and taken
the workshop to the UK and now to New Zealand. Having decided to solely trade
in my wife Christine's creations, we have a limited output of pieces which we
offer for sale in Europe, USA, Australia and New Zealand. This is a huge area
to cover for a 2 man band and keeping information flowing, especially with photographic
images, was always expensive. For us, with contacts across the globe, the internet
was godsend; at last I (being the husband/marketing manager/communicator/photographer/strategic
planner of the partnership) could quickly, cheaply and efficiently convey information
to my contacts and clients at the press of a button. My idea was always that
the site would support my other efforts; I never expected to make sales from
it and never anticipated finding clients who had not heard of me otherwise.
I always regarded it as a support for my print media, not as a substitute and
have thus coordinated the design with my brochure in colour and style. My own
use of the net has been limited, especially as I have until today been on dial-up
and the whole process has been too laborious.
KH: We feel our website can act as an advertising tool for our firm as we try
to keep it updated with new arrivals.
SB: As a web presence, for marketting and as an on-line archive.
JM: It started out slowly, just to see if I could build a site (learn html
etc.) then orders for custom work kept coming in until I didn't have time to
do both the jewelry for the internet customers and prepare for the art and craft
shows I was doing.
TR: The Web site is a "glorified business card" it is an essential
marketing tool.
MC: As a catalogue to which I can refer clients
JVD=I have been running my website since December 2003. I had
it designed as simple as possible so as not to bore people
using it, with a maximum of 5 pages to go through, all with
large detail.
PZ: So that i can do extra business ,as a window for tourists
who may visit ,to help people with questions on jewellery.
KG: My business is almost exclusively custom design work, consultation, and
some artisan work sold through high-end craft fairs. I work with customers all
over the U.S. and Canada, and the site is a critical tool for doing design reviews,
completing negotiations and tendering payment, particularly with remote customers.
For my face-to-face customers, I meet with them (usually in their homes) and
work out basic design boundaries, and then come back to the studio and complete
drawings and such which go up into secured spaces on my site. The customer has
access to them there and they interact with me quickly online as I "tweak"
the work until it's just the way they want it. In addition, the site is a portfolio
of my work that I can point people to, and generates its own interest and leads
for me.
Finally, having the site lends credibility to my business and helps my remote
customers, in particular, feel more "legitimacy" in completing business
with me.
LN: I can show my work, show sketches, discuss changes, follow up changes, and
I sell a very few artwork from my site. The veggiesite is a hobby... My jewellry
is not yet on net, only digital scetches of national costume silver.
LE: To show my jewelry and sell it.
DD: - additional exposure outside of my region and as a supplement to my other
branding and marketing materials/presence
TEW: Practically, so I can show my work to people and contacts I already know,
but who are nowhere near me geographically. Also - it functions as a catalog
and reference for me!
JB: Direct sales to the consumer and providing information about my work.
DL: I was basically TOLD you must be online!!!
SC: To make money, of course. Note that we (Amethyst Galleries) had the first
Internet rock shop, I started working on it in 1994, and it was public with
the domain galleries.com in early '95. As an early (and popular) web site, we
have gained a fair amount of notoriety, and the ego trip has also been worthwhile.
JH: The obvious answer is to generate sales. There is no better format for exposure
than the web.
DK: Primarily to promote my jewellery, my classes and to advertise shows I do.
JS: To sell my work.
SV: --Two actually. www.precieux.com for my precious metal clay work and www.shahasp.com
for my bridal line.
How much did it cost you to build? Survey
contents |
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SL: Originally about 2000.00 plus occasional updates of aprox 200 per quarter(?)but
I have since changed to a site that I can manage using my old template so that
was another 500.00 plus
DH: originally I paid 3000 to get a site built. then I got smart and learned
to do it myself
BM: Zero ... except for software. I did it all myself.
JL: Only time
NT: I built our website and maintain it myself. Many hours, days, weeks of thought,
planning, creation, building, rebuilding. The cost was and is in the time and
in those terms was and is fairly hefty. The thing that stops people from building
a site themselves is the learning curve going into the software and the time
and dedication involved in that. However that is simply the cost. There is no
way around it for a business on the scale of ours. If I had to pay someone to
do what I do that would most likely be prohibitive. On the other hand I couldn't
find anyone to do what I do. I know my products and my customers and I know
exactly what I want to create for the site. I can work at need and at whim.
You can't get that by paying
for it.
TM: Initially $800, but if I did it all myself, it would have cost almost nothing
except time invested.
GB: Several thousand dollars. I am not a high tech person, so I paid someone
else to design and build my site. I only add new items to the existing format
NB Only my time, frustration and a few software programs. At current rates charged
by other web designers, it would probably have cost at least $30,000, but that
is just a guess. I currently have over 900 pages. I build sites for a few other
people now and offer my services as a consultant to those that can't afford
to pay a web designer. My rates are reasonably cheap and range from template
package prices up to $150-$200 an hour for SEO/SEM (search engine optimization
/ search engine marketing) help.
DR: I paid someone $500 - and then scrapped the pages and started over writing
them myself.
TMS: Built ourselves
BV: An unbelievable number of hours.
AF: 0 dollars
BJ: Cdn$ 400 in cash and $400 in services.
RS: Just the cost of web hosting, connection to internet, and yearly domain
registration.
SM: My sites were both done at www.itsmysite.com. They cost nothing to build.
SP: Our first attempt at a web site was through a professional designer at a
cost of $1500. The finished site was unwieldy and required any changes to be
made through the professional designer, which was a very slow process. The site
was static! Since we wanted our site to be kept current and up to date with
our product line, my wife, Sandra, undertook construction of a site on her own.
She then went about the task of teaching herself to create and publish a site.
Her goals were to make the site friendly, the photographs of good quality, and
to create a system that would allow for easy and frequent updating. Since our
computer was equipped with Microsoft Publisher, the cost had already been absorbed
when we bought our latest computer. Basically, the cost was Sandra's time, which
is hard to quantify, but could have been as much as 250 hours.
BN: At first I paid someone $50 per page to put up about 5 pages. That was slow
and cumbersome. I realized that I needed to learn to do it myself, so I bought
Frontpage 2000 and redid it completely myself. I also bought a digital camera
that allows me to take pictures and upload them immediately. Now I can make
quick changes and add things in mere minutes. That makes it possible to do things
like my Super Deals page which is very popular.
RJ: It cost us $2,500.
DS: Nothing except for the cost of the domain name. At the time (three years
ago) BigStep our provider) was free and I did all the work myself using their
online builder and simple HTML.
STM: I've done it rather slowly over the years, but probably have $12,000 to
$15,000 in it now.
MM: Financial outlay was cost of a comm. coll. class where I learned basic html.
Software was freeware
SYW: It cost around $4000.
KR: I traded with some one here in where I live for ( for some of my work )
DW: At last they are catching up with me and now many have internet access too:
at first it was hard finding those with an email address.. Soon I set up a 'text
only' website, done by a designer, which was very primitive but I was THERE.
Then we secured the URL www.goldsmith.co.nz and paid our designer about $3000
to create a site for us, including a Gallery which holds 15 photos of recent
works. This became more artistic and pretty to look at. After 5 years, this
was again outdated and we spent another $3500 on a rebuild to today's version.
KH: It was built in several parts with 2 different Web directors. Approximately
$3,000 all total.
SB: Around £250
JM: I built it all myself, so only the extra expenses of a server, extra phone
line at the time and now the extra cost for broad-band access via cable.
TR: This data base driven site was around $5,000.00
MC: Free - DIY project
PZ: -R1500 ($224.00)
KG: Very little in expense -- just basically buying the domain name ($100) and
about 2 weeks of my time building the site initially. Understand, though, that
I have quite a few years of web development expertise behind my belt, so implementing
a database-driven site in that time by oneself is not within the scope of the
novice programmer.
at: Unknown. I have not done a $ amount analysis
LN: My time.
LE: $15 for domain registration. Another $600 if you want to count the digital
camera and drop-shadow box (thanks, Charles, for sharing your know-how on this.)
My site was created using all free software; The GIMP for image manipulation
and logo design, and Mozilla Composer for website design, all running on a Linux
OS.
DD: - my time (quite a bit of it) and monthly fees to maintain. No start up
cost beyond registering my domain name which I think was around $15
TEW: $90 for FrontPage software, about $50 for various books to help me use
the software, $35 to register my domain, about $100/year for hosting.
JB: The dollar cost was minimal, just investing in some software, probably less
than $1000 over 5 years. The time cost is substantial; you must learn the software,
learn about web design, learn search engine optimization and on and on. It also
requires constant work to keep it up to date.
DL: 1st build $1000, current site as seen $2500
SC: Probably about $100,000, all things considered.
JH: Had someone build it. I was going to have a site built to sell my cabs.
As the cost of having a site built can be high, I thought I would test the market
via E-Bay. I have been selling on E-bay for 15 months. I have learned a lot,
and am making money. (depending what my time is worth) It has its pros and cons.
Depending what you are selling, it might be a good venue.
DK: Free: I've trained as a website designer, so I did it myself :-)
SV: --Not much I built the sites myself and hired a programmer to help with
some of the scripting.
>Did you build part or all of it yourself?
SL: no, but I update it myself
DH: what`s there now is entirely my own work
JL: All
NT: All
TM: I really only have to maintain this site. My webhost offers prepared template
programs and all I have to do is choose the one I like, and then do all the
uploading, keying and minor details. Don't even have to know HTML.
NB: I built my entire site. I was a computer analyst and systems designer in
my "previous" life, so learning the skills necessary to build websites
wasn't a huge leap. The hardest part is keeping up to date with current search
engine algorithm changes and constantly changing criteria for the engines and
web users - they are getting smarter and more adept, also.
DR: I WRITE ALL OF THE PAGES NOW
TMS: All of it.
BV: I have done all of the work myself. Two years ago I bought a computer, FrontPage,
Photoshop and a digital camera. There has been a tremendous learning curve and
I am still learning. We felt we could not afford to hire out the work. Therefore
we did as we always have, we did the work ourselves.
AF: My wife did, SF.
BJ: I prepared all the data (ie, images, write ups, pricing, etc). I hired the
professionals so that it would look professional.
RS: built all my own web site, web page writing and graphics art, and pictures.
SM: I used the software with www.itsmysite.com because it's very easy to use,
especially for someone like me who has no training in web site design. I did
all the work myself, including all the photography, and I continue to update
both sites myself. It couldn't be easier!
SP: Sandra built all of it.
BN: Yes, all of it.
RJ: the design part of it and the pictures too and now the update is done by
myself
DS: Yes, see above.
STM: I designed it and figured out the layout and where the links were to go.
I wrote all the text and took most of the pictures. My sister is a professional
webpage designer, so she did the actual programming.
MM: All myself.
SYW: I have technical experience with HTML and websites, but we felt it was
important to have someone do this who had a good sense of design and was up
on the latest web technology.
KR: I had input in layout, content, color etc. Did Not build it myself
DW: Hired a designer.
KH: We coordinate our ideas within the company and implement onto the site.
The main site was designed and set up from an outside source.
SB: I helped design it, provided all the text and images- but didn't build it.
JM: All of it.
TR: No, I did some basic designing with the techie and he did the rest.
MC: All
PZ: I gave all the information for building it.
KG: All of it.
AT: Yes 99.9%
LN: Yes, all of it.
LE: All of it.
DD: All of it myself.
TEW: All of it.
JB: All
DL: no I had my graphics/ web person do it
SC: The site was designed and all programs written by me. Most of the educational
materials were developed by my employees (who happened to be professional geologists
DK: Built all of it myself. The present site is the third incarnation.
JS: Initially I had someone design my site and then host it for me. The new
site was created using Dreamweaver and Flash. The designer who created the site
for me gave me a couple of quick lessons in using this software and now I can
take care of it easily myself.
SV: Almost all, including a lot of the photography, the logos, image etc.
What is the ongoing maintenance cost? Survey
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SL: 200 a year aprx
DH: about one hour a week
BM: Only yearly server cost.
JL: $10.00 per month for web hosting
NT: We pay $15 per month for the hosting service. The shopping cart was a one-time
startup cost of $100 for a lifetime of service. Of course that kind of deal
was available then. You can't get that now.
TM: $250 annually
GB: About $70 per month for server and security fees.
NB: Only more time and frustration.
DR: Earthlink charges me $25.00 a month for the web site plus $20.00 for the
dial up connection.
TMS: None (except the time I could be spending in the workshop)
BV: We pay a monthly hosting fee of $20, about $150 per yr on domain name fees,
about $600-700 per yr in fees on other sites, $200 to set up the secure site.
AF: No monetary costs, just time.
BJ: Currently $400 / year but about to drop about $50 / year.
RS: $20 per month for internet connection, web hosting fees, and domain fee.
SM: The ongoing maintenance is $4 per week for each site, which I pay quarterly
to www.itsmysite.com.
SP: 1) Sandra's time on the computer, which can vary from a few hours a week
for uploading new jewellery photos to many hours for complete design overhaul,
which was about 50 hours of Sandra's time in 2003. 2) Taking and editing photos,
about 12 hours per month.
BN: Hosting costs me about $70 per month (not sure)
RJ: just the yearly repayment for hosting us$ 150/- including for some special
works.
DS: Nothing until BigStep started to charge a monthly fee of $39.95 (that fee
has now been lowered).
STM: Hosting and related email cost's about $300 per year, and I probably spend
another $1000 on update
MM: had been paying $15/month just moved to a server for $8/mo with more services
included
SYW: We pay $132/month for the hosting of two websites and maintenance.
KR: $120.00 / year for the server; $12/mo
DW: The effort of preparing a new set of photos - suitable pieces, catching
them before they sell/go to exhibition, sizing, colours - is considerable and
takes a couple of days to arrange, together with a further bill from the designer
(ca $300) 3 times a year. I always try to put available work on the site but
sometimes older pieces slip back in for convenience.
KH: Our cost only comes into the picture when there is a malfunction or an error,
which is hardly ever the case. Meanwhile, I edit it and update it and I am paid
a modest wage to perform this task and many others throughout the business.
SB: Dinner and a bottle of good wine.
JM: Just a $20.00 monthly charge for my server and about $30.00 a month for
the cable access.
TR: As the site is Data Base driven, I do all the upkeep and maintnence, there
is no charge.
MC: Nil. A friend even hosts the site free
PZ: Depends on how I update .......not too much
KG: About $110/year for web hosting, email hosting, and admin accounts. Plus
about 1 - 2 hours per week making sure things are current and "fresh."
I do a complete site "refresher" about 2 times per year, with some
significant changes to look and feel so it stays looking the way I want it.
That usually takes me about a week altogether.
AT: $22.00 per Month
LN: $70.00 a year.
LE: $18 per month, for the server space, and a static IP (important for search
engines.)
DD: approx. $14/month + selling fees which varies but about 2-3% of sales price
PLUS my time, WHICH IS A LOT
TEW: My time only.
JB: Time
DL: no maintenance cost except who hosts the site, Earthlink, that part of my
bill $19.95 per month, registration of webname $60 for 3 yrs. any updates to
site from my webperson, depends
SC: Not much, as we do very little maintenance and site additions (much different
than the early years). About $1000-$2000 per year.
DK: Yearly subscription of approximately CAD$270
SV: I pay my ISP $54.95 a month. That includes both sites with secure ordering.
Other than that I handle all updates and revisions myself.
How much time do you (or your employees) have to
devote to the web site?
Survey contents |
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SL: several hours a week
BM: No time parameters. Whatever is required.
JL: Right now, none.
NT: It depends on the time of the year and what is happening in terms of introducing
new products. At this point a rough guess would be maybe 40 hours a month.
Tm: On the average, maybe 2 hours per week
GB: An hour or two a day. Plus the time it takes to upload photos of new items
and the necessary copy to describe the new items.
NB: I spend about 50% of my time on web site design and development/SEO/SEM
for myself and a few clients and 50% on jewelry making.
NB: It runs in waves and is mostly dependent on search engine changes. On my
own site, I spend an average of 5-10 hours a week checking search engine listings,
web design and marketing forums, analyzing my log files, and adding content.
Depending on how large a site is, how easy the underlying structure is to allow
making changes/additions, and how much change is planned/required because of
the site's basic marketing strategy, it could run from a full time job for someone
to a few hours a week. When there are drastic changes in any of the major search
engines it eats up a lot of time, though!
DR: Not much - whenever I sell an item I upload pictures of the finsihed ring.
TMS: 1 week every 2 months
BV: I am really not sure I want to know. It probably has been at least 30 hours
a week for the last 2 years.
AF: 1 hour a week.
BJ: I spend a couple of hours a week on it - mostly uploading new pieces.
RS: 10 hrs per month.
SM: I devote maybe an hour or two per week to my site. Of course, while I was
building it last year I spent a lot more time on it.
SP: Sandra can spend a full work week on the site in the winter months (January
- March), but only a few hours a week the rest of the year, when our business
places other demands on her. Peter takes photos of the finished jewellery for
posting to the web site, about 2 days' work per month.
BN: I do it myself, and I spend an hour or two a day answering e-mails and tending
to the site.
RJ: 1 day per month/ unless any major problem
DS: Set up took so many hours that I lost count after several humdred, daily
upkeep is about an hour to hour 1/2 a day checking links, fixing links, keeping
up with people who want to link to us and making changes.
STM: Maintainence is done by my sister, so no time there. I may spend 1 hour
per month tweaking the design or making small changes. We usually have a price
change every year so this takes a good day, for my secretary.
MM: many months I do nothing to maintain it, ideally I would put 3 hours per
month uploading new photos, checking/changing prices
SYW: Hah! Not enough! It just seems so tedious to gather together the digital
photos and copy and give them to our web designer to make the updates. I've
been thinking of taking over the website myself so I can update things on the
fly. We take digital photographs of all of Jude's work, so we have a large body
of photographs to manage.
KR: Very little at this point. I Will be adding more photos this year to make
it more comprehensive.
KH: Our goal is to every 3 months or so to redesign the home page and update
the items. This can take a solid month as I take the pictures also.
SB: No more than a day a year to plan updates. My next one is overdue.
JM: No employees. I spend as much time working on the computer as I do in the
shop making the jewelry. Probably about 30 hours a week.
TR: I have hardly any time at all for the site. Hence the tardy updates. I will
only do updates every two months or so and even then, the updates are incomplete...
MC: None for years, but am busy re-designing the site right now. Quite time-consuming,
can't say how much
PZ: I check the e mails every day
AT: Site? To a sale? 3hr's a day
LN: Very little.
LE: Time devoted to the website is minimal, maybe a couple of hours per month
to photograph new pieces and upload the photos.
DD: a lot - I add new products several times a week, move the inventory into
and out of categories to try to keep it fresh, just as you would in a brick
and mortar store and I send out an email newsletter/marketing ecirc 1 - 2 times
a month
TEW: Jewelry is a small secondary business for me. I have whatever time I want
to put in. It sometimes gets to be too much. (up to 2 days/month, but I'm still
learning and correcting errors
JB: A couple of hours a week.
DL: I devote no time to website
SC: 20 hours per week.
DK: I did a major redesign of the website last year, which took about a month
of solid work. I do half yearly updates, according to when I have new work ready.
I update the home page at least monthly, the class schedule and exhibition schedule
as required, the press releases page as required.
SV: Well, I monitor what's happening with them 5 days a week, check email, stats
on the site, logs etc. I'd say maybe 2-3 hours a week. But when I'm working
on adding new pages, images or changing the site(s) that's a different story.
For that sort of thing I have to make time in my schedule to work on web stuff.>To
a sale? ...
DH: can be as little as checking the mail in the morning, packaging the piece,
printing the invoice and getting it off to the postoffice. can also be as much
as several weeks of back and forth e-mails, making a piece, altering it repeatedly....
BM: No time parameters. Whatever is required.
JL: The time it takes to email a couple times.
NT: Hard to say, hard to figure. My time, my wife's time. Most of our business
is wholesale and our website attracts wholesale customers. Of course we get
some retail trade but the main thrust of what we are doing is wholesale. In
wholesale what you want is not one sale but many, the total focus is on winning
a repeat customer. You could say that all of our input is devoted to that end,
all of our working time.
Tm: Before a sale, I probably spend 8 hours making changes.
GB: Minutes to write and invoice, unless the buyer has questionsand then it
can vary greatly.
NB: Sales of non custom designs take almost no time beyond checking that the
credit cards are valid and the addresses match the bank's records (usually a
3 minute or less call to the issuing bank). I personally check every credit
card sale with the issuing bank, unless it is a returning customer because you
cannot, or should not, trust your merchant account's address verification system.
I have not had a single charge back due to fraud and, with internet sales, that
is a very good record. Custom orders are different, but I have learned, pretty
much, when to turn down a sale. Almost 90% of my work is now custom but I don't
accept commissions for a design or style that doesn't fit within my own basic
"style" or current skills. In other words, I don't make jewelry from
someone's designs unless that design is similar to something I might have designed
myself. Fortunately, most of my customers want a piece similar to something
I've already designed but with different stones, or they want specific stones
and like "my style" and give me pretty much free reign within a few
guidelines like size, weight, and metal.
I can usually tell from talking with a customer by phone or email how much time
it will take to get an approved design and that time is built into my
price.
DR: One of a kind custom pieces do take time to sell - with my designe I send
graphics for approval. Generating the graphics can take 10 minutes to several
hours depending on the design.
TMS: 1 hour
BV: Varies greatly. Some sales are fast decisions. Some take many e-mails to
offer the customer options.
AF: just enough to make sure everything complete
BJ: Most of my work is over the internet, so I often spend more time selling
a piece than I do making it.
RS: Sales are over the phone and take about 10 minutes each
SP: Since most of our jewellery is one-of-a-kind, we devote as much time as
it takes to complete a sale. For instance, several hours on a several hundred
dollar item.
BN: Sales are usually quick and easy. I print out the e-mail and hand it to
Martin who calls the customer and/or ships the item.
RJ: i do not make sales on the website for the moment, but this
will come in the future for small price items not for big ones as i think it
is very difficult to sell unique handmade jewelry online as you only see it
in pictures. but for inexpenssive items it might be Ok. the main thing in our
job is trust and i want to keep that. but we have already made sales through
our website but the persone has to send someone to our shop. we also made export
contacts.
DS: Each designer/goldsmith on our web site keeps track of their own customers
and handles their own sales. With my own pieces, I get a lot more questions
than sales. Many of our customers love our work but, want us to make a special
piece just for them. So very few sales are quick. I think our customers like
the direct contact with the "maker." It's amazing how many e-mails
and phone calls each sale involves. I believe this is because we encourage interaction,
it's part of our service.
STM: This varies greatly with each customer. Some require only a few short emails,
then a phone conversation to take their order. Perhaps 30 minutes up to that
point. Maybe another 45 minutes or an hour to generate all the paper work, correspondence,
packaging and shipping. Some customers require far more time especially in the
beginning, with many emails and perhaps a lot of phone
time. This might amount to upwards of 3 hours for essentially the same work
as about. Several times a year we get a real zinger and need to hold their hand
and give reassurances throughtout the process (which can take up to 6 months
depending on our order load). However, I belive very strongly in giving each
customer the service they want and need, even if it's a pain in the ass. One
of the things that they are paying top dolar for is our excelent service.
MM: Most sales are custom orders -either modifications of what is shown or start
from scratch or customer's design so time spent with sales vary a lot - sometimes
I get an email saying I would like to buy such and such how do I pay (no shopping
cart) I tell them to call with CC# and that's that. It's pretty analogous to
how it might work face to face at a show - some customers point to "that
one" and you wrap it up for them.Other customers want you to design something
with some hard to find stone and it may go on and on. Perhaps the worst was
a custom order for matching rings and the email folder for this client topped
out at 60 emails. I'd say average would be 5-10emails back and forth with money
captured somewhere in there.
SYW: It varies so much. We may go back and forth with a web customer, sending
them photos, scanning and e-mailing renderings, and then we don't hear from
them. The photos and sketches are necessary, however, because the bulk of our
work is one-of-a-kind custom pieces. Then there's the fellow who called today,
ordered a ring for Valentine's Day from Jude's designer line, and I shipped
it right off to him.
KH: As far as the devotion to a sale it depends on the length of the sale, the
item, the occasion. Bridal jewelry take a good two to three weeks in the making
while we encourage our clients to shop the town for other offers. A regular
purchase for a gift can take on average 45-1:30 minutes. Again this can vary.
SB: I spend quite some time in communication with buyers and customers. I find
this aspect often enjoyable and highly rewarding as it makes you realise how
widely your work is seen and known.
JM: That is a hard one - some customers are easy, I put up a page of designs
for them, they choose and pay and I make the jewelry - other customers want
many changes along the way which involves way too much time and emails - so
I would say 2 hours to 50 hours. Fortunatelymost customers are on the "easy"
side.
TR: I devote whatever time necessary to close a sale. On the web they go relatively
quickly.
KG: A sale through the web site can take as little as 10 minutes for simply
packaging and shipping an order for a ready-made item, or as long as several
hours to negotiate the specifics of a custom job. For customers who are simply
using the site for payment, I have a standard-format payment page that I customize
for their use with the specific "contract" they are purchasing --
takes me about 2 minutes to put up a customer-specific payment page and link
it to the shopping cart.
AT: Site? To a sale? 3hr's a day
LN: Very little.
JB: It varies widely as I am basically providing custom order rings and other
objects. Some customers know exactly what they want and the sale is very quick
and painless for all involved. Some however require major hand holding throughout
the whole process and eat up gobs of time.
SC: 0.5 to 2 hours, including correspondence, packaging, and shipping.
DK: Most often a sale will involve an exchange of approximately four to six
emails along with at least two phone calls and, if the client is local, at least
one face to face visit. Initial contact, clarification of desired work, authorization
to proceed with the work, call to get a credit card number for the deposit,
call to advise completion of the work and arrange delivery, then delivery. I
havenít really kept track of the time spent specifically devoted to a
sale, since it comes in snippets i.e. 10 minutes here, 20 minutes thereÖ
Do you have a shopping cart function? Survey
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SL: Yes and it may have affected my site negativly but the jury is still out
on that ?
DH: paypal
BM: Yes
JL: No
NT: We have a shopping cart. It's a third-party site that handles that function
for us
TM: Yes
NB: Yes. Unless the site is for very high-ticket items ($5000 and up) the site
will not be successful without a shopping cart. Even though many of my customers
end up giving me credit info over the phone, surveys show that a shopping cart
is important to the customer's first appraisal of a site - whether it is professional
or homespun, safe or risky. In addition, jewelry purchases are quite often based
on impulse, even custom orders, and if they have to call or email first the
impulse often subsides.
DR: No, I email graphics of a proposed ring design - upon approval of the graphics
and reciept of payment I make and ship the ring. I don'e want to take payment
for a ring until all the details are complete.
TMS: No
BV: Yes
AF: No
BJ: Yes
RS: No, I like the personal contact on the telephone.
SM: No
SP: No
BN: Not yet
RJ: Not yet.
DS: No, that would take the personal service away from our sales.
STM: No, we do not. This has been a conscience choice. We want to have a personal
conection with our customers and ask that they call us in person. This gives
us the chance to talk about ring sizing issues and handle any other questions
they may have about which ring is right for them.
MM: For 8 years I haven't and it has mostly not been an issue.For 8 years I
haven't and it has mostly not been an issue.For 8 years I haven't and it has
mostly not been an issue.
I will be trying out a small number of my designs on the site in a
shopping cart system I have yet to set up.
While it probably has lost me some immediate gratification sales I feel I have
been very successful even without that option. I will be trying out a small
number of my designs on the site in a shopping cart system I have yet to set
up.For 8 years I haven't and it has mostly not been an issue.
SYW: No. It's not appropriate for the type of work we do. We don't have many
off-the-shelf items.
KR: No, didn't want one.
DW: No
KH: No (Note; most don't because they want the personal, closer relationship)
SB: NO- yuk.
JM: Yes
TR: No
MC: No
PZ: No
KG: Yes, I use the PayPal shopping cart system.
AT: Yes, Cardservice international
LN: No, not yet, later with my national costume (bunad) silver when my collection
is ready.
LE: Yes, the free one from PayPal.
DD: Yes
TEW: No.
JB: No, shopping carts are most useful for commodity items. For custom or designer
work they are a bad idea in my opinion. The very idea of a shopping cart is
a metaphor for shopping at a big box store not a custom goldsmith or art metalsmith.
DL: yes I have a shopping cart, but want to eliminate it for various
reasons, which will be answered in following answers.
SC: Yes
DK: No. I am very sceptical about online shopping ñ Iím not convinced
that the return on investment is worth the expense of setting up the shopping
cart.
SV: Not yet. On my bridal site, which is being redesigned from top to bottom,
when it's done it will have a shopping cart system. The precious metal clay
site (precieux.com) will never have one. I don't think it's appropriate for
one of a kind hand made work by the artist to have a shopping cart as if they're
buying books or something.
>Do you work with an affiliate programming on
your site? Survey contents |
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DH: No
BM: No
JL: No
NT: No. I've never understood how that would work for us.
TM: The only affiliation I have is with a search engine submission site that
submits my URL to 300 engines every month for $2.50.
GB: YES
NB: No
DR: No.
TMS: No
BV: No
AF: Yes, with a couple of sites.
RS: No, I do all my own web page and keep the site simple.
SM: No
BN: No
RJ: that part is taken care by the hosting company
DS: No
STM: No
MM: No
KR: No
SB: A friend yes, who runs Spineless Enterprises as an extra job
JM: No
TR: No
MC: No
(Stopped asking this question for the Orchid list)
PZ: No
JB: No , affiliate programs and the like are the hallmark of commodity web sites
SC: No
SV: -If you mean link trades I've done a few.
(stopped asking this question)
>Which did you pick and why?Survey
contents |
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SL: no
NT: It was five-six years ago and I just picked one out of a bunch of advertisers.
It turned out to be www.1shoppingcart.com. The rates were reasonable and I got
immediate and personal answers to all my requests. They are very reliable, totally
on top of customer service and their rates are still very low in comparison
to others. If there is a problem or you need information they are easy to talk
to. When I started with them I think it was one guy running the whole show.
Now they're a big company but the service is still impeccable.
TM: For the search engines I use www.Ineedhits.com based in Australia; but geography
doesn't matter does it.
AF: dolphinlovers.com, they choose my designs
RJ: I first chose a company which i realized was very good in wedesign and not
so good in programing, we do learn through errors. then moved to a company that
is very good in programing but not so good in designing but thats ok.
SB: Spineless Enterprises. Cost, sympathetic to the project and a long term
supporter of my work.
SV: (links) Very few and only if they are related.
(stopped asking this question)
What is the cost to you of making a sale for fees and
other costs (visa etc)
Survey contents |
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SL: ..2.5% I believe
DH: I use paypal, which is free
BM: No costs other than credit card charges.
JL: About 3%
NT: There are no per-sale costs. We pay nominal percentage for the credit card
sales.
TM: Credit cards take 2.5% of the gross. I think all actual costs are recaptured
in the shipping costs. Cost of shipping for jewelry varies little. It cost approximately
the same to ship 1 pair or 100 pair; insurance makes a difference, but not much.
Then again, I'm not shipping $1000 items.
TM: Actual cost to ship one pair of $12 earrings is about $1.65
GB: 2.5% for credit card sales is about average
NB: Runs about 3%-4% average based on the carrier
DR: I accept personal checks and also credit card payments through Paypal.com.
Paypal charges approximately 3% - its qucik and simple.
BV: Our visa costs are no higher than at a retail market.
AF: 4% through paypal.com
BJ: I pay 3% to Paypal.
RS: About 3%
SM: I don't take credit cards. I deal in cash or check only.
SP: Pay Pay charges a discount rate of 3.5%, Visa 2.95%, and MasterCard 3.5%;
per item costs of $.50, a monthly IVR fee of $5.99, and a $5.99 fee to combine
deposits into one bank account.
BN: Regular Visa charges to my store. About 1.5% on each transaction.
RJ: normal bank charges
DS: I use PaypPaypal for my charge sales, I'm not sure of the exact fee, it
changes with the amount. Many of our customers prepay by check.
STM: Credit card fee's for mail order sales are about 2.5 %
MM: I have my own merchant account - and currently run visas etc through my
own terminal - as opposed to through some shopping cart 3rd party system - I
believe I pay somewhere around 2% for visa,mc and slightly less than that for
discover, don't take amex
SYW: Our charge card fees run at about 2.3 %, I think.
KR: I have customere-mail and then call me, and I use regular visa/MC
KH: Not set up for credit cards over the net, but in-store we have a credit
card rate that does need consideration when figuring profit of a sale. However,
we do not charge any extra for the use of a credit card versus cash/check.
SB: Just tax.
JM: 5% - 10%
TR=The only cost would be the credit card transaction at 2% or so. So this is
not an issue as far as I am concerned. The web sales are retail. so I usually
feel super when these happen.
PZ: Not sure.
KG: Through PayPal, the fees are incredibly reasonable. 2.2% + .30/payment.
But the kicker is that the funds that remain in my PayPal account are also generating
interest at money-market rates. As I use that account for a significant number
of my business transactions, the "actual" cost of a transaction is
probably about 1% total (I've not calculated it that way, but based on the raw
numbers, that is what "feels about right.")
AT: $35.00 Per Mo and .04% of the sales
LN: Nothing yet.
LE: Roughly 2%
DD: depends on cost of item sold anywhere from 3 - 7 percent
TEW: 2.3% I think - PayPal's cut. People I know can pay by check without costing
a fee.
JB: There are no costs for a sale
DL: I have my own in house credit card processing---the website does also, but
because I use Kagi, I pay nothing unless I have a sale and I've only had 2 web
sales. one legitimate, the other a fraud from Pakistan!!!!Kagi web processing
costs 3 times my in house cc machine!!!! Quite a bite out of a retail sale.
I also find that people are not shopping on the web for my kind of jewelry.
SO another reason I want to eliminate the shopping cart, people want to communicate
with me, not the sterile no personal service of the web. Cost of making a sale--at
home cc machine, 2.2% + monthly fee $7.50 + .20 per transaction vs. at least
6.5% on sale
SC: About $2 plus 2.5%. Our total cost of sale (including imaging our entirely
one-of-a-kind items, packaging, shipping, writing descriptions of unique items,
etc.) is about $10 (or was when we used employees for those functions), which
definitely puts a lower end on the price points we can sell profitably. Of course,
anything that is a catalog item and can be sold in quantity would not be an
issue.
DK: Visa charges 2.5% of the sale. There are also costs involved in the packaging
and mailing if the order is not local. I generally add a $7 s&h charge to
mail orders, or, if the client asks for express post or courier delivery, the
actual cost of the courier.
SV: -Well, my isp is $54.95 a month for both sites, secure ordering, 100mgs
and 20 email addresses. My credit card processing verys depending on how many
transactions I have month and the average ticket.
What is the cost to you in terms of time spent on the
sale? Survey contents |
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SL: not sure
DH: I don`t really count that. I live very simply and close to the earth, so
it`s lot like I have a very crowded schedule
BM: I do not measure my time in terms of costs.
JL: not much. minutes
NT: We run very tight inventory but we ship very nearly every order within 24
hours. This requires a fine balancing act which Nadine does very beautifully.
She is also the phone person, our marketer and salesperson. Basically Nadine
sells by building personal relationships with customers and potential customers.
It's important to note that she has software that supports her work, a place
to handle personal notes about the people she's selling to, not just necessary
info and stats. Nadine talks to customers as people and gets to know them personally
and professionally. She's helpful in every way she can be. Customer service
is a bit of a cliche and it really isn't enough. There has to be more than just
a kind of cold "customer service." There has to be a real connection
so that when you call it's like a friend and a "not now" from a customer
is not a negative. It's just an extension of time, an opportunity to find out
what we can do to work better with the customer and their needs. Of course sometimes
that means knowing that it's time to just say thanks and hang up. Our customers
are very busy people. Nadine works with customers to fit into their time constraints,
to really help them.
TM: Very little, because as a wholesaler to retailers, my busy seasons are in
the Spring, and September and October; I have time to tweak the website all
I want in November and December.
NB: Almost nil for non-custom work and usually only an hour or two for custom
design, which is built into the price anyway. You do mean the time spent on
the actual sale, not the time spent making the piece, right?
DR: Ten minutes and up.
BV: Probably no more time than at a retail show.
AF: Its to hard to put a dollar figure on it,
BJ: I often spend as much as 8 hours total designing and selling pieces over
the internet. RS: 15 minutes, not counting fabrication of product.
SM: Well, it's hard to say since my actual sales take place while teaching workshops.
During breaks, students look at my jewelry for sale and they buy some. It can
take all day before some of them will actually buy something they're interested
in.
SP: The time required to e-mail information to the customer, to photograph jewellery
and edit photos. Because we sell one-of-a-kind items, it's very individual.
BN: Don't know exactly, but less than watiing on the customer at the counter
in most cases.
DS: We spend a lot of time with our customers. But these are customers that
we would not reach if we did not have the site, so the time is well spent.
STM: This is dificult to say, as it's a very complex issue.
KR: Depends - no more than a usual special order from a craft show.
KH: Hourly wage of our associates.
SB: No cost, just a litle time on the PC.
JM: I usually don't figure that one out - probably too much.
TR: It is negligable, as the internet sales are so quick. They like a piece
call witha credit card number and I send it. this is usually about an hour worth
of actual time spent.
MC: I never sell the stuff on my site, which is all long gone anyway. I make
one-offs and the site is bait.
PZ: Sometimes a lot
KG: No higher than face-to-face sales, and in many cases much lower.
LN: I use my spare time.
LE: Varies considerably, based on how many questions the customer has, and whether
they want a custom piece. Best case scenario is it takes me 15 minutes to record
the sale and package the item. Then another 20 minutes or so at the post office.
DD: on just the pure sale - nothing, but building up to having someone come
along and buy it - quite a bit of time
TEW: I have no idea.
JB: It varies widely
DL: times spent on sale, from the 2 sales I had: nothing but making the item
for one order to the fraudulent one took time to go to post office twice, to
call UPS, to call FedEx, to track UPS (how I finally sent pkg-since I suspected
it was fraud wanted a way to be able to get the pkg back easier) and call UPS
international 3-5 times.. ....Hours and hours, oh yeh, I was emailing the fraud
person several times a week pretending all was well until I received my pkg
back!!! By the way there is not really anywhere to report web fraud!!!
SC: 5 minutes to buy each item, 15 minutes to photograph and describe it and
put it on the net, 20 minutes to receive order, pull, package, and ship, and
5 minutes per year with inventory management. Shipping may actually cost us
a lot more in terms of time, as that takes a minimum of an hour per day.
DK: Canít really answer this question, because I haven't really tracked
it
SV: Well that's hard to say because over the last 7 years I've probably spent
a couple hundred hours working on the sites and regestering them all over the
internet. But if you don't count that internet sales are cream. I'd have them
up there just to promote my name and work, sales are a bonus.(Note: real world
tracking and organization and work)
What kinds of items do people buy the most on-line from
you? Survey contents |
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SL: wedding rings
DH: I do mostly custom orders over the net. things that sell straight from the
site are celtic pendants, Abalone pendants, and Hair clips
BM: There is no range. I sell some of everything.
JL: everything I offer
NT: The retail sales of course run with larger numbers toward the low end. But
then that's not the real focus. The real focus is on wholesale and there the
entire line comes into play.
TM: Inexpensive, sterling silver jewelry with stones. Unusual, mid-price niche
market jewelry; definitely not what the mainstream is buying.
GB: Decorative hardware.
NB: 65% men's and women's rings and pendants, the other 35% is earrings, bracelets,
neckwear and pins.
DR: Text rings, celtic rings, Teng War Font Rings
BV: Our biggest surprise is that we have gained more wholesale sales than retail
sales. It seems the wholesale market is becoming more used to the concept of
online shopping than the retail market. However it is a growing awareness from
the retail market that we are counting on. As to which items ñ across
the board all that we offer on the site.
AF: Nothing stands out, pretty mixed for 8 years now
BJ: 14K yellow pendants and rings set with cabachons.
RS: Western Style bolo ties and bolo tie parts.
SP: Pendants
Bn: Rings, and earrings, and some custom design work.
RJ: No direct online sales for now, (all are sales after a web introduction
to our work)
DS: Mostly smaller items, silver earrings, pendants, bracelets. We show the
more expensive larger gold pieces, but they don't sell out right very often.
But, we have gotten very very good custom orders based on interest on our more
expensive pieces.
STM: Wedding rings, also books and videos
MM: mostly my higher end and mostly custom currently
SYW: Custom rings
KR: Haven't had that many retail sales - not my goal at this time.
KH: Hollowware (Crystal-China)
SB: Jewellery they have seen before and not bought from an exhibition and regretted
it.
JM: 1st Pendants, 2nd earrings, 3rd rings, 4th bracelets, and 5th pins.
TR: I sell eaarrings bracelets the most, the site promotes a good amount of
custom ring orders. This takes a bit longer.
PZ: Watches,diamonds etc repairs and people want to sell jewelry and contact
me.
KG: The "low interaction" sales (people who come to the site and buy
something with no significant interaction with me) tend to be small ready-made
pieces in the $20 - $200 price range.
The "high interaction" sales usually involve other forms of interaction
in addition to the site -- phone, email, face-to-face meetings, etc. They range
in price from $100 - $1000+ and most end up completing the sale online via the
shopping cart for convenience and traceability.
AT: All types of people have ordered items its a vary broad diverse group. From
age 20 to 65
LN: Artwork and commissions.
LE: They don't buy much from me online. Virtually all of my sales online have
been pendants, but then they are the bulk of what I make.
DD: necklaces, bracelets
TEW: Earrings.
JW: Wedding rings
DL: one order-- earrings-- 3 pair, for a wedding I think; the fraudorder-- a
whole set: triple strand pearl & amethyst necklace, 3 strand bracelet +
earrings to match
SC: Mineral specimens for collectors.
DK: Mostly custom rings
SV: On the bridal site (shahasp.com) I regularly sell headpieces, necklaces,
chokers, earrings, waist chains and occasionally hair sicks. On the precious
metal clay site (precieux.com) people order mostly necklaces. But that's mostly
what I sell there.
What is the average sales price of a sale? Survey
contents |
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SL: perhaps 400 because I sell a lot of 50.00 and 500- 600 (none of these figures
are scientific trust me!! `~ ) !!
DH: around $50
BM: Varies constantly.
JL: $50.00
NT: The average shopping cart purchase is probably around $35. That's a retail
sale.
TM: $12
GB: Varies very widely..no average.
NB: $300-$500
DR: $100-$300
TMS: 500 pounds ($1,200)
BV: Probably about $200. I am about to do our year end statistics so will know
the answers for this and the next few questions in the next month.
AF: $275.00
BJ$150.00
RS: $180.00
SM: About $65 to $75.
SP: $200
BN: $175 to $200
DS: Mostly in the $150-$200 range, but if we throw in the custom orders that
figures goes up quite a bit.
STM: Over $1000
MM: average sale is one ring or a pair of rings retailing $500 - $1800 each
SYW: $640
KH: On the internet-$60.00
SB: Usually around £50
JM: It averages about $200.00 per sale - my prices range from $39.00 to $600.00
with an occasional sale for more
TR: Average for the internet is around $2,000 - $2,500.00 US Dollars
PZ: It varies
KG: $20-200 and up to $1000.00
AT: between $100 to $700
LN: $150.00
LE: $150.00
DD: $40.00
TEW: $15.00
JB: $1,200.00
DL: earrings $146, triple strand set $450
SC: $50
DK: CAD$150-200
SV: on the bridal site around $100. is an average ticket. on the pmc site the
average is more like $400.>What is the highest amount you have sold an item
for through the site?
SL: 2000.00 aprox
DH: $250.00
BM: Proprietary info.
JL: $350.00
NT: Retail that would be wedding sets at around $900. But our wholesale sales
can't be counted that way. One good wholesale customer can be worth many thousands
over a year or even a few months.
TM: $40.00
GB: $3900.
NB $2500 for a bracelet
DR: $1,600
TMS: 1000 pounds (about 2,500 dollars)
BV: $300
AF: $850
Bj: $485
RS: $560
RM: $120
SP: $2,700
BN: A little over $1000 and some custom designs have been around $2000.
RJ: That was not an online sales, but a tourist who had visited our website
came a bought the new collection worth us$ 6 000/-
DS: Custom pieces at $2000.
STM: A diamond engagement ring for about $13, 000. It was strange, the guy had
never contacted us before, he just called up and ordered the ring.
MM: $3,300.00
SYW: $3703
KH: $200.00
SB: £750
JM: $2000.00
TR: I sell pieces in my $6,000.00 bracket a few times a year.
PZ: Over R50,000 $7,462.68
KG: $1475.
AT: $1600.00
LN: $600.00
LE: $250.00
DD; $155.00
TEW: $60.00
JB: $8,500.00
SC: $1500 (and our biggest single day AND customer was $32000+, after a large
volume discount
DK: $800 for a necklace
JS: From the beginning the site has produced income, mostly in custom design
work so far. The growth has been slow, but steady so I am pleased with the results
so far.
SV: $1100.
What percentage of your total sales are through
the web site. Survey contents |
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SL: maybe 10%
DH: approx 50%
BM: Impossible to figure because of return customers who often visit me direct.
JL: most at this point
NT: Initially we were getting around 40% of sales through the site and the rest
through either older customers or from other advertising. Now it is entirely
impossible to tell. So many of our repeat customers came to us from the site
and they no longer go in the books as website sales. Suffice it to say that
if we didn't have the site we would not have much of a business. Nadine says
"Last year's retail sales were 26% of our total sales,up 14% from the previous
year and almost all generated from our website."
Tm: perhaps 3-4%
GB: 10-15%
NB: 100%
DR: 95% of jewelry items. I also sell CNS milling machines and lathes (m,stly
to high schools) It is impossible to tell how much the web pages helps to sell
these machines.
TMS: for jewelry, approximately 1%
AF: 5%
BJ: Most of my sales are negotiated through email, but only about 10% are through
the site itself. The site serves mainly as a catalogue of styles and a way to
visually reference certain aspects of designs such as style of setting, finish,
etc.
RS: 100%
RM: Now? Zero. But the site is helpful in promoting my jewelry for sale. It
really is a great advertising vehicle, but nothing more.
SP: 30% in 2003
BN: A small percentage of total saless, but it has more than paid for itself.
RJ: 10 to 15%
DS: Less than 10%
STM: 99%
MM: Currently 100%.
SYW: 9.1%
KH: .05% (not much)
SB: 20%
JM: 88%
TR: Very small, perhaps only 10%. Perhaps I should pay closer attention...
PZ: Very little, I do it for fun.
KG: Depends on how you define "through the web site" -- in my case,
all credit card processing is done through the site, and a significant amount
of my other sales are completed that way, as well, even if they start out face-to-face.
In terms of cash flow channels alone, I'd say 60% is through the site.
AT: 45%
LN: 5%
LE: Maybe 5%
DD: 2% - 5%
TEW: 2%
JB: 85%
DL: % total sales thru my website--0% (I'm also on www.guild.com )
SC: 100%
DK: Historically, less than 10%, but it is slowly increasing
SV: -for the bridal site 100%, it's only retail over the internet now with an
occasional wholesale order. For the pmc jewelry I do mostly wholesale and retail
shows, with the internet sales from last year probably being about 15%.>Only
if you are comfortable with this question: What are your total sales through
the site?
BM: Proprietary info.
TM: This year was off a lot, due I think to a soft economy. I think my websales
were about $5000. For an hour a week invested plus a little overhead, it is
worth the cost.
DR: $20,000
TMS: again, only counting jewelry, about 2000 pounds (a year)
AF: This year was very good best yet, $6,000.00
NOTE I stopped asking this question.
What problems have you seen? Survey
contents |
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SL: Peoples unfounded fear of spam and filters that eliminate me from my own
self generated email list customers! People have this stupid fear of spam which
to me is not unlike paper junk mail that I am bombarded with and goes into the
landfill. It is easily deleted and is not environmentally harmful like paper
mail!! People are very lazy with their DELETE finger and now valid email is
getting filtered out! I do not know hy people feel this way! It is a strange
problem!
DH: search engines recalibrating their paradigms without warning and tossing
sites down from their ranking without reason
BM: Fraud. I will not sell outside of continental US. Not worth it.
JL: needing the best photos to show the quality
NT: I think that the whole site needs to be refreshed and changed every year
or so and it would probably be better to do it more often but there's not time.
People come back several times before buying and they often come back after
that. Fresh looks pay off but it's hard to keep it up.
With our products we get lots of inquiries as to the actual size of a piece
of jewelry. I'm just lax at getting the sizes into the graphics and I think
I could be more attentive to that. The graphics though can get cluttered with
too much information. I like to try to make the grapic vivid enough that the
customer can get a nearly tactile feel for the piece. That's what I work for.
If that's successful then they have a good idea of the size. When people ask
about actual size it makes me look again at the graphic.
TM: None really; if you sell what your picture shows, most people are satisfied.
This means a tight control on inventory, perhaps stocking a lot more inventory
than I'd like . I may have had only 1.3 turns on it this year, where I can turn
it wholesale 3-4 times per year, but then my markup is much better on the website;
the profit is double wholesale.
GB: Attempts at fraudulent purchases with stolen credit cards. I will always
verify large sales by calling the issuing bank for the credit card, even if
the sale clears on the credit card terminal.
NB: My problems are mostly due to search engine changes, which require me to
spend extra time learning "what's new" and how to apply it and keep
my site current. In the beginning, it was site structure and navigation.
DR: Spam is killing the WWW. Its turning off my customers and I'm spending toomuch
time deleting unwanted email. Currently 98% of my email is just plain junk.
This has been a recent de3velopment (last six months of 2003). I hate to say
but I think the goverment needs to get involved. maybe even tax people for sending
email. I really hatge that but it might make it cost effective not to sendspam.
As a result of the spam I'm spending more and more time selling CNC equiopment
off line.
TMS: It does not work.
BV: I am convinced we are just at the beginning of this market. The national
statistics show Internet purchasing going up each year. I think it will take
even longer for the buyer to feel confidence at buying a high price point from
individual and not known brand names or stores.
AF: People could not figure out how to use Paypal
BJ: The guy who designed my site did so for a reasonable sum. However, it has
several small mistakes that he wants me to pay him to fix. Also, it has some
really bad design problems that to fix he wants me to pay him 600% of what the
site cost in the first place. So paying for upgrades and maintainance has been
prohibitively expensive for me.
RS: Not much. The main problem is to ship with delivery signature to make sure
the product was received.
SM: Sales have not come through my site in recent months. It's funny, because
I used to have some jewelry available for sale through www.sharilynmiller.com
and I made some sales last year. But then I built a second site, linked to the
first one, and have made no sales directly through this site. It doesn't bother
me, because I continue to sell my jewelry in class. I also have some galleries
interested in carrying my jewelry. I may get to the point where I shut down
www.sharilynmiller.biz altogether. My www.sharilynmiller.com site has been incredibly
helpful in allowing me topromote my workshops. I also find it convenient to
post my supply lists online, which the students can access easily without having
to get a list from the store where I teach.
SP: 1) It is difficult to show dimension and many of the jewellery pieces look
flat on-line; 2) Colour is particular to individual monitors, so may vary; 3)
It is difficult for people to envision the size of a piece as seen on their
monitor; 4) Mailing or shipping items is always a risk; 5) Insurance is difficult
to obtain on jewellery. Insurance claims are unsatisfactory and time-consuming.
BN: Competition is tough, and many sites make improper claims, like wholesale
to the public, low prices, etc. It isn't easy dealing with people long distance,
and through a computer, but it can be done.
RJ: no big problem til now, but competitors could copy our designs, updates
and regular care for the good running of the website (viruses etc...)
DS: Trust, with both the buyers and the sellers. There are so many scams out
there, you just never know who you are dealing with. We have had many overseas
buyers who want to buy the most expensive piece on the web site, and then suggest
some shady way of paying for it.
STM: Since we sell mostly rings, we've had to deal with sizing issues. We tried
a lot of stuff, but have settled on the following. When the customer places
an order we ask them to go to a local jeweler (or even Walmart) to be sized.
They call us with the size they think they are, and then we send them a small
set of brass sizing rings that we have made up to fit exactly like our bands.
They wear them around and find the one that fit's perfectly, and then return
them to us with the proper size noted. We are then responsible only for making
their ring the same size as our sizing band, and not the size that some other
jeweler has determined. Since we've started this system we've had no problems.
MM: there have been a very small handful of instances where rings were returned
because they "didn't look like they did on the site" I would say that
was a problem inherent on those individuals not being able to see, handle the
actual item.
SYW: Ring sizings can be inaccurate.
KH: We have not many complaints. When the website is fresh we tend to receive
more hits and this can always trigger a future sale. Many people don't disclose
to us the viewing of our website but according to the figures our site is viewed.
SB: The technology moves on quickly and sites need updating to avoid looking
out of date.
JM: I spend more time than most people would be able to working on the site
which takes away from time at my bench; I can do this since I don't have family
at home. My wage per hour would be very low if I factored all that in.
TR: Credit card fraud, difficulty in getting a follow up back from potential
interests, and getting the piece in there hand to see, feel if they are questioning
the sale.
MC: Distribution problems for me. Clients who wasted time & never came back
JVD: I have not realised any orders yet and I plan to run it for a year before
deciding if it works for me or not.
PZ: People tryig to con one. Difficult in dispatching goods, carriers are expensive
doing updates.
KG: Very little problem, as I've always got other channels open for users who
don't want to complete a sale online. We were subject to one denial-of-service
attack last year, which was the first in the 2 years the site has been up and
running. That set us back in performance, but didn't cause any losses to our
customers and we didn't lose any customers as a result (things were just slower).
AT: Credit card Fraud form Overseas. It stopped me selling to several locations
in. I built my sight over several years and never had a class in web page designee
I found that most people that took classes in it do not want to explain how
several tricks are done.
LN: people are not very clever finding things on the net
LE: Problem#1 is steering people to the site. You can expect several thousand
hits for every purchase, and getting the hits is not easy. DD: this is not a
build it and sit back and watch the money pour in kind of thing. you have to
work it and build it just like you would a brick and mortor store. from merchandising,
marketing, etc.
TEW: Getting noticed by search engines; malfunctions that I don't know about
until someone brings them to my attention.
DL: problems: I'm not ebay, or amazon, no $ or time to recreate everything weekly
for advertising or ???
SC: Credit card fraud is our ONLY real problem, and that is an issue primarily
with overseas sales of gold jewelry. As a result, we have significantly increased
our fraud protection policies, probably resulting in significant loss of sales
to legitimate customers. Note that our returns are less than 2%, but credit
card fraud was over 10% of sales last year.
JH: My website is an excellent example of a poorly designed site. No menu, no
prices, no descriptions of work. It was made by someone who did not know any
better. Neither did I.
DK: One of the biggest challenges is getting listed by search engines. When
I first set up my website, it was as a personal site through my ISP. The site
was picked up by search engines using the long form of the url. I registered
the domain name approximately 3 years ago, but by that point the site was ranking
high enough on the search engines that resubmitting with the new url would have
dropped the site off the radar again. So now I use the domain name on my advertising,
but it gets redirected to the original site.
JS: I made very few changes to the original site until recently. I have learned
that this was a mistake and that it is very important to keep changing, adding
& subtracting so that the site stays dynamic. People who visit a site want
to see new things. So my completely new site, which has only been up a couple
of weeks, is now in a format that allows me to make changes easily. It was created
using Dreamweaver and Flash. The designer who created the site for me gave me
a couple of quick lessons in using this software and now I can take care of
it easily myself.
SV: As with any mail order sometimes people want to try on, touch, feel etc.
But with a good return policy it's not a problem.
What successes spring to mind with your web site?
Survey contents |
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BM: This is a bit like dashing through a dense forest and asking me which trees
I like best.
NT: The successes in my mind are measured in the incredible number of customers
who email us after they've received the product and state in glowing terms how
much they love it and how much nicer it is than they expected. Also the many
customers who thank us for our good service.
TM: The most obvious success seems to be the high reorder rate I get once people
to find my site. It's funny because looking back over the order history log,
I will get a single piece order from a new customer, and then 10 days later
I'll receive an order for 3-4 pcs from that same customer. It seems that the
first is a test, and when it comes through as they hoped they jump back in with
much more confidence.
GB: Reaching buyers who would probably never have seen my work in person. Reaching
buyers from all over the world.
NB: When I started, I didn't think custom jewelry would ever sell on the net.
Because that turned out to be wrong, I do not have to keep a large inventory
or gear up for special seasons. And, it is still fun!
DR: Every sale is a success - I publish everything I do on the WWW.
TMS: for our other trade of collectable glass paperweights.
BV: We are able keep contact with the retail collectors of our work, and hopefully
increase our sales at the next show
AF: orders from Japan
BJ: It sold a piece in the first day I had it up and officially running. I sell
way more the USA than I do to Canada, also a greater percentage of American
customers use online payment.
RS: Detailed pictures and description of items. Also larger print on site for
easy reading. And a satisfaction guarantee, 60 day return policy.
SP: 1) YOU found us! 2) We have developed some wonderful long-term relationships
with customers. Now here's a story for you: an art teacher in Alberta bought
a piece of jewellery from us 3 years ago. Once she had it in-hand and wore it,
she ordered another piece, and then another, and so it went. Meanwhile,vSandra
kept in close contact with her by e-mail, so that over time, we became friends.
This past summer, we invited her to come for a visit with us -- and she did!
She and her brother stayed with us for a few days and we had a wonderful time
showing them around Cape Breton Island, going sailing, and just generally having
a great time. 3) A number of our customers started in the same way, with one
small item. We've kept in contact by e-mail, made friends, and they buy repeatedly.
BN: Some VERY pleased customers with custom designs. (I get a lot of positive
feedback from people for the educational features of my website, and especially
the butterfly sections.)
RJ: 2 awards already won, international exposure, bring value to company's image
and finally increase in sales, remember that your website works 24/24 and 7/7
DS: The wonderful communication we have with our customers and to hear their
pleased replies when they receive their jewelry
STM: I work less, and make twice as much money.
MM: I live in Oregon, the economy has been pretty depressed here. When I started
selling on the internet I was suddenly able to sell my higher ticket items much
more readily and able to move into an even higher range. Being able to sell
to say, NYC customers at Oregon prices I could get what I needed for an item
and the customer got what they wanted at a very attractive price compared to
their local pricing.
SYW: An engagement ring with diamonds and sapphires. The customer e-mailed "...I
am so sorry to take so long in getting back to you. The ring is absolutely gorgeous
-- a real work of art. It is more beautiful than I ever had imagined...You are
our newest family folk hero..."
KR: It has facilitated people calling me to get literature or coming by my both
at shows after having looked at the site
DW: Has it paid off? We don't have a shopping cart as such but do have a contact
page for enquiries. I have never sold a piece to anyone I don't know but have
sold perhaps 6 pieces directly off the site to existing clients. Very seldom
do I receive mail from unknown site visitors, though the traffic is considerable
(but I am too lax to monitor it!) So it would seem that the effort is not worth
it: BUT, when we exhibit in Germany or London, our clients come into the room
asking where the ring from the Gallery is! SO, success after all and they are
wonderfully well informed, knowing much better than I which pieces were on the
site 6 months ago.
KH: Reaching more clients geographically.
SB: A immediate saving in time and cost in not having to send ot so many slides
and photos. (Note: Costs reduced in PR distribution/communication.
JM: I have customers/friends all over the country and in England - that is very
exciting to me, I love the interaction. Its an opportunity that I could have
no other way.
TR: The fact that I sell at all off the site. It is not really geared for sales.
MC: Very few. Ability to refer someone to the site if they want to know what
I'm up to.
JVD: It seems to work as I have already had a large distributor
contact me from europe
PZ: Selling my Belmatic watches, getting known, good advertising.
KG: It's been a "can't live without" tool for communicating visually
with remote customers. I've been doing Rhino prototype drawings and saving them
as JPGs for the site -- this means I can quickly "show" a customer
what I'm talking about, and they can save it and annotate it in a paint program
or even photoshop to "show" me the adjustments they want me to make.
This has made visual communication so much easier and clearer.
(Note: Site as communication device. Also Interaction in design process.)
AT: Most people that have ordered form my sight have expressed how happy they
were with the ease of order and the quality of the product. One Lady placed
an order for a birthday present that was to be a gift in two days from the time
of her order. She sent an email requesting the fastest possible delivery. I
did an overnight delivery from Florida to Vermont. and she was so pleased that
she sent a check well over the extra price of shipping.( nice tip)
LN: The veggiesite is a sucess, I link from there to the other sites
LE: I get all sorts of unexpected inquiries and business offers, from
gallery owners who want to carry my work, to fellow jewelers who want to know
the secrets of my astonishing bezel-setting technique :-) . I even received
an unsolicited offer to participate in an art exhibition, last month.
TEW: Being able to show jewelry to distant friends without individual mailings;
Learning a new skill.
DL: successes spring to mind, I think and others have said the site looks great!
SC: We are the number one site for most mineral related searches on the better
search engines such as Google, and we never pay for clicks. We also currently
receive over 5 million hits per month (something like 100,000 visitor sessions
per month), largely due to students learning about minerals on our site. We
are part of the coursework at several colleges and universities. We also don't
do link exchanges, yet we have several thousand links to our site.
DK: Having the website opened doors to getting my work published in two books
(ìAll Wired Up!î and ìWire in Designî) and in Lapidary
Journal. This past year I was invited to submit work to a gallery show in Vancouver
as a result of the curator seeing my website.
JS: I have had a web site for the past 7 years. Initially I had someone design
my site and then host it for me. I spent a fair amount of time finding places
on various search engines where I wanted to be listed. I used the various "list
my site", "suggest a site", etc. methods of getting my site listed.
After my site was listed for a while I started getting contacted by sites that
were jewelry specific or related, i.e.; sites that had to do with weddings,
etc., asking if I wanted to be listed on their sites. This has slowly grown
to the point that a Google search for "schwalb studio" brings up 636
results today, some being where "schwalb studio" appears on Ganoksin.com.
I have not listed my site with anyone who requires payment. I would be interested
in hearing from anyone who has paid a search engine for listing to see what
they think. My gut feeling is that it is not worth it but I certainly willing
to hear other opinions about it.
(Note: it puts you in the way of being picked, published, places you in the
pool for people looking for people like you).
SV: Thousands of people learning about my work and businesses that I never would
have otherwise reached.
What are the top three things to remember when
doing this? Survey contents |
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SL: a marketable product, a source of customers and a reliable way to getr the
site out their such as mag ads
DH: don`t expect to make a sale in the first year.
promote your site have lots of theme related content, so that the spiderbots
can find you
NT: 1. You have to do it yourself. That's just the way it is. If you have to
pay somebody else then it simply isn't going to work out.
2. Create the website that you yourself would like to see and interact with
and buy from. Don't look at a hundred sites and copy the one you like best.
Build a site you love.
3. Treat your customers, every inquiry, every email, every contact as having
vast potential, vast importance. Don't assume that your own reading of any contact
is the last word in wisdom. Treat every contact as being gold. You can't know
which contact will result in a great business relationship. You think you can
but you really can't. The people you are dealing with are running their own
problems. Don 't become part of their problems. Be a solution.
TM: 1. Maintain inventory and 2.customer satisfaction is even more important
at a distance, 3.and don't quit your day job unless you plan to spend all day
marketing your site. Getting found on the net is a mystery and an artform; marketing
is the best approach it seems.
GB: 1. Hire a professional and check their references, unless you know how to
do everything yourself.
2. Don't expect overnight success. It takes time for people to trust that you
are a reputable company.
3. Accept credit cards with a secure link or have a toll free number fro people
who want to call in their credit card info.
NB: Learn all you can about web site development BEFORE you even purchase a
domain and especially BEFORE you hire a web designer.
Learn all you can about internet marketing and search engine requirements -
don't depend on the developer unless you are willing to pay a lot extra for
that expertise as well.
Learn about maintenance costs and, if you are going to do it yourself, purchase
the best software available. It will save enormously in the end and cost exorbitantly
in the short run.
DR: Be unique - give people more than they expect. Graphics sell tings.
Giving people lots of options does take up time but it also is what appeals
to my customers.
You can't make things easy and force people to buy what you want to sell...
you must sell what people want to buy.
BV: That it will take a much larger commitment than expected. I am not sure
that we would have been able to do this at an earlier stage in our careers.
At that point we could barely keep our heads above water with production and
selling.
I know we could not do this if we were not a full team. While I have put the
countless hours on the computer, Fred has had to do the major production.
I doubt that many studio jewelers will be able to afford - either the time commitment,
or the money to hire someone to do it for them. There are many commercial jewelry
sites but very few - fine art jewelry sites.
AF: answer e-mail as fast as possible. complete the orders properly
BJ: A web site is a great sales tool and catalogue
A web site won't sell a lot directly through the site
Be very careful of who does your programming
RS: Clear descriptive pictures, and what a buyer would want to know about the
product being sold. To be able to return an item without any reason or questions.
SP: 1) It takes a long time for search engines to pick you up; 2) When someone
e-mails you, they expect immediate response; 3) Viewers won't wait for slow
downloads.
BN: Make it fast loading, easy to navigate and relevant. Glitz can be a negative.
Come across honest and yourself. Offering education is a big plus.
RJ: You have to be completely involved, go to other websites and check what
you like and don't like, keep it simple (we are even working on a simpler version
of ravior.com)
DS: Be careful, give good value, listen to your your customer.
STM: NUMBER ONE, (IN CAPITOL LETTERS!!) You must spend money on getting people
to your site. We do not advertize, but we have spent a lot of time and money
learning how search engines rank websites and have designed ours to rank high
up on the list. It doesn't really matter if your website comes up in the top
100 you need to be in the top 10 or 20.
2. I think it's helpful to have a very defined niche. Marketing a
broad range of jewelry I think would be much harder. In particular, I think
wedding jewelry is a good match for the internet, as young, internet savy, affluent
buyers are searching for rings online.
3. It is very important to "credentialize" yourself on your website.
It can't just be a sales pitch. Prospective customers have to see you're the
real deal. You must inform them of your work, its uniqueness, and get them to
believe in you as an artist and person.
MM: Because your customers can't see and handle your work as they would at a
show it is crucial to have the best possible photos The site should be extremely
easy to navigate.My site uses small but very clear photos - one shot, one size
which eliminates the need to keep clicking on thumbnails and load, reload
SYW: This advice is for doing custom work over the internet. Be realistic in
the turn-around time for the piece, be very clear about the estimate (is there
any play there?), and do a lot of communicating with words, sketches, and pictures.
Get some professional help unless you're a web designer.
KR: Consider design and function - do some homework before beginning. Consider
how much time you want to devote to this it can be time consuming or not. Put
good quality photos up or none at all - poor quality photos ruin the impression
you make to customer's. Make the site easy to use for people - some are very
confusing.
DW: Computers do not frighten me, except when they don't work the way I imagine,
at which point I lose more hair than my scalp can endure; it is therefore preferable
to instruct a specialist to do the site. Programmes are developing so fast and
are so expensive, that a good site requires too much investment. At the same
time, it must be fast and simple to use for the novice visitor and, my own pet
hate, THE HOME PAGE NEEDS AN INTRODUCTION TO THE SITE! I go mad when confronted
with a name and nothing else to welcome me, leaving me to guess where the button
is to continue!
KH: Design, accessibility, & keep the site simple (easy to maneuver
through)
SB: Keep it simple- the site must be easy to navigate. Make sure you have the
copy right to use the images of your work, or get permission. Be clear what
you want out of the site (who your audience is).
JM: #1, it is important to be completely honest, reliable, and responsive to
your customers.
#2, its a lot of work, there are no magic bullets
#3, its important to learn how to build your site so that it will rank highly
on the search engines.
TR: Talk (ear to ear) to the client before shipping. trust my intuition about
posible fraudulent sales. Do not bend over to far for the hope of a sale.
KG: Keep it simple -- don't create a monster that you can't maintain yourself
and keep up to date with a minimum of effort.
Keep it safe -- be paranoid about security and make sure that you aren't the
source of customers' woes -- you don't want to have to tell them that YOU are
the source of the leak of their credit card info!
Keep it clear -- communicate your products and your work clearly. Give your
customers multiple ways to find what they are looking for, and keep the graphics
and high-bandwidth stuff to the necessary minimums. A jewelry site, of necessity,
needs to have lots of photos of your work -- so don't clutter up your user interface
with loads of other graphics that will take hours to download. You can do an
amazing number of things with simple text and table cell colors, so be creative
and be respectful of your customers' bandwidth needs.
AT: I get taken sometimes but of the most part I find people to be good. If
you feel that the product ordered does not fit the demographic area wait till
the order clears the Credit Card Company or the check clears the bank before
shipping. Beware of custom orders from the net. Unless you really understand
what the client wants.
LN: To make all pages easy acessable from all pages
LE: 1. Don't pay out the nose. My limited experience is that the majority of
jewelry artists do only a small percentage of their business off their website.
It is a nice adjunct to one's marketing strategy, but it is a mistake to place
all of one's eggs in the internet basket, and it is a costly mistake to pay
several thousand dollars for website design. I could teach anyone of average
intelligence to design their own website in an afternoon.
2. Don't pimp the thing up with all sorts of flash media, javascript effects,
etc. Keep it simple. The fancy dancy stuff which many folks find irresistable
when designing sites are counter-productive; they are distracting, they increase
the download time (a major failing for a commercial website) and some customers
will likely have software problems viewing the special effects.
3. Ask yourself why people will visit your site, and come up with a plausible
answer. Incorporate informational pages into your site, host a newsgroup, or
do something to make people want to visit your site and keep coming back.
DD: do not put up a poorly done site just to have something online. and if y
ou can not keep it updated, keep it to just one page with your contact information.
a bad site with broken links or pictures or inaccurate information is worse
than no site at all. think of it as turning in a resume with misspellings and
cross outs.
TEW: Frustration in getting the host to work (had to solve the problem myself,
eventually); pride at seeing how good my pieces looked on line; learning a lot
about websites and photography.
JB: Sell your self, Sell your self, Sell your self
DL: You will not see action for a long time, possibly a year. It will cost more
than you're told. It is only one way to promote your work, it may end up being
just reference for stores, people who might want to buy from you in person.
People have a hard time visualizing jewelry even from nice photos unless they
can feel it in their hands.
SC: Educational content tends to generate incoming links, which should pay off
in the long run.
DK: Clear and easy navigation is absolutely key! Someone surfing your site should
not have to go more than two clicks to get to the information they want.
Don't bother with getting involved in link exchanges ñ most often itís
a "link farm", which will not help your ranking on the search engines,
and may even hurt you.
Have clear pictures ñ include ìclose upî shots for work
that is very detailed.
SV: 1. Think it thru before embarking on a site. Not only think it thru but
map it out on paper from how the links will work, to what functionality you
want, how the ordering will work, what it's going to look like, note every logo,
thumbnail and image you need to produce. The better planned a site is the faster
it will go and and the less expensive it will end up being.
2. Don't expect to get wealth off a web site.
3. Educate yourself before you start hiring people, do your homework and interview
carefully. Shop around for web people and isps.
Have you ever been hacked, and if so what happened?
Survey contents |
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SL: no
DH: No
BM: Hacked ... no. I'm very cautious.
JL: No
NT: We work on Macintosh platform with a firewall which it seems nobody is interested
in hacking. No viruses, no bugs, no problems. You pay a measly amount more for
this and it is worth it. Everyone I know running Windows is calling a consultant
at least once a month. I get a consultant every so often to create stuff in
my software when the learning curve for me is steeper than I want to deal with.
That's once or twice a year.
TM: No, but my host has been and it's caused a few insignificant outages.
NB: Thankfully, no.
DR: Virus - lost a month and half.
TMs: Yes, they changed our index page to let us know and that was it.
AF: No
BJ: no (thank a god)
RS: No, I haven't been hacked, but been copied.
SM; No, how would I know?
SP: No
BN: No
RJ: No
DS: No
STM: No
MM: no, and I hope I don't ever have to find out
SYW: No
KR: No
KH: No
SB: No
JM: No
TR: No, I have taken false card though, and it is a difficult situation. to
say the least.
MC: No
PZ: No
KG: Just the one DOS attack mentioned earlier. It was quickly detected by the
ISP and the hosting company and we rode it out with very little overall impact.
AT: No not hacked, But I did have a scammer capture my email address and sent
lots of spam through my system. Needless to say Change your password every 45
days.
LN: No
LE: Never been hacked, that I know of, but many folks who have been hacked do
not know it. Only the most malicious hacking, or the most unskilled, is immediately
detected. Hacking a PC and using it's hard drive for your own storage space,
or using it as a zombie box for further online exploits, is not as easily detected.
DD: No
TEW: Not yet.
DL: No
SC: Many times. Only once was our site "taken over", and that in a
mild way that was easily fixed. Most hacks were to either use our server to
send spam, or to be a messaging host. However, that did cause a lot of time
and energy to be expended, as well as purchasing and installing Black Ice Defender
for Server to prevent future occurances, and finding a secure email server that
would not support spammers. Note that we do not store credit card info on our
servers, so our customers were never at risk.
DK: No
SV: No
Is the internet a main sales outlet for you?
Survey contents |
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SL: No
DH: Yes
BM: No
JL: Right now - yes
NT: The internet is our main sales outlet.
TM: Not at this point; it takes too long and I can't give it my full attention.
GFB: No, but the cost of building a site and maintaining it are so low compared
to printed advertising and trade shows, that it is well worth the investment.
NB: Yes
DR: Yes
TMS" NO
AF: No
BJ: Yes
RS: Yes, 100%
SM: No. It is an advertising/promotional vehicle for my business.
SP: Yes, an important one.
BN: No
RJ: No
DS: No
STM: Yes
MM: currently sole outlet
SYW: About 10%
KR: No
KH: No
SB: No - but maybe one day. I tried an on line gallery - but not to much success-
I think most people who collect the kind of work I make, want to touch and see
the pieces first hand
JM: Yes
TR: No, but is a main tool to use with all the other "outlets"
MC: No
PZ: No
KG: Yes
AT: No but it is about 45% of the total
LN: No
LE: No
DD: No
TEW: Not yet.
JB: Yes
DL: No
SC: While we had 3 mall stores at one point (with up to 25 employees), for the
past 6 years the Internet has been our only outlet.
DK: No, most sales still come through galleries/craft shows
SV: No. Just augmentation.
>Can you describe a .com business?
DH: it works well for me, because I`m a shy hermit and express myself better
in the written word than in person
MB: No
JL: It is an extenstion of or coordinated with print advertising?
NT: A .com business is a business like any other. The only difference that I
see is that the customer seems to assume that he/she will be greeted with a
certain corporate face. They are nearly always surprised to receive real human
response. This creates trust. Swift and frank replies to inquiries also builds
trust.
Tm: It's like having a retail store in a total blackout,or having a phone with
no directory or operators; other than advertising, finding a single store seems
to be a real crapshoot with search engines.
GB: It is an extenstion of or coordinated with print advertising? Yes
NB: Wow, that's a loaded question. Depends on the marketing strategy, the business
plan, and your long-term goals. Actually, it is very similar to owning a brick
and mortar or selling to galleries and/or doing shows - just employing different
tools of the trade.
DR: No
BV: It is an extenstion of or coordinated with print advertising? At this time
our only print advertising is in coordination with WholesaleCrafts.com., thus
it would be an extension.
AF: any business on the net
RS: My ".COM" business is making Western Style bolo ties.
SP: No
(stopped asking this question)
>It is an extention of or coordinated with print advertising?
Survey contents |
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SL: SEE ABOVE!! yes!!!!
DH: I`ve never done print advertising yet. I would think it more the other way
around. you have a website, and then you advertise in print to get people to
your site and make yopur sales
BM: No
NT: We advertise in the major trade publication for our sector and our website
is prominent there. Most wholesale customers go to the website and then call.
We also advertise in a retail magazine associated with our niche but the response
is somewhat marginal.
GB: Yes
NB: Again, depends on your long-term goals. I don't wholesale, but my guess
is that would require print for long-term wholesale success. Although, I do
get a lot of calls and emails from galleries asking for my work, so perhaps
gallery buyers are beginning to use the net to find new sources.
AF: No
BJ: Not currently, but I will likely start throwing some printed advertising
into the mix in the near future.
RS: I do no printed advertising.
SM: Yes, I recently bought classified advertising in four jewelry magazines.
The ads come out this spring.
SP: Probably
BN: Yes, all of my print includes my website address.
RJ: of course, regulart adverts
DS: Yes, our URL goes on all of our print pieces.
STM: It used to be, but we are maxed out on orders, and do not need to advertize
to get more.
MM: we do advertise in print in 2 periodicals targeting our niche market of
gay/lesbian commitment rings when we did shows we always had flyers or bus.
cards with our web address on it
SYW: We mention the website in whatever advertising we do, but we do very little
print advertising. Our business is mostly word-of-mouth.
KR: I do have print advertising and people contact me thru my site.
KH: Yes
SB: Yes
JM: It can be, especially if you also have a storefront. I do no advertising,
only work on getting good listings on the search engines, especially Google.
TR: I try and keep all of my print material in line with the design and flow
of the site, it really goes both ways. the package needs to be complete!
MC: No
PZ: No
KG: I do very little traditional print advertising, due to the nature of my
business. My work is very one-on-one with customers who are looking for personalized,
customized service.
AT: No, and most web advertising done does not work or is a rip-off. I find
word of mouth my best advertising
LN: No
LE: Yes, with my business cards.
DD: It supplements it.
TEW: No.
JB: Coordinated with.
DL: it's not coordinated with print, put a part of my advertising
SC: No other advertising.
DK: To some extent: I put the url for my website on every piece of paper, box,
email
SV: Yes, when I advertise in print I always put my url(s).>Does it exend
your advertising dollars?
SL: absolutly
DH: I`m not at that point yet
BM: No
NT: The places we can advertise effectively are very limited. Advertising is
always more effective for us when it sends people to our website.
TM: I believe print ads would be beneficial, but I will not invest in them until
i have more time to devote to the site. My experiments with internet ads were
all but worthless.
GB: Yes
NB Yes, since I don't do any :) However, due to the anticipated big changes
in the major search engines this year, I will probably have to start doing sponsored
ads in various engines.
AF: No
BJ: It really helps keep my costs down and visibility up
SM: It's a great advertising vehicle.
SP: No. not ours.
BN: Yes
RJ: not really
DS: Yes, since I do all the work myself.
STM: Yep
MM: definitely, including if you have people subscribe to receive email announcements
SYW: I would guess it couldn't but help!
KR: It seems to.
KH: No
SB: No
TR: Indeed, slide scanning for image updates, photoshop for manipulation, web
hosting. This is all a legitimate advertising expense.
JB: Yes.
SV: SV: Absolutely:
(stopped asking this question)
>What is the primary use/function of your web
site? Survey contents |
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SL: to reach a physically unreachable market and to get my new work out there!
DH: virtual showroom, store
BM: Sales
JL: Show examples
TM: Selling jewelry
GB: Advertising
NB: To find new customers, keep existing customers and to give me an avenue
to sell my work.
DR: Sales
BV: We hope to develop a sales market. Secondary functions would be to contact
known buyers to develop individual sales.
AF: Exposure
BJ: it serves as a catalogue and the basis for design discussions.
RS: To sell bolo ties.
SM: Again, it promotes my web site, books, art cruises, and soon it will promote
my instructional DVD.
SP: To sell jewelry.
BN: Commerce and education, as well as PR
RJ: a Ravior showcase in your house
DS: To expose our jewelry to a bigger audience, and to communicate with more
customers.
STM: Sales
MM: showroom/gallery for our jewelry and our custom designing service
SYW: As a catalog, so that people can see the kind of work Jude does. We really
hope to get orders for Jude's designer line (pieces for which she has rubber
molds), but people seem more to come to us desperate for someone who can create
a custom piece for them.
(Note that the net provides access to the custom designer (to the service) for
peolple who do not have access-none in area-strength is a dissolution of geography
as a factor)
KR: A way for existing wholesale and retail customers to reach me, know what
shows I'm doing etc.
KH: Advertising
SB: Archive of work.
JM: To sell jewelry - I also have some information pages pertaining to gemstones.
TR: I use the site for everything. I no longer give phone or address on
mailings, they can find that info on the site if they need it. I tell existing
galleries/ potential galleries/ clients etc... to use the site to find out what
I will be doing next, what wards or inclusions I have recieved, booth numbers
at shows. I also have an extensive gallery listing of galleries that I work
with, it lists contact info with names by region or alpabeticaly. This is good
for galleries and other craftspeople to find out where I am at, and where they
may wnat to show etc...
MC: As a gallery.
PZ: The possibility for people to buy in.
KG: Customer communication and portfolio.
AT: What is the primary use/function of your web site? It started as a hobby
and Grew. Now it is devoted to sales.
LN: Like a brochure, advertising
LE: Online sales.
DD: - additional exposure outside of my region and as a supplement to my other
branding and marketing materials/presence
TEW: It is a catalog.
JB: Sales.
DL: primary use / function-- reference for stores future & current, and
people who may have ordered something & see website and change order , etc.
SC: Sales.
DK: Itís a typical "brochure" site
SV: Promotion, pr, then sales. It's basically mail order. The catalog is just
on the internet rather than in your hand.>Is print the gateway?
SL: yes
BM: No
NT: Print is more and more only one gateway. The internet now, of itself, is
much more of a gateway than print. The gateway is google.
NB: No
BV: Only one of the many.
BJ: No
RS: description in print has to be tied to a good detailed picture.
SP: No
BN: Search engines and print both.
DS: No, the search engines are where we get most of our customers. It takes
a long time to get good placement on the search engines and directories. It
is also easy to drop in placement if you are not careful or if they change the
way they figure placement.
STM: No. we have some printed info, but don't even send it out any more. It's
much more cost effective to just refer them (back) to the website.
MM: in a couple of instances, mostly people find us through searches on the
major search engines
KR: It seems that most inquires are a result of advertising -some people find
it by looking for Mokume
SB: Yes
JM: NO
TR: Yes, I travel alot and give out a lot of paper, all roads lead to the website.
KG: Definitely NOT.
(Note: two approaches, all web, and the 'physical model'.)
AT: Yes
LN: No
DD: In person is.
JB: In a small percentage of sales.
DL: print gateway to my site, no my mouth is.....but I have the web address
on all ads, postcards, letters, emails etc
DK: Business cards, mostly, but Iím also linked through craft related
websites i.e. Metal Arts Guild (when it was working), Ganoksin, Arts & Crafts
Index
SV: No
What further advice would you give a neophyte?
Survey contents |
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BM: Read read read.
NT: Know who you want to sell to, who your customers are, where your market
is.
Know whether you're selling to mostly men or women, what age group you should
focus on, everything you can nail down about who your customers are
TM: If you want to make a living from the internet, it is like any business,
startup costs, and time invested will be high, and return will in the long term.
Customers still need to be wooed; advertising and customer service are essential,
if not more important than for a regular retail store.
NB: If they want to start out small to see "how it goes", then they
need to learn all they can about the web, internet marketing, copy writing,
search engine optimization, gem and jewelry photography, log file analysis,
and web user practices. Then, they need to purchase the best (usually most expensive)
software to help them do the job. Buying cheaper (usually meaning affordable)
software will probably end up wasting both their money and enormous amounts
of their time in the end. They need to decide on their niche market and stick
with it - not try to spread their product and themselves too thin (best for
them -and more importantly- the focus of their site).
BJ: By way of an adendum, always include a disk with the latest version of all
the programming as a condition of any purchase of programming services and a
prerequisite for final payment on programming. It is your ticket to independance.
RS: Most every person in sales on the internet should know how to write a simple
web page, get pictures onto the internet and do simple web page art work. When
I finish a bolo tie, I can write the web page, take a photo and have the bolo
tie on the internet in 30 minutes from start to finish.
SM: Well, use www.itsmysite.com to build a site. It's VERY easy!
SP: 1) Learn to service your own web site; 2) Make your site easy to navigate;
3) Host with a reliable server; 4) Learn to register with search engines yourself,
since you may need to perform this task many times.
BN: Learn to do it yourself. There is no substitute for the immediacy and flexibility.
RJ: read the maximum about it before you start, do not just trust anyone and
start-off by checking all implications, see what you can do yourself but admit
what you can't
DS: Be sure you have the time and the skills or the money. Ask your self if
you really have the time to do a good job or if you have the money to pay someone
else to do it for you. It will take time, nothing is worse than a web site that
is not kept up to date.
STM: Not really, just more of the same. The three above are very important.
I see a lot of people build a website and then do nothing to register it with
the search engines. There is a huge amount of competition out there, and if
a person doesn't find your site, it's certian that you won't ever see any of
their money.
One other thing. You have to watch out for bogus buyers. We now have a policy
of taking credit cards from the US, Canada, and western Europe only. Any orders
from Asia or Eastern Europe must be paid in advance by direct bank transfer.
We frequently get requests for something (usually one of our more expensive
designs) from small time internet crooks working from these places. They are
usually easy to spot, because they are not concerned with sizing issues, don't
talk about their partner, and offer their credit card number almost immediately.
We've had a few more sophisticated thiefs try, but never actually lost merchandise.
We also make all of our customers actually sign a credit card reciept
and imprint their card number on the slip. This assures us that they are in
fact in possession of the card and we can compare their signature with the one
on their drivers licence, a copy of which we also require.
Devote equal amounts of time to website construction and registration. A great
website is no good at all if no one finds it.
MM: keep it simple, clear, clean - think about it like you might think
about your booth - attractive but not overpowering you want people to look at
your work not think how cool or clever you are with web design
SYW: Give as much info as possible on the pieces you're selling. Otherwise you'll
be answering the same questions over and over again via e-mail.
(ask a bunch of people who don't know jewelery what they would want to know
about your jewellery on line)
KR: Work with someone who has some experience in websites and has a feel for
artists - you want an aesthetic presentation that also works well technically.
Don't overload the site with too much work. It seems from talking to others
that having more than 30-40 photos total get too laborious for people to go
thru. Have some do phots thatunderstand what shows up on websites, it si different
than having jury photos done.
DW: We are a small outfit, making top shelf product for sale to a
personal market spread over a wide area; for us, the web is an ideal
communication tool to keep these clients informed and to maintain their taste
for our work. It saves on printing and mail-out costs but requires regular maintenance
(the SNAG site has about 6 articles referring to 2000/01, not a good look) and
updating, again demanding considerable effort. When supported by a well kept
(email) database, it is a very powerful tool.
KH: I took a design class/seminar and I find these are very helpful.
SB: I wouldn't build a site with only one purpose in mind. I think a site can
be educational as well as commercial.
JM: You need a site that is easy on the eyes and yet is dramatic - professional
looking. The background should be plain in my opinion so that reading the text
is easy - color choice should also be easy on the eyes.
TR: Just get something up, worry about modifyingit later. Make a statement with
your image, your whole image. even if you are not there "yet"
AT: Keep it simple and sharp, Stay away from all the flash and music. That just
deters the person from searching the sight. Make sure all links work.
LN: Take away junk, backgrounds, stupid effects of all kind, either its java
or flash. Let people click themselves.
LE: Check out the PayPal shopping cart program. Very easy to use. Looks professional.
Low cost. And anything which you can do to make purchasing from your site easier
is a good idea.
DD: newbies - this is your branding image and presence; hire a professional
or someone with experience or shop around for a professional looking template
to purchase.
TEW: Use FrontPage - forget about learning coding unless you have nothing better
to do.
JB: Read all you can about selling on web but don't believe most of it
DL: have a pro do the site, research, research,
research......it may not be worthwhile for you to have a site, or much more
than a page somewhere, depending on what you do. Certified diamonds, metals
bands choices on wedding rings sites probably do well!! cheap jewelry may do
well, mid range atypical metal or other jewelry will not have many sales. If
you are unknown, no one will shop unless it's books, cds, dvds, clothes. that's
why I'm also on guild.com. where I do have sales. Integrity and reputation matter.
If you are not known, there's lots of fly by night web stuff.
SC: To get attention, give something away, OR sell something popular at significantly
lower prices than the competition. Note that WE give away essentially free information
- that is our big draw, and is what results in our popularity, hits, search
engine placement, etc. You must ask yourself - why would a potential consumer
come to my site (versus a thousand competitors on the Internet)? And then ask,
why would they buy from me versus my competitors?
JH: On your site you must decide if you are going to have
live goods for sale, or as a picture gallery to invite custom work, or both.
The picture gallery concept is easy, as we have pictures of past work. If you
are showing live goods, have a good number of pieces. Have you ever gone into
a custom jewelry store to see nice decor and a case with three pieces of jewelry.
(none of which you like) Now what? Same concept on your site. If you have a
retail store, you can use the same inventory for your site. Be prompt to remove
photos on your site when they sell in your store. Transfer them to a "gallery
of past work" on your site. Photos are fun to look at. Small scale photography,
without highlights or shadows, is not real difficult. Nothing worse than a bad
photo of a fine piece. There is one very important issue to consider when planning
a site. It amounts to having another job. Not only do you have to keep up with
what you were doing before the site, now you have to maintain the site. Answering
e-mail, taking, adding and deleting pictures. How do you want to spent your
time. VERY IMPORTANT. Are you going to work at the bench or manage your web
site? The same question applies to building your site. Free advice is have it
built. The last thing that comes to mind on building a site is to keep the
"about me" page short and to the point. Subjects to AVOID include,
where you were born, where you grew up, where you went high school, your wife(unless
she is an active part of your business), your kids, NO picture of you dog or
cat, how metal work is helping you find your "inner spirit" on your
quest for spiritual enlightenment, and what ever else might be irrelevant to
why a visitor has come to your site. Your visitor has come to see your work,
and hopefully buy something. With the number of sites to look at, you have about
3 seconds to keep a visitors attention. Have a user friendly menu on each page
and good photos of your work.
DK: Keep it simple, clear, clean ñ as much as itís tempting to
use all sorts of fancy gimmicks ie. Scrolling text, javascript images, keep
them to a minimum - they slow down how fast your site loads. You have about
10 seconds to grab the attention of the person visiting your site and get them
to click through to a subpage. After that, theyíre likely to move on.
Forget about adding music to your site! Itís just a waste of bandwidth.
Make sure there is an image of your work on the home page near the top of the
page ñ donít clutter up the home page with text! Too often I have
seen sites covered in verbal diarrhea ñ telling me their life story rather
than giving me a clear idea of what theyíre selling. Images should load
quickly ñ i.e. try to keep them under 50K.
Technical Tips Survey
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NB: Learn before you try!!! Or, plan to spend very big bucks for a reputable
and verifiably proven designer. Inexpensive college kids with great software
skills can build a absolutely beautiful site that won't rank well enough to
be found on any search engine and won't meet the expectations of even the unseasoned
web buyer. You can, however, find and hire a college student to create decent
copy if you don't have those skills.
DR: Get WSFTP, WINZIP, learn how to write simple html pages (not all browsers
support advanced features).
Graphics sell - good lighting is critical. The new digital cameras are fantastic.
Keep graphics reasonably small (compression is a must) and also keep web pages
reasonably small. If they take more than aminute to load you've lost most of
your customers. But don't compromise on quality. If people like what they see
will put up with the download times.
TMS: We find that to sell jewellery off the internet it needs to be from a well
known company or designer otherwise the internets only real use in the jewellery
retailing trade is for promotion and as a place where we can exhibit pictures
of our jewellery for customers to view before they place a comission. It seems
they like to handle the jewellery and see it in the flesh if it is a designer
piece rather than having the impersonal experience of buying it online.
BV: Perhaps this journey would not be as difficult to a younger, computer savvy
generation. Fred had only a basic working knowledge of computers, 2 years ago
when I bought the computer my first lesson was ñ how to turn it on.
BJ: Go with a design where you manage the data. Paying someone to u/l and then
remove every item on an item by item basis sends your costs through the roof.
Also, if you do it yourself, you know it will get done in a timely fashion.
Bn: Find a good program that you can use easily, and preferable one that you
can get advice on.
SB: Try to make sure it is cross platform (Mac /PC friendly)
JM: I don't like to scroll so I make my pages to fit on the screen. I believe
contact information should appear on every page.The design needs to be eye catching.
There is lots of free information on the net concerning metatags and other ways
to enhance your site.
TR: I am the neophyte here!!
MC: Don't build any expectations of internet sales.
KG: Technical neophytes should work with someone experienced in building good,
clean USER-focused websites. These are almost never "ad agencies,"
whose sites are usually focused on "making an impact" and "establishing
a brand identity." Both of those are important goals, but the website needs
to have a very clear line of communication with the precise set of customers
you want to reach. Working with an agency to build a site is likely to lead
you into the path of "coolness" rather than a solid foundation of
good, basic functionality. (You can add the coolness later!)
JB: That is the subject for several books
DL: research, research, research.....use your logo, create a tag line, include
all your contact info, also your address people want to see that you really
are in business, search the search engines for metatags words, use unusual so
you stand out when they search for you.
JH: There a lots of sites that don't follow the format for a money making e-business.
An excellent resource for web site building and E-commerce is www.wilsonweb.com/wmt/.
You can subscribe to a free weekly newsletter that deals with the technical
part of it all.
DK: Remember the two click rule - good navigation is key to having a good website.
If the visitor gets lost because you forgot to add a link back to your home
page, then you've lost a potential sale.
SV: This is where you need to do your homework and educate yourself like I was
saying above
What is important about a background? Survey
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JL: that it adds to the overall NT: Background should be background, just be
there like that, not stand out so that somebody says "That's a great background!"
The background should hold
the graphic data in a manner that puts it forward as the main thing. Of course
my backgrounds are sometimes a little over the top too but I'm working with
metaphysical jewelry and my backgrounds can be suggestive of the ultimate origin
and symbology of the particular jewelry piece. If you're designing the page
yourself it's fun to just let yourself get carried away sometimes. See what
happens.
TM: Must be pleasing visually.
NB: If you mean background for the web site, don't use orange, or purple and
pink, or any of those "silky" looking backgrounds - shudder!
DR: Don't make it cluttered - you want to be able to read the text. Everything
on your page should upport and enhance what you are trying to sell.
BV: We have gone though several ìlooksî for the site. We had to
find a look that we felt reflected the quality of the work.
AF: I would guess what ever you like on background, I don't think the fast java
pages any get more or less hits.meta tags are #1thing
BJ: Background should be pleasant, but absolutely not distract from the product.
They should also be small and load quickly.
RS: Have it light, cheerful and not overbearing.
SP: 1) If it's too busy, downloading is slow; 2) A busy background can detract
from your product; 3) Can make copy difficult to read.
BN: Needs to lend class but be unobtrusive. Must load quickly.
RJ: before doing your website you need to work on your company's corporate identity
!!! color scheme, company Moto, who you are and where are you going
DS: Keep it simple, most amateur sites have very confusing backgrounds
STM: I like black because it make the photos stand out more. USE LARGE GOOD
QUALITY PHOTOS. A lot of jewelry sites have small lifesize photos that look
like crap on their sites. Use large jpegs that really let the person see the
piece.
KR: make sure your work shows up against the background some sites you can't
see the photos or text very well - this turns people off.
SB: Avoid sponsor aderts and jarring graphics.
TR: I vacillate between what is best, I use black, but I have two sites in develpment
now that experiment with lighter colors.
MC: It should not interfere. My new website removes or minimises all
backgrounds
KG: As with jewelry photos, your background should not distract from the photos
of your work, but rather should complement it. I personally do not like sites
where the jewelry appears to "float" on the background. I prefer a
clean, light-colored, solid background on which the photos of the work (with
visible boundaries) appear. From a usability standpoint, it is much clearer.
And backgrounds should NEVER have patterns in them unless the pattern is so
subtle as to be invisible -- in which case, what's the point? Patterns are very
distracting and will appear dramatically differently on different monitors;
they can look utterly horrible.
Finally, NEVER USE SOUND on your page as a default when the page loads. When
you're tempted, think about it this way. Here's this poor guy sitting in a cubicle
at work, supposed to be working but really thinking about buying his girlfriend
a piece of jewelry. So he clicks on your site and suddenly all of his co-workers
(and his boss) hear music or sound effects coming from his cubicle, as he frantically
clicks to leave your page, close his browser and STOP THE NOISE! His cover's
been blown and now everyone knows he wasn't working. Do you think he's going
to come back to your site?
AT: If you must use them make sure it does not distract the viewer.
LN: Delicate, not noisy, ant it must be in harmony with the things you wanna
show.
LE: It should be consistent with the design of your jewelry, the design of your
site overall, and the message you are trying to get across. It should also be
easy on the eyes. Example- A black and neon green website design might go well
with very techno or indy jewelry, but it will seem incongruous alongside organic
looking handmade art jewelry. And it should not be so graphic-intensive that
it slows the download > time.
DD: Dark backgrounds make it hard to read text.
Read some of the books available about what makes a successful web site. Don't
reinvent the wheel and do read the advice professionals have written.
TEW: It must be easy/pleasant on the eyes; it must not be distracting (not busy,
moving, etc.); it must provide enough contrast that text and pictures are very
clear; there must be a fair amount of "white" space so that important
items, text points, etc. stand out.
DL: don't use black, it's hard to see anything on it, don't use wildly bright,
it'll detract from jewelry. tone it down, there's many great sites out there,
look around and get a web designer who mimicks your tastes and styles.
SC: Having a consistent theme helps to define an identity and ultimately a brand.
DK: Keep it neutral. You want people to focus on your jewellery, not your background.
Ideas about font, pagewidth, contact information, design,
metatags etc?
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SL: Have a pro who is ARTISTIC graphicly build it so it looks unique , is fast
and cool! Do not build a cheap cookie cutter do it yourself site
DH: designing websites is easier as it seems. all it is, is to learn another
piece of software. to begin with, focus on your 5 most important keywords. make
them show up everywhere repeatedly. have contact info on every page. make sure
your font is easy to read and in good contrast to your backround color.I`m fond
of pretty backgrounds, but often they get too busy and interfere with the page
content. I like to put a nice backgound on, then overlay it with a table which
has a solid color background. that way you get a nice border, and a clearly
readable content. best of both worlds Content is very important to the ranking
of a web page. make sure, there`1s lots of it, and that it has your keywords
(which you need to put into your tags) over and over in it.
BM: Too complex and time consuming for me to get into. Sorry about that.
NT: All this stuff has to be learned. It is important that you realize that
not every computer is going to "see" your site the way you set it
up. You need to look at your site on other computers, those of friends and relatives,
libraries and internet cafes. I guarantee you'll be surprised at least sometimes.
Contact information: ever page need contacts links of course. Maybe I don't
pay enough attention to this? I have the email link on every page. Does the
phone need to be there too?
TM: Must be pleasing and the website must be intuitive, since the majority of
this generation hasn't had the training that the younger generations have.
NB: So, if your audience is hell bent to make fortune, my advice about web sites
is slanted differently although my experience with search engine optimization
is right on if they want to make $1 or $100,000 from a web site. If they want
$100K, my first piece of advice is to find a good web designer/developer who
has the requisite, and verifiable, SEO -and- SEM skills.
NB: You must have contact information on every page - phone and physical address
- if you want your audience to trust you with their credit card.
Meta tags are dead. Add them only after your titles, descriptions and copy is
finished and tested for relevancy and listings. Make sure, though, that you
choose right keywords that apply to your product and style. Net copy is different
than magazine copy. Your visitor wants more in depth info about what you offer
because he is there NOW and, if he has to come back or call - he's gone to another
site - usually forever.
Use Verdana font as studies show it is easiest for most people to read on a
monitor. Use fancy fonts only for your logo.
Page width should be fluid so it fits any screen size.
Don't use pre-made templates (FrontPage, etc.) to design your site as that shouts,
"Mom and pop hobby site - may be gone tomorrow."
Design should compliment your product style: funky, elegant, fun, or classical.
Same with your web site communication. Some sites work well with personal pronouns,
others will founder. Part of that is due to the copy and part to the style of
the product. In other words, don't be hunky dorrie familiar if you sell 18K
gold and platinum classical or elegant jewelry, but if you sell $30 - $100 items
to a blue-collar clientele, then that may work to your advantage - if - the
copy is well written.
If you can't write, then hire a copywriter! Again, surveys show that you have
between 10-30 seconds to entice a surfer to stay after initial entry to the
site. Then you have to keep him there with easy navigation, usability and content
(good images, copy, etc.)
Do not use orange or a purple and pink color scheme or, heaven forbid, one of
those awful "silky" backgrounds!
BV: This would take another 1000 words. I am continually working, learning and
experimenting. I am now in a class to learn html so I can do a better job.
BJ: Fonts should be easy to read. Contact information should be easy, visible,
and on every page. Metatags are very imortant. A lot of programmers overlook
them assuming you will use a paid for referral service. Paid for referral services
cost a lot - particularly considering they don't yield a lot fo sales.
RS: I use a larger font for easy and speedy reading. The pictures are limited
in bandwidth so a page should load in 20 to 30 seconds.
SM: I think these are questions with book-length answers. It's helpful to have
some background in graphic design. I have a degree in visual communication from
Northwest College of Art, Poulsbo, Washington, so design decisions are based
on my knowledge and experience. But, it's all subconscious by now! When designing,
I just go with what feels right.
SP: Font: 1) Choose a font that's easy to read; 2) Choose a font that is standard
to most printers; 3) Use colour carefully to get the best contrast;
4) Use spell check.
Page width: 1) Stay fairly narrow to accomodate a variety of monitors; 2) Reading
sentences that run across the screen is difficult.
Contact information: 1) Provide an e-mail response; 2) Offer a toll-free number;
3) Put your address on your home page or some search engines won't pick you
up.
Design: 1) Research marketing techniques for web sites and design accordingly;
2) Be wary of any professional designer who doesn't have web site experience.
It could look beautiful, but might not work. Marketing a web site is quite specialized.
Metatags: 1) Use some of the words you select for metatags in your page title;
2) Keep the metatags in lower case.
BN: ALL pages must have contact info - make it EASY. Make all pages similar
in structure, but different in content. Use a font that is easy to read. Many
people still have small monitors, and more seniors are surfing every day. Bad
eyesight is the norm.
RJ: ask the professionals, but if you already have a good work on your corporate
identity everything will be easier. try to keep only one font or a maximum of
2
DS: Look at web sites that work and those that don't. It pays to check out your
competition, once again keep it simple, just because you know how to do something
fancy or tricky doesn't mean it will work for your web site. Stick to easy to
read fonts.
STM: It needs to be easy to read online, and also needs to print well.
MM: Again because this isn't an "in person" interaction I think it's
crucial to make you site personal, personable. I have gotten so many comments
from customers over the years appreciating the photo of myself an my partner
that is on the front page. I think it builds a lot of confidence to be able
to see someone, a real person attached to the site
MM: learned something recently about keywords - not to put only single words
separated by commas i.e. gold,platinum, rings, custom, jewelry - but to string
together the kind of combinations or phrases you think your customers might
look for i.e. custom jewelry, gold rings, platinum ring and so on. Try to think
like your customer - how would they describe what they are looking for.
contact info on every single page you hear different statistics but I've heard
most often that the majority of folks are still surfing using an 800x600 pixel
window. I size my pages accordingly
SB: I only give my email address as a means of first contact.
MC: I have come to view simple legible fonts with serifs as better. Font sizes
should be 12pt+ as serious jewellery clients tend to be 40+ so have degenerating
eyes.
KG: ALT tags for every image are important and font sizes should be controlled
by style sheets. This will keep them consistent throughout the site, but also
will enable visually impaired users to override your style sheet settings with
their own so they can see and navigate on your site.
Sans serif fonts are generally more readable online and have a much
"cleaner" look overall.
Your contact information should be clearly visible on EVERY page of your site,
as should your copyright info.
AT: Its a never ending fight to keep a page in the top 100. Only High priced
advertising payments to the search engine Copanies keeps sites in the top 10.
LN: Dont put anything far right, always use metatags, dont forget a little humor...
LE: Go here- http://www.wordsinarow.com/index.html
For great advice on optimizing for search engines. Other than that, remember
the kiss principle. And eschew MicroSoft FrontPage- there is too much proprietary,
non-standard stuff built in. You will like FrontPage at first, but may live
to regret your decision, especially if you have to migrate to another HTML editor.
DD: who is your customer? what is your purpose? keep it simple. most people
still have systems that don't support bells and whistles that well. if your
page takes too long to load or you have distracting songs and flashing images
that must load every time someone hits the back button to go to a page in your
site, it will get annoying and people will leave. Also, is your page hard to
read?
TEW: Font: Larger is better up to about the equivalent of 12-14 point; use simple
font for text (fancy is OK for logo or a few headings); only certain fonts show
up on the web the way you put them on your page, due to the different ways browsers
work, so use Arial or Verdana for readability. Page width: DON'T EVER make your
customers scroll sideways! Contact information: An automatic e-mailer is good,
as are automatic "tell a friend" functions
Design: Read Steve Krug's "Don't Make Me Think" about design and testing,
and why you should do it that way.
Metatags: Haven't gotten that sophisticated yet.
DL: page width should be standard, but set it for the smallest screen available
so everybody can see your work, if you create a glitch for them they will go
away and not visit again.
SC: Keep it simple, and don't assume that your customers are experts and know
how to find fancy links like drop-down menus, etc. Similarly, make sure that
all of the expected pages are there and easily found. For example, ALWAYS have
a "Home Page" link on every page.
DK: Most peopleís computers will read either Verdana, Arial or Helvetica
for sans serif fonts, and Times New Roman for a serif font. If you want to use
a fancy font, add it via a graphic. Headings should be written in a serif font,
text bodies in a sans serif font. That is the most readable format for the viewer.
Design the site so that it can be viewed on an 800x600 screen. Nothing is more
irritating that having the page run off right side of the screen. Iím
seeing a lot of sites that are designed for viewing on 1280x1024, and on the
smaller screen, the logo block ends up taking up a third or more of the screen
real estate.
Avoid using frames, if at all possible.
At the very least, list your phone number and an email address on your home
page. Some people are leery of putting full address contact info on the home
page, but it should be listed somewhere on the site. To keep from being spammed
to death because spiders go crawling through the site, set up your email as
a javascript:
<script language="JavaScript">
user ="yourname"
domain ="yourdomain"
subCon ="subject"
document.write('<a href="mailto:' + user + '@' + domain +'?subject='
+subCon+' " class="smallbodylink"' +' >Email</a>');
</script>
Link all pages back to your home page.
Include misspellings of your name in your metatags
Do you have your own server and if so why?Survey
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SL: no
DH: No
BM: Do not. Wish I did.
SL: LAST comment. Never let your site go dormant as I did as you will lose FOREVER
teh customer who kept going back and found no updates and gave up!!
Call me for clarification! I am not much of a writer but interview well!
JL: No
NT: No. For $15 a month I get the service and they have the hassle. There are
very few times our site is not up and running but of course they're not perfect.
If I was running my own server my down times would be longer.
TM: No; don't need
NB: No. I don't want to learn - and keep current - with constantly changing
security measures. A good hosting service that allows me access to the areas
I need to manage, has excellent up time (99%) and 24/7 email and phone support
is all I want. Leave the security stuff to them. I use a host that has 24/7
phone support to back me up and answer questions and one that offers Virtual
Dedicated Servers (VDS) so I can get into the nitty gritty when I want to, but
I don't have to worry about security issues .
DR: No.
BV: No. We pay a monthly fee to our IPP and found the search for the right server
was also a chore.
AF: No.
BJ: No
Rs: No.
SM: No
SP: No, we're too small.
Bn: No
RJ: No
DS: No, don't want to get involved.
STM: No
MM: No
SYW: No. It would make us more vulnerable to hackers and we're such a small
shop Jude and I), we really don't want to invest in the software and time to
maintain it.
KR: No
SB: No
JM: Do you mean do I run my own server? if so the answer is no. However; my
server is separate from my internet connection host. I found a server that is
inexpensive, provided a shopping cart and would help me with my technical questions
which are many. I'm quite satisfied with my server.
TR: No
MC: No
KG: Nope - I prefer to have a trusted and knowledgeable source maintain my server.
It's their full-time job to keep it happy and watch out for the nasties. Despite
my tecchie background, I don't tell them how to admin my server and they don't
tell me how to manage my biz. We get along just fine that way.
AT: No Why should I when there are several for that allow free access, or at
a vary small price for access.
LN: Nope.
LE: No
DD: no; not necessary and too expensive.
TEW: No. Don't know enough and don't want to take time to develop the capability.
JB: No I pay someone to make sure my site is online 24-7 it is just too expensive
to try to support a online presence for just one small site
DL: No
SC: Yes. It is cheaper in the long run. Note that it is located at a
high-bandwidth web hotel. Also, I am a web professional, so I don't need to
pay another professional to manage my site. Likewise, I wrote my own programs
instead of buying a shopping cart package (note that they did not exist when
I started).
DK: No
SV: -My sites are hosted by an isp for now. Down the road I will become my own
service provider with my own server. All things in good time.(Note a number
of couples, often a man doing the web part, the woman working, (or partner.
Thus there are inheritance, and personnell replacement issues)
Survey contents
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Some letter examples:
>Mr. Lewton-Brain,
>I have followed your work for many years and your
>dissemination of information, especially over the
>internet has helped me numerous times in my life,
>especially your book on hinges which is indispensable
>and unequaled anywhere else. So, I appreciate the
>opportunity to assist you. What follows is a brief
>description of my jewelry on the internet experience,
>I touched on as many of your questions that were
>applicable to what I do within the text. I would be
>more than happy to assist you further in this or any
>other project of yours, just let me know.
>Thanks,
>Susan
>
>
>I developed my original website, susanwaldes.com, in
>1998 after finishing school. My motivations were just
>to get my work ìout thereî to some degree. But, I
>quickly found that it served me very well as a
>pre-portfolio screening method when dealing with
>galleries. When someone was interested in my work,
>instead of sending them a package of slides and other
>expensive materials, I could refer them to my website
>to make sure that my work was a potential fit for
>their needs, thus saving everyone time and expense if
>it was not. I also found that it was a nice source of
>consumer feedback, because I only sold my work
>wholesale, I could easily become disconnected from the
>actual consumers, but the website proved a great
>source of information on peopleís thoughts about my
>work. It was also a great way to provide a broader
>picture to both galleries and consumers of the things
>that interest and inspire me and less ìpracticalî
>pieces of work that may never really be seen on the
>market. I included my web page address on all of my
>print materials (postcards, business cards, letterhead
>etc) as well as doing a fair amount of online
>promotion. At the time (1998) the web was much less
>saturated with anything. So, A LOT of people found me
>just surfing around. Today it would take much more
>specific synergistic marketing plans to drive a
>significant amount of traffic to a similar site.
>
>That said, I largely stopped by jewelry business
>around 2001 because other projects had become too time
>consuming. However, I was still getting extreme
>interest especially in my rubber jewelry line, which
>led me to build rubberjewelry.com. This is a
>commercial site, with a shopping cart which makes
>about $1000 worth of direct sales a month, and since
>including information for potential retailers a few
>months ago, I have gained 2 wholesale accounts. I
>find that the jewelry itself ìshowsî well in pictures,
>and does not necessarily need to be experienced in 3-D
>to be appreciated. This and the uniquity and
>accessible price points (average sale is about $40) of
>the line are what makes it fairly successful on the
>web.
>
>I designed both of the sites myself, having taught
>myself html to build susanwaldes.com, and using
>Dreamweaver to build rubberjewelry.com. My monthly
>hosting costs are negliable because I have a fairly
>large hosting account which serves my other business
>as well (in internet marketing, graphic and web
>design). I use paypalís shopping cart and merchant
>processing because of its ease of implementation,
>though transaction fees and comparably high, I find it
>a much more elegant solution for a small seller than
>getting a merchant account etc.
>
>I really havenít had any problems with either of my
>sites, which I think is partially due to keeping
>realistic expectations. There are real hurdles in
>selling jewelry online which can include that many
>pieces, especially art jewelry just needs to be seen,
>felt and worn to be fully appreciated. Also the fairly
>high price points of most jewelry make it something
>that people are less likely to buy unseen. However,
>the internet can be an excellent source of exposure
>and a great marketing tool to a jeweler even if they
>donít sell directly through their site. It is a very
>inexpensive way to connect with both consumers and
>retailers.
>
>I would hypothesize that the main mistake of any
>artist and designer is to approach website design too
>artistically. We are used to inserting our creative
>hand in everything we do, but the internet is a very
>short-attention span medium. So, easy to read
>ubiquitous fonts, uncomplicated backgrounds, browser
>compatibility, lack of plug-ins, fast loading pages
>and very straightforward navigation make people
>infinitely more likely to actually hang around and
>have a look at your site. In fact, simple things like
>keeping your pagewidth to 800 or less and making sure
>your most important images and/or text is right on
>your index page can really increase your success, much
>more so that having an artistically beautiful site.>MySQL database, PHP
scripting for 99% with a couple of perl and shell
>script thrown in as holdovers from "old times."
>
>MySQL is free (GNU public license) and so is PHP, and both are
>incredibly robust. I've worked on Access, Oracle and MySQL and vastly
>prefer MySQL even if you don't bring the cost considerations into the
>picture.
>
>Thanks for the compliments on the site. I've got a lot of continuing
>plans for it. If there are any other questions I can answer, I'd be
>happy to share. And if you have any suggestions, I'm always open to
>hearing them.
>
>Thanks,
>K
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Charles Lewton-Brain/Brain Press
Box 1624, Ste M, Calgary, Alberta, T2P 2L7, Canada
Tel: 403-263-3955 Fax: 403-283-9053 Email: brainnet@telus.net
Our Collaborative information site to benefit the worlds' jewelers:
http://ganoksin.com/
Over 500 pages of Charles' writing: http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/directory/library/source/50/52/author/1
and at:http://www.fsg4u.com/brain.html
Book and Video descriptions:http://www.ganoksin.com/kosana/brain/brain.htm
Gallery page at: http://www.ganoksin.com/brain/gallery.htm