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Questions about new one-of-a-kind jewelry website
That is his usual style, although he does sometime include a tiny nugget of
help from his vast storehouse of ............Hmmm can't think of a nice way to describe what I think his vast storehouse is. Mark PS just remember Mr. A...Delta Airlines is ready when you are. M "carrie" wrote in message ... Abrasha wrote in message . .. Jessica wrote: Hi everyone. I'm starting a online jewelry business soon - will be selling very unique trendy/contemporary jewelry (Price range $80 -250/pc), targeting younger group of consumer (under 35, maybe). I'd like to get some advice from the group, how should I go about promoting my site or products? If you were a shopper, looking for some trendy jewelry for social events (clubbing) - you know, the very GQ-look type of style, where would you go? Or what magazines do you read? or review sites? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. -Jessica You're in for a wild ride, and setting yourself up to lose bundles of money and/or a great deal of time. Scores of very well financed jewelry web sites have failed before you. With well financed, I mean millions of dollars. Right now I can only think of Miadora as far as jewelry is concerned. Others, still in business have tons of money behind them. The fact that you come for research to this rather sparsely populated newsgroup of at best a motley crew of participants of varying backgrounds, demonstrates clearly that you do not have a clue about what you are trying to get yourself into. BTW, with motley crew, I do include myself, because even though I may be a craftsman of some accomplishments, as far as marketing and business acumen are concerned, I still operate by the seat of my pants. We are mostly a group of crafts people, with bench experience. We are by and large not business people, market researchers, bankers, venture capitalists, CEO material, etc. You are coming to the wrong place! Do yourself a favor, and study the "case studies" of failed online marketers very thoroughly, before you do this. A bankroll of about $2 million, will get your web site started, assuming you have the products, to deliver possible orders. Promoting to the under 35 group, would include MTV, WIRED magazine, etc. After you run out of your first couple of mil, you will need a second round of financing to keep the site afloat, pay staff, pay suppliers, servers, etc. Better find yourself a group of generous venture capitalists who suffer from amnesia. Of course, you could also do it on a shoe string like I did, and reap a gross of about $20,000 to $40,000 a year from it, not enough to give up your day job. Also, my site did not start paying off until last year, and it has been up since March of 1996. So you have to be patiently waiting for a trickle of income. And my site has the benefit of always showing up within the first 10 hits (often #1 or #2) when doing a search in Google, Yahoo, Lycos and other search engines when using the search criteria of "jewelry design", "contemporary jewelry", or "contemporary jewelry design". I get about 160 unique visits a day. You'll have to get at least 1000 to 2500 unique visits a day, if you want to ever hope of beginning to make any real money. Lastly, you throw around some very general slogans like "very unique trendy/contemporary jewelry", "trendy jewelry for social events" and "the very GQ-look type of style" Who defines those terms? Do you pretend to know what under 35 year olds want? Do yourself a favor, save some money or better still, get some "very unique trendy/contemporary very GQ-look type of style jewelry for social events" at abrasha.com Mention that you read about the site in rec.crafts.jewelry and they'll give you 2% off already bargain basement prices. Abrasha http://www.abrasha.com I just read this question and answer, I am amazed at the answer given to Jessica. Abrasha, you sound angry and bitter. Instead of giving her some help and sharing your vast knowledge you lamb blasted her about trying to sell her creations. Are afraid of the competition or just don't like the marketing aspect of your business? It does not take millions to create and keep a website. There are places she can sell her products without a personal website. I too am a designer and am trying to sell my product so I am checking out sights. The only one I know of right now is Ruby Lane but I will check out others. I wish I had more help for Jessica but this is really aimed at Abrasha, try to be more helpful to the newbies to marketing their creations that they are just as proud of as you are of yours. Carrie |
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On , in rec.crafts.jewelry "Mark" wrote:
That is his usual style, although he does sometime include a tiny nugget of help from his vast storehouse of ............Hmmm can't think of a nice way to describe what I think his vast storehouse is. Abrasha is indeed sometimes rather, um.... blunt. Some readers, especially beginners, don't know what to make of that. Other readers, especially those nice minded folks reading Abrashas posts which are answers to OTHER people, get offended. But for the record, while he often skips the nice tone, and gentle bedside manners, , I've generally found over the years that his information is accurate. It is, of course, only one point of view. But his message on starting an online business reflects not only his years of doing the same himself, but also the reality of the fact that very few online web based businesses ever really take off and become true successes unless lucky, and very well financed. People with lesser means, but also lesser expectations, may find ways to make a modest small profit. Many readers of this group do exactly that. But it's true, nevertheless, that the percentage of those who try to do it, who actually manage to live full time off web sales of their jewelry are in the minority. If it's rude and nasty and unsupportive to come right out and say that, well, that's a shame. With some things, sometimes in't not easy to state things gently, and Abrasha generally isn't known for trying to do so. Still, like it or not, his information is, indeed, often right on the money. Most often, his info regards jewelry making and the craft of this stuff. In that regard, I'd dare say there are only a few in this group's readership who's skills equal his. He may be curt and sparing with his help, but when it's offered, it's good info. Trust me. There is indeed a "vast storehouse" of that info there. consider yourselves luck to now and then get a little bit of it offered. And remember that while a rudely direct, but accurate informative post, such as Abrasha's, is entirely within this groups charter limits and fully allowed, personal attacks are NOT. The last two posts in this thread don't offer as much info on the craft of jewelry as they do opinions and negative personal thoughts addressed to Abrasha. Mr. A has been playing by the rules regarding flames and personal attacks very nicely for several years now. I trust those of you who find his manners not to your liking will also do the same. You do not have to be nice. But you do have to keep things professional and neutral. Abrasha's post wasn't nasty at all. It merely was blunt, and honestly portrayed his opinion that the described course of action was a bad business move, likely headed for failure and financial loss. You may not agree. Go ahead and debate the issue. But steer clear of personal attacks. I'll stop them from Abrasha, if he chooses to stoop that low, and I'll stop them from you other readers if you do the same. And in this thread, you others are a lot closer to that. Remember that these aren't my rules. You readers, or others like you, wrote the charter and asked me to moderate the group according to it. If you wish to change these rules, feel free to discuss it in the group. I'll be happy to follow whatever group opinions prevail at any given time. Peter Rowe moderator rec.crafts.jewelry |
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