I’ve never tried selling on EBay, and I should say up front that I’m
selling small sculpture rather than jewelry, but I do find that I’m
able to sell objets d’art from my site. www.bathsheba.com was
completely produced by me - layout, graphics, scripting - and while
I’m not making a living from it, there’s starting to be steady
income. The following’s my opinion on web marketing, as crystallized
over two years of trying to sell, and one year of selling - take with
grains of salt as necessary.
Plan to either put in the time to do a good job, or put in the money
to pay somebody to. It’s not hugely difficult, but it is time-
consuming and therefore expensive. And there’s no point in skimping:
people won’t buy expensive things from a cheap-looking site. Don’t
forget as you plan the costs that you have to maintain it: put in new
work, show announcements and so on. If the site doesn’t appear
current it won’t inspire credibility.
If you aren’t inclined to commit the resources for a stylish catalog,
I’d advise just one well-composed page with your name, contact info,
a few really impressive pictures, and leave it at that.
Most important: no matter how good your site is, don’t expect people
to find it randomly: you have to pull them in with well-placed links
and (most important) offline advertising. Very occasionally I’ll get
a purchase from a random surfer, but the vast majority are people who
were specifically going to my site, because they heard about it
offline.
-Sheba
Bathsheba Grossman (831) 429-8224
Digital sculpture www.bathsheba.com
Models from CAD for art and jewelry www.protoshape.com