Forging for a living

[EnergyRings]

Hello Everyone,
My name is Isidro and I'm new to the forum circuit. I am an inventor and a self taught jeweler. I have been forging metal since 1976. My passion is creating and my area of improvement is selling. Which brings me to my question.

So far, all my Internet sales have been from word of mouth and referrals. That's great but not enough. I do shows in the summer and I get hungry in the winter.

So how does one get more traffic that counts? How do I market my art?

I have a very unique hand crafted product. I am focusing on health and beauty and I'm riding the line between physics and metaphysics.
People that see it are truly impressed. I rank high in google with a few keywords but obviously not the ones that count.

Any suggestions?

[artwebster]

Looking at your list of keywords might I suggest that you should concentrate less on the health aspect and more on the 'unique' and 'beautiful' aspect. Many of your keywords are too generic which is possibly why only some of them rank high.

Your sales page is a bit pedestrian and could do with a little excitement. Make winning a free ring look exciting! The offer just sits there and could easily be missed by someone skimming down the page. Make your contest a 'referral' contest with the prize going to whoever introduces the nost new people to your site.

"Jewelry for Health and Beauty" sounds so functional - add the word 'beautiful' and make the headline more prominent.

[Steve Faber]

Your rings look great. Your website, not so much. You could convert your site to using WordPress as a content management system, instead of strictly a blogging platform. That way it would be easy to manage and you could take advantage of the hundreds of templates out there to improve the appearance. The other advantage is that Wordpress does very well with the search engines.

Try offering your existing customers product discounts for referrals. Make sure you keep a list of your customers and contact them regularly. You can market to your loyal customers for a good, long time. They're proven buyers, so are much more likely to become repeat buyers, especially if you have specials for them that you send out every so often.

Target buying keywords, rather than interest keywords. You could try phrases such as "custom rings" (41 searches a day in Google, 42K competitors) "custom wedding rings" (16 searches a day in Google, only 21K competitors) and "custom engagement rings" (13 searches a day in Google, 27K competitors)

Do some article marketing, it is pretty effective on a minimal budget. You should definitely start a blog in addition to your main sales site. The regularly updated content would keep visitors coming back and help with the search engines too. It would be a great way to introduce new designs. Talk to otheer web site owners with complementary sites and see if they would be affiliates for you. You give them a percentage of the sales for every sales they refer.

These are just some ideas off the top of my ole' head.

[cashcow]

You might consider selling your jewelry on an online mall. I'm a jewelry maker myself and have great luck at rubylane.com - it's like an online mall with antiques and handmade artisan jewelry.

The artisan jewelry section does really well and rubylane works at getting all the traffic to their site,and hopefully once they are shopping around they will find your site. I know some of the other sellers there have a huge following and sell almost every item they list right away.

You can have your own site like you do now, but also open a shop at RL and gain more customers by leveraging their promotional activities. They also advertise in major magazines and news venues and each shop can pay to put their shop into that advertisement - by combining it this way it costs each shop owner like $50 to get in the ad instead of having to pay $2000 or more that it would cost for a full page ad in these publications.

Hope that helps!

Lee

[EnergyRings]

Art,

Thanks for all your comments. I love your brutal honesty. All your suggestions make sense to me and I will start implementing them. How do I determine some non-generic keywords? Just by going through the copy or create copy that has unusual kw?

I love your choice of words. "a bit pedestrian". I get it. I guess my copy speaks for itself, I do tend to be very functional. I'll see if I can liven things up a bit.

Thanks for your help Art.

[EnergyRings]

Opportunities,
I strarted a blog a while back but not knowing what I was doing, I totally neglected it. I recently got an ebook on blogging and just downloaded worpress 2.7 and installed it. Now I'm looking for instructions on how to work it.

What do you mean by content management blog. Is that simply a blog where I post the new designs and such?

[Randy Bheites]

Scanned the site (average surfer is hooked in 2 seconds or clicks out).

Jewelry, especially the rings - VERY cool.

Website - blah, looks like something my grandma made on her Commodore 64. Needs a serious makeover to bring it into the 21st century.

There was a contest? Seriously? Totally missed that.

Ummm, health, yeah.... no. I don't buy jewlery for my health. Unless you count buying jewelry for my girlfriend which tends to get me sex more often, which is great for my health, I gotta admit.

[EnergyRings]

Lee,
Thanks for your input. I signed up for your web promo blueprint. I'll let your know what I get from it. Thanks

[EnergyRings]

Randy,
Funny you should mention it. It was a Commodore 64. Actually the SX64. Oooo.
Thanks for the feedback. I'll see what I can come up with. I'm actually surprised at the number of sales I get from practically no hits.

[Randy Bheites]

Seriously? You made that badboy on a Commie64? That's impressive!

You might want to try using WordPress or XSitePro for site building (they come with lots of cool templates), or, if you are comfortable with HTML, just find a jazzy free straightforward template and customize it by hand (a lot of my stuff is done in Notepad woohoo).

I really do like the rings, I may buy one.

[Mark Riddle]

Forging Hmm you create fake checks ahh not that kind....

I will give you the advice I gave an Sculptor friend of mine when creating their marketing site.

People who buy art, buy it because of how it makes them feel, they can't feel what you bring to the art if they don't know who you are, or your inspiration to create.

While many sites are more of a photo gallery of pieces of they artists work, her first page talks about her, all relating to why she creates.

This isn't the exact copy that I wrote for the site but it gives the basis of what I am talking about.


Living a beautiful fulfilling life is the essence of everything that I do.

I believe that the world is full of such great beauty that I take my inspiration from the simplicity of the beauty of life.

You and I know that we who are on this planet are all connected, and connected for a reason.

My reason for being here is to support bringing more beauty more pleasure and more peace into your life.

To bring to you, what flows out of my heart as I take chisel to soapstone.

You know life isn't about time clocks and schedules, its about finding what is true in your heart and sharing this gift that is inside you to all those that are drawn to you.

This is my mission in life, to create beautiful sculptures inspired by the drive to create beauty in the lives of those who understand what life is all about.

Thank you for taking time to appreciate my way of bringing beauty, peace and joy to those who share the knowledge that a beautiful environment is a reflection of the beauty of your soul.


Mark

[EnergyRings]

Gave up on the 64. Just got a new laptop and I'm really working to like Vista. Shoulda got a Mac. I just installed wordpress and am looking for tutorials on it. should have something in teh near future. OK, here is your chance for self promotion. What templates are you using and can I see some of your sites that use them. You know the 21st century stuff.

[EnergyRings]

Thanks Mark, That was cool. It also pushes on the BEAUTIFUL thing that Art was talking about.

[cookies]

Amazing jewelry! I've been a hobby blacksmith for a few years and can really appreciate your level of skill. I'm a newbie here, so take my impressions with grain of salt.

I can't add more than has already been posted on the SEO front either in this thread or other parts of WF.

From a pure user experience perspective, consider hiring someone to help with the look and feel of the site. If you're like me, your specialty isn't web site design.

Another site to sell your art you could consider is etsy.com, as it only carries hand made goods. Your work should easily be among the top of the jewelry class.

[Randy Bheites]

Originally Posted by EnergyRings

Gave up on the 64. Just got a new laptop and I'm really working to like Vista. Shoulda got a Mac. I just installed wordpress and am looking for tutorials on it. should have something in teh near future. OK, here is your chance for self promotion. What templates are you using and can I see some of your sites that use them. You know the 21st century stuff.

Sorry, I don't share my niches. But here's a great place to browse and download hundreds of beautiful WordPress themes free: WordPress › WordPress Themes

You will find everything from old skool to futuristic, elegant to downhome to funky to slick. Whatever the feel you want your visitors to experience, I'm sure you can find a theme that will help you do that no sweat.

Just download your choice, upload to your themes folder, and go!

[Steve Faber]

Originally Posted by EnergyRings

Opportunities,
I strarted a blog a while back but not knowing what I was doing, I totally neglected it. I recently got an ebook on blogging and just downloaded worpress 2.7 and installed it. Now I'm looking for instructions on how to work it.

What do you mean by content management blog. Is that simply a blog where I post the new designs and such?

You could use it for posting new designs and things of that nature.

By content management I was referring to using Wordpress to build a website around, rather than strictly as a blogging platform. It works very well because it allows you to do everything using a simple, dashboard style interface, and it automatically makes sure all the proper linking structure happens and makes all necessary changes when necessary. The SEO optimization aspects of WP are a nice plus too. It just makes it much easier to get everything done.

WP also allows you to set your main page as a static page, instead of one that's regularly updated with every new post you make. That way you can use it to uild a more traditional style web site, with blog like functionality as well.

[artwebster]

How do I determine some non-generic keywords? Just by going through the copy or create copy that has unusual kw?

Keywords that contain superlatives like 'beautiful', 'eye-catching' and 'unique' are non-generic and I am sure there are many adjectives used in the jewellery sculpting trade that are not in common use but which many jewellery buyers are aware of (and it is the buyers you want to attract).

I don't know anything about the jewellery trade but when I am looking for good quality second hand books, the words 'slightly foxed' tell me a great deal about the book and will give the book a priority position in my 'to buy' list. (NO - I'm not suggesting you sell seond hand jewellery (though it could be a good move) - it's just an example from the world I know.)

[dorothydot]

Hi,

Sent you a pm.

Your site and product scream out for at least one line of autoresponders. As you can see by the response here, many people are very interested in how you do this wonderful work. And I myself have been interested in how various stones and metals can affect a person's mood, health, etc. There you go with two lines of autoresponders at least.

And you have your "catalog" of products in a sidebar! Noooo! Make those lovely items much more front-and-center. This is your product. This is why you put up your website. This is where you want your income and your visitors to focus on, right?

Hope this helps,
Dot

[JohnMcCabe]

I think you're missing a trick trying to market "health" with your rings. Where you should be looking is right there in your testimonials. You sell wearable, collectible art. Focus on the facts that your stuff is hand-made and original, it's collectible and it's gorgeous.

I'd also think about adding a zero to the prices and aiming for the upscale buyer. Even in a difficult economy, there are people with money to spend on things that make them feel good. Maybe even a numbered, limited edition with a big price point.

Product A is a sterling silver ring that focuses your energy.

Product B is a one of a kind work of art, made by hand by a master craftsman, with no two exactly alike. Each ring is set with a stone hand selected for beauty and value. This is the kind of heirloom piece that gets passed from generation to generation.

Which sounds more desirable - and more valuable - to you?

[EnergyRings]

Thank you all for the fantastic feedback. This is my first time on a forum and I had no idea how much I could learn from this experience.

John,
I have been told before to increase my prices. At my wife's suggestion, I doubled my prices on everything as a test for one show I did. I sold more jewelry that day than ever before. Needles to say, the new prices stuck. That was about 20 years ago. Maybe it's time to experiment with that again.

Art,
Your ideas about the possible second hand jewelry make me think. My son had a great idea. He said "Looking for Love section" "Used and returned pieces looking for a new home. " This could be good but I don't get returns. Maybe 10 in the last 30 years. Mostly because the wrong size is ordered.

This led me to another idea. I stam my name on all the pieces I do and one a few times I stamped on the wronf side. meaning that the ring had my name on the outside. This was a prototype of a new design. I had it at a show as a sample of the new design coming up and because it was mis-stamped, I had 2 people bidding for it. It was really a joke at the time but I did sell it to a very happy lady.

So maybe a prototype section with name on outside as a collectable item. Crazy huh?

[HeySal]

Hi Energy (not a pun, just lack of name, LOL)

I just looked at your site (like the big gold ring, top center). What seems to be lacking is information. You need to put some literature on that site to draw people in. All the site did for me - other than show me the jewelry is leave a heck of a lot of questions in my mind. And by answering those questions you would cultivate organic SEO (how appropriate is that? LOL) by creating a wealth of key words just by writing natural literature on your craft/science.

What is the history of using the varied metals, stones, etc for energy balance?

How do these items balance energy? For instance - some of your rings have stones in them - what type of energy does the vibration of that particular stone produce and how does the pattern of the metal amplify or channel it?

How does science support the metaphysics?

If you need ideas for literature - take a look at ezinearticles.com - look me up under advanced search (expert author - Sally Taylor). Check out "Take two Crystals and Call Me in the Morning" and "Can't Afford A Great Metal Detector? Just BE One" -- those two articles will show you what sorts of approaches your site info might use to attract viewers. People are also very interested in the history of such crafting.

Once you put some literature on your site - submit a portion of it to submission sites - not all of it.
You can use short crops from longer essays or just a few of the shorter articles that you have up - use as much diversity as possible when choosing your items for submission - cover the realm, so to speak.

[EnergyRings]

Hi Sal,
My name is Isidro but that name was taken so I went with one of my products. Thanks for listing some of the questions that came up when you visited the site. I guess I trake a lot of the concepts and ideas for granted. I don't want to sound condescending but on the other hand, I do need to inform. I'll work on this. I'll read your articles. The titles are great.

[JohnMcCabe]

Isidro, you can do a lot of explaining without being condescending. Suppose you and I were sitting across from each other, sipping coffee or beer or whatever. I ask you how this energy balancing thing works...

What do you tell me?

Write that down, and tell everybody...

[Loren Woirhaye]

Uber-cool work, Isidro! I was an artisan myself before I got into
marketing. I forged steel stuff occasionally but not with much skill.

I have seen salesletters in the past selling copper bracelets and
things of that ilk for claimed anti-arthritic benefits - so there
is a pretty good precedent in direct mail and space ads for
this sort of appeal with jewelry.

I didn't look over your site too much - but in general if you emphasize
SEO your sales message can suffer. You site is almost like a
brief authority site about your work and you. I might advise you to
capture mailing addresses and really focus on getting the message
in their hands on paper. Just my intuition - a DVD could be good too
but I would test a mailing piece first.

Of course using the mail would force you to invest in making
your marketing good - which is something a lot of entrepreneurs
try to avoid by just saying "Oh I'll just write articles and get my
site ranked"... which works for some people and for others
it is frustrating - depends on a lot of factors.

I'm not saying the internet isn't awesome and powerful, just that
direct mail can work wonders for selling a product like this - the
state-of-mind people are in when they read their mail is very
different from web-browsing state.

[mediamogul]

Gorgeous rings! Ahh I wish I had some artistic talents like that! I agree market them as wearable art and they will sell!

[dndoseller]

I would start with a blog, you can get good Google traffic if you learn a little keyword research. Plus you can pay someone to write articles to put in the blog too.

[EnergyRings]

Thanks john, That's a great idea. Let's have a beer and talk. Wait. You're in Florida and I'm in Washington. OK, I'll just start by writing down what I tell people when I do a show. It's a start. That and the upcoming price increase.

[Adaptive]

Hi Isidro, and welcome.

I am an inventor and a self taught jeweler.

Oh, what a relief! I was afraid from the headline that you had some "black hat" system to fool people with another person's signature.

There are two reasons for someone to be interested in your products. One is that they are uniquely beautiful and handcrafted. The other is that they have a "vortex energy" design. I believe that your current home page has one foot in each side, but does not give enough of the story on either side.

I recommend that you refocus the site on the energy balancing aspect of your work. On the site, tell a little bit about you and your history, just like if you and I met at a crafts fair and I had a few minutes to learn about what you do.

Were you interested in energy vortexes before you started working with metal? Or did you start making jewelry, and then you decided to add a vortex design?

How did you find out about energy vortexes? Did you have a life of tension and uneasiness, which was calmed once you started designing wearable vortex designs for yourself? What effects have other people noticed?

Are these energy vortex designs related to what David Wilcox discusses in his "Law of One" material? Are they related to what David Icke discusses? Would web sites like those be good places for you to run a classified ad?

Meanwhile, add a page to your site that focuses on the beauty and craftsmanship aspects of your work.

Your work would also be ideal for some three minute videos. Have one where you discuss energy vortexes, another where you discuss the process of making rings. Put them up on Youtube.

Have you had a chance to browse some Wordpress themes yet?

Regards,
Allen

[EnergyRings]

Thanks Allen,
All good advice. I think the site really needs a complete overhaul. I have to start with a plan and that is what I'm working on now.

I do think that the Word Press as a site is a great idea for starters. I like the CMS aspect of it. I started to look for a theme and the hours just flew by. Anyway, that's where I'm at now.

Be well
Isidro

[JohnMcCabe]

Originally Posted by EnergyRings

Thanks Allen,
All good advice. I think the site really needs a complete overhaul. I have to start with a plan and that is what I'm working on now.

I do think that the Word Press as a site is a great idea for starters. I like the CMS aspect of it. I started to look for a theme and the hours just flew by. Anyway, that's where I'm at now.

Be well
Isidro

Isidro, here's an off the wall suggestion for you...

Why not consider two websites? Just in this thread you've heard from folks who like your art for the sake of art. You've also heard from at least one person with some serious energy (pardon the expression) for the health/metaphysics side of the business.

I'll venture a guess that you could be more effective catering to each market on its own terms...

[EnergyRings]

Thanks John,
And yet another great idea. I just keep adding to my To Do list. The reason this site has been neglected is because of another great idea that I started to implement.

Most of my work is done with tools I made. I have an Ash Stump I call my workbench and several railroad spikes I shaped and polished into anvils. So mamy people asked me if I teach that I desiced to create (am creating) a new site called MakeThisJewelry.com. I have several videos done and now I have to work on ways to present short vids to sell them.

What is the best format to post short videos on a site. The actual instructional videos are too long to have as a download so I'm mailing them. I just need little shorts to promote them.

I'm using win movie maker and so far the 3 that I made are about 60 minutes long and about 3 gigs.

[Adaptive]

Why not consider two websites? Just in this thread you've heard from folks who like your art for the sake of art. You've also heard from at least one person with some serious energy (pardon the expression) for the health/metaphysics side of the business.

John, I was thinking of different pages on one site. Your idea could be more powerful, because each site would have a consistent focus all the way through: all about the beauty & craftsmanship, or all about the metaphysics.

Most of my work is done with tools I made.

Isidro, that's awesome!

You need to make a series of five minute videos, rather than one hour long video.

I recommend that you watch "how it's made" (episodes are available on YouTube) for inspiration. With two minor changes, this approach could be ideal for your videos.

In this show, the narrator refers to "the operator." Of course you'll talk about your own personal point of view.

Also, this show uses punchy techno-sound effect music. For what you're doing, Native American flute, smooth jazz, New Age, or light classical music might be more appropriate choices.

If you're not familiar with the art of filmmaking, I recommend you look to add an artistic video person to your team.

Once you have your five minute clips, upload them to Youtube and they'll be converted by the site to a compressed format for display.

Regards,
Allen

[EnergyRings]

Originally Posted by Adaptive

You need to make a series of five minute videos, rather than one hour long video.

Are you thinking to break up the hour long tutorial into 5 to 10 minute shorts so they can be downloaded? That might be good.

[Adaptive]

Are you thinking to break up the hour long tutorial into 5 to 10 minute shorts so they can be downloaded?

Yes, that's exactly what I have in mind. It would work well for putting videos online, and also let you have a menu of "chapters" if you release a DVD.

Regards,
Allen

[EnergyRings]

I am selling the dvd at shows and would like to sell it through the online avenue as well. I don't mind sending it out by mail. I have a drop ship system that works well. How would selling 5 minute videos work?

Or.. are you thinking of free 5 minute videos on youtube or my site in the hopes of selling the dvd?

As you can see, my ultimate goal is to get paid for my teaching. After all, this is my livelyhood. And a Right Livelyhood it is.

[Adaptive]

are you thinking of free 5 minute videos on youtube or my site in the hopes of selling the dvd?

Yes, that's what I had in mind. It would be technically possible to make a 5 minute DVD, but I think people would really prefer to buy an hour or two of instruction.

As you can see, my ultimate goal is to get paid for my teaching.

Then that's a bit of a change of focus. I originally thought the focus was on selling the rings, then I thought the focus was on selling your tools and equipment.

If you were paid very well, would you prefer to teach one on one? To have a small group workshop, maybe five people who would come to Seattle and visit your own shop for a week? To travel around the country, giving classes to 100 people at a time in hotel ballrooms? To sell instructional videos? To sell videos, then have phone calls to give one on one guidance to people who watched the video and are trying to replicate the technique at their own shop?

What would be your ideal life?

And what would be the ideal balance between teaching, making tools, and making products?

I believe all of this could be possible for you with effective marketing. However, selecting marketing tactics before a vision of your destination is like creating a route turn by turn without a map.

Regards,
Allen

[Ryan700]

Originally Posted by EnergyRings

I am selling the dvd at shows and would like to sell it through the online avenue as well. I don't mind sending it out by mail. I have a drop ship system that works well. How would selling 5 minute videos work?
As you can see, my ultimate goal is to get paid for my teaching. After all, this is my livelyhood. And a Right Livelyhood it is.

Whew! Took me a while to go through this whole thread. Did you consider teaching a night school course? Even a one day course would be great! I know of someone who does a night school course about writing books - he charges $59 for 3 hours - and at every one he sells his $20 book. Most of his students bought. He also asks for everyone's email address to put into his auto-responder. It helps to get signups by offering a free e-book bonus.

I think an autoresponder would be so crucial to your success because I've noticed that people (friends of mine) who are "into" jewellery are real fanatics. They are always talking about this piece or that piece that they bought or are in the process of melting down some gold to make some other piece. These types of people are people you want to hold on to.

[Ryan700]

Originally Posted by EnergyRings

Hello Everyone,
So far, all my Internet sales have been from word of mouth and referrals. That's great but not enough. I do shows in the summer and I get hungry in the winter.

So how does one get more traffic that counts?

Any suggestions?

I went through your web site and noticed that your title tag for you web pages are not optimized.

Your ring sizer page has "Untitled document" in the title bar.
Your Contact form page has "Mozilla Firefox" in the title bar.

I'm not that experienced either. I had index.html on my title bar for ages before I changed it. Maybe someone here could help you with a little SEO for your site.

[EnergyRings]

Allen,
Thanks for your input and guidance. I do have a goal or vision. What you describe is stretching my comfort zone though that is a good thing. My first goal is to sell more jewelry online. That is what led to all these other avenues and perhaps they have their place but not all at once.

I get very very little traffic now but I do get sales so there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Like you said, SEO is a good place to start so that is what got me to start a blog a few days ago. I just got a theme and now I'm working on what's what in the blog world.

I like to teach or show folks how I do things. I thought I could create videos to teach and that would also provide residual income.

I think the happy balance would be to make jewelry and teach through videos how I make the jewelry and the tools I use to make it.

For now, I think the most practical goal is to get more online sales however I get it done.

[EnergyRings]

Thanks Ryan,
I'll check the pages for titles to see what I missed. Your teaching idea sounds interesting. It sounds like what I do when I do a fair. I take my stump with a few of my tools and I make jewelry. I always get a good crowd watching and a few who really get into it and ask questions. I think I sell more jewelry at shows because I demo what I do.