Custom Connections
Marketing custom jewelry online
by Peggy Jo Donahue
A few months ago, custom jeweler Calla Gold logged onto Facebook to find a totally unsolicited "fan" remark posted on the page she maintains for her business. The fan wrote, in part: "Calla you are just the best jeweler. I love how you help people look at what they already have and help them figure out how to re-imagine it. You have great instincts about what works and how to help people find the jewelry that works for them..." If Gold had written it as promotional copy, she couldn’t have expressed it better.
It also reinforced the value of having an expansive online presence—a presence that Gold has worked very hard to achieve over the past year.
With the help of a consultant in online marketing (who is also one of her clients), she has made a determined effort to use every digital means available to extend the visibility of her business, Calla Gold Jewelry, far beyond its base in Santa Barbara, California. She has "upped her game" by posting regularly on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and her blog "Jewelry Without Walls," as well as by asking clients to write reviews in online directories, such as Google Local, CitySearch, Superpages, and Yelp.
All these actions have given her a presence on search engines, which has led her online business to go from 1 or 2 percent to over 10 percent of her business now coming to her from online sources all over the U.S., she says.
Click here to learn about how she achieved her goal.