Over the last year I've done my own little series of tests and experiments to see how reliable the online information for jewelry and craft based business really is. I did not want to advertise this, or let anyone know what I was doing. I wanted a true account for myself. Now, I think it's time I shared this information I gathered and my conclusions I came to with you.
In previous postings, I discussed ways to get your business noticed online, how to manage time efficiently, etc. These were questions that I wanted answers to for myself. I did research the answers and wrote posts based on those answers. Answers I found all over the Internet, from blogs to forums to websites to social networking sites, I tried to cover it all. I tried everything I saw too. If a Blogger or forum suggested joining Social Networking sites, I joined them. If a Blogger suggested I write a list and prioritize, I did it, and so on.
However, some of this information was quite misleading for me. Since I own a Hand Beaded Jewelry business, I had to tailor some of my information to my own personal business needs, as a lot of the information may have been written for a specific business. If I had a difficult time tailoring information for myself, I would ask for help from the Blogger. I didn't always get that help but tried the suggestion anyway, to the best of my abilities.
Misleading information: The number one piece of information I found to be misleading was to join Social Networking sites. Though it's a fun thing to do, this is too time consuming for a business owner who creates what they sell, especially when taking the suggestions of others. I ended up staring at my computer for too many hours a day to get signed up, learn how some of the sites worked and to get "friends" on that site. Most of these sites brought no more people to my business website than if I went to the mall and handed out fliers. And that may have been less time spent on my end. Now, being a beaded jewelry designer, I did not need to spend 8 hours a day creating pieces, but....once I was online, I found myself trying to manage all of these Social Networking sites to try to get more "friends" and get noticed. This would go on for days and would take away from any time I would have spent creating. The conclusion, I got very little visits to my website from any of these sites. A huge waste of time.
Second, Blogging. Blogging will bring you lots of traffic to your business site. Not really. Blogging is extremely fun for me. I love it. BUT, did it bring me more traffic? Not really, again. Any traffic I got was from fellow beaders or crafters, all of them capable of creating their own pieces, not potential customers. I tried to come up with useful information for readers. But, when it came down to it, I didn't feel I was an authority on a lot of topics, plus, it was extremely time consuming to read other people blogs for answers to most topics so I stopped writing about business issues for quite some time and concentrated on another mission, testing out what works and what doesn't based on the online information given. And that decision was made many months ago. I did continue to do "interviews" on another blog of mine. That did get me a lot of traffic, but, not to my website as I was told it would, fellow crafters only, not customers. I did enjoy doing the interviews. Meeting new people who are creative in different mediums was wonderful. I got links, made a couple of friends and hopefully helped them out with more traffic to their sites (at least, I hope I did).
Putting your signature on all posts, whether in forums or on your blog, that didn't help either, much. I did get traffic from all forums, but it was from fellow beaders or crafters, again, who could make their own pieces of jewelry, not buy mine. That was useless in getting me any customers. I did get links and friends, but that didn't drive more possible customers to me.
Linking with others. Same as above. I made some great links with people who did send traffic to me. I do not know if these would be potential customers or just curious fellow crafters wanting to see what I do. Therefore, I can't come up with a viable conclusion on this.
Time management lists. Those do work. Unless you are stuck managing over twenty Social Networking sites, like I was. Or you are trying to find information online to answer the question: "How do I drive traffic to my website?", like I was. I found that once I stopped trying everything that was suggested (for a while), I was not only more relaxed, but I could focus on other, more important things for my business. My business did grow, but unfortunately, not so much online as it did for me locally.
The conclusion:I found that most bloggers are quite helpful, and knowledgeable. I just don't think their information helped me on the whole. I felt like a hamster on a wheel. Trying this, that, and the other thing on a constant basis and keeping at it to see if would work, was a waste of time in the end. Again, for me. I got the feeling too, that most jewelry business owners, who have been successful, are tight lipped as to what does works for them in getting customers. We are all each others competition in reality. To find reliable information on expanding your customer base is hard to do. Social Networking sites, forums and Blogs are wonderful places to make "friends", get information and are very fun to belong to. But for the purpose of expanding your customer base, I would not rely on it. Again, I think the competition factors in to this.
Be careful of what you read. Not everything works for everybody. Concentrate on only what you need to grow your business. Start locally and expand from there. Don't worry about online sales and don't plan on only selling to online customers. It is true that it takes a long time to gather a customer base online, a very long time. But, if you start on a more local level, that customer base can grow. It's easier, faster, and stronger to start local.
