Why a niche market is essential for online jewelry business or your Etsy store

 Niche marketing is one of the several important  pieces of the puzzle in selling jewelry  online profitably.

 Jewelry is probably the most saturated area in the Etsy world.  Statistics say that there are3,583,594 jewelry shops in Etsy.

 No wonder I am lost in that jungle and no one knows about me.

 Shouldn’t I make what most people look for and things that are trendy?

 A wee voice inside me protests. That is not why I started in the first place.  I want to make knitted wire jewelry which is not very common and I love that because I love to knit and I love to create jewelry.

Wire knit necklace with silver and pearl

I feel confused and hesitant, a bit down too.

 Then, I came across this wonderful quotation-

“Don’t ask what the world needs.  Ask what makes you come alive and go do it.  Because what the world needs is people who have come alive” - - Howard Thurman 

It helped me get back on my feet.

Now, what is a Niche?

Definition:

A niche can be defined as a small segment in a market or a  subset with in a set.  Your niche market must be able to solve one or more than one problems of a group of people.  Once you have a clear understanding that  who these people are, your marketing will be easier in terms of showcasing your products or advertising to the right crowd.

Experts say that in order to survive in the crowd you have to have a niche and show your uniqueness. 
What I find from my research is:

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Keywords:

A concept of the  right keywords is very  important in this equation.  Your niche market or the defining keywords must have substantial demand and low competition.

 In the online business that means you have to do your home work and  research, find the demand and supply using Google Ad words and/or other measures. (Find out how to search for key words)

Style:

Your jewelry or products must have be a unique style that is not common and not easily available in big box stores or else where.

Action:

This is tricky because here I find that there are several loose ends that are important and to be tied to make the knot secure in the business of online selling profitably.

Your aim is not just driving traffic to your shop but turning those to sales.

You must start with at least five high traffic key words and five long tail relevant key words that tie  your jewelry niche.

Your landing page, descriptions, tags everything in your Etsy shop must be consistent with your niche.

Your niche has to be so unique that people cannot leave without buying from you.

 Like Niche, the other side of the same  coin is the understanding of the concept-  Brand (which calls for an entire post soon.)

Your online store must be cohesive with the banner, contents and everything to show off your niche and the brand.

Room to grow:

 In order to sell your jewelry  profitably online,  what I understand is- it has to be something that you love to do, have the capacity to branch out and expand, keeping the same cohesive and consistent  unique brand.  This commitment and passion will be crucial for the long haul.

Marketing for an unusual niche can be challenging.  Listen to Susanna from Mars Bling who makes science jewelry, rather,  just Mars related jewelry.  She was having problem selling them off line because not too many people are passionate about Mars jewelry.  But they are there.

Now, there are more than  thirty comments in the forum all trying to help how she should market for her unique niche.

Another example is when a jewelry artist who makes jewelry out of fishing lures is at a loss.  Read the unique comments she got for marketing strategies.

In How to sell and make craft  the author cautions that your unique tiny niche may get crowded, people may start copying you and sell  cheaper and so forth.

I believe that the original artist is always superior to the ones who copy.  I believe that the  original artist does possess that  talent to be  capable of  bringing new twists with in the same niche and thus  thrive.

Some more related posts:


http://alankarshilpa.blogspot.com/2013/03/five-most-important-marketing.html

http://alankarshilpa.blogspot.com/2013/02/strategies-to-boost-online-business-and.html

Are you convinced that you must have a niche?

 Do you think it is easier to survive and sell profitably  online  rather when you make jewelry (or products)  for the general public and something trendy? What is your take on that?

I am curious to hear your comment and when you leave a link with your comment, people will find you too. Thank you.

“Let the beauty of what you love be what you do.  There are a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the earth.”- Rumi

 

Start blogging

Why blog?

Why add another terrible task in your to do list?  There are millions of blogs floating in the web – why add another?

 It will cost you so much sweat and labor and tears too, may be…besides who’s going to read it?

I do feel a voice inside me whining these words often. So after 137 posts, and 94 followers, I ventured again to research – why should I blog, and this is what I found:

There are  at least 15 great reasons why you must blog, says Joshua Becker.  

 Out of these 15 reasons, I find that I blog because:

 1. I have  something important to say, for example I want to say what goes behind creating my jewelry and the business aspect too. What happens in my work shop, what agony and ecstasy do I go through in this journey of being a jewelry artist- entrepreneur.

 2. I find that there are people who relate with my pain and passion. They are also artists making jewelry or other things and trying to  sell.  Why? so  that they can feed their family or just make enough  to buy the materials for their art. From their comments I can relate what they are going through too.

3. I can give something-  like tutorials, new tips, ideas that are working with me . And these days I can share that with the whole wide world.  It makes me feel good that someone benefits from that. I can make friends from some one across the globe.

From research and through my experience I found that  there are a few things to know why I should NOT blog:

1. Trying to make quick money.  Though there are lots of people who may make a lot of money from their blogs – it is   not very easy and that is not my purpose.
2. Fame – though there are people like Leo Babauta, it is hard to become famous overnight just by blogging. And he got there after years of hard work!

Then why should you blog?  Do you have some clear goal why you want to write a blog?

  There could be various reasons- for example,

* To show your potential customers who you are and why should they buy your hand crafted product or

* What is your belief, mission, ethics related with your product, or the brand of the product you make, or

* Monetize:  you can make money from your blog being an affiliate of different relevant things, resources, books etc.

 Here I find that there are at least 10 good reasons why you should have a blog

 But, blogging does  take hard work, quite a chunk of time  and  lots of commitment.

Writers’ block is a common ailment in this journey. What should you write about?

One good gauge for understanding the depth is running a list of ideas to post.  Can you easily jot down a few dozen things in a short period of time that will be relevant for your blog? When you are stuck, or get a writer’s block  this list comes in  handy.

What else is needed?

Consistency :
Regular posting is essential. Also relevant topis are what your reader will come for.  In that sense it is similar to writing the chapters of a book, I think. 

Niche:
 This is about finding out your niche and being clear about that.  Are you passionate about your niche?  You'll need that for the long haul.

 

Readers' needs and interests:

Who are your readers? Do you care for their needs?    How would you find that? Thinking about your readers’ problems and an effort to find solutions are important  reasons I blog.

  How do I know my readers' interest? I get that answer and some clue from the popularity of certain  posts and not of the others.

 What makes an awesome blog?  Delia from Blog Formattings suggests  10 points that an awesome blog must have.

You may differ with her  and/or have different ones.

Somewhere I read that any good writing should have at least one of the following  three qualities:

It should entertain the reader

It should teach or give something to the reader

It should be able to inspire the reader in some way

Great writings have them all.

It is also true from my experience that you may get bogged in over editing, especially if you are a perfectionist.  That retards my speed, consistency and commitment.

Now, if you ask me – Was it a good idea that you had started blogging?

I’ll answer- .  Heck -Yes.

What about you?  Should you start a blog? Or do you already have one?

 What challenges do you feel?  Which is the biggest problem you think, or your biggest reward in blogging?  Please share.

You may also want to check out :

Five most important Marketing Strategies I plan to incorporate in my Etsy shop

Strategies to boost sales in  my online store

What do you remember your mother most for

Dear Ma,

It's Mothers Day today.

As I was looking at your picture,  dusting off  with a kleenex,  I was thinking of you.
" What do you remember your mother most for?" - was a question posted by a celebrated writer in the Face Book

Ma, form high up there you must by now know what FB is all about.  I don't want or need to explain that to you now, I believe.

You must also wonder why am I writing in English,  not in our mother tongue, Bengali?  Well, because your grand daughters and their off springs will not be able to read or understand that language so much, but your blood runs through them.  May be you have passed on some DNA of yours in them...I don't know...But think you kind of live through them to me.

Now, the question- what did you give me that is most precious?

Ma, I bow down in shame - how can I judge that?  I kneel down in gratitude for what you have given me...I don't have the capacity to count that really.

You gave me birth ( oh I know  now with how much pain and joy...I have gone through that). I came with your flesh, your blood.  You nourished me with your milk, stayed up endless nights to bring me up with sweat and tears.

You were the most proud person when I shone.

You cried with me when I was hurt.

You didn't bother to hold back any thing, scolded me when I strayed away and  needed the right direction, held me tight when I fell apart.

But, Ma what I remember most after all these years,  is your love for beauty-  that deep need and appreciation of it in life.

You were beautiful yourself, indeed.

I remember how one day -  it was your last year probably, you asked me to bring me a jar of " Those new thing - what do they call it age defiant?  Garnier or some thing?"

A smirk faded in my face as I wiped off my tears.  This half paralyzed, bed ridden stroke victim still wants to reach for a jar of beauty!

No, that's not the point really.

You tried so hard to keep our home beautiful- with so little resources that you had on those days.  How you saved from the grocery to buy a bouquet of flowers to dress up the dining table, I remember when I went to the  market with you.

Most of all, you knew when to stop...which so many people don't.  Now looking back I feel awe struck that you had that style, and  probably I  had never told you.

In your time,  and where you were coming from, people were totally unaware of these little things that make such difference in life.

You were never noticed for that.  Probably you even did not know you were quite a Martha Steward in your time.  And no one ever noticed.

 But I did.  And I do it more now,  after you are gone.

You gave me that keen sense of appreciation of true beauty.

You worked hard to keep  beauty in tact in relationships and how carefully and meticulously you tread ed the  ocean  of family dynamics !

You tried  to keep  life beautiful,  living beautifully and that is what you had passed on to me.

Bead Soup 7th year - 3rd reveal by Dita Basu

 My bead soup is ready. 

The auspicious day cometh

This is the 3rd and final reveal of the Bead Soup Party - 7th year that our Lori Anderson had organized.

In this party what happens is: 

We sign up for the party, then the organizer Lori, matches us individually with another willing beader
 ( any where from the world) and we send each other beads- actually we must send one focal piece and a clasp and some beads.  Then comes the revealing day when we show off what we did with the sent beads, 


The ingredients that I received  were rich and yummy I hope my bead soup  is not too bland, or too  spicy.  You taste it and tell me.

In my previous post I showed you what  my partner Iveth had  sent me.

What I had sent her?  Iveth wrote a wonderful post  and  you may want to   pay a visit to her blog  after you are done with mine. She wrote a beautiful post on it.

My challenge:

 The focal  that Iveth sent was so pretty I wanted to keep it just the way it is,  with a pretty organza  ribbon or a bronze chain.

 But bronze chain or the ribbon? Take your pick  - said  the inner chef in me.

Hold on...I must make some thing with it. I can't just hang it with a ribbon and say that's it! - I say.

 How about knitting with some wire of the same bronze accent?  I love to do wire knit things...that's kind of my style.  But, nope! I did not have the right shade wire.

So I took a trip to my neighborhood bead store and got some antique bronze wire
 ( Soft Flex brand 26 g ).

Would it be just the plain wire knitting or speckled  with some color? Plain  broth or some spices added, m'lady? - she interrupts.

Some spices of course-  I shout.

Which ones m'lady?  whines the inner chef again in a bland voice.

Cheer up, boring you!- I holler.  Can't you see I am trying to match the colors of the  focal? I make a big mess sprinkling all kinds of beads on the bead mat.

My inner critique does not like it.  She has to clean it up later.

 Some thing blue, some thing... why of course, Iveth  had already sent me those beautiful turquoise beads.  But it needs another color to give  the oomph.

Pearls.

 I hunt through my pearl box.  Nope...these are not the right shade.

I yank out the car again from the garage.  Another trip to Just Bead It  store and I found  the very  right shade of dyed antique bronze  fresh water pearls that I was dreaming of.

Now I have them all ready.

Time to string them all up.

 But  in what design m'lady?

Here is what I came up with.

I turn to my inner chef.  She is the harshest critique I have ever seen.  But she did not pout or make faces.

I  make a couple of earrings too.

Here it is all.

 I put it on around my neck.

Not too bad, I kind of like it. Do you have some suggestions?


Blue is my favorite color.  Thank you Iveth.

 And THANK YOU  Lori,  for arranging  this big event with over 400 participants for the last seven years for us.  This my fourth time and I enjoyed it so  very much.  Again, my heart felt thanks for you, Lori

 Dear reader, please do visit all the other blogs of the  bead soup participants and see what they have cooked up.

Focus on life - Taking a Walk

This week's topic is Taking a Walk - part of  the 52 week journal commitment I had taken with Sally Russick and many other bloggers.

But, "I am late! ..I am late"  - I scurry like the rabbit in Alice in Wonderland.  All the other ones are ahead, I have fallen behind, way, way behind.  This post was supposed to be done last Saturday!  I am three whole days late.

That's my story.  In the walk of life too I do feel I am falling behind.  But why?  What's the hurry?

Any way, it was my birthday last Saturday.  I did take a walk.  I won't tell you where yet, let me see if you can guess.  Well number one clue is it is close to my home in California.

Now let's look at the pictures.

This is the first shot as I got down from the car.   Walked a few steps and

 this is what I see.  Do you think it is a lake, or a river or the ocean?

On my right there is a Yatch house.  Occasionally I can hear the chimes of a bell from the Light House,  may be?  Sea gulls swoop by...some come closer and make silly noises.


If I look down, close to my feet a beautiful bush of pink flowers say, -  Hello!  Are they straw flower,  lavender of a pink variety...I don't know.

I take a few steps going clockwise

Lots of  boats.

I see birds flying above.  Canadian geese migrating.  Checking out this place?

And more flowers close to me, beneath me, sometimes, on my path. So humble, so beautiful.

I feel  blessed to be part of this Earth, so blessed to be born...so blessed to be able to take a simple walk today.  I feel like kneeling down and hugging the soil with my two arms, the air, the sky, all my loved ones who are part of my life in this  long  journey.

I felt as if  Mother Earth couldn't help smiling,   seeing me so emotional all on a sudden, and  whispered "Happy Birthday" through the murmurous leaves.

                                                          *   *    *     *    *

By the way, if you are still curious about the place - it is Berkeley Marina.  I see the bay as the waterfront,  the faint line of the San Francisco city and  the Gate bridge on the Pacific Ocean and on the other side is the Berkeley - Oakland Hills with the Campanile Tower of the Berkeley University.


 I could not capture everything I had seen and wished, because it was an amazingly dazzling day and you know what happens when you want to take pictures at those times, you can  hardly see anything through the lens.

  Right?

Or is it just me?

So it was a great surprise to me too, until I found some shade, some darkness to see how I did photo shooting.

Please do visit the other bloggers and see what they had captured on their walks. I am on my way.




 

Storing Beading Tools

Storing or organizing the beads,  beading supplies and the  tools  is quite a job.

Here, I found a great idea for storing the  beading tools.  I was keeping them inside a big cup or jar, or   laid them  flat on a tray but some how they tend to get all mixed up.  Inside the cup or jar they got tangled with each other and it was cumbersome- did not quite work out.

My friend, Suparna, another jewelry artist from Ottawa, Canada came up with a fantastic idea.  She uses a bangle display to stand her tools.  The legs of the tools are just right for that width of the bangle holder  and the tools  look really organized and beautiful.

 Suparna chose a Rajastani wooden bangle holder from India.  Even if I can not manage to find such a lovely piece, I think an ordinary velvet bracelet holder will also do the trick.

Organizing beading tools

Another shot

A better picture added- This  image credit :  Suparna.M.

Want to see some more bead storing ideas?

How do you store your beads and tools?  Please leave your comment with your link so that we can visit your wonderful site too.

Bead Soup Cooking- getting ready for the 3rd reveal

I am in the 3 rd group for the  Lori Andersen's Bead soup party.  Yes, we  got some extra time in the kitchen.

Well, I had been all over the world the past three months.  First, in India, then to Washington DC - at the other side of USA - three thousand miles away from my home town...and then the last leg was Ottawa Canada, a visit to my high school friend.  While I was flying I was thinking that it is high time for me to sit down with my diary and sketch out my resolution plan for the new  year 2013.  On the hand hand, the year is four month's old now...one third of its life is spent...its not so new any more...oh well.

I was greeted with a basketful of mails to be read when I came home.  But one of the sweetest thing was a yellow packet from Iveth Caruso, from Creative Atelier,  my new  friend, and  my bead soup partner for this year.

I took my shoes off, and my coat off and sat down to open the packet right away- what  did she send me?

 Iveth wrote-  I think  it is not too spicy.

Like Goldilock,  I felt -  It's not too hot, not too cold...just right!

I love the focal she sent and the beautiful hand hammered clasp.  Iveth told me ahead that her favorite colors are blue and green and indeed she sent me what she loves.  That's call sharing- you give  what you love. I was touched.

Iveth's packet for the Bead Soup

I was thinking of the colors of this years- 2013  spring fashion trend  -  the dusk blue and gray jade, all the cool  hues of blue and here I have just the right shades to make some thing special for this spring.

Fantastic focal

Yes, the ingredients are ready, now I have to cook it up.  Stay tuned and drop by April 20 to see what we have done.  Make sure to check out Iveth's bowl too and all the other participants.

 This is my 4th year in Bead Soup parties.  I love to cook  bead soups.