Designing and making your own jewelry can not only be a rewarding endeavor on a personal level, but it can also bring in some serious cash flow once you get the ball rolling and develop a name for yourself. Not only can you do it with friends, but in fact being social and sharing with your friends on social media is an excellent way to make a name for yourself and spread your unique creations with the world.
Nowadays, there are multiple websites generating thousands of monthly searches for exactly the product that you’re making in your niche, and of
From SEO companies, to experts in Google Ads, to Etsy Keyword programs, there is definitely more than one way to turn your love of jewelry into a profitable business. Here are the ways which you can design, make, market, and sell your own jewelry online and in person in order to make money doing something you love:
1. Design It
Ideas and Inspiration:
- Your Jewelry: Look at the materials your current jewelry is made of, like silver, stones, and gold filled chains.
- Your Friends Jewelry: Look around and take note of what types of shapes and materials that your friends like!
- Local Shops: Go window shopping for a day or two and really get a feel for what’s hot and selling in stores. Even ask the sales associate if they recommend any styles more than others.
2. Make It
- Fun: Getting the creative juices flowing can be fun because it’s a different business model than a typical cut-and-dry shop where things aren’t quite as serious.
- Liberating: Expressing yourself on an artistic level and making something that can be marketed to the world can be a fantastically liberating
experience, because it allows you to communicate through pieces which can last a very long time depending on the materials that you make them out of. - Group Endeavor: Get your friends together and make it a team effort if you feel like your friends are a good fit for making jewelry! This can lead to a business relationship down the road, so it can sometimes be helpful to ask if any of your friends are interested.
3. Market It
“A-B Testing”
The idea with marketing is to “Always Be A-B Testing”, so that you know which products, marketing images, and audiences resonate best with your jewelry product. Once you have verified results of who likes what the best, you have a much better shot of making money and turning this into a longer term endeavor.
Targeted Social Media Campaigns
- Facebook: Perhaps the best place to start selling once you’ve done a bit of testing about which markets are more receptive to your work is on Facebook
Markeplace , in addition to sharing with friends. - Twitter: Twitter ads on fashion accounts, and social media sites in general (also Pinterest), are great places to spread the word on a tight budget.
- Google Ads: Integrated with Etsy as
option or done without Etsy, Google Ads can provide an effective way to market directly to your target audience once you find out what that is. - Website Blogs: The pro is that it’s easy to write blogs, which increase SEO… if you have the time, of course. The con is that writing blogs can be very time consuming, and because websites must constantly be updated weekly with fresh content in order to rank highly in Google’s algorithm, this can sometimes be more laborious than you thought (which can also block creativity).
4. Sell It
Online
- Etsy: Etsy is a wonderful place to sell your finished products. Whether you sell bedazzled shoe jewelry or stone-laden necklaces, there are many sites like “Etsyrank” which can drastically help you achieve higher sales by finding out which keywords to label your listings with.
- Amazon Handmade: Seeing Etsy’s success, Amazon certainly didn’t want to miss out on their piece of the pie and has created “Amazon Handmade”, which is growing in popularity with every passing year.
- Ebay: One of the most
long standing places to sell goods is actually onEbay , which has an international reach and also very high SEO boosts to your blog for when you list and share your items.
In person
- Craft Shows and Fairs: These typically weekend-long events can range from local to national and international in scope, and can be an entire career on their own if you’re one who likes to travel!
- Farmers Markets: Some farmers markets allow selling cool jewelry at their stands or next to them for a fee, and because of how generally good-hearted people at farmers markets are this can be an excellent place to start and get encouragement.
- Consignment Deals with Shops: Whether cold emailing, cold calling, or dropping by shops, it’s always smart to find places whose vibe matches your tribe because this can open many doors and sales for you if you find the right stores!
