1. New Jewelry Business Tips and Techniques:
   - 3 inspiring new articles
   - 3 new jewelry display and packaging ideas
   - 3 bonus new jewelry artist stories

2. Sell More One-of-a-Kind Jewelry

3. Share Your Article, Project, Tip, or Photo -
   and Get a Valuable Link to Your Website

4. Your Profitable Jewelry Business:
   Selling Jewelry at a Farmers' Market

5. Neat Jewelry-Related Website:
   Vintage Jewelry and
   Vintage Compact Information

6. Sell More Jewelry at Shows, Fairs, and Festivals

No matter how you sell your jewelry online, you have to do your own marketing if you want to make sales.

Using the step-by-step strategies you'll learn in my book, Social Networking: Sell Your Jewelry Online the New Way, you can easily develop your own online customer base, without competition from other jewelry artists.

Invest in this 192-page, step-by-step resource now:

1. Selling Jewelry to Hotel Gift Shops
   Dalia Costa recently began selling jewelry to hotel gift shops. Here she shares her tips on jewelry opportunities in 5-star hotels, and how to get your work seen there.




2. Wholesale Gift Shows Continue to Increase Sales
   Jennifer Hisir explains how wholesale gift shows have become an increasingly successful venue for her handmade jewelry and gifts - and the importance of connecting with wholesale buyers in person.




3. Jewelry Trade Show on a Small Budget
   Three ways you can participate in a jewelry trade show inexpensively. If you want to display your work at wholesale events but can't afford a booth, consider these alternatives. By Rena Klingenberg.




4. Earrings on a Vase
   See how a vase affects the mood of Johanna Draper's earrings. This is a lovely option for displaying ultra-long earrings that don't do well on standard earring displays.




5. Graceful Jewelry Business Card
   Danica Losich shares her jewelry business card design.




6. A VistaPrint Caution
   VistaPrint does a nice job of printing jewelry business cards, postcards, etc. However, here's what you need to know about reading their "fine print" before you order!




7. New Jewelry Artist Stories
   Read and comment on these new stories by jewelry artists: Twiggy, who says "so what?" to Crohn's disease and creates her own success; Deborah, who's replacing retirement with a multi-faceted jewelry business; and Zemfira, who designs jewelry, refinishes furniture, and works in several other artforms. You can also join the fun and share your own jewelry story or photo!

Sell your jewelry to customers who are VERY willing to buy your unique handcrafted pieces – again and again. This is the main way I sell my own jewelry now.

You'll find everything you need to get started selling your own jewelry this way, in my book Secrets of a Handcrafted Jewelry Shopping Service.

Invest in this 115-page, easy-to-read guide now, and make this your best jewelry selling year ever:

Share your own jewelry business article, tip, project, or advice - and build traffic to your website at the same time. You can also include any photos you have that illustrate your contribution.

When I publish your contribution, you'll receive a free permanent link to your website from my site - and your content will be read by thousands of people in the jewelry industry. My guest authors report a significant flow of traffic coming from their links on my sites!

Question from Janet:

How can one attract attention to one's booth, if there isn't much foot traffic? Such as a Farmers' Market where one is separated from the food buyers.

Answer:

First, I'd have to recommend that you determine whether your particular farmers' market is one where people are interested only in food - or whether they're also interested in shopping for items like jewelry.

Because - unfortunately - if the only thing they're interested in is food at that particular venue, it's a very uphill road to try to change their minds.

My local farmers' market, for example, is NOT a place to sell jewelry. Folks go there strictly for fruit, vegetables, boiled peanuts, and other food items - and will occasionally also buy flowers and plants. But anything outside that realm just won't sell there.

However, I know that in many other areas, local farmers' markets are often good venues for anything handmade, and people go to those markets to shop for more than just groceries. At that type of market, handcrafted jewelry stands a good chance of selling well.

So if your local farmers' market is a place where people willingly shop for more than just food items, here are some ideas for attracting attention to your jewelry booth:

Make Your Booth More Eye-Catching

Consider the likely interests of the shoppers at your particular farmers' market, and find ways to appeal specifically to them. If your area of the market doesn't get much foot traffic, try these ideas:

• A catchy booth banner at the top of your booth. You might make it colorful, seasonal, and/or have it bear a benefit-laden message such as "Beautiful Gifts - Fast!"
• Mount enticing posters or large photos of your jewelry on easels or the back wall of your booth - high enough to be seen from other parts of the market.
• Set up an electronic photo frame with a slideshow of your jewelry. People are drawn to video and moving pictures like moths to a flame. Again, place it high up where it can be seen easily.
• Display a really eye-catching piece of jewelry prominently.

Make Your Booth Seasonal

Farmers' market shoppers are often more interested in nature and the changing of seasons than the general population is.

Consider designing these elements specifically for the current or upcoming season:

• your booth decor


• your table coverings


• a booth banner


• your products


• your packaging


• your outfit


• any promotions you run.

Make Your Booth Fun

• Offer "design your own" jewelry or some form of personalization, while customers wait. People love making choices and having products customized for them by the artist.

  However, you should arrange to have someone helping in your booth if you decide to do this, because it's too hard to run a booth and do custom jewelry at the same time.

• Demonstrate jewelry-making. Folks love to watch handcrafted items take form, and demonstrations can really draw a crowd. They also make people more likely to buy, because seeing a piece being made gives them a greater appreciation for your art. Again, arrange to have help running your booth if you'll be demonstrating.
• Be family-friendly. Families tend to be at farmers' markets, so it's a good idea to be prepared for children at your booth. Have some low-priced impulse purchase items for kids, and also something for them to play with while their parents shop at your booth. A collection of "magic magnetic hematite" beads in a tray makes an excellent babysitter!

  Also be sure to protect your jewelry (and your table coverings) by providing a wastebasket and lots of free hand-wipe towelettes if customers are likely to be sticky or greasy from food booths!

Build Your Presence at Successful Market

If this venue works well for you, become a regular vendor there.

Farmers' markets tend to have a lot of regular customers, so if your booth is successful, you can really build a customer base by appearing there regularly.

Previous customers and lookers who are now ready to buy will return to your spot looking for you. Gentlemen will notice their ladies' interest in your jewelry and return alone later to buy gifts.

At a regularly-held venue like a farmers' market, having just an occasional presence won't be as effective as a being there regularly on certain days.

(Of course, if your farmers' market yields disappointing sales for you, you shouldn't waste much of your time there.)

Promote and Advertise Your Booth

If this market is successful for you, consider both paid and free advertising to bring more people to your booth.

Find out where and how your farmer's market advertises in your local media, and look into advertising alongside their ads or being featured in one of their ads. Make sure your ad emphasizes some timely benefit to the reader, such as:

• special Halloween jewelry and gifts


• 10% discount if they mention the ad


• drawing for free jewelry


• get all your gift shopping taken care of in one stop


• includes free, beautiful gift packaging


• etc.

Look into adding a mention of your farmers' market jewelry booth in your newspaper's local calendar of events. Make your booth sound newsworthy and beneficial - consider donating a percentage of your proceeds to a charity.

Consider writing a press release for your local newspaper or other local media. Tie your farmers' market jewelry booth in with something newsworthy - a current event, a unique seasonal product you're offering, your charity donation, etc. - and include photos of your booth and your jewelry with your press release. Local media love to publish this type of feature.

Encourage Current Customers to Come to the Farmers' Market

Send your customer mailing list a postcard each month or each season, listing your upcoming appearances at the farmers' market and elsewhere.

For each mailing, have a new, seasonal photo on the front of the postcard - for example, your jewelry displayed on a pumpkin in the Fall, etc.

Our interesting site today is Vintage Jewelry and Vintage Compact Information.

This website is a growing encyclopedia of information, timelines, designers, hallmarks, etc., related to vintage jewelry. It also has an extensive jewelry glossary, defining all sorts of terms - including lots of things previously unknown to me (like "shakuda", "gutta-percha", and "damascene").

There's a smaller but still fascinating section on vintage compacts, which I never realized were such a popular collectible. Here you can learn a bit about the compact designers / manufacturers, and test your knowledge in the powder compact glossary.

Got jewelry shows this Fall? It's the best, most profitable time of year for selling jewelry.

Sell more of your jewelry with the secrets you'll learn in my book, Ultimate Guide to Your Profitable Jewelry Booth.

Don't wait to discover hundreds of things you can do to sell your jewelry like crazy at shows, fairs, and festivals. Invest in this 176-page, step-by-step resource before your next show:

Looking for specific jewelry business information or the answer to a question? Try my Search This Site feature to scour Home Jewelry Business Success Tips for any keywords you enter.

This newsletter highlights some of the latest jewelry business tips and techniques from my websites:

Home Jewelry Business Success Tips

Jewelry Display Ideas

Jewelry Business Blog

Each of these sites also has its own RSS feed. Look for the orange RSS symbol on the left-hand column of each of these sites to get the feed.