What Makes A Good Store

 Since I have switched over to using Big Commerce as my eCommerce provider I have had a lot of people who use other shopping cart and eCommerce providers ask me what I think about BC? It's easier for me to ask them what they don't like about their present provider and then set their minds at ease about using BC.

Is that all it takes to make a good store?  Absolutely not, but it is the foundation for one. If the site doesn't function the way it should when it is supposed to then that may be the straw that breaks the camels back, thus adding to your abandon rate.

So, what do you need? In summary;

• Products that people want
• A good looking site
• Prices that are in line with the market
• A great eCommerce partner
• and if you want sales you better have great Internet Marketing strategy and effort

 There is no one thing by and of itself that will do it, rather the combination of all these things.

"Inquiring Minds Want to Know"
Doug
www.JDKellyJewelry.com

Analysis Paralysis

There are several ways of analyzing your website traffic; Google Analytics (my preferred), having your "log.file" read and interpreted by any number of commercial, off-the-shelf (COTS) software programs, and others.

I have a little bit of experience in analytics, somewhere around 37 years worth. It's the experience and the methods and knowing how to "read" the numbers to tell the story that makes a good analyst. Being able to dig in and find the really important things and never being satisfied, that's what makes a really good one.

There is one pitfall, or trap that one can get into, and that is what we call "analysis paralysis." This phenomena happens to every analyst at some time or other in their life time, more than most want to admit. It can best be described as being frozen in time and space, unable to move your eyes, limbs, speech is lost and the brain stops working. Typically it occurs after staring at numbers, figures and data for extended periods of time without getting up and separating yourself from the work. It can be compared to "writer's block."

One thing you learn and I can vouch for is that you can take 2 data points or 2 sets of numbers and make them represent anything you need. Seriously, manipulating figures is something that is part of the job.

Key thing is to know what you are looking for and then identifying the data that best represents it. One of the big points everyone is business is looking for is return on investment, or ROI. Essentially you want to know how much bang you are getting for the buck. I had a client once who would not spend a cent on certain Internet marketing if he could not get a minimum of a 300% ROI.  There are 2 formula's, the simplest is Revenue divided by Cost. So, define what you need in terms of return n your investment and play with that for a while.

"Inquiring Minds Want to Know"
Doug
www.JDKellyJewelry.com

Confession

OK, I have to "fess up." I followed myself. Not that I wanted to see where I was going mind you, but I had to start it off, you know.

"Inquiring Minds Want to Know"
Doug
www.JDKellyJewelry.com

On Twitter

Well, there's that too.

I have several Twitter accounts;

http://twitter.com/doug_kelly    with over 12,300 followers as of March 17, 2009

and

http://twitter.com/jdkelly_jewelry   with about 200 followers that I just started in the last few weeks.

and

http://twitter.com/navychief     with about 6,200 followers - my darker side and represents where I spent 18 years of my life.

If you'd like to follow, click on the links above and we'll tweet to each other!


"Inquiring Minds Want to Know"
Doug
www.JDKellyJewelry.com

Looking for Ways to Get Your Site Listed Higher

I could have titled this, SEO for Your Website.

Either way, I thought I would post this link for you folks who are doing your own Search Engine Optimization and want to hear it from the "horse's mouth" so to speak, Matt Cutts is a senior engineer with Google who provides video replies to questions that people have emailed to Google's Webmaster Central and he provides great insight to the world of SEO as it pertains to ethical organic search.

http://www.youtube.com/googlewebmasterhelp#p/u/4/MkLFlaWxgJA

This link is to one of the more informative videos, but look at the list on the right-hand side and click on "view all" to get the entire library.

"Inquiring Minds Want to Know"
Doug
www.JDKellyJewelry.com

Passion for the Sale

What's your passion? What gets you going, make you feel all mooshy inside, I mean besides the obvious things like loved ones and puppies? OK, it's love too, but can you define it?

For me, it is creating something that someone will buy, the thrill of the sale! In the jewelry business, I believe it also defines success.

I think about the time I spend designing in my mind, conceptualizing it, putting it on paper (napkin, paper towel, scrap, magazine or newspaper page),making a model, adjusting and then the final piece. The time spent, some agonizing and some effortless, trying to get the feel in my mind for the look on a customer's face when they see it for the first time. Reading expressions is a good talent to have. When they say, "I'll take it!" is when I get all goofy and then I know I have done a good job.

Of course I can't apply this to my Internet store since I can't see them. I will do another post on how I analyze my online guests.

"Inquiring Minds Want to Know"
Doug
www.JDKellyJewelry.com

In the Beginning

How does one get started in the jewelry business anyway?

I had a hobby that dealt with woodworking and carving. I had been doing that for man, many years. My late stepfather, Jim Hall, had started fooling around with polymer clay creations a few years back and then begun making jewelry with it. When he passed away in 2009, my sister and I were talking about his passion for making and selling things and I got the notion to try polymer clay.

I read up on the basics and compared notes and visited forums and became a "polymer clay information vacuum cleaner." After I was satisfied I had the information I needed I began making purchases of clay, some equipment, including a small toaster oven just for baking the polymer, books and DVDs.

My wife, always observant of my passions and ideas, kept an eye on me to make sure I didn't go overboard as I have a tendency to do at times.

One thing led to another including a lot of trial and error, practice, watching videos and experimenting with color, size and cooking time, and finally we made some things we could use for earrings and brooches. Jewelry requires something called "findings", which I later learned are all the pieces parts that go into making the end product; headpins, ear wire hooks, eyepins, bails, bead caps, jump rings, links and the list goes on.

As anyone who has hobbies or who is a business owner would do, I looked for a way to cut costs on these findings and make them myself where I could. Enter wire bending and silversmithing. I got a wire jig and boy did that start me off having some sore fingers, but it was fun renewed. My new friends were a chasing hammer and an anvil, along with some punches and miscellaneous tools (I love tools).

Last month, February, I opened up my first jewelry store and put it out there for all to see. Some I made and some made by others. And today I started this blog, although I have written posts on others like Home Jewelry Business Success Tips.

I will keep posting here and hope you folks will keep coming back and participate in the topics. We all benefit from it.

"Inquiring Minds Want to Know"
Doug Kelly
www.JDKellyJewelry.com