My work, would be grateful for feedback

[AdiTerastones]

My name is Adi, nice to meet you all ,
I have opened an online shop about 6 months ago (May), and would like to share with u what I've achieved so far.

My jewelry are targeting a certain niche, seeking out the religious population out there as i craft hand made items from stones I collect at biblical places along Israel (where I live).

My designs are pretty unique, at least from the feedback i am getting, some examples:



and


would love to get feedback from experienced jewelers as i presume read this forum.

more of what i do can be seen at my site at my website (search for terastones).

thanks

Adi

[Dennis]

Hi Adi and welcome to the forum. I see that no one has taken up the challenge, so here are some thoughts. I note that you are entering a niche in the jewellery market:

1.The language.
When you are not a native speaker, you are sometimes in danger of giving offence. You have designated your work as ‘Religious Jewellery’ and this is sure to upset many potential customers. The stones are found objects of no intrinsic value and the best you can claim is
that they are souvenirs of the Holy Land.

2.Wire wrapping.
Wire wrapping is a low tech means of constructing jewellery and not to everyone’s taste.To appeal, it must be expertly done, symmetrical and with the wires in a pristine condition without tool marks and scratches.
Where two things are to be worn together, as for instance earrings, they should match as a pair, or at least look good together.

The link to a video below, shows what is on offer by the competition:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVy4LPHX2-c

I hope that you will take my remarks in good spirit and wish you success. Dennis.

[AdiTerastones]

Thanks Dennis,
I take it all in good spirits, you are right about your comment on the religious necklaces/ earrings etc. Its something I've recently added after some extensive keyword research for my SEO, the term "religious necklaces"
is ranked pretty high and having it written in a large font gives it some much needed weight. Its a trade-of that i need to reconsider, I hate that term myself and will probably alter it back.
regarding the wire work, i know, i have a long way to learn, the stones themselves are all in different shapes which makes working on them a bit difficult. I hope to get better with time.
I've also hired a copy writing service for some sections, my English isn't perfect for a website which tries to at least look professional.

[medusa]

I kinda liked the slightly rough textures on the metal, but I suppose a little more finesse would be good. Even though I'm a committed atheist, I think the religious angle is interesting. I'm sure there are loads of fundamentalists out there who would be excited to own some stones from the Holy Land.

[Lucie]

Hi Adi. I love your website and the whole concept. Having a niche like this is a marketing dream!! Your number of facebook "likes" in 6 months should tell you something
If there's a lot of competition for the search term "religious jewellery"; try to optimize for something more specific / unique that you are doing.
Take a look at where your page sits if you Google "Religious Jewellery" & if there's no movement in 6 weeks; try something else & find a way to bury those new key words EVERYWHERE.

You're on page one for "Holy Land Jewellery" (congratulations), but don't appear in my search for "israeli jewellery" & there's probably a whole ton of other key phrases you could come up with.

You might also want to consider adding another payment option in addition to Paypal. Only having Paypal at the moment definitely loses me clients.
I know this is a sweeping generalisation; but I have had numerous people over a certain age tell me that they "don't trust it".

Good luck. x

[AdiTerastones]

I kinda liked the slightly rough textures on the metal, but I suppose a little more finesse would be good. Even though I'm a committed atheist, I think the religious angle is interesting. I'm sure there are loads of fundamentalists out there who would be excited to own some stones from the Holy Land.

Actually I am an agnostican, far away from religion as one can be. I used to be a programmer for an online gaming company, got sick of it (both the office and the gaming industry) and started this new venture. Going through a little hell marketing it.
thanks for the support.

[AdiTerastones]

Hi Adi. I love your website and the whole concept. Having a niche like this is a marketing dream!! Your number of facebook "likes" in 6 months should tell you something
If there's a lot of competition for the search term "religious jewellery"; try to optimize for something more specific / unique that you are doing.
Take a look at where your page sits if you Google "Religious Jewellery" & if there's no movement in 6 weeks; try something else & find a way to bury those new key words EVERYWHERE.

You're on page one for "Holy Land Jewellery" (congratulations), but don't appear in my search for "israeli jewellery" & there's probably a whole ton of other key phrases you could come up with.

You might also want to consider adding another payment option in addition to Paypal. Only having Paypal at the moment definitely loses me clients.
I know this is a sweeping generalisation; but I have had numerous people over a certain age tell me that they "don't trust it".

Good luck. x

Hi Lucie
I've removed the "Religious necklaces.." phrase, hope it wont hurt my ranking too much. also changed the my story section with professional copy.
So far I am pretty low on traffic, less then 10 visits from organic search a day, but its rising a bit so i try to keep my hopes up.
Adding a credit card option for US customers from Israel is problematic, I use Shopify platform and they don't have this option for me, working on a workaround for it. Thanks for the advice, I really appreciate it and need it greatly.
This may seem like a good business with a targeted market but the truth is I've sold so far 2 items (from launch at May!!). Need to invest more on promoting it..

[mizgeorge]

Just a thought, but if you're looking to reach the US market (and I think that's where your biggest customer base would be) you might find it worth also having a shop on etsy - with all the right tags. It's a huge site, but with a little bit of effort, it can be a very effective platform. It also gives you more payment options.

[AdiTerastones]

Just a thought, but if you're looking to reach the US market (and I think that's where your biggest customer base would be) you might find it worth also having a shop on etsy - with all the right tags. It's a huge site, but with a little bit of effort, it can be a very effective platform. It also gives you more payment options.

Your are right, Etsy is a wonderful platform, I have my jewelry already displayed there. Even made one sale by them (out of two overall sales ever done.. 50% not bad ).

[Lucie]

If you're almost completely internet based, then add yourself to as many relevant free directories as you can find - These don't need regularly updating, so it's not gong to take up loads of valuable time. Just go for the big ones (and ones in the states if that's where you're aiming).
There might also be directories more specific to your niche that you could hunt down.

Simply having facebook / twitter won't do it- you need to update these once a week or so, even if it's just with a thought for the day or a new pin. Don't overstretch yourself and do too many or you'll spend half your life doing nothing but seo, or just end up doing them all badly.
Try facebook / twitter / pintrest and linkedIn.
Etsy is great. There's also Folksy and Artfire, although I don't know too much about those ones.

If you find you have too much work on; just don't update for a couple of weeks. You'll drop out of the searches and then you can start up again once things have calmed down. x