How to Start Your Own Home Based Jewelry Business

Open Your Own Home Based Online Jewelry Store for a Sparkling Future

Do you enjoy the eye-catching appeal of jewelry? If you are creative and appreciate jewelry as an necessary accessory, consider opening your own home based online jewelry store. You may have a sparkling future as a jewelry designer and distributor. The Internet has made it easier than ever to get started as a successful home based business owner.

Practice by making your own jewelry first. You will find that jewelry making is actually quite simple and fun. Read books and browse websites to get instructions and ideas about designing jewelry. Once you learn the basics, your creativity will take over. You can make costume jewelry or use semi-precious or precious stones with sterling silver or gold. Experiment by making inexpensive costume jewelry pieces first until you are familiar with jewelry making techniques. When you have developed basic jewelry making skills, you can use more valuable materials.

When you are confident about your jewelry making abilities, you are ready to open your own home based online jewelry store. Keep in mind that starting any business involves an initial investment and a commitment of time and effort to build your enterprise. You should not quit your day job right away so you will need to use your spare time wisely to start and maintain your online jewelry store in the beginning. So where exactly do you begin?

Follow the Law

Be ready to do business by fulfilling all the legal requirements of operation in your state first. You will need to register a business name and make sure that no one else is using it and then obtain a business certificate. Other requirements for a retail business may include a business license and a resale certificate. You can learn about specific state requirements by going your state's official website. Most state websites can be found at www.YourStateName.gov or you can visit your county or city clerk's office for more information.

You will also need to have a Federal Tax Identification Number and a state Employer Identification Number (EIN). When you visit your state's website or clerk's office, they will inform you of the procedure for obtaining a state EIN. You can get a Federal Tax Identification Number by visiting www.IRS.gov.

Once you are legally established as a business to avoid potential liability, you are ready to get started.

Know Your Customer and What You Want to Sell

Although knowing your customer and what you want to sell seems obvious, many new businesses do not adequately address these requirements and fail as a result. Consider the type of jewelry you like to make and what type of customers will be interested in buying it. When you know your product and market, you will be able to sell your jewelry more effectively.

Create a business plan and write it down. Having a plan will ultimately make your online jewelry business dream a reality because you will have a checklist of what needs to be done. Decide your market so you will know how to target it.

Pricing Your Jewelry for Sale Online

When you begin writing your business plan, your first questions will be what you intend to sell and how much you will charge for it. First consider the materials you will need to make the jewelry you sell and where you will buy them. There are many wholesale jewelry suppliers online and buying from bulk distributors can mean a significant savings to you. Once you know how much it costs to create a jewelry piece, you are ready to price it for sale online. Your profit margin should be between ten percent to thirty percent of the cost to make the jewelry, depending on the value of the piece and the amount of time it takes to create it.

Find Your Keywords

Now that you are ready to get a website to showcase your jewelry designs, you should find out what keywords to use. Keywords are the words most commonly used by people to search for particular products or services. Wordtracker is a service that assists website owners by helping them to identify the keywords and phrases that are relevant to their particular type of business. This will help you to determine the words to use to attract the most traffic to your site through Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

What is SEO?

SEO is the process by which traffic to your website is increasingly generated by search engines by means of search results. SEO is a way of marketing your website through understanding the search process as well as knowing the most popular terms people will search for. This powerful promotional tool will build the traffic to your website over time when you incorporate the right keywords into your web content.

Building web content is another way to maximize the potential of keywords and SEO marketing. Adding articles and blogs to your website that incorporate relevant keywords for your business will increase your traffic and add value to your website.

Before You Choose a Web Hosting Company

Selecting the right web hosting company is one of the most important decisions you make about your business because it will actually be your online "store" or "warehouse". If you were rental a physical store, you will be extremely cautious about the terms and location. Accordingly, you should be equally careful and pragmatic about the web hosting company you use. It should be reliable, affordable, have adequate disk space to suit your needs and offer help 24/7. Other features to look for in a web hosting company include free web design oftware, a control panel to manage your website easily and SSL support. As an online jewelry retailer, it is essential to have SSL support. An SSL certificate guarantees the users of your website that their credit card information is secure and not accessible to others.

The right hosting company adds legitimacy and allure to your online jewelry business. Having an attractive, secure website encourages people to trust you and buy your products. Once you have chosen a web hosting company, you need to choose a domain name for your business. Select a domain name that communicates what you are offering and attracts attention. The domain name you select can have significant marketing implications for the future of your online jewelry business.

Ecommerce and Building Your Website

Ecommerce refers to the online transaction of business and the linked computer systems of vendor, buyer and web host. Top ecommerce web hosting companies include Prostores ( One Month Free Trial! ProStores - an eBay Company ), Yahoo Merchant Solutions and Monstercommerce.com. These web hosts offer a myriad of useful services such as web site design software, hosting, imaging and secure online shopping carts for your buyers. These web hosting companies help you along through the steps of starting your own online jewelry business, such as choosing your domain name, registering at search engines, selecting a web host and designing your website.

Once you have created your website, you are ready to open your virtual doors for business. Paid search marketing will drive more traffic to your website and increase your possibility of making sales. Programs such as Adwords and Overture (which is now part of the Yahoo group of services) offer you an opportunity to choose keywords to target and advertise your online jewelry business using them. Your ads will appear on the Internet right away and you can budget as much or little as you want for this type of advertising.

Other ways to attract traffic include article writing, blogging, offering ebooks and placing local advertisements in periodicals, newspapers and magazines to appeal to people in your geographic region.

About the Money

You will need to open a business banking account to separate your business finances from your personal finances. The bank will need your business certificate, tax identification and personal identification to open a business bank account for you.

Other considerations include opening an online account to receive payments over the Internet, such as PayPal, and giving your customers the option to pay by credit card. U.S. Merchant Systems is one of the companies that can set your company up to accept credit cards. Make sure that your shopping cart and your credit card company are compatible.

Helpful Hints

Here are a couple of helpful hints before you get started:

• Invest in a decent digital camera and take photographs of your unique jewelry creations so people who visit your website can see them;
• Make the type of jewelry you like the best because your passion for your creative work will be contagious - accordingly, your lack of enthusiasm shows, too.
• Be prepared to invest quite a bit of time, money and effort before you realize profits.
• When you start earning income from your online jewelry business, don't quit your day job. It takes at least a year or two to see if a business will remain lucrative and become stable, so don't take unnecessary risks.
• Find out more about the jewelry industry through organizations such as the American Craft Council, Jewelry Design Professionals' Network and Modern Jewelers. Benefits of owning your own business include freedom of choice with regard to decisions, unlimited income potential and possible tax benefits, which you can discuss with your accountant. Let your creative side run wild and earn money by starting your own online jewelry store for personal and financial independence in your future.