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Horace

Mabel - your package arrived today and I do admit to opening the box and taking a peak - you are one talented lady:D I have put the postcards into the box that I am taking to the show.

Welcome RockingSurfer - initially I would avoid spending too much money on advertising (I wouldnt bother with rip off merchant such as Yellow Pages either). You can get some very good business advice (free) from businesslink https://www.businesslink.gov.uk

It was a good job that I set my alarm for 8am (I didnt get to bed til 2am:eek:) as the post woman (she came in a van) arrived bright and early. I also received a gift focus magazine (I use this magazine for ideas) and I received my headphones and mic from Skype so now I can chat for free online:eek: (I have even added my skype address to my website.

Come on Purple - we want to see the shoes:D

TCM_3

Welcome Rockingsurfer and Napentass! RS marketing and selling yourself is one of those things that I need help on too. I began by running a big feature in 2 of the local newspapers which turned out to be useless then advertising in a newspaper didn't really work either.

Don't start me on business bank accounts - I changed accounts a few weeks back and I discovered yesterday, by looking at the balance then the available balance that the bank was taking 5 days to clear cheques into the account yet could take them out in 3.:mad: The laughable point was one of the cheques I lodged was from the same branch yet it still took the 5 days!

Quieter in here today, although have had a few good sales. I opened the post this morning to be greated with nothing but bills and invoices. I didn't think I was too bad this month but looking at them it seems otherwise. I have taken the headstaggers too and am really looking closely at profit margins and where we are loosing money. I am at the stage where I am concerned that this is not working and I don't know how to turn it around. My stock is dangerously low, I have done all the cutting the costs, buying little and often, trying to pay early and get a bit of discount, move stock around etc but yet next week, we could have a cracking week! The joys of it!

Have a good weekend
T

moneymabel

Thanks Horace :-) your leaflets arrived today , I will take them to the wedding fair with me next week.

Second month of advertising in the wedding mag this month and so far one customer from it. Know I need to give it a fair try but £115 a month is a lot for no return. I'm wondering if Im advertising in the right mag- my jewellery is in 2 local wedding shops, one is more 'upper class' and sells a lot. The other is more budget concious and hardly sells any. I'm advertising in Wedding Ideas, I'm wondering if I should try Brides or similar instead. Please don't think Im getting up my own !!!!- I'm not posh by any means...and advertising in a posh mag is scary but I really don't know what to do.

Horace

Mabel - I thought those leaflets would be more use than a stack of business cards.

Do you have county wedding magazines in Devon - maybe called Your Devon Wedding? If so advertise there as they also have a section on their webpage for suppliers (which reminds me, I need to amend mine). This magazine is produced by Kline Davis - those nice peeps who saw sense and offered me great deals on advertising. Your ....Wedding - is quite a posh magazine which retails at £2.95 and features local suppliers in the local area. To get an idea of what the magazines are like have a look at the link for the West Midlands one: https://www.yourwestmidlandswedding.com. I must admit that so far I have had one timewaster but am hoping things will change.

Its not about being up your own posterior - its a case of blowing your trumpet and to be honest your jewellery is fab and far too good for cheap shops - if brides want cheap they will go to Claire's Accessories. I would put your jewellery in the middle to high market as opposed to low end market.

Have a look at bridal shops outside the confines of Barnstaple - if they're posh get them to sell your jewellery.

I am middle to high end market although if you saw where I lived, you wouldn't believe it but then across the road from me (about 5 mins walk) there is a superb photographer (weddings and corporate work) who is also middle to high end - no low end markets for us:rotfl: We go where the money is.

moneymabel

Thanks Horace. So far I've had 3 customers, one from the ad and two that have found me on google. I think I will cancel the advertising and for now concentrate on free advertising, my web designer has a free voucher for google adwords and will have a go at it for free as she hasnt done it before and would like to try,also hotfrog/tradespace listings and flyers. I still have debt to pay off and am finding it hard justifying paying for advertising which doesnt give me back anything. I will leave paid advertising til Feb/March and then reconsider who I advertise with . We haven't got a 'your devon wedding' but there is Devon Life who do a bridal mag. They are who I was considering advertising with first but changed my mind as I thought coz my website is 'countrywide' local advertising was in a way limiting.
Hope i get some sales from the wedding Fair :-/

Horace

Mabel - I know you sell countrywide but you also need to sell local too. I need to change the website listing that I have with Kline Davis as it is naff and I just put something down quickly. One of my wedding planning chums (she has been in business for years) swears by the adverts in county wedding magazines but so far I havent seen much evidence. I shall wait and see what happens at the end of this series of adverts - if I get another good deal then I will consider it but if not then I shall stick with my website and maybe sticking my web address all over facebook. I looked at my webstats the other day and most of the traffic comes from MSE - its a pity really as the brides on MSE are looking for cheap as chips weddings and I am more upmarket than that:rolleyes:

Have a good weekend.

itsnowtime

Hi everyone,

Sorry I've not been around for a little while - I'm trying to concentrate on getting my website finished and launched which I'm hoping will be later today! I can then put a link on here and I'd love your feedback.

However whilst I was keeping up to date with everything on the thread without commenting I wanted to add a few tips about driving online traffic.. (i might be teaching you to 'suck eggs' so I'm sorry as I don't mean to be..) I was just wondering if you had done the following as it may help drive online traffic:

1. Created a Google Sitemap and submitted this to google directly
2. Opened a Twitter account and started to follow others - so they might click on your profile and look at your site..
3. Posted short 'articles' into sites such as digg etc.. where people would read it and then want to know more..
4. Advertised on 'free' advertising sites.
5. Set up a BT Tradespace account - many people report that they moved up in googles rankings once they'd done this..

I am no expert myself and trying to build my retail website and do all of these things takes so much time and when you're trying to earn money it gets a little frustrating - however I know it will be worth it in the long run.

Anyhoo.. I hope that little bit helps .. and sorry if you've done all of these things..

Lx

moneymabel

Thanks Horace -i will look into the local mag.
Hi Itsnowtime-Thanks for info-another good free listing is hotfrog, my listing with them is higher up on google than my actual website and bttradespace listing. Def worth checking out.

itsnowtime

Thanks MoneyMabel I've heard of Hotfrog but never used them - I'll add that one to my list..

All the things you have to think about.. but it will be good for us in the long run..

Have you thought about offering your products on a wholesale basis to other internet retailers? They may wish to display your products.

I am creating an eco-friendly site with a range of products from skincare to household and if your jewellery's eco-friendly then it may be something I can look to add onto my site if it was something you were thinking about.

Just a thought ..

Enjoy the rest of Sunday...

moneymabel

Hi It'snowtime,
It's wedding jewellery so probably a bit too specialised for internet retailers. I don't think it's very eco-friendly as most of my supplies come from America..loadsa air miles! Thanks for the offer tho:-)