7 Great Resources for Learning How to Sell Your Handmade Jewelry

Do people tell you that you should be selling your handmade jewelry? Are you interested, but don't know how to start? There are lots of free resources on the internet that can bring you up to speed on what you need to know. Here are my top 7 great resources for learning how to sell handmade artisan jewelry.

1. The Jewelry Sweet Spot (http://www.thejewelrysweetspot.com)
A great site is dedicated entirely to jewelry designers and artisans. It offers free marketing E-Lessons to teach you how to grow your business more quickly, articles about dozens of ways to promote your business, sell more, and work more efficiently and effectively, and alerts and reviews about new products, tools, and books that can help you in your business.

2. The Jewelry Sweet Spot Blog (http://www.thejewelrysweetspot.com/wordpress)

Lots of articles here. There is a regular featured jewelry artist (I think about 2 a month). This is a great place to learn about others who have successful jewelry design businesses and see what others are making. There are also free jewelry making How-To's and tutorials, and articles about selling at shows and online.

3. Home Jewelry Business Success Tips (http://www.home-jewelry-business-success-tips.com/)

Rena Klingenberg, Author, Publisher, and Jewelry Designer has a great site with lots of articles, tips and shortcuts about selling artisan jewelry. There are over 400 articles listed on this site. Don't miss her interview with Eni Oken. In this interview, Eni Oken explains what she calls, "the twist", easily the best and most concise design advice I've ever read.

4. Eni Oken's Jewelry: http://www.enioken.com/

Eni Oken offers a number of great resources and tips for jewelry designers including free and pay tutorials that you are free to use in your own "for sale" jewelry. So refreshing to see a designer that is willing to share her designs instead of jealously guarding them. All she asks is that you help her promote her site as well. Pretty smart marketing really. Well worth checking out.

5. Jewelry Making at About.com (http://jewelrymaking.about.com/)

This site, maintained by Tammy Powley, offers tons of information about making and selling jewelry. It is a pretty broad site aimed at anyone and everyone, hobbyists, beginners, and jewelry designers alike. I find it a little difficult to wade through all the ads but there is a lot of information here, especially of the beginner variety.

6. Art Jewelry Magazine (http://cs.artjewelrymag.com/artcs/)

There is a great forum site here where you can interact with other designers, ask and answer questions about business, and share pictures of your work.

7. Etsy.com (http://www.etsy.com)

This has been a great business starting point for many. Etsy is an online selling site devoted to handmade items of all kinds and is a very inexpensive way to get started in selling your jewelry. There is a very active online forum where you can ask for website critiques, read about selling tips of all kinds (although mostly Etsy related), and make connections with others. The only caveat is that Etsy is quite saturated with jewelry. If your jewelry is common, it may get lost in the sea of jewelry, but if you make very distinctive, appealing jewelry, and do a lot of outside promotion through craft shows and home jewelry parties, you can do quite well on Etsy.

About The Author-- Christine Gierer is a self-taught jewelry designer, crafter, and Work-at-Home-Mom who enjoys reading, writing, and making handmade jewelry. CG Handmade Jewelry for the Understated Princess.(Women Who Want to Shine, not Blind)

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