Name of your website?Two Belles & a Bead - Affordable Handcrafted Jewelry
Your name?
Crystal
Your Location (city, etc)
Corpus Christi
What inspired you to launch your own website?
Several of my friends and family members urged me to start a retail website after having enjoyed my jewelry for a couple of years. We decided to branch out and offer our pieces online so everyone has a chance to buy beautiful, quality handcrafted jewelry.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
I first started talking about my jewelry on my blog - http://krysmh.blogspot.com
A few months ago, we officially opened Two Belles & a Bead, our retail website.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
We are a mother/daughter team of jewelry designers. We live in the south and wanted to incorporate the southern feel into our name and site. A lot of our designs use beads - crystals, gemstones, and glass to name a few - so really, we're just two belles and a bead.
Please give us a short summary of your website?
Two Belles & a Bead contains handcrafted jewelry priced in a way that every belle can afford. We have a large variety of pieces and specialize in Swarovski crystal, genuine gemstones, sterling & fine silvers, 14k gold filled pieces, and chain maille jewelry. We love our customers and strive for 100% customer satisfaction. We also offer gift certificates and are now taking custom orders.
What makes it different from other, similar offerings?
We work very hard at keeping our prices affordable. Other jewelry designers have beautiful, quality pieces like us, but charge sometimes up to three times the amount we do! We do not overcharge our customers, but we still offer the great customer service you would expect from a high end retailer.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
Our main goal is just to provide gorgeous quality pieces that will last a lifetime at affordable prices. We hope that someday the business will provide a good stay at home income, but for now, we're just happy to keep designing and hear the testimonials of our satisfied customers!
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
We have found that the more time we invest in promoting our pieces, the more success we have. Our jewelry basically sells itself, we just have to get the word out!
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
We are quite happy with our site at the moment. We had an excellent team of designers work on it, and we continually update it and optimize it. If we had a bigger budget, we would probably add a few more different payment options. Really though, we'd rather spend any extra money on new gorgeous gemstones and cool new tools that will expand our designing skills!
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
There are only two of us, and we'd like to keep it that way. However, we both work from home and have many hours available to devote to keeping up with the demand. We are quite confident we can make it happen!
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
We have experienced a few technical quirks with our web hosting company. Thankfully, we have not had any monetary surprises.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Getting the word out, basically. We are currently deeply studying search engine optimization and various marketing techniques, so hopefully that will change soon.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
We have experienced the most success with word of mouth. We have several faithful customers that love us and our products so much they are constantly telling people about us, which in turn produces more faithful customers.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
We expected it to be a little more complicated and costly than it has been. We have been extremely fortunate in our experience.
How long have you run the site already, and how long will you continue to keep it up if you don't enjoy big gains in traffic, income or popularity?
We have run it for about three months or so. We plan to keep it going for as long as it continues to pay for itself. We really just love what we do and even if we just keep our current customer base and never expand, we'd be happy! Of course, we'd be happier if we do expand. *grin*
Why did you choose this business?
When Crystal got married 6.5 years ago, she had a hard time finding quality wedding jewelry that was not extremely overpriced. She ended up paying too much for a very simple set. Although she loved it and still does, she decided she could make it herself for much less! We decided to do just that, and when loved ones saw our creations, they wanted some for themselves. That's where it all began, and we have never looked back!
What is your website address?
Two Belles & a Bead - Affordable Handcrafted Jewelry
