Website review sought - comments invited

Hi

Following the feedback I got here a few weeks ago, I've revised the site
I'm putting together for my wife's jewelry.

It's here
http://www.siliconglen.com/joscelin/jewelry.html

Comments welcome - I'm especially interested in feedback on the prices
and tips for handling both UK and US prices - is there an easy way to do
this or do people suggest just having two paypal buttons for each item
(a UK price and a rest-of-the-world)

thanks

Craig

--
Craig Cockburn ("coburn"). M.Sc., CITP, CEng
Owner, http://www.siliconglen.com/
Home to the first online guide to Scotland, founded 1994.
Scottish blog, FAQ, weddings, website design, stop spam and more!

Craig Cockburn wrote:

Following the feedback I got here a few weeks ago, I've revised the
site
I'm putting together for my wife's jewelry.

It's here
http://www.siliconglen.com/joscelin/jewelry.html

Comments welcome - I'm especially interested in feedback on the prices
and tips for handling both UK and US prices - is there an easy way to do
this or do people suggest just having two paypal buttons for each item
(a UK price and a rest-of-the-world)

Get a free program like Zen Cart, it's not that bad to learn and you
can set the various currencies and exchange rate to what you want and
the customer chooses the currency.

Just a personal comment. I don't like jewellery that is one of a kind
modeled on a person. In fact unless it's really professional
photography I don't like seeing jewellery on a person. Get a good
necklace stand, the cut-off bits of person are really offputting to a
lot of people.

Good luck with the site.

-Su

www.tillermanbeads.co.uk
www.britishlampwork.co.uk

Su wrote:

Just a personal comment. I don't like jewellery that is one of a kind
modeled on a person. In fact unless it's really professional
photography I don't like seeing jewellery on a person. Get a good
necklace stand, the cut-off bits of person are really offputting to a
lot of people.

I am in that camp as well. Although the model has lovely skin (the first
thing I thought when I looked at the site) I find that jewelry modeled
on a person distracts from the jewelry itself. Those designs are lovely
but I didn't remember any of them after leaving the site the first
time... but I did remember that they were photographed on a lady with
lovely skin, LOL!
--
-Kalera
http://www.beadwife.com
http://www.bridgetownglass.com
On eBay: http://www.snurl.com/1sfe

In message .com, Su
writes
Craig Cockburn wrote:

Following the feedback I got here a few weeks ago, I've revised the
site
I'm putting together for my wife's jewelry.

It's here
http://www.siliconglen.com/joscelin/jewelry.html


I have recently updated this site and for ease of access it is now
available through
http://www.scotlandsilver.com and
http://www.jewelryscotland.com

Also, to save on bandwidth I'm using Flickr to host the new images of
sterling silver jewellery
http://www.flickr.com/groups/joscelin/ although the link is at the page
above.

Any suggestions on how to improve the appearance, functionality of the
site welcome.

thanks


--
Craig Cockburn ("coburn"). M.Sc., CITP, CEng
Owner, http://www.siliconglen.com/
Home to the first online guide to Scotland, founded 1994.
Scottish blog, FAQ, weddings, website design, stop spam and more!

In message , Craig Cockburn
writes
In message .com, Su
writes
Craig Cockburn wrote:

Following the feedback I got here a few weeks ago, I've revised the
site
I'm putting together for my wife's jewelry.

It's here
http://www.siliconglen.com/joscelin/jewelry.html


Beautiful necklaces and easy to negotiate web site. Nice big pictures
for details.

I think the prices are low though. Not much if any profit with the cost
of the beads and time involved. Do not sell yourself short.

I know I had problems trying to sell my jewellery down here in
Derbyshire. It was predomitably mining area until a few years ago.
People think because you make the stuff at home it should not cost much.
They do not take the cost and here in UK the postage since one has to
mainly use mail order to get supplies. Nor do they realise that we have
to provide a well lit working area and have to buy tools.
I refused to sell cheap because it is not fair on other bead workers who
do it for a living. When someone asks a price and they say they could do
it cheaper themselves I tell them to go ahead because I am not
undervaluing my work.

Good luck to your wife and I hope she is successful.
Shirley
--
Shirley Shone

http://www.allcrafts.org.uk

On Jan 15, 2:06 am, Shirley Shone
wrote:
In message , Craig Cockburn
writesIn message .com, Su
writes
Craig Cockburn wrote:

Following the feedback I got here a few weeks ago, I've revised the
site
I'm putting together for my wife's jewelry.

It's here
http://www.siliconglen.com/joscelin/jewelry.html

Beautiful necklaces and easy to negotiate web site. Nice big pictures
for details.

but takes a long time to load. I put thumbnails on mine for a reason.

I think the prices are low though. Not much if any profit with the cost
of the beads and time involved. Do not sell yourself short.
[...]
They do not take the cost and here in UK the postage since one has to
mainly use mail order to get supplies. Nor do they realise that we have
to provide a well lit working area and have to buy tools.
I refused to sell cheap because it is not fair on other bead workers who
do it for a living. When someone asks a price and they say they could do
it cheaper themselves I tell them to go ahead because I am not
undervaluing my work.

I'm with Shirley on this. I don't know what the current exchange rate
is, probably on the order of 1GBP= 2US$, but I can't see how you
can make the jewelry for that and (if you were doing this full time
and sell
all) make a living at it (admittedly cost of - especially staple -
food is quite
bit higher higher where I am than in the UK, assuming you have a
Sainsbury's or Tesco somewhere close).
I don't depend on making a living at it at this time, but it's unfair
to
those who do.

Aloha,
Maren (in Hawaii)
HiloBeads
http://www.hilobeads.com/

In message
,
Maren at google writes
On Jan 15, 2:06 am, Shirley Shone
wrote:
In message , Craig Cockburn
writesIn message
ps.com, Su
writes
Craig Cockburn wrote:

Following the feedback I got here a few weeks ago, I've revised the
site
I'm putting together for my wife's jewelry.

It's here
http://www.siliconglen.com/joscelin/jewelry.html

Beautiful necklaces and easy to negotiate web site. Nice big pictures
for details.

but takes a long time to load. I put thumbnails on mine for a reason.

I think the prices are low though. Not much if any profit with the cost
of the beads and time involved. Do not sell yourself short.
[...]
They do not take the cost and here in UK the postage since one has to
mainly use mail order to get supplies. Nor do they realise that we have
to provide a well lit working area and have to buy tools.
I refused to sell cheap because it is not fair on other bead workers who
do it for a living. When someone asks a price and they say they could do
it cheaper themselves I tell them to go ahead because I am not
undervaluing my work.

I'm with Shirley on this. I don't know what the current exchange rate
is, probably on the order of 1GBP= 2US$, but I can't see how you
can make the jewelry for that and (if you were doing this full time
and sell
all) make a living at it (admittedly cost of - especially staple -
food is quite
bit higher higher where I am than in the UK, assuming you have a
Sainsbury's or Tesco somewhere close).
I don't depend on making a living at it at this time, but it's unfair
to
those who do.

The beads are bought locally, not mail order.
http://www.beadshopscotland.co.uk/

The well lit working area was already set up from when she did artwork.

It's a part time job in between looking after our three children and as
a part time job would never be enough to live off. However, the
silverware would be more expensive not only because of the raw materials
but also because of the hallmarking costs.

We have a number of local supermarkets within walking distance if that
helps.

--
Craig Cockburn ("coburn"). M.Sc., CITP, CEng
Owner, http://www.siliconglen.com/
Home to the first online guide to Scotland, founded 1994.
Scottish blog, FAQ, weddings, website design, stop spam and more!

In message , Craig Cockburn
writes
In message
,
Maren at google writes
On Jan 15, 2:06 am, Shirley Shone
wrote:
In message , Craig Cockburn
writesIn message
ups.com, Su
writes
Craig Cockburn wrote:

Following the feedback I got here a few weeks ago, I've revised the
site
I'm putting together for my wife's jewelry.

It's here
http://www.siliconglen.com/joscelin/jewelry.html

Beautiful necklaces and easy to negotiate web site. Nice big pictures
for details.

but takes a long time to load. I put thumbnails on mine for a reason.

I think the prices are low though. Not much if any profit with the cost
of the beads and time involved. Do not sell yourself short.
[...]
They do not take the cost and here in UK the postage since one has to
mainly use mail order to get supplies. Nor do they realise that we have
to provide a well lit working area and have to buy tools.
I refused to sell cheap because it is not fair on other bead workers who
do it for a living. When someone asks a price and they say they could do
it cheaper themselves I tell them to go ahead because I am not
undervaluing my work.

I'm with Shirley on this. I don't know what the current exchange rate
is, probably on the order of 1GBP= 2US$, but I can't see how you
can make the jewelry for that and (if you were doing this full time
and sell
all) make a living at it (admittedly cost of - especially staple -
food is quite
bit higher higher where I am than in the UK, assuming you have a
Sainsbury's or Tesco somewhere close).
I don't depend on making a living at it at this time, but it's unfair
to
those who do.

The beads are bought locally, not mail order.
http://www.beadshopscotland.co.uk/

The well lit working area was already set up from when she did artwork.

It's a part time job in between looking after our three children and as
a part time job would never be enough to live off. However, the
silverware would be more expensive not only because of the raw
materials but also because of the hallmarking costs.

We have a number of local supermarkets within walking distance if that
helps.


Do you have your own hallmark?
Shirley
--
Shirley Shone

http://www.allcrafts.org.uk

In message , Shirley Shone
writes

Do you have your own hallmark?
Shirley

Yes. When we did the registration we had to choose a hallmark pattern.
However, we still have to send off to the assay office (or take them in)
to get them actually stamped. I believe you can do this yourself but
haven't investigated that route yet.

Craig
--
Craig Cockburn ("coburn"). M.Sc., CITP, CEng
Owner, http://www.siliconglen.com/
Home to the first online guide to Scotland, founded 1994.
Scottish blog, FAQ, weddings, website design, stop spam and more!

On Jan 15, 9:37 am, "Henry" wrote:
Very Nice. For me, both of the links below loaded quickly.

I am not sure that using flickr is saving bandwidth. Bandwidth is only
important while the page is loading. It may save you money if you are
running out of storage space on your server and the provider wants to gouge
you for money to get more storage space. Having photos of all your products
at one web site looks more professional (IMO).

It may also save you money if you run out of bandwidth on your server.
Depends on your webhost and account, but at least mine has limited
transfer per month. I also have my images elsewhere, and for the time
being
while things still change on a daily (sometimes hourly) basis most of
my pages.
I find it easier to work with a familiar editor.
Also, if I'd have to pay more for web hosting I'd probably have to
raise prices.

It would be a good idea to find out why Maren at google said the pages
loaded slow and I said they loaded quickly. You may want people to tell you

may be the time difference. When I loaded the pages it was lunch time
on the East Coast
(of the US) and what we in Hawaii call pau hana time (time after work)
in Europe.
I've seen connections between Hawaii and Europe come to a screeching
halt
at some of those times. I'm probably close to as far away from
Scotland as you can
get, independent of which way around the globe you're going.

And of course here there's those people like me who check their email
before
work, check the weather, or make the occasional usenet post g. Road
runner
is a shared connection.

about their internet connections so you get a feel if most of your customers
are going to have slow loads or fast loads. Found out on some of the other
newsgroups that many people are still using dial up. This information would

For some people here that's the only way other than satellite.

be important to how you design your web pages. I use timewarner cable, but
I am not paying the extra for their faster connection.

Same here (at home).

Maren
HiloBeads
http://www.hilobeads.com/