EMMANUEL RAHEB, CEO of Smart Age Solutions (smartagesolutions.com), a digital marketing agency, explained to a strong afternoon SMART Show crowd today that independent retailers have the edge over big e-commerce giants like Blue Nile and James Allen because of their strong community ties – they just have to learn to beat the e-jewelers at their own game online. With more than 200 built jewelry websites and 400-plus jewelry retailers’ marketing campaigns managed, Raheb brought a wealth of credibility to his recommendations. Here were his 10 “must-do’s” for every website:
1. Put your phone number in the website header. Raheb said one client saw an unbelievable increase in business from this move alone, simply by moving the phone number from the bottom of the screen to the top.
2. Be sure your phone number is also immediately visible on mobile.
3. Make your website responsive to all device screens. People will be disappointed in the mobile experience if your website is not mobile-responsive, and that’s a strike against you.
Emmanuel Raheb, CEO of Smart Age Solutions, shares website tips with a SMART Show audience.
4. Offer an easy-to-see “Book appointment” function. Having as many “calls to action” on your website as possible is key to your success, Raheb said. In one example he gave of a client, Wedding Day Jewelers, a single page had seven calls to action: a phone number, book appointment, find a location, add to cart, live chat, leave a note, and another book appointment button.
5. Make your value proposition clear. What’s different about your store?
6. Have a service page describing the services you offer, like jewelry repair, custom design, pearl/bead restringing, remounting, rhodium plating, appraisals, etc. Raheb once guaranteed James Free Jewelers that 6 out of 10 clients who came in for repairs would buy jewelry, and it happened.
7. Be sure you have a Google Business listing. It’s free. Create one for each location. This gets you organically ranked higher on Google searches.
8. Add “credibility badges” clearly visible on your website. These include GIA, Jewelers of America, AGS, JBT, etc. Also, credit card logos – these are feel-good logos; consumers trust them.
9.Use Google Analytics. It’s free. You need to be able to track what’s happening on your website.
10. Be sure you have a “squeeze page.” This is a landing page designed to capture opt-in email addresses from people. You can do this by offering a subscription to your email newsletter, or you can give them a discount (like a 20% off coupon) when they give you their email address.
Raheb also threw in four things you should never do on your website:
1. Don’t use pop-up windows. They have a high bounce rate, meaning visitors will be turned off and leave your site. If you want to show them a pop-up if they have an item in their cart and start to leave, that’s fine, says Raheb. Or if you want to show them a relatively unobtrusive live chat window after they’ve been browsing around your website for a few minutes, great. But otherwise, don’t.
2. Don’t choose design over function. Be sure people can tell you sell jewelry, and don’t require too much scrolling for them to get necessary information.
3. Never send traffic away from your site. Don’t send people away to designers’ or brands’ websites.
4. Don’t use mirrored websites. A mirrored site is a complete copy of another website using a different URL. If Google sees that you’re running a mirrored website, you’ll be penalized.
The Wedding Day Diamonds website, built by Smart Age Solutions, includes several calls to action to engage visitors.