Marketing

 I started the year off with an online Entrepreneurship course organized by the Wadhwani Foundation in India. The course gave me insight into how to start a business and how to move a business online. Which intrigued me as with the Covid -19 virus a website seemed to be the best option because the I heart market closed and is not allowing new jewellers to join. 

ArtBusiness.com  has articles for artists on a range of topics one being the Do's and Don'ts, How to Build a Website that Works I used this article to generate a checklist of what to add to my website. I tested how simple it is to make my own website with both WordPress and Wix. I had more success working on Wix and continued with Wix to develop the website. I settled on a layout of the website and added all of my jewellery pieces. It was very rewarding to see all my hard work come together to produce my website.

As I continually make more jewellery I will add and edit my website. I hope to have a small variety of pieces that will appeal to a large audience of people.

Bowes, K.,(2021). Website Home Page.

Website Overview

 One thing I didn't consider about my website until I allowed a few people to go through the preview is that everything on a website is clickable. I want my website to be easily navigated so that the viewer doesn't get lost. I took a video of the final layout of my website, some images may change or be added but the general layout is done.

The one aspect about my website that I was so glad I figured out was how to add my blog onto my site. On Wix using a blog plug-in means paying for the service but I found a way around this by adding a link to the blog instead of adding the blog itself.

Bowes, K.,(2021). Website layout.

Marketing

 According to Metcalf (1994) jewellery has the ability as an artform to "communicate to a large audience," because "virtually everyone [...] utilizes some kind of adornment." I used the DUT (Durban University of Technology) table at the local craft market, the I Heart Market, to reach my audience. There are two issues with relying on the I Heart Market though, the first being that I would want to be represented as my own brand at the market instead of being under DUT but the market is saturated with jewellers that they are no longer allowing new jewellers to join. The second is that the market has been suspended for most of the year due to the COVID-19 lockdown. 

Therefore, I started setting up a website and intend on using social media for advertising. Social media has become an influential virtual platform used for, "social networking but is also a great way of digital[ly] advertising,"(Henderson. 2020). I intend on using Wix to set up my website and Instagram as my chosen social media as they are resources that are easily available. McNiff (2002) says, "by showing other people what you are doing, you can establish [...] clear evidence [that] show[s] progress." Progress in making and selling my work serves to convince me that my concept is worth continuing as my goal is to sell my work.