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Success With Jewelry
111 - Laryssa and Liz Interview Sohail Dewani, Founder of Jewelers League
00:28:48
Welcome to the Success With Jewelry podcast, hosted by Laryssa Wirstiuk and Liz Kantner, two experts passionate about helping independent jewelry artists thrive. Welcome to episode #111. In this episode, we're chatting with Sohail Dewani, founder of...
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- [00:00]
A
Welcome to the Success with Jewelry podcast where we invite you inside our conversations about business success and marketing for jewelry designers and entrepreneurs.
- [00:09]
B
We're Larissa and Liz, jewelry marketing experts with the combined 16 years of experience in jewelry marketing and proven track records and helping jewelry brands meet their goals. When you listen to or watch this podcast, you get an intimate and exclusive peek behind the curtain of all the things you wish you could know about earning success in this industry.
- [00:28]
A
Welcome to episode 111. Today we're chatting with Sohail Dhawani, founder of Jewelers league. With over 15 years of experience, Sohail helps jewelry businesses thrive in the digital world with e commerce solutions. We'll be talking about SEO and tips for driving more traffic to your website. Stay tuned for our bonus content. We'll share common mistakes and easy updates you can make to your site. Hey Larissa and Sohail, let's get into it. Yay.
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B
This is exciting.
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C
Hi. Thank you for having me on the podcast. I'm really excited and can't wait to deep dive into all things SEO and traffic.
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A
Thank you for being here. We've talked about this on the Insiders episode before, but I have been struggling to drive traffic to my website, so I think I'm going to learn a lot from this as well. But why don't you first briefly introduce yourself and let us know what the Jewelers League is.
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C
Right, so I'll just go a little bit back. My journey in the jewelry industry started about 15 years ago when I joined the jewelry manufacturer and distributor in Atlanta, Georgia. So I started as an account rep selling jewelry wholesale to stores across north and South America. And over the next decade that I worked with them in almost every part of the business from managing inventory to organizing trade shows like GIs, JCK, JA. Those were the regular ones we did creating marketing materials, email marketing, print material, brochures, flyers, and even handling sourcing and reorders. So that gave me a 360 degree view of how the jewelry industry works. And after a decade when we moved back to India, I decided to start Jewelers League to bridge the gap between artistry and technology. And that's how Jewelers League was born. So as of today, we specialize in helping jewelers succeed online, whether it's driving traffic, converting Shopify websites, or tailored e commerce solutions to bring in more sales. And that's what I do.
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A
That's great. I think it's so important that you have that experience of having been to those crucial trade shows and like seeing the inside of the industry. Because it is a different industry than others. Like, it's very specific. And I think that if, I think that that's such a nice aspect of your business and your experience is that you're able to actually work with jewelers and understand kind of where they're coming from and their needs.
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C
Absolutely. It definitely helps. Like, I've been through all, all the stages of like selling a piece of jewelry, right? From sketching, crafting, deciding the cat, to like, the final retail obstacles and hurdles that a customer faces. Because we used to hear it all the time from the, from the retailers that we used to sell to, whether it was a design, whether it was the gold weight, whether it was diamonds coming off. So yeah, been lucky enough to have like a full 360 degree view.
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A
So why is SEO essential for a jewelry business?
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C
I mean, to put it simply, I mean, that's how it's found. That's how you found online, Right? So think about when somebody searches for custom engagement ring or like the best jeweler near me, you want your business to show at the top of those search results. That's what SEO does. Like in very plain, simple terms, it helps your website get in front of people who are already searching for what you as a business offer. But here's the best part. I think SEO is important because it just doesn't bring in traffic, it brings in targeted traffic. People who find you through search are further down the line of making a purchase. They're already kind of middle of the funnel or bottom of the funnel where they're thinking about then their research process where they're looking for a proposal, design or gift or something custom. And these, I would say, are the dream customers. So ranking high on Google builds that trust and credibility where people naturally trust brands they see on top of the search results.
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A
And I think we've, Larissa, I think we've done an episode like kind of intro to SEO. I might be wrong about that, but probably. Yeah, yeah. What exactly is SEO? Can you explain it for people who don't really understand what that is or don't know about it?
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C
Okay, so SEO, like our search engine optimization, is basically optimizing your content to show up for a particular search intent. So when a Google, when a user goes to Google or Bing or any of the search engines nowadays, it's even chatgpt with its search. So when looking for something, it's tailoring your content and optimizing it so that it shows up as a direct result of what you're looking for. I mean, that's like, in the simplistic way. Yeah. I think.
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B
I think what I find is, like, jewelry business owners, if you say SEO, they, like, are like, oh, my God, no. Like, I don't know. I don't. I don't understand it. So mysterious. And I think there's something about the topic that really makes people nervous, and they, like, clam up and they don't know, like, what to do about it. But I don't think there. There are aspects of it that I think are really accessible. What do you think about that?
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C
I think just the word, like search engine optimization and what everybody makes off it is I think they make a big deal out of it by saying things that are hard to decipher. I think if you break it down to the absolute basics, it's. It's very simple. You want your content to speak in a way that answers questions. So if I was looking for a particular product, and if your content is primed and positioned in a way that it can come up for search results. I mean, these days, I like when I'm talking to a lot of clients, it's become such a thing that I'm using Instagram metaphors to explain search engine optimization, because everybody's hearing about search engine optimization on Instagram, and it's pretty same. It's like thinking about what your customers are searching for. What keywords would they actually put into a search bar if they're looking for something? And does your content actually come up as a search result? Does the information, whether it's your blog or your product description, does it actually answer that question? If it does, you rank up higher, whether it's on Google or whether it's on Instagram. And if it doesn't, then you don't, I think. I mean, if it's buried on page three, nobody's finding you. That's like, as simple as that, as unfair as it is. But that's how it is.
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B
Yeah. Sorry, Liz, you were gonna.
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A
No, go ahead.
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B
The other thing I find, because it tends to feel kind of mysterious, is like, those who don't understand it think that's the magic thing I need, that I'm missing that if I had it, it would solve all my problems, which.
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A
Is also what I was gon.
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B
Which is very not true. It has to. One, you're not solely relying on that for your marketing. It has to work with the bigger strategy. So what are your thoughts about that? Like how it fits into everything else.
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C
Absolutely. I mean, SEO is just a way to get people to your landing page or your Website. So just bring. It's just one of the ways you can drive traffic to your website. Now you have SEO, you have paid ads, you have social media, you have blogging, you have all of these ways. Ultimately I think if you don't have a good product, if you don't tell your brand story, if it doesn't win my trust when I'm on the website, then all of that traffic means nothing because it's not going to convert eventually. So SEO is but a part of the puzzle. It's not that one magic solution which is going to fix everything. I mean if, if anything, if you crack SEO, but everything else is a mess, you'd probably have a higher bounce rate and people leaving you and exiting out because they did not get what was promised to them with your SEO strategy.
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A
Yeah, I find designers think that like e commerce changes and SEO are like going to be a magic fix to sales but have to like understand your audience and you have to understand your brand and you have to be communicating that before any of it's going to work.
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C
Absolutely agree with that.
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A
So what are what would three like the top three things every jewelry website needs to like rank better on Google? Or like what would be like your biggest recommendations for a designer?
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C
Three big things that every jewelry website needs. I would say keyword optimization would be the first one. Content. High quality content. And if you have a physical store, local SEO cannot and should not be ignored. I would think it's like a, should be a cardinal sin if you have a store and you're ignoring local SEO. So like by keyword optimization I mean like you've got to get your keywords right. That means like I said, understanding what your customers are actually searching for and optimizing your content both for broad term terms like engagement rings and long tail keywords like vintage inspired rose gold engagement rings, for example. Once you've identified those keywords, then the trick is to optimize your site around them. That means including them in your page titles, product titles, H1 tags, H2 tags, which are like your heading tags on the page, your meta description and even the alt text on your images. So once you've identified the keywords that really define your brand and your product offering, I would say optimizing it all around your website and all of your content would be something that I would recommend. All jewelry business one second. High quality content, like I said, would be blogs. I mean obviously blogs have been performing and winning to get traffic for the longest time. So I'm thinking blogs, buying guides or videos that show how the jewelry is made or styled. Video in particular, I would say we have such short attention spans now and so spoiled by social media. I think video just helps to showcase the sparkle and the craftsmanship that goes behind that piece of jewelry that you design or that you sell. And obviously we also need to think about voice search with like Alexa, Google and Siri and people just asking questions like where do I get best custom jewelry in Chicago? I think the content needs to. So when I say high quality content creation, it also needs to account for the voice search aspect and the video search aspect with the right images and the right videos that could come up as Google image results. And third, and finally, local SEO is a must. I would start by setting up Google, my business profile, not just to claim it, but to make sure that the address, the phone number is all accurate. It's not different from the information that's on other websites that it's consistent because it confuses Google when there are like two different phone numbers or two different addresses. So to make sure that it's not only set up correctly and has consistent information, but I would also include location specific keywords like jewelry store in Atlanta or wedding bands in Chicago, for example, within the text of your Google profile so that at least, at least you could rank on top of the search results within 100 miles of your local store, if not worldwide. I mean that's a, that's a big ask to rank on top every time. But I would say yeah, these three things are. Should be mandatory I think for all jewelry businesses.
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A
I think local is so important. Is there when. So outside of like the what you'd mentioned, is there anything else you'd say to somebody who has a brick and mortar store or like a studio that they can take commissions or like take appointments and like meet with people in person.
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C
Let's for more for local SEO. Yeah, so like I said, optimize your Google my business profile. I would also use more local keywords on the website. Like I said, like wedding bands in Chicago. Like I said, for example, if you have multiple locations, I would create a separate page for each of the location on the website and then customize the keywords for each of the page. So for example, I have a client who has a store in Dallas. She also has a store in Frisco. So we have two web pages dedicated to each of the store, the services available to those, so they can both rank in Google search results locally. Citations help. I know people don't like Yelp and yellow pages so far, but it does help to build credibility when your name pops up in all of the listed. So I would, I would say build local citations. Another strategy we've been using is engaging with local community, which means like partner with nearby businesses for cross promotions or support local events and fairs and exhibitions. I have a client and we have a running series where we, where we do a blog about her favorite places once every month, which is the yoga studio she goes to or the smoothie bar that she likes. And there's a whole blog about it and send pictures about it. That just helps you come up like. So even, even when somebody is looking for an aligned interest, if somebody is looking for yoga and if they come up on that blog, it's still hosted on this particular client's website. So there is a chance that they' earned a new visitor. And of course, finally, I mean this goes for everything, which is like mobile and technical SEO that, whether local, whether online store, I think it's very, very important to be mobile friendly. I mean, if your site takes forever to load, it's not happening. I mean, if I'm standing somewhere and I say jewelry store near me and I find a link and I click on it and the page doesn't load, I'm going to hit back and go to the next one really, really fast. So especially with local SEO, because if I'm looking at it, if a search result came up which was near me, that's like almost a lost lead because if it had worked out, that customer would have been in the store instead of moving on to the next business. So yeah, I would say that those are some of the things for local SEO, definitely.
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A
Can we talk about blogs a little bit? Because I think that, that, you know, I know the value of blogs. I actually started my career in the digital space as a blogger ages ago, but there's so much extra work for a designer. Do you have any tips or thoughts on like, how frequently somebody should be posting? Like, how long do these blog posts have to be, like, what actually benefits your website?
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C
So in terms of frequency, I would say if you're not doing any blogs, I think even one a month is good. I mean anything is better than zero, right? But if you're doing one, maybe try and do two blogs a month. Again, I'm going to draw parallels to Instagram. It's all about consistency, it's all about fresh content. I mean, we talk about Instagram algorithms so much, but like Google algorithms work in a very similar way. So if you upload more content on your website, whether it is blogs, buying guides, or new products all the time. Google sees it as a website which is relevant and active because there's new content being uploaded all of the time. So if you're not doing any, then I would suggest getting on it ASAP and starting with even the bare minimum, even if it's one blog a month. Ideally what you want to do is keep it to about 1500-2000 words is a good recommended size to help rank, obviously, because it attracts organic traffic, it gives you. It lets you target specific phrases people are searching for. For example, it could be anniversary gift ideas, or it could be how to layer necklaces, or it could be how to mix metals with confidence. It depends on what, what your niche is, but I think it allows you to target a lot more keywords by naturally talking about it in a conversational manner. And it also positions you as an, as an authority on the subject. Like I said, it shows customers that you really, really know your stuff. For example, if someone's trying to figure out how to clean their diamond drink and find your post explaining it, that that builds trust. So they're more likely to trust your knowledge and visit your website or check out more of your content or become a follower. Not to mention that it also supports your overall SEO strategy with internal linking. Right? You can link a blog post about, say, history of sapphires and then directly link it to the sapphire collection page on your website, making it much easier for customers to find it and also for Google to see how your pages are connected and offer more value to the audience. And finally, I mean, again, it works across channels, right? I mean, that's the way I kind of forced myself to write blogs is I think if I write one big piece of content, I can then repurpose it into reels or carousels or TikTok videos or anything. So it, it, it pays off in more ways than one that you can repurpose it into smaller pieces of content to drive more traffic from other sources as well.
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B
Yeah, I think the biggest mistake we see, especially when we're auditing clients, it's like, even, okay, maybe they have blogs, but they haven't considered how the blog fits into the customer experience. So it's this like, really informative guide about, like, sapphires. But then it's like, okay, where do you want them to go next? Like, what do you want them to do next? There's no call to action. There's no connection back to you and your brand. It's kind of this just like, bland, educational article. And it Ranks. But like it doesn't, it doesn't do anything else.
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C
Right. So that's where, that's where the internal linkings come in. So for example, you're doing a blog on 5 Ways to Style a statement necklace. You would use your product images to break it up visually so that customers are looking at your products. You obviously get that extra opportunity to add alt text and link those particular product images to your product pages. I mean, if somebody's not blogging yet, I usually say go with questions that your customers are already asking, like how do I choose the perfect necklace lens? Okay, that's a great blog. What's the best way to store silver jewelry? Or if you want to talk about different kinds of jewelry and what's the difference between a gold meurmet versus gold filled? I would say just go with all the questions. Think about questions that customers ask you over chat or in your DMs. Customer ask you when they are at the fair or your trade exhibitions and then just write about that. I think that's a great place to start.
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A
I love that. The last thing I want to talk about before we get into the insider episode because Larissa and I have put a lot of emphasis on product pages being like a really important page to consider on your website. What is the most overlooked aspect of SEO on product pages?
- [20:56]
C
Oh, hands down, image optimization. Hands down. Because a lot of people are talking about product descriptions, high quality images. All of that is super important. But I think one of the most overlooked is people not using descriptive file names. I think, I mean, instead of leaving your image name something like image 1234, you can rename it with something which is more meaningful, which describes your image, which is like say for example, 14 carat white gold diamond tennis bracelet. If you want to go further with round cut diamonds, that gives you so much more opportunity that if somebody was looking for a diamond tennis bracelet, there is a chance that you're going to come up right on top for the Google image search result. Because Google exactly knows what your image is about. And apart from the file names, I would say alt text is a must. It's another big one. I think it's that short description. I mean recently we've gone as far as describing not just the jewelry in the picture, but like the entire scene. Preparing our clients for the clientele. So it's like so and so jeweler with her stitch design jewelry at the Vermont Jewelry Fair. So that has so much potential. So I think file names and alt text are two of the most overlooked when it comes to product pages because here's the thing, if it comes up on a Google image result, the customer is like just bypassed everything and is now straight on the product page that he's looking to buy. So I'm going to go again with the example, excuse me, but I've been working with a vintage heirloom brands and I've been looking at keywords all day. So I'm going to go with the same one again. It's like a vintage rose gold, vintage inspired rose gold engagement ring. If that's what I'm looking for, if that's what I search and Google Image brings up like a string of carousel images right on top. I'm now straight on the product page for something that exactly I'm looking for. So I'm already a front runner amongst everything else. And we're, we are becoming more visual. I think visual search is very undermined right now. I think people are not optimizing enough for it. Then yes, obviously high quality, fast loading images, but compressed, not something that would slow your website down, I would say are some of the most important. Then there's obviously product description where you want the product descriptions to not just list the technical specs. There is, you want to evoke a sense of desire, you want to evoke a sense of, you know, wanting for that product instead of just saying it's this metal, it's this length. I mean, I think so all in all, I think yeah, I mean I would still go hands down, I'd still go with image optimization as the most overlooked. To answer your question, I'm going to.
- [24:00]
A
Go update my image links and add alt text as soon as this call is over.
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C
But do it manually. Don't fall for an app. I mean I've had a customer like use a SEO app which does like a bulk thing. What the SEO app does is it doesn't get the context. What it does is it simply takes a product title in the product category and it just basically does it on a conditional formatting. So that doesn't work very well. But yeah, if you just spend some time describing the image both in text and in alt text that would, that's like such a missed opportunity that I cannot talk enough about it. Also, accessibility, a lot of people are visually impaired, they have adhd and if your website has well defined images and alt text describes the images well, Google really loves it and ranks your site higher because now you're inclusive and you can meet the needs of a bigger audience than another website which is not.
- [25:01]
A
It'S also just in general a huge service. I'm just thinking about the number of times I've done like Google image searches and what I'm looking for is just not coming up. So you're actually doing a service to the end consumer to, to do that? Because I need sometimes more image images to come up in my searches.
- [25:19]
C
Absolutely, absolutely.
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B
And jewelry is so visual. Like why wouldn't you capitalize on that?
- [25:26]
C
Exactly, exactly. I mean like I said with voice, voice search, video search, image search, it just helps to describe. It's a labor of love like you said. Right. You've built something, you've built something with so much precision and such craftsmanship. To just leave it as saying statement earrings I think is a disservice to the product itself. Where you could go in and actually talk about the components or the, or the design itself, whether it's inspired by nature. I mean you could even say be hearing inspired by nature in your alt text. Obviously it draws up a whole lot more SEO juice when there is more context to the images and information that you share on your website and through images. I mean obviously images make up like 50% of the website content.
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A
This was incredibly helpful. I mean so many great tips. How can designers work with you and what services do you provide?
- [26:27]
C
Okay, so we, we have jewelry businesses grow online and build a strong presence. Like I said, right now we have several ways. We have monthly growth and support plans for jewelry businesses who are looking for ongoing support. So in those we include site speed optimization, improving design and user experience, SEO strategies, product page enhancements, email marketing setup, whether it's abandoned cart or nurture sequences. So we help, we help, we do the tech bits of it so that you can focus on really making jewelry which is, which is your core expertise. So these plans are designed to give you consistent growth and expert support and they just start at $700 a month. The second thing that I'm most excited about, we launched it recently is our on demand help desk. Because sometimes you don't need an overhaul, you just need that one problem fixed. And this is a pay as you go service so you can get expert help for any e commerce issues. No contracts, no commitments. You could simply submit a ticket on our website or email us@helpdeskjewelersleague.com and we can get to you. And our team gets back within 48 hours with the exact diagnosis of what the problem is and how much it is going to be to fix that problem. And then we do project based services which could be as simple as small integrations integrating your website with QuickBooks or Fair or Pirate Ship or barcoding softwares or Currently we're doing a lot of gift guides and landing pages to set up Gift guides, landing pages all the way to a complete rehaul migration from websites to Shopify or supporting websites. So yeah, I mean, if you want to bespoke jewelry tech service, then that's us. Or if you only want a single problem fixed, then we have our help desk to help you for with as much or as little as you like.
- [28:31]
A
That's amazing. Thank you so much for being here.
- [28:34]
C
Thank you for having me.
- [28:36]
A
All right, are you focused on e commerce and improving your website? Let us know. Visit successwithjewelry.com and if you love the podcast, we'd love to hear from you. Send us a message or leave us a review. Thanks for being a part of our community.