In yesterday's Daily Golden Nugget, I reviewed a simple method for keyword research that would help you discover clusters of words for content creation.Using that same technique, I did my own keyword research relating to "custom jewelry design" and came up with this group of phrases:
* custom jewelry design
* custom jewelry {town name} {state}
* jewelry designs
* custom designer
* custom designed jewelry
* custom ring
* jewelry in {town name} {state}
* {town name} {state} custom jewelry
Having those phrases is only the first step in a very long content creation process. The process of content creation is best handled by many people when done right. It's long and tedious, but the rewards produce even longer term results.
I chose custom designed jewelry for today's example because it easily lends itself to the well rounded content creation process you should be thinking about.
In fact, that well rounded process is so long and detailed that, by the time I finished writing this Nugget, I had more than 2500 words, so I had to split it up between today and tomorrow. This is a two-parter...
As we begin today, I'm sure you know the process of creating a custom design ring very well, but your customers don't. A customer might think it's simple to go from an initial sketch, to a wireframe, to a mold, and then the final ring. They have no understanding of what it takes to have a CAD image rendered into a real 3D model. They also don't understand how much wasted time and money they would put you through if they changed their mind when you got to the 3D model stage of the process.
If you took the time to document your custom design process, and published that as internet content, you could both attract and educate future customers, and either avoid those costly changes in the design process, or charge extra for them.
Let me walk you through the internet content creation for custom design jewelry.
To start out with, you need to commit yourself to fully documenting the next custom design you work on. When I say fully document I actually mean videotaping every step, taking hundreds of photos, scanning all the original sketches that you have, and even including the customer in the photos and videos.
Think of it as making your own documentary of the process.
Videotaping this is easy with a smartphone now, but the amount of video footage I'm suggesting will actually require something larger than your phone. Most smartphones don't have the capacity to hold more than 20 minutes of video, but if that's your only option then you'll need to download the video as soon as you're done recording each step.
In any case, since you're documenting the customer jewelry design process, you'll need to ask other people to hold the camera while it's recording because you're the subject of this documentary.
Make sure you narrate the video while it's being recorded. Don't worry if you feel silly narrating because the narration will be converted to a written transcription. You can always use voiceovers on the final video too.
Another good tip is to allow the cameraman to ask their own questions regarding what you are doing. Use their curiosity, and let their questions guide the narration of the video.
As I said, take lots of photos. You can use your smartphone or another digital camera. Ask other people to take photos of you while you're working.
Using your smartphone, you should occasionally post one or two photos socially during the process. At the beginning you cold post a photo of the sketch with a message that says "A customer came in today asking to have this sketch turned into a real piece of jewelry. We're going to work on it and we'll keep you posted on the progress." Then continue to post single photo updates over the weeks or months you're working on it.
The video and photography needs to start at the beginning of the process, which means asking the customers themselves if they wouldn't mind being on film. Most people are shy in front of a video camera, but they might be more inclined to have a photo taken.
You'll need photos and videos of each customer meeting while you review the design, and ultimately the final presentation of the item.
An important point of note here... You might think it's a good idea to socially post a photo of the customer when you present them with their jewelry. This is not the time for that. Wait until later in the content creation process.
When all is said and done you're going to have a lot of raw video and photos to organize into an elaborate web of internet content, but this is not going to be your job. Your job, as the jeweler, is complete. You are on film explaining every part of the process.
The first thing you need to do is have someone transcribe all the video into words. It's going to be less expensive to outsource this job to someone else that you find on odesk.com, or craigslist.org. Don't waste your staff's time on this step.
Next thing you want to do is have someone review all the photos and raw video so they can put together an actual "case study" of the jewelry design process at your jewelry store. This case study should include a lot of written details from the entire process, from start to finish.
Someone will need to go through the video transcript and polish it into a full story, a written story. A picture is worth a thousand words, so make sure to include photos throughout the case study. Don't be surprised if the case study turns into a 20 page story, including the photos. You will eventually publish this full case study to your website, and you also need to convert it into a PDF so people can download it if they want to.
In the video industry we use "story boards," which look like comic book squares with sketches in them, to map out how we will edit a video together. In this case, you're going to want to give someone the job of reading the final case study so they can use that as their story board to piece together a video from all the raw footage and photos.
You should be able to splice the video together while they are also making a written script that matches the videos. You eventually need to have a voiceover talent record the narration for the final video. This could be one of your employees, or you could hire someone to do this for you.
So far, everything I've mentioned will take a considerable amount of work, but you're not done yet. Now we move to the content creation phase where you tell people about your work rather than the simple hints you've been dropping socially along the way.
This is where I'll leave the story and continue tomorrow....
