Introducing the New Fifth Essence Jewelry
Welcome to the new and improved Fifth Essence Jewelry Website! If you follow me on social media, or subscribe to my newsletter, you’ve been hearing that I’ve been behind the scenes working on this website refresh. After months of work I’m really excited to introduce you to my refreshed website.
I thought you deserved the full story behind this big change, so read on to learn why I made the switch, and about some of the big changes with this new website.
The background behind the website change
A website is something that is always evolving and changing. For the past few years, I’ve been working to add new elements, add more photos to my website, and refresh the overall look of my website so it kept up with the changes in website design. But, I have been feeling stuck the past several years, and a bit uninspired by the overall design, which felt dated and very boring. So, changing the look of my website has been something that’s been on my mind for quite some time.
In addition, I’ve been critically looking at my Etsy shop for the past few years. Etsy touts itself as being the place to find handmade gifts. And while it started as a community for artisans, changes over the past few years have really impacted the overall feel of the website.
Because I don’t get many sales from Etsy I had been evaluating whether I should bring my shop to my website. Then, late in the summer of 2024 my Etsy shop was suspended (due to an accounting issue, not any wrongdoing by me). While I fixed the issue within 24-hours I was horrified to learn that it took MONTHS for Etsy to get all my 80+ listings back live. This despite the fact that I continued to pay Etsy for my active site.
Essentially, this was the motivation I needed to move away from the platform and finally make the change I had been pondering for so long. No platform should have so much control over my business.
Introducing the new Fifth Essence Jewelry
I had been doing research and put some serious thought into what CMS I wanted to host my website. I had been on Wordpress, which was a great fit in 2017 when I started, but has felt very clunky and difficult to use in recent years. I decided to transition to Squarespace because it’s easier to update, and has a way to add a shop (more on that below)
I have been yearning to update the look of my website so I’m excited about how image heavy the design is, and how easy it is to add images. Afterall, there’s no better way to show off my jewelry than with images.
Updated Fifth Essence Jewelry Blog
As I migrated my old website I had the chance to evaluate my past content and see what was still serving me. Migrating content is no small task, so I knew that I would want to make it easier by separating content that didn’t need to be moved. I fielded out content that wasn’t relevant, and removed posts that were repetitive. I also did not migrate content that deserved a refresh, opting instead to refresh and republish later. So what moved is a more condensed and on topic blog.
Plus, one of the unforeseen benefits of the website move is that I have different photos now. Back when I first created my website in 2017, my photography was limited. I now have a cohesive style and look, so it’s nice to incorporate some of the newer imagery with those older posts for a more professional look.
New Fifth Essence Jewelry Shop
I also wanted a CMS that had a shop capability. I’ll be phasing out the listings I have on Etsy and all new listings will be exclusively offered on this website only. I’m excited about the fresh feel and having everything in one place. I especially hope it’ll be even easier to snag the items you see without so many different clicks.
There’s a lot more to creating an online shop than I realized! This is still in the works, but I’m hoping to unveil this by the end of the first quarter. I promise your patience will be rewarded.
The new Fifth Essence Jewelry
I’m so excited with the new refreshed look of my website, and I hope you do too. More to come as I continue to work through old content, list new jewelry, and get my online shop fully functional.