THE BUSINESS OVERHAUL: Blogs, Websites & Social Media.

When it comes to business, a website is a first or even a secondary shop if you have a bricks and mortar store. It’s another place to sell your products, your wares, your abilities as a provider of goods.

When it comes to a blog, it’s just a place for someone to place their thoughts, feelings, pictures, videos etc. Have fun, be fun, and not get so serious about life.

So then does a business need a blog? No.

But it’s up to you. You don’t necessarily need a blog and it can be a big waste of time and energy if you don’t have it to put into the time it takes to run a blog. That’s why I’m changing my online presence again.

In 2009 the Jewel Divas webstore debuted. In 2013 I shut it down due to lack of my management, stress and other things. I set up shop on Madeit and am now ready to set up shop again.

Jewel Divas Style is going back to being just a blog. I don’t need pages of jewellery that I’ve made for sale as they point nowhere. I don’t need to sell my books here, it’s going back to being a blog and Jewel Divas is going back to being a store.

That’s why JDS will be getting a makeover over the holidays. After much looking and contemplating (actually did some research instead of going gung-ho this time) I’ve decided on Modern Blogger Pro with Genesis from Pretty Darn Cute Designs which I’ll tweak a bit. It’s fresh, it’s new and is exactly what I’m looking for.

Jewel Divas will also be new, although I’m not sure what theme to use yet. It will have a fresh palette and pages of jewellery and books to buy and this time, it will have links to this blog.

Now, onto social media.

Social media experts claim if you have a website you must have a blog, be on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin etc. I don’t believe that any more. It really depends on the business, the staff and the time, or in a lot of cases, your time.

As for other social media, I’m not so sure we need to be on so many anymore. These days I prefer Facebook and Instagram to keep across most companies, celebrities (not that I follow many of them) and people I follow in general.

I do have Twitter but only use it for sending blog posts through to. This blog goes through to the Tumblr version where I have many followers, and I have Pinterest, Google+, Stumbleupon (which I’m not even sure about using) and YouTube which I rarely use. I personally wish G+ would shut down, and have already culled several social media pages from my list.

It’s good to cull back on pages you don’t use or are rarely on, trying to keep across them all takes time and effort and I’ve had enough of doing that. Jewel Divas also has pages on Facebook and Pinterest plus an Instagram account that doesn’t get used. What’s the point in that?

Social media is about finding what’s right for you, what you do, the people you want to follow and how you want to do it. It’s a massive time suck when running a business, but can also be fun when you’re relaxing and not needing to get your own stuff over it.

So I look forward to next year. A new look, a new theme, less social media, but I’m just not sure how often I’ll be blogging. Considering my writing has overtaken my life recently there are a lot of books in my head screaming to get out. So, Jewel Divas will not open probably until mid-year. My jewellery is on sale at Madeit until February (then I’ll let it go for a month or so for a break) and by then I’ll be back here so January will be blog makeover time, leaving Jewel Divas to come later.

Are you guys planning a makeover over the holidays to come back with a fresh look next year and how much social media do you have? Will you cull, or are going to cull, any from your list?