I was doing some marketing work for an little online business selling clothing and bags. It has been several months since the business started and yet thing does not look good. Very little traffic on site. We are a very little business, with $200 budget/mon on advertising. Here are some of the free things I tried. 1. I tried SEO but the effect is minimum, to me, the site appears to have to much duplicated content may caused by a site design flaw, we have a lot of similar products and each product has one single page dedicated to this product. The discription for similar products are more or less the same with similar keywords, i don't know whether these similar keywords can bring the ranking down. 2. I registered some social network site, like FB, Twitter, but can't get many followers, i also have a Flickr pro account, uploading product pictures for people to see, again, minimum effect. I guess i was being too boring and didn't generate too much interesting and unique content. 3. now i started post in forums with links in singnature links, hoping to get some traffic, and in the process discovered this great site. 4. i also write press release and post them to free PR sites. 5. i also upload product on ebay, got several orders. 6. Our site accepts coupon codes, i also upload coupon codes to coupon sites. again, minimum effect. I think the content is king, i didn't come up with many interesting and unique content relevent to the site because first even i think the website selling clothing and bags is boring itself. And i don't know what can attract people's attention, we already have some programs for our business, like free shipping on orders over $55, free shipping items delivered to Central Canada and 50 US states, free gift on orders over $55, as well as discount package deals. Now the boss is pissed and i really want to get this pull off. I have already put a lot of effort so far, can't quit now. That's why i am here asking for help, do you have some suggestions on how to market a little clothing store and what kind of interesting content i should share with the public. i heard related nitch blog backlinks, how do i do it exactly, I have no idea what are related nitch to selling clothing and bags. My background is biochemistry and i have limited experience in running a online boutique store. Thanks to all replies.
I'm a starter too . But keyword analysis is where you start . Use Google keyword tool and type in clothes , buy clothes , buy bags and some more combinations (may be your categories) . Now you have to find suitable keywords for your website with low competition (there is bar which shows that) . Now you have to use keywords which has low competition and has some monthly local searches (If you focus on selling only in a particular country) . Use those final keywords as anchors for your website link in forums ,blogs ,article directories ,social networking sites etc. Say eg : buy cool clothes hawaii There are many backlink building services if you think submitting is difficult. Search for topics on on page optimization too . And also start with seo .com . Good luck. And by the way dont use buy clothes keyword ,competition is deadly . use long tail keywords shown in eg above .
6. Our site accepts coupon codes, i also upload coupon codes to coupon sites. again, minimum effect. It depends on how many sites you upload the coupons. It is better to make an affiliate program via big networks and the send the coupons there. From there you affiliates will take the coupons and promote you. It is faster and easy this way.
I would run a facebook PPC campaign $200 a month is heaps. offer a FREE bag per month, they need to "like" to get entry. Collect the email addresses of the people that register for comp. The once a week offer them a DEEP discount on an item or introduce new merchandise. Post regular updates at Facebook about new bags/clothes whatever, Make short videos and take pics of the clothes bags being unwrapped and unloaded. Show people you are a real business with real products. Interview the client for 2 minutes about his store, Post that video Keep yout "likers" in the loop and make them feel like part of the crew. lastly Create a Social network for the page, As many social sites as you can all linked together, this way 1 post creates between 2 and 100 backlinks depending on Network size. (can be outsourced for like $50) Hope something in there helps Oda P.S if your doing coupons put them on a tab in Facebook and make people 'like' you to get em, best way to use a coupon. Coupon sites are 2 crowded and people are looking for LARGE retailers there not your smaller niche store.
@blueoxygen - I wish you all the best and hope that things go well for you. As a few of the members have pointed out, you need to do some market research and find out who your target market it. This will help you figure out what keywords to use. With social networking sites, I suggest building a page for your business and have your friends like them. That's how you get started building a network there. At least once a day, post something on your wall, like a great dress you are selling for a low price. Hope that helps. Have a good day!
@blueoxygen - I feel ya man, I myself run about 6-7 fashion sites/blogs and have been frustrated at times too. But as the guys above have mentioned there are several way to overcome your traffic issues. 1. keyword research is crucial - google adwords tool will help you identify the keywords you need to target, but at first write down the items you sell, or the search terms you think your customers would find you with, or you would like to be found for. 2. Once you have done that and have around 20-50 words, then type them into the keyword tool to get more results, make sure you have ""exact" search box check only. obviously the terms with the biggest searches such as "fashion", "womens fashion" etc are not only too competitive but are also too broad. what you need to identify are the "low hanging fruit" which are normally least popular, but are specific search phrases (long tail) which have less competition and therefore easier to target, "black shift dresses", "buy skater dresses", "cheap party dresses" etc are all examples. 3.Once you have a list of keywords you can then add content relating to those keywords. this I would recommend you have a blog - wordpress is best (IMO). write 2-3 posts per week using one different keyword per post from your list in each post and obviously write for the reader, not for the search engines - the content matter should be around a product/s you sell and appropriate to the featured item you are promoting, so if your target key word is "black high heels" you can write a post about these amazing new stock of black heels you have in store....blah blah. Alternatively if you want to promote a hot item, you promote that item, but just pair it with an appropriate keyword. 4. As mentioned before associate everything you do on the blog with social especially twitter and FB, you can get and auto post plugin to add any published content to these 2 platforms. 5. original video content is big with Google, so again as already mentioned, do some original video content, perfect if you have stock you can use, ask a regular customer who would look good on camera or staff (if you have a shop) to model new ranges for example, bang the videos up on your youtube channel and also embed on your blog. 5 As @onedumbaussie mentioned use promos and voucher code to drive people to FB and get them to like the page in exchange for voucher codes. You can tie this in with a facebook ad if you like and $200 will get you a little traffic. but just remember to be targeted with your traffic otherwise you'll blow your budget in minutes. Alternateivly you can pay me $X,XXX per month and I'll organise it all for you Follow these simple steps and the others above and you will make monies! Hope this helps and good luck...keep smilin'
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@I think the content is king, i didn't come up with many interesting and unique content relevent to the site because first even i think the website selling clothing and bags is boring itself. I think you pretty much addressed one of your Major concerns. It's your Job to try and present this product in a original and interesting fashion... i.e....Make it Not so Boring !