SEO Ideas for Dress Makers
Here are some of the techniques we teach at our SEO Masterclass for small business owners.
If you’re selling on a site like Etsy watermark your images with your own URL to build awareness of your site. This should also be your tactic if you post images to Pinterest, Facebook, or Instagram- in fact- to any social media account.
Your ultimate aim, should be to develop an organic search presence, and delegate the authority for your products to your own domain.
Pay particular attention to the following items:
- The words you use on the page.
- Asset optimisation- videos, podcasts, images and where possible:
- Image file names
- Title text associated with your images
- Image alts
- What- and where you link to.
The process of building genuine organic domain equity takes time- the sooner you start, the better. With your own domain- and a website on it- you own the rules- your not bound to another platform’s guidelines for layout, marketing, URLs or their fees.
Your products take center stage, with no distractions.
Build a Following and Specialise
It’s quite likely your garments’ styles are following a theme. This is good for your business- provided there’s a customer base interested in what you make! It’s also great for your search engine optimisation. Wedding dress manufacturers and designers- small businesses working from home- generally have limited production capabilities. Tune your search engine optimisation strategy to appear for the styles of garments you specialise in, and can produce to keep up with orders.
If you don’t get ranked for the short tail single keywords- it doesn’t matter. As people drill down close to the point of making a buying decision, their keywords or search terms become more focused. These are known as “long tail” keywords. From “dresses”, a person might finally type in “blue full length evening gowns”. From a search starting with “wedding dresses”, a shopper might eventually search for “sweetheart neckline wedding dress in ivory”. You can be sure, as the queries get longer, the time leading up to the sale is getting shorter.
That’s when you need to be found!
Keep your finger on the pulse of what’s happening in your industry- if you don’t have the time to publish your own take on breaking news from around the traps, then at least curate quality content- there are specific techniques for that- never just copy something off the internet and republish it!
One advantage you have, as a one-person operation- is that your fashion business doesn’t have spools of red tape or layers of bureaucracy to pass through before you can publish content. Embrace this- and become known by your followers and fans for delivering discussion-worthy insights and reporting on trends and discoveries before the mainstream media picks them up.
Let your products take the stage when the spotlight is shining- when you have a captive audience of buyers with their credit cards ready, on the table.
Remember to test your website- get someone who has never seen it before to visit, seek out a specific product- and make a purchase. Have them note any stumbling blocks- any barriers to completing the sale.
Generating Buzz to Build Rank
Social media- targeted platforms like Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram are good for exposing your product to a wider audience. Beware- the scroll is quick- and your time under the spotlight is fleeting. Always try to entice the casual browser away from the social platform, to your own website- for that’s where the sale happens- and you have more of a chance to hold the customer’s attention without them being distracted.
When you post to social media, use words in the post which are unique. Don’t copy text from your website- even though it’s your text. Make sure- that semantically- the subject of your post relates to the keywords of the page you are directing the link to.
This is an important aspect of SEO- you want your website to be associated with an entity that is related to the topic, product or keywords you’re optimising for.
Encouraging Inbound Organic Links
One of the great things with fashion is that it’s a feel good purchase. People love showing off what they have just bought- especially as one of the main motivators is that the purchased garment makes the customer look great.
Encourage people to create their own media and send it to you for inclusion on your website. Politely ask for testimonials, if possible have them show off the garment and how happy they are with it. You might want to create some incentive- an award for the best video or images- and be sure to respond to all reviews.
If you can connect with other bloggers and get thoughts flowing both ways- you’ll hopefully attract links and real customers. The link from a related website will help your search engine optimisation efforts. In order to get the best result for minimum effort, check the integrity of the website you seek a link from. Look for an active content creation system, healthy signs of user activity- even better if the business is registered on Google, with a local listing.
Get Expert Help and Move Forward
Sometimes it’s good to get professional help with search engine optimisation. We’re able to provide a mentoring service for people doing their own SEO. You can have assistance setting up a campaign, or fine tuning the conversions- whether it be the process of opt-ins or making your website more of a sales machine.
Be sure to follow image naming conventions to enhance your page’s relevance and build the theming of your website and individual pages. Our beginner SEO course covers content development, categorising and theming. It covers asset naming, management and optimising for vertical searches, such as image and video search. The beginner course is the most popular one for small business owners.
Gain the advantage over your competitors. Follow these SEO tips for dress designers, fashion retailers and bridal boutiques.