SEO for Fashion E-commerce: How To Drive More Website Traffic

SEO for Fashion E-commerce: How To Drive More Website Traffic

by | Jan 25, 2022 | Business

The world of SEO is constantly changing, and it often leaves business owners falling behind and frustrated. As the owner of a fashion e-commerce brand, you're likely well aware of the importance of understanding the latest trends. Just like the fashion world, trends in marketing keep changing.

But if you're struggling to keep up, don't worry. We've got the best SEO tips for fashion e-commerce in 2022 right here for you.

How SEO Works and Why You Should Care

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of taking steps and making changes to help your content and your website rank higher on search engines like Google. SEO involves organic marketing, as opposed to paid advertising.

Marketing e-commerce businesses can get tricky since you face so much competition. When a user types in a search, such as "women's boots" or "eco-friendly fashion," you want to try and get your business to the top of the search results.

To get your content to rank higher, you need to understand how to optimize it. You want Google to understand the content on your site, and one way to do so is to follow some recommended best practices. Google's Webmaster Guidelines is a good place to start.

So why should you care if you're on the first page or the tenth page?

People won't be able to find your shop if it's buried in the search results. Instead, they'll go with a competitor that ranked higher and landed on one of the earlier pages.

Make Your Site Mobile-Friendly

Mobile shopping is bigger than ever and will soon become the norm. Almost 54% of all web traffic comes through mobile devices like smartphones.

Almost everyone has a smartphone these days, and shopping is easier than ever from our phones. That said, you need to make sure your website looks good on mobile devices. It should also be easy to navigate to offer a good e-commerce experience.

Unlike brick and mortar stores, e-commerce stores have to focus entirely on the digital experience. So make sure it's a good one!

Optimize Your Website for Speed

You want your e-commerce site to load as quickly as possible. The likelihood of a person leaving increases the longer it takes to load a web page. Over half of mobile users will leave a website if it takes more than three seconds to load.

Three seconds is all it takes to lose a customer.

Slow loading times impact your bounce rate. A bounce is a single-page session on a website. Depending on the design of your site, a high bounce rate can be a bad thing.

If the success of your site means that users have to view more than one page (such as a products page), then a high bounce rate is bad.

As a fashion e-commerce brand, you want to offer a stellar customer experience. You want people to stick around and browse your products and learn more about what you offer. That means optimizing your website for speed.

Make Product Pages Easy to Shop

Your product pages should be easy to navigate and understand. It should be easy to browse products on both a computer and a mobile device.

Make it simple to browse colors and patterns and see information about sizing.

Product pages also shouldn't be too distracting. The focus should be on the item and not the background. You don't want people to get visually fatigued, so avoid bright and distracting backgrounds.

Make categories easy to find. If you sell fashion jewelry, for instance, you want to make sure users can select the type they want. Let them browse by metal type or by different gemstones.

Lastly, you must use high-quality visuals of your products. Customers might want to view the item from different angles or see it on a model if possible.

Make Your CTA Stand Out

Your call to action (CTA) needs to stand out, both visually and as a message. It should be clear but compelling.

The CTA button should guide them to the next step. That's why you should choose a color that catches their attention, such as red, pink, or another eye-catching color.

Popular calls to action for e-commerce sites include "Add to Bag" or "Add to Cart." After a user adds something to their cart, you might have a CTA that says "Checkout" or "View Cart" or "Continue Shopping."

Make the process easy to follow and understand, and your customers will have an enjoyable experience.

Monitor Your Analytics

You need to monitor your analytics to determine if your efforts are working and whether you need to adjust your digital marketing strategy.

Here are some analytics you need to regularly check:

  • Bounce Rate: The percentage of visitors to a website who navigate away from the site after viewing only one page. It indicates that the visitors did not find what they were looking for or found the website unappealing.
  • Click-through rate (CTR): The ratio of users who click on a specific link to the number of total users who view a page, email, or advertisement. CTR is used to measure the effectiveness of an online marketing campaign for a particular website.
  • Cart abandonment rate: The percentage of online shoppers who add items to their shopping carts but leave the website without completing the purchase. It indicates that the website may have usability or pricing issues, or that customers are not motivated enough to make the purchase.
  • Events per visit: The number of interactions that a user has with a website during a single visit. These events can include clicks, page views, downloads, and form submissions.
  • Number of new visitors: The number of visitors to a website who have not previously visited the website during the selected reporting period.
  • Conversion rates: The percentage of website visitors who take a desired action on a website, such as making a purchase, filling out a form, or downloading a file.
  • Average session duration: The average length of time that visitors spend on a website during a single session.
  • Days to conversion: The number of days it takes for a website visitor to complete a desired action on a website, such as making a purchase or filling out a form.
  • Sessions: The number of times that users engage with a website during a specific period. A session starts when a user lands on a website and ends when they leave the website or are inactive for a specified amount of time.
  • Devices: The types of devices that visitors use to access a website, such as desktops, laptops, tablets, or smartphones.
  • Pageviews and unique pageviews: A pageview is recorded each time a page on a website is loaded or reloaded by a user. Unique pageviews represent the number of visits in which a specific page was viewed at least once.
  • Average time on page: The average length of time that visitors spend on a specific page of a website.
  • Source and channels: The source of traffic to a website and the channels that are used to drive that traffic. Examples of sources include search engines, social media, and email campaigns, while examples of channels include organic search, paid search, and social media advertising.
  • Exit pages: The pages on a website where visitors exit the site. Identifying exit pages can help website owners determine where visitors may be encountering issues or losing interest in the site.

It might sound like a lot, but keeping an eye on these numbers will help you fine-tune your marketing strategy. If you're feeling lost, a business consulting session can help define your goals and put you on track.

Create a Fashion Blog

SEO helps you bring in more traffic and build your brand without paying for ads. However, one common mistake businesses make is they don't put out enough quality content.

Creating a fashion blog is a great way to get started in SEO for fashion brands. You'll drive organic traffic to your website and boost your ranking. As a result, more people will discover your brand, and you'll bring in more sales.

This is also a great opportunity to link content with your social media accounts. Create share-worthy content and post your latest blogs on social media.

Discover the Best SEO Tips for Fashion E-commerce in 2022

We never stop learning about SEO, as the best practices keep changing. However, these are some of the best SEO tips for fashion e-commerce in 2022 and beyond.

Start with these steps, and then learn how to grow your fashion brand when you book a consultation with us online. We'll teach you everything you need to know about optimizing your website, marketing your e-commerce business, and much more!

How to use SEO for your clothing brand

How to use SEO for your clothing brand

by | Feb 7, 2020 | Business

This is a presentation recorded at Apparel Camp in Vancouver on October 5, 2019.

 

Do you have a website that gets little to no organic traffic? If you have a brand new website or even a website that’s getting little to no traffic, you can still generate a lot of traffic from Google and rank organically. In this session, Apparel Business Consultant and SEO Specialist, Glynis Tao will present the fundamentals of SEO (Search Engine Optimization), what factors does Google look for when ranking your website, and most importantly understanding what the user wants. She will show you that it is possible to rank at the top of Google even with a new website.

Topics Covered:
What is SEO?
How does Google actually work?
Google Ranking Factors How much money will SEO make for you?
A step-by-step guide to SEO for clothing brand owners

Go to https://info.glynistao.com/seo-checklist to download a copy of the SEO Ranking Factors Checklist.

The power of niching: How I got Google as a client

The power of niching: How I got Google as a client

by | Dec 3, 2018 | Business

Do you want to learn how to target your best customers without coming across as salesy and pushy?

Do you need clarity around what specific product best represents what you actually do or sell?

Are you conflicted about which product to focus on that you’ve actually built two separate businesses, complete with multiple business cards, and even multiple websites?

Well, then you’ve come to the right place. In this informative and action-packed article, you will learn:

  1. What is niching and Why you’re insane if you don’t niche
  2. Some myths on niching and why niche-phobia is a common problem of start-ups
  3. How to pick your niche

I’m Glynis, a clothing brand owner turned business coach with 20 years apparel industry experience. Before launching my coaching practice, I ran a clothing design company called Punch Brand. I started my business in 2005 as a hobby while I was working full time as a Product Manager for Reebok Canada. That hobby eventually turned into a full-time business for me that led to creating and selling my products globally. At one point, I caught the attention of the Google campus merchandise buyer and we collaborated on several official Android apparel and accessories for the Google merchandise store. I ran Punch Brand for an amazing 10 years!

Who’s your ideal customer? You know that saying, “If you’re everything to everyone, then you’re nothing to no one”. Knowing who you help and how you help them is a big part of an effective marketing strategy. I personally find it so frustrating when clients cannot choose what business they’re in. Many business owners with a product they don’t consider to be niche, resist the idea of narrowing the focus of their marketing, fearing that they will lose business. However, choosing a niche and targeting it can actually increase sales. Here’s how it worked for my business.

I started out creating character inspired headwear for anime fans. Pretty niche right? I was predominantly selling my products at anime and comic conventions, because that’s where my customers hang out. Everything I created was designed for this one specific customer. And guess what? That’s how Google found me. They were looking for someone to design and produce Android mascot hoodies and beanies for them. I guess I showed up on the search engine… they are Google after all.

Niching also helps with becoming known as the expert in your field. When your business is niched very finely and you’re always talking about and writing about the same pain point, you become regarded as an expert. Tired of competing on price? Niching is the best way to command a higher price point. Once you’re perceived to be the only person for that specific job, nobody will blink at or haggle about your prices ever again. Niching brings higher quality clients. When you increase the quality of what you offer in terms of value, the clients you attract will be of the same quality. It’s the law of attraction. Like attracts like.

If your strengths and passion lie in knitwear, then do that.

If your intent is to educate and lessen the impact of fast-fashion on the environment, then focus on sustainable design.

If you love cosplay and Japanese pop culture, then start a brand that’s entirely devoted to fans of anime and cosplay. That’s what I did!

To help demonstrate the importance of picking just one type of Client and one thing you sell, I’ve broken it down into 4 different examples:

  • The Generalist
  • The Product Specialist
  • The Client Specialist
  • The Perfectly Niched

So what is a niche exactly? I’ll demonstrate these models using clothing brands:

The Generalist: The GAP

The GAP’s client type are men, women, children, babies, Anyone, and everyone. They sell casual and work apparel, denim, fleece and even yoga and workout wear and whatever trend they jump on. And what kind of pricing does the GAP have? It’s pretty affordable, it’s for everyone. They always have a discount rack with markdowns for those discount shoppers. It’s pretty middle of the road, certainly not a place you would shop for something that’s good quality or unique. This business caters to every client type and features everything to sell. It’s not niched at all that’s why I call them the generalist.

The Product Specialist: Lululemon

Lululemon caters to every type of client type from men, women, teens, people who want to appear fashionable. What’s different about them is their focus on the “thing they sell” and that’s all about Yoga. Because Lululemon was essentially the first to bring yoga clothing to the mainstream market they can charge a premium for their brand name but because they cater to every client type, they’re still not as narrowly niched as other businesses. This is the product specialist type of business model.

The Client Specialist: Mr. Big & Tall

In this business model which I’ve called the Client Specialist, things are flipped from the Lululemon model. Mr. Big & Tall only has 1 client type, tall men but things they sell are varied. You should be getting an idea of where this niching model is going.

The Perfectly Niched

The last and ideal model of business niching is demonstrated by the fourth clothing brand type and that’s my brand crazyheads. We create animal-inspired apparel for fans of anime and Japanese pop culture. When we started out we were able to command a pretty high price point because we were the only ones producing this type of product for this market. The competition was relatively low and we could sell upwards of 100 hoodies at 1 weekend show at a $65 price point, not to mention several hundred hats at $25 each. Our customers loved our products and would come and hang out with us at the shows.

Still on the fence about whether to niche your business? Even if you could move from a generalist to any kind of specialist, you’ll be better off than you are now.

So, how do you pick? Let me take you through the process of picking your niche.

Step 1: Make a list of all the client types you’d like to work with.

Step 2: Make a list of all the different things that you sell

Step 3: Match up each client type and the thing you sell, then give yourself a score out of 1 to 10, being the most desirable for you. Rate them based on the following criteria:

  1. Fit for you, your personal preference, skill set, experience, and background
  2. Fit for the income you want- how many of this group x how much you would charge per person
  3. Access- your ability to reach your target and how accessible they are to you in large numbers
  4. Add up the scores for each client/ product combo
  5. Which has the highest score?

CONGRATS! You found your niche!

In conclusion, niching helps you get very clear on your marketing message. When you serve two target markets, whose trade show do you invest your very limited marketing funds to? As a small business owner time and money are your most valuable resources. There simply aren’t enough hours in the day, or money in the bank for any business to be able to afford to have a multitude of products, services as well as target markets to wow. Picking one or two just makes economic sense.

Do you have niche phobia? Please share in the comments section below.