We have some exciting news!

You can see us at the Newtech shows starting Tuesday 21^st & Wednesday 22^nd June in Manchester. eTrader will  be demonstrating our product  and meeting a number of customers firstly at Manchester then at several other Newtech shows in Bristol, London & Leeds.

The Newtech Show will give us a chance to meet a number of print & embroidery companies and demonstrate how we can help transform their online business…

To book your FREE tickets for any Newtech Show click here!

We recently launched a number of updates & upgrades for our customers including:

• Improved iFrame: Credit now Available on Iframe 
• New Quantity Discount Band: (Upto 9) replacing 0-49
• Delivery: Delivery charge now available per shop
• Recommended products: Choose up to four products per page to be your 'best seller'
• Reworded bagging charge to additional charge per item
• Colour Filters: Your customer can now filter a search by colour on each category page

For more info on these updates don’t hesitate to get in touch for a demonstration!

Keep an eye out for us in both Printwear & Promotion Magazine and Images Magazine in the next few weeks.

We will be providing monthly online advice for garment decorators in a number of areas so keep an eye out for us!

You can read this month’s first article online by clicking here!

Following on from our P&P success the eTrader team has been both non-stop signing up existing customers, working around the clock. But we have not forgot about our existing eTraders, we are continuing to develop our sites and put both new & existing customers at the heart of the eTrader experience. 

Providing the garment decoration industry’s most comprehensive web solution we are continuously developing new ideas to provide garment decorators & site owners the best available tools to succeed online. Our collaborative approach to development means we listen to our customers, we listen to the garment decorators and understand what tools are required to add value and make their online business a success.

Our sites are continuing to evolve & develop in response to the latest web design & customer demands with the introduction of our new responsive designs, new modern brand and added functionality eTrader is continuing to go from strength to strength bringing garment decorators the most comprehensive online solution for their online business.

• New Responsive Design: Modern new styles for your site!
• iFrame Update: Embed your customers shops directly onto their website using just a snippet of code. 
• Quotes: Quotes generated through the site are now saved in the dashboard & now include convert button
• Marking up: Mark up by price instead of via brand
• View Orders: Track existing orders in dashboard
• Shop Colours: Set up products in a numerous colours!
• Updated Content Management System: More formatting tools available creating content
• New User-Friendly Dashboard Layout
• And much much more...

Search Engine Optimization can be a hugely onerous and complex task for most online businesses, let alone the everyday garment decorator. At eTrader we often get enquiries from customers, asking for advice on all things SEO. Performing online is critical for most industries but even more so in the garment decoration game. Despite traditional decorators arguing otherwise, online enquiries, leads & sales can be generated for your business through your website. The rise of web 2.0 and 'Word of Mouse' generates huge amount of potential online traffic waiting to be converted to sales.

Most small garment decorators operating online face similar challenges, often asking themselves: How on earth do I improve my online sales? Or how do I take my website to the next level? I want to get ahead of my competition.

With the current economic climate and tight margins, small businesses are feeling the pinch (especially garment decorators), the need to compete online has become fiercely essential but highly competitive. Most garment decorators find themselves in the ‘catch 22’, the online version of fight or flight: Do you risk spending expensive amounts on SEO experts or do you just stand still online?

But, unlike previously, your online businesses destiny is in your hands. Most business owners previously relied on specialists - understanding and acceptance of SEO has led to more information and help being available than ever before. Whether you use a Moz beginners guide or Googles guidelines for SEO, there’s more knowledge being shared than ever before. As an owner, you have information and tools available to help you direct your traffic, optimise your content and watch your leads & sales progressively increase.

However complex the issue at hand is, simplify it. The essence of SEO is keywords and content. We often say to our customers ‘just put yourself in your customer’s shoes and ask yourself what terms would they have to search to find your website, even go as far as potentially asking your customers’.

But thankfully with eTrader SEO isn’t tricky.  With years of industry experience in garment decoration and extensive online knowledge (we decided to put it to good use!) eTrader websites for garment decorator’s development of an SEO friendly Content Management System (CMS) makes SEO for garment decorators a different ball game. This simple approach to SEO is highly user friendly offering garment decorators alike lower cost SEO for their business. Just ask our customers – they love it! 

Here at eTrader, we understand the garment decoration industry. We simply just get it. 

Creating an online site for your business is often a complex process full of perils, stresses, with numerous advantages and disadvantages continuously being weighed up.

The costs are enormous, the time it takes to develop is astronomical and you often wonder where you will find the time to undertake such a huge project. The garment decorating/printing sector is more challenged than most. We rarely have time for lunch yet alone develop a fully functioning e-commerce system and visually pleasing website for our customers!

The key to success is doing it right, you don't need to throw valuable money at web designers and create over purposed sites which most of your customers won't resonate with, and the key is making your businesses webpage fit for purpose. eTrader understands you and your business, what you want to do and where you want to go. After all, the direction you are looking to take your business on its online journey is crucial for your printing/embroidery businesses future success.

We have met many business owners over the years, nonchalant and blasé  who often suggest they will just throw money at going online and the results will follow (needless to say it hasn't panned out this way). 

Then there is the polar opposite, the other end of the spectrum. The everyday garment decorator, printer and embroiderer. The small business with limited online resources and limited cash flow to develop their online site. The majority of businesses in the sector are like this in nature, small, diminutive but hard working & honest. These businesses often utilise free resources available to them. The vast majority often use free website providers, with WordPress with its e-commerce plugins proving hugely popular.

This isn't the worst ploy in the world, a cost effective measure in a tight economic climate. But there are drawbacks; there is no sense of ownership using free software. Limited controls, set parameters restricting what you can/cannot do with your website, all culminating in undermining your businesses online image and professionalism as your website looks 'home made' and slightly lesser in appearance than your nearest competitors. All in all not ideal or fit for purpose.

This widening gap between the business owners looking to spend huge amounts and the low end cost effective small businesses has led to the development and creation of the eTrader. The eTrader system ultimately fills the service gap, which is why our product is thriving within the UK.

We quickly realised that the complexity and diverse range of products in the garment decoration industry did not translate easily into the world of online shopping. This was largely due to the bespoke nature of printing or embroidering a garment/product and indeed the vast array of products available from 100’s of brands, styles, sizes, shapes, positions, stitch counts and colours. 

Our e-commerce platform is available to print and embroidery companies all over the UK. We continuously work with a specialist team of web designers & garment decorators to discover what is required for businesses in this sector to succeed. 

eTrader offers all of our valued customers ultimate flexibility and control at a very low price in comparison to other service providers offering similar packages. Our system develops a fully personalised website with a full e-commerce system in place. The website knows no bounds, the customer has full control of the administration side of things covering areas such as customising brands & categories, 'Marking Up' products and pricing structures. The customer also controls the creative aspect of the businesses page. Our web page layouts are fully customisable & SEO friendly, working alongside our fully customisable content creator and adjustable banners giving businesses an array of marketing tools for their homepage to stand out from the competition. 

Customers often say the biggest advantage of using our product is significantly saving time and importantly cost, the websites are live and running within weeks and the costs are significantly reduced compared to web developers. We fully understand the industry; and its customers. We listen to our customers, we know what they want and we provide it to them at a reasonable price. And as for the results, we often let them speak for themselves....

Content is an easy way to make your business stand apart from the rest. We understand that it isn't every garment decorator’s main priority, but it’s a vital tool in getting your decoration businesses website noticed.

Many independent decorators think this is a specialist job, way out of their comfort zone. Save you & your business valuable time and money & create your own content. You have the most knowledge of your business, your products & your market!

Creating content is something that can be done by anyone from anywhere. With simple guidance, any business - however large or small can create effective content for their business. There’s no need to call in the experts - nobody knows the industry better than garment decorators themselves.

At eTrader, we provide our customers the tools required to make creating content simple but effective, laying out your content in a SEO friendly way aimed at improving your sites online performance with minimal fuss.

We offer all our customers, simple but effective advice on creating content for their website. We get asked similar questions by our customers, so we have simply put together our Five Key Tips to Quality Content aimed at garment decorators. 

1. Be Clear & Concise: Focus on getting your businesses key points across
2. Identify Your Keywords: Identify your main products/services keywords and build content around them
3. Identify Your Audience: Tailor your content to your potential customers, put yourself in their shoes, and imagine what they would like to hear.
4. Be Unique & Creative: Think outside the box, make your website stand apart from your competitors (Nobody wants to read boring content!)
5. Finally, Thoroughly Proofread Your Work: Maintain a professional image; small simple mistakes can impact small businesses much more than if a larger business was to make a similar mistake.

Following these tips, taking a small chunk of time to create quality content is highly effective in developing your garment decorating businesses online.

It’s the simplest way to take your online business to the next level - setting it apart from your competition, generating more leads, increasing sales and enhancing your websites SEO performance.