It's been a crazy few weeks here at eTrader HQ with all sorts going on - launching several new sites, working away on new projects, working on our latest updates, support for current customers and our latest developments alongside appearing in several publications to top it all off. With all that's going on, we thought we would share our latest news with you.

The past few weeks have seen a large number of our new customers sites go live. Our new customers come from all across the UK and even as far as Jersey and all share our love of our websites and taking the garment decoration industry to the next level. Some of our recently launched sites include TPR Signs Magic Touch Jersey and Key Cross Media and many many more - we could only pick a few from our growing list!

But do not worry existing customers, we have not forgot about you!

We are continuing to work on new ways to work alongside all our existing customers and make sure that you get the most from your eTrader website. Happy customers makes for a happy eTrader, we continue to run with our Hints & Tips email programme offering you all the latest bits of advice to make sure you maximise your sites potential!

But we are going one step further....

One of current projects is bringing our customers more learning facilities than ever before. Due to be completed in the next few weeks we are working on video learning creating our very own series of videos using Our Youtube Channel. 

In the Media....

The past month or so has seen us feature in two of the garment decorations leading industry magazines. We feature one again in this month's Printwear & Promotion and our article offering our insight into Mobilegeddon and how it affects the garment decoration industry has been well received.

But a first for us, we featured in a quarterly trade magazine Director-e which is aimed largely at the workwear and corporate clothing sector. Our full page spread provided some insight into how businesses in the personalised clothing industry achieve online success.

Lastly, we have produced several blogs for Business Wales who offered us the chance to collaborate on providing Online Marketing & Tech advice for SMEs in Wales. All our blogs are geared towards our customers with the main focus being on small to medium size business in the garment decoration industry.

For the latest news & developments get in touch on: info@etraderwebsites.co.uk or call 029 2075 5733

Social Media, where would we be without it?

It has become a necessary Marketing tool for businesses to grow their online presence and more importantly online sales. But with a large number of garment decorators neglecting it, they can only wonder - are they missing out?

Social Media is considered by many business owners (especially in our industry) a bottom of the list priority, something for a Friday afternoon or a quiet day. But if done correctly and more importantly consistently the effects Social Media can have on small businesses lead generation and sales prove the difference between doing OK online and doing very well online.

Social Media does not have to be complicated, a bottom of the pile Friday afternoon job. We will hopefully give you an insight and convince you that it can work for you & your business.

There are lots of Social Media sites out there but stick to the main few to start Facebook, Twitter and maybe LinkedIn and as you become more competent and comfortable branch out experiment with the likes of Vine, Pinterest, Instagram or whatever tickles your fancy.

Pick the platform that best fit your businesses objectives. Ask yourself what do you want to achieve from going online – developing an online brand, growing an online presence, improving your sales or whatever it may be just pick the right platform to achieve social success.

Facebook: Ideal for B2C Facebook is commonly accepted as a tricky one for customers to get right. But with advertising tools Facebook gives your business the chance to not just grow a following/community but to generate new customers through advertising campaigns that target potential customers for a small cost.

Twitter: The popular tool of choice for small businesses - we come across far more garment decoration, print, embroidery businesses here than anywhere else. Twitter allows you to focus on both B2B and B2C customers. 140 Characters does not sound like enough to sell your business but with a good following and product your business can reap the rewards!

LinkedIn: B2B orientated platform for the business more focused on its trade customers. Connecting and referring on here gives your business the chance to meet customers you may never come across normally ‘Online Networking’. Arguably the most credible for garment decorators looking to obtain working relationships & contracts with large trade customers.

Other Ideas: The garment decoration industry relies heavily on visual content so you would thing Instagram and Pinterest are ideal for garment decorators. These two sites give businesses the chance to meet like-minded people who have a similar interest in clothing and act as more of a brand grower than a sales tool in itself but we would definitely recommend you give it a go!

Just to wrap things up in a nice little bow here are a few little tips to make Social Media success easy for the everyday small business:

• Create a realistic action plan: Define what you want to achieve using Social Media
• Grow Your Following: Grow a following of who you think may be interested in your business/what you do
• Create engaging content: Nobody will read sales post after sales post, go for visuals, Blogs, and latest news – anything that catches your audience’s attention. The sales come afterwards!
• Pick the right platform: As discussed pick what you think would work best for your business and its brand.
• Creating Content: Realistically you won't have someone sat at a PC posting on your sites all day every day. Use planning tools such as Hootsuite to schedule a week’s worth of content in half hour.
• Lastly, just be sociable and have fun with it. Don’t take it too seriously spamming sales posts all over Social Media. Being liked and social will sell more than you ever imagined.

We hope we have won you around garment decorators with our guide to making Social Media a success for your business. Remember, if done right ‘Social Sales’ are what separate you from the rest of the crowd and take your online business to the next level!

For more information on how we can help your online business get in touch simply drop us an email us on info@etraderwebsites.co.uk or call 029 2075 5733 today!

Following on from all things SEO the past few months, our latest blog gives small businesses and overview and insight into the crazy, weird and wonderful world of Digital Marketing. Our SEO, content advice and opinion blogs have helped point your business in the right direction in its online journey. But in our industry, we know it’s all about sales and online performance so we’ve put together a few little practical bits aimed at adding value.

Marketing Your Business Online Doesn’t Have To Be a Chore:

Many small business owners in the garment decorating sector are notorious for downplaying the importance of Marketing for their business, especially online. The industry is traditional, leap years behind other sectors; many businesses see it as simply setting up a site for their business and doing the occasional tweet or post on Facebook or Twitter. But what they don’t see is that everything online works together in a synchronized way. 

It’s all about collaborating… Online marketing brings together all aspects of your businesses online presence. Just put together your online content and keywords and mix that with your Blog & Social Media and the online/SEO world is at your feet. What we recommend for our customers is an integrated online strategy, covering all the bases.

eTrader Top Tips:

• Understand Your Customers/Audience: Treat your online customers like you would treat your in shop customers. Nobody knows your customers like you… Online it shouldn’t be any different. Using demographic tools, such as Hootsuite Analytics or Google Analytics makes identifying your online audience easy. 
• Research your Businesses Online Keywords: Know what your audience are looking for to find you, or what you want them to look for to find you. Plan your content strategy around your keywords and build your online presence from there. Use them in Blogs & Social Media and the rest is magic!
• Develop a Social Media Plan: This doesn’t have to be a strict structure. But Social Media plays a wide role in SEO and developing your online image. We recommend a mix of the planned an unplanned. See our Social Media Blog for more on this.
• Keep Up With The Times & Be Innovative: The internet doesn’t stand still. An amazing strategy one day may be wasted the next. Continuously work on new creative ideas to engage both current and new customers, try new things and keep up with current trends.

We know how difficult small businesses in our sector find operating online – It’s breaking tradition. The aim is to make it as simple as possible for your business to have all the tools required to help them succeed online, that’s where we’re happy to help.

We strive to offer our customers as much as physically possible (we want all our customers to get the best returns possible on their sites). This includes things such as auditing, ‘logmein’ sessions and optional Marketing Packs covering areas such as analytics analysis, social media analysis, content review & advice, keyword help and online marketing strategy advice.

We have all the bases covered when it comes to helping take our customers businesses forward.

For more information on improving your online business, all things Online Marketing, SEO & e-commerce in the garment decoration game don’t hesitate to get in touch!

This weeks blog is brought to you by none other that eTraders Managing Director, John will be regularly sharing his thoughts and views on all things online for Garment decorators. 

Want to know what all this stuff means?

SEO, SEM, SERP, URL, HTML, SSL, PCI, CRM, CMS, AND, ON, AND, ON, AND, ON.................... 

Or more importantly, what's it got to do with your Embroidery and Printed Clothing business?

I genuinely went to a meeting a few years ago with a web development company and thought it was some sort of elaborate game of Scrabble and that at the end of the meeting I would be asked to make words out of all the letters they'd thrown at me and win a prize or something. Sadly not, what I had experienced was the language I like to call 'Gobbledeegeek'.

Then it was off for a meeting with an online marketing company and SEO specialist (luckily my first meeting prepared me well and I knew what that meant), basically the same confusing language would be spoken but.... dare I say with a little less substance.

B2B, B2C, D2C, CTP, CTR, CPA, CPM, BOUNCE RATE, NEGATIVE KEYWORDS, META DESCRIPTIONS, AND, ON, AND, ON...........

Then I realised of course, like accountants and solicitors before them, these guys had created a new language which roughly translates to - 'You don't understand, you pay!' 

Fair enough, like the bean counters and ambulance chasers, some of them are pretty good and worth the money, but watch out for the ones who use it to show you how clever they are or to make you think you can't do most of this stuff yourself. Don't bother learning it if you're not going to apply it, the good guys tell you this stuff in a way you can understand and you can make your own mind up if it's something you want to pay for then go for it.

Anyway, now that I'm a fully fledged member of the Tech and SEO fraternity, and proud of it, I still keep this type of thing up my sleeve just in case....

http://www.iabuk.net/resources/jargon-buster

OR

http://www.directom.com/resources/internetmarketingtermglossary 

Over the years here at eTrader we have become fully bilingual, we talk both techie and garments. So if you want to talk about EMB, DTG, DST with a bit of the above thrown in get in touch and keep an eye out for our regular hints, tips and features on Social Media.

Earlier this week, recent competition winners Link-it became the latest eTrader to go live with their brand new eTrader website and becoming an ‘eTrader’. Link-it, based in Northampton is owned and run by Chris & Mark who collectively have over 25 + years’ experience in the garment decoration industry.

Link-it offers its customers a variety of print, embroidery and branding options aimed at the corporate image and branding. However, with their brand new up and running eTrader website, the skies the limit for the lads from Link-it!

Congratulations again to Link-it on their success in winning themselves their very own FREE eTrader website. We’re looking forward to working with Link-it and building a lasting working relationship developing and helping you take your online business to the next level!

Don’t forget to check out Link-it’s brand new eTrader website:  www.linkit-uk.co.uk