E-Branding Part VI: Creating Web Content For Your T-Shirt Web Site

Learn how the right content can boost your search engine ratings and drive more traffic to your site.
Nov 2, 2007

By Josh Ellsworth, Contributing Writer

Building a Web site is a lot like building a house. First you develop a blueprint, and then you choose the right team to build it. Then the real work begins — filling the house with the right content.

Choosing the right content for your site is more than just a matter of putting up some general information about your company. The right words and images are critical in establishing the look, feel, and tone of your site. In other words, content conveys your brand and image — it says who you are. Here’s a look at some things you may want to include on your site.

Contact info. You wouldn’t hand out a business card with no contact information. Likewise, your site should have contact information for your company, as well as key personnel. Provide active mail to: links for your staffers so that visitors can simply click a link to start writing an e-mail to them. Also, include a phone number and physical address for those who want to speak with a live person or contact you via snail mail. Even if it’s highly unlikely that your site’s visitors will every send physical mail to your address, offering the information goes a long way in establishing trust and a sense of legitimacy.

Who you are. Your site also should include a section that gives an overview of your company and its services. Generally, most sites house this information under a section called “About Us.” Here, you’ll want to convey your competitive advantage, why you started the company, and what it stands for — in other words, why visitors should care about you and buy your products and services.

What people are saying. If you’ve received publicity, such as coverage in magazines, newspapers or local television, you’ll want to include this information too. For print articles, you could retype all of the information, scan the article and make it available as a PDF file, or simply provide a direct link to the media outlet that gave you the coverage. You also may want to consider posting positive feedback you’re received from customers.

If you haven’t garnered any publicity for your company, send out press releases to local media about your T-shirt lines, especially if the designs are targeted to a particular niche. Media outlets are starving for fresh content, and it’s fairly likely that you’ll get coverage with surprisingly little effort.

FAQs. Many sites have a section called FAQs, or Frequently Asked Questions, that does just what the name suggests — it provides answers to the types of questions many visitors ask. Typical questions include queries about shirt size, or how long it will take for the customer to receive an order. Depending on your company’s business niche, you may get other questions, so jot them down as you receive them, and post them (along with the answers, of course) in your FAQ section.

Photos. Naturally, you’ll want to show images of the products you’re selling. What you may not have considered, however, is that it’s also a great idea to show images of customers actually wearing the garments. Think about the circulars you see in the Sunday paper, for instance: They generally show smiling people wearing apparel rather than just taking close-up shots of the garments themselves. If you don’t have the time or budget to shoot models wearing your apparel, have a fun contest where customers send in pictures of themselves in your designs.

Although many Internet users have broadband connections, you still don’t want to slow down their surfing experience by clogging your pages with huge images. Post thumbnails (about 75 to 125 pixels), and let users click those images if they want to see larger, higher-resolution versions.

News and events. Keep site visitors abreast of what your company is up to lately, whether it’s adding new artists, uploading new designs for sale, or even exhibiting at industry trade shows. The point here is to constantly post new information, conveying to visitors that your company is an active, vibrant one.

Customer interaction. Speaking of contests, it’s a great idea to encourage visitors to interact with your online company, even providing content. For example, you could have a blog where you post fun, informal information or conversation starters — descriptions of contests or images, for instance — and allow visitors to post their feedback and comments. Depending on your company’s business personality, you might even have fun, off-topic blog postings to generate a lively discussion among visitors. These types of discussions help make your site “sticky” — in other words, they encourage visitors to stay longer, and to keep coming back for more. (For more information on blogs, visit wordpress.com, typepad.com, and blogger.com)

And if you really want to dive into the social networking phenomenon, try creating a profile for your company on sites such as Facebook or MySpace, and then linking your site to that profile. If this sounds like something more suitable for teenagers than an apparel business, it’s time to take a quick visit to one of these sites. You’ll probably be surprised at the number of brands using the sites to generate a grassroots following. And besides, it costs nothing to create a profile, so you have nothing to lose.

Keep it fresh. At an absolute minimum, you’ll need to update your site every month. Ideally, you’ll make time to it far more frequently — even daily. The more frequently you update the site with compelling content, the more likely it is that you’ll generate greater traffic — which, of course, means the potential for greater sales.

Make sure it’s working. When you selected a host for your site, it most likely included as part of the package a set of reporting tools. Use these tools regularly to find out which pages and types of content are generating the most traffic. Pay especially close attention to which pages have the longest average visit time, which indicates where you’re doing the best job of keeping visitors (again, your goal is to be “sticky”). Then you can post new content accordingly to keep them coming back, staying longer — and buying more.

Josh Ellsworth has been in the garment decoration industry for eight years, working for the past six years as an account representative for Imprintables Warehouse, Masontown, Pa. Ellsworth manages his own blog called Heat Press Yourself.



Click here to view the entire series of "10 Steps to Launching Your e-Brand."

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