ImagesMagUK_Digital-Edition_Nov17

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BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Get found online: 10 quick and effective SEO tips 7. Build content for people, not robots: You are garment decorators, print and embroidery enthusiasts. Write Search engine optimisation (SEO) is vital for the online success of your garment decoration business. Get started today with our top tips.

about your passion, your business, its products and services – hopefully it will then naturally get picked up for many key terms. Often people write ‘out of shape’ content that focuses on keywords rather than being customer-friendly. 8. Create quality links: Inbound links are another thing that can help boost your page ranking in search engines. Collaborate with customers, local schools, sports clubs and businesses by linking to each other; creating a testimonials page is a common way to insert links. 9. Start a blog: Create a blog for your customers’ sake, not for SEO purposes. Produce quality, relevant content frequently and Google will reward you. This can include things like case studies and latest news. 10. Encourage reviews: Ask customers to use Google reviews; this will help give your business more prominence in the search results.

T he recent acquisition of the assets of a leading UK Associates) has caused concern amongst some in the industry, with reports of unpaid debts totalling more than £1 million. Those who subscribed to the BPMA AccountAssyst credit management service managed to avoid much of this pain in part thanks to the early warning system provided by the service, as well as by having access to the Register of Outstanding Invoices. The BPMA has been heavily involved in helping those caught up in the Dukes situation, and will be commissioning an industry-wide credit check with the aim of devices. Speed is playing a larger part in determining how your site ranks; use Google Test My Site to check how your site performs. It will identify performance, areas to improve etc. 5. Make sure you have a page title: Ensure all your webpages have page titles describing what you do as this is the first thing Google bots scan on a page. 6. Use long-tailed keywords: It takes a lot of time and effort to get found for terms like workwear, shirts and polo shirts, so use longer keywords such as ‘branded polo shirts’ and ‘personalised workwear London’. I am often staggered by the scale of average debtor days. One company told me, ‘We only pay our suppliers when they chase us’. promotional merchandise company, Dukes of London, out of administration by distributor BDA (Bensussen Deutsch & 1. Create a ‘Google my Business’ listing: Creating a listing for your business helps your business get found for local searches with minimum fuss. Google my Business provides customers with a whole host of information including opening times, customer reviews, products and services. 2. Join credible online directories: Adding your business to relevant online directories such as Yell and Yelp is a straightforward way to ensure your business gets found online locally. Ensure these are kept valid and up-to-date. 3. Ensure your website is indexed: Use Google Search Console to index your sitemap and ensure that Google bots scan your website. To check how many pages are indexed type site:yourwebsite.co.uk into Google. 4. Test your mobile site speed: There is a growing importance on how websites perform on mobiles/smart

Andrew Langridge is from ETrader, one of the industry’s leading suppliers of websites to garment decorators across the UK. www.etraderwebsites.co.uk

BPMA: BUYER BEWARE supporting those that are in difficulty. When a big distributor goes into administration, it affects all of us. Many in the industry run on tight margins and financial

exposure can be very real. Small and medium-sized businesses rarely have full-time debt collectors, and I am often staggered by the scale of average debtor days. One company told me, “We only pay our suppliers when they chase us.” Big brand end users are often at fault too for using various tactics to delay payment. Do you put customers like this ‘on stop’? Some do as a matter of course, yet others don’t. Sometimes the industry needs a big issue like this as a wake-up call, to say we need to protect ourselves better and be better informed. The BPMA offers its members a zero cost debt recovery service, and a free basic service for AccountAssyst credit management service (members can upgrade to the full package).

If you have any questions or topics for Gordon to address, please email editorial@images-magazine.com with ‘BPMA’ in the subject line.

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