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Deja Vuesday
where you can visit a gently-used, blog post in case you missed it the first time. It’s even better the second time around.
SEO, or “search engine optimization,” is a scary phrase to most shopkeepers. After all, we can sell the pants off (or on) anyone, but we’re not internet gurus. Trying to assure that strangers find our shop on the web is something we’ve love to do, but who has the time or knowledge to devote to this?
Well, guess what?
You do.
And on today’s Deja Vuesday, Kate shows you, step by step, how she did it for one shop. Imagine if you did this to all the sites like the one shown here.
After you’ve read the how-to, go google your town + “consignment” (or resale or thrift, however you think people will look for second-hand shopping in your market area) and see what comes up. Bookmark those results, then see what improvements you can make on your listings at each. Then come back and show us, by “commenting” below!
Auntie Kate The Resale Expert 
There are so many changes to keep up with especially with google. If you want to target certain cities such as resale clothing in “your city / your state” then it will be pretty easy to rank fast with enough optimizing with your blog or your website. The key is creating good content and many relative backlinks.
You need direction and a plan. Give it three good months of work and you will see the results you want.
I might suggest a couple of places to start. That is SEO Scheduler and SEO Blueprints
Google those places and see what you think. We had success with them.
Many thanks for your input, instocklabels!
The fields of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) are constantly changing. Google modifies its search algorithms on an on-going basis. You can read about it here: http://www.seomoz.org/google-algorithm-change
When people search their listings, they should include Bing’s search function as well as a multitude of other things. (Google+ page, anyone?!) I look forward to seeing people’s comments.
Thanks Anna for your input. I was remiss in not mentioning that I was using “google” as a verb, and I should have mentioned that all search engines should be examined… Google, Yahoo, Bing, and so on. That’s because potential customers who are LOOKING for a shop use various search engines, and see differing results.
I was also remiss, although out of polite deference, in not mentioning something very very simple re search engine rankings… that if the shop is listed on http://HowToConsign.com their results will be more impressive But of course, not every shopkeeper wants to spend $1$2 a week for that nor understands how it affects their visibility in SEO. Blogs help improve results as well… which is why I’m hard at work organizing my volunteer project, the workshop at NARTS Conference!
The topic of SEO can easily fill volumes, but this simple suggestion of maximizing the (what are they called? cumulative?) sites is free and quick, both MAJOR reasons shopkeepers can get max ROI! Here’s a listing of current “online business directories” for folks who want to do this up right or who have family/ friends who’d love to help: http://www.thenerdblurb.com/blog/all-of-the-top-online-business-directories-2012-updated-list.html
Anna, would love to have you do a guest post about your areas of expertise… contact me!