SEO Keyword Strategy for Fashion Ecommerce Websites: It’s All About Trends

Amanda Massello, April 5, 20131 Comments

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In the digital age, it should come as no surprise that search trends follow the rise and fall of fashion (and cultural) trends. Or should it?

Fashionista Marie picks up her favorite magazine, covering the top 10 hot trends for spring. The editors of StyleMag have been planning features for spring since attending New York Fashion Week the previous fall. Marie scopes out a few potential dresses for her friend’s engagement party. She picks up her iPad, and types in a featured dress style, “colorblock dress.”

Rewind. Place search marketer hat on. Revisit. Everything Marie has done was entirely predictable six months ago by the close of fashion week. Google’s own search trend data substantiates this as does an audit of Pinterest results for last spring.

Forecasting (Unscientifically) Via Pinterest Trends

If 2012 is any indication, Pinterest will also start to serve as a secondary (search) forecast of which trends will sell and drive traffic. Take the “color block” trend from spring 2012. While Pinterest doesn't provide result counts, let’s just say the scrolling of results for “color block” devotee boards and pins are endless.

Search Trend Volume Substantiated

Google’s search volumes for 2012 confirm the same popularity for “colorblock dress.” Notice the minor peak in September 2011 when the runway debuted Spring 2012 looks and then the rising interest through June 2012 as apparel lines became widely available for purchase.

Runway and Color Trends - Translated to Consumer Language

Ecommerce organizations are already on top of this – with knowledge passing sales predictions (influenced by the runway) from fashion buyers to merchant and marketing teams focused on feature and promotion planning, but SEO remains the ugly stepsister.

SEOs should follow the same process as buyers and designers. Let’s call this keyword brainstorming. Start with a list of potential product offerings to be offered on the site. For categories, ask what are the next season’s top silhouettes and product types? For products, ask what are the season’s hot colors, materials (eyelet, leather), even prints (floral, leopard)?

In addition to the runway recap, anyone supporting fashion should know the color bible that is Pantone, which produces a fashion color report for every season. Pantone provides a master list of top colors on its website for free. These tend to be the colors splashed all over runways and eventually products sold on eCommerce sites and in stores nationwide. In short, Pantone influences designer and buyer choices that make it to market.

2013’s Pantone Color of the Year is emerald green. As proof of cause and effect, Google AdWords Keyword Research Tool illustrates that monthly searches in the U.S. for “emerald dress” are currently well over 12,000.

For next fashion season, take Pantone’s listed colors and translate them into consumer friendly terms. Marigold equals yellow. Ox blood equals burgundy. Color “modifiers” matter.

These shades drive trends, search volume, conversion, and maybe even sell-through.

How to Find Current Trends

Above and beyond the runway, it’s also possible to find search trend data for a given apparel category, in a more recent time frame. Below is a snapshot of what trends were most searched in women’s apparel in the last 90 days, available for free from Google Trends. With spring on the horizon, top searches include sundresses, maxi dresses, and high waisted shorts.

The same trend investigation in the Outerwear category in the last 90 days tell us that consumers are looking for yellow raincoats as they get ready for April showers.

Cultural Trends Drive Search Volume

It isn't just the runway that influences search trends. The First Ladies on both sides of the Atlantic have proven to set style preferences as well. Again, unsurprisingly, we see this substantiated by search volumes.

In 2011, Kate Middleton wore a navy lace dress on her trip with Prince William to Canada, which has been covered by paparazzi worldwide. Women’s interest in navy dresses has since increased gradually into 2013. Not only in terms of search volume (see below), but also in designers offering their own interpretation of the style, as evidenced by results from Google Shopping.

Ecommerce sites can capitalize on the celebrity fashion news or cultural trends the same way as editors; blogging opened doors for this opportunity years ago.

Scan a magazine rack today and you can’t miss a cover shoot of Lena Dunham, producer of the hit HBO series "Girls". Ecommerce brand Lulus.com recent blog post featured a round up of all the Lulu’s products befitting the Girls’ characters’ styles, therein driving links to a range of products in their catalog to create SEO value. Lulus.com main demographic is also juniors, many of whom fall into the same audience as age group as the cable show.

Tying Trend Data into Your Keyword Strategy

All of these trend sources can be leveraged to develop a seasonal keyword strategy. To establish a foundation of data to work from, start with a review of:

• Editorial coverage of next season’s trends
• Trends terms in Pinterest
• Pantone’s color report

Trend data will need to be matched up with merchandising and marketing plans for the season. Key areas of focus are:

• Catalog product volume by trend
• Plans for features and categorization
• Blog and content development plans

With the right candidates in mind, trends can be translated with keyword brainstorming by product type, material, and color shade. From this master list, keyword targets should be chosen across the catalog and developed into meta data and URL recommendations.

For further trend optimization and reach, the top 10 keywords for the season should be circulated to teams in charge of social, blog, content, along with guidance around cross-linking products and categories from the blog or social properties.

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To Improve Your Negotiation Skills, Learn from a Pro

EDITED BY KEITH LUTZ ON MARCH 26TH, 2013 / NEGOTIATION SKILLS

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On February 16, in the midst of the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) All-Star weekend, members of the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) unanimously voted to oust Billy Hunter as the union’s executive director.

“This is our union and we have taken it back,” National Basketball Players Association president Derek Fisher said, as reported by ESPN.com. Fisher said the union had been “divided, misled, [and] misinformed,” by its leader. Hunter hinted in a statement that he might contest his firing in court.

As the union’s leader since 1996, Hunter negotiated three collective bargaining agreements for NBA players, contributing to raising their average salaries to more than $5 million, the highest in team sports.

Divided Union

Conflicts between Fisher and Hunter divided union members during the 2011 NBA lockout. According to ESPN.com, “agents didn’t like [Hunter], questioning his bargaining strategies, and they were frustrated they didn’t have a bigger role in his union.”

After Hunter was accused of numerous indiscretions, Fisher pushed for a review of him. In its review, an independent law firm criticized Hunter for various conflicts of interests and poor decisions, such as hiring family members and friends and billing the NBPA for questionable travel and gift expenses. The review did not find Hunter guilty of any criminal activity, but three government investigations of Hunter are ongoing.

After the review was released, the members of the NBPA put Hunter on a leave of absence. About 35 NBA players attended the union committee’s annual meeting in February to discuss Hunter’s future.

Hunter’s Dismissal

NBA superstar LeBron James and longtime player Jerry Stackhouse reportedly took the lead in arguing for Hunter’s dismissal, according to the New York Times. James’s involvement was unusual: league superstars rarely get involved in the nitty gritty of labor negotiations and union management.

James “practically cross-examined the lawyers to prepared the report on Hunter,” the Times reports. And he and Stackhouse demanded explanations from committee members who previously had sided with Hunter rather than Fisher.

NBA players widely respect James for his business savvy and interpersonal skills. So it was not surprising, given James’s forceful arguments against Hunter, that the committee voted unanimously to release Hunter from his duties.

The situation speaks to the power of convincing influential parties to lead important negotiations. One well-respected and admired leader may be uniquely posited to wrap up a negotiation that took many behind-the-scenes players to engineer.

http://www.pon.harvard.edu/?p=34268/?mqsc=E3486922&utm_source=WhatCountsEmail&utm_medium=PON%20Harvard+Negotiation%20Insider%20Tuesday&utm_campaign=Negotiation_Insider_03262013

Joint Gains in Negotiation

Crafting Joint Gains in Negotiation

FEBRUARY 27TH, 2013 / NEGOTIATION SKILLS

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While you might choose many processes for conducting your negotiations, we recommend the following three steps of a mutual-gains approach:

1. Identify and clarify interests. 

• Some portion of your discussion should be dedicated simply to identifying your and the other side’s interests on the various issues being negotiated. Try recording interests on flip-charts, a whiteboard, or a shared computer for all to see. During this stage, parties should avoid making judgments about what the other side expresses. Instead, focus on asking clarifying questions to ensure that you fully understand each other’s interests.

2. Brainstorm possible value-creating opportunities.

• Once you’ve made a complete list of interests, it’s time to brainstorm various options based on these interests. Ground rules are essential for brainstorming to be fruitful. For example, to boost creativity and minimize self-censorship, parties should agree to record all ideas without criticism or evaluation.

3. Evaluate options

• At the evaluation stage, parties should first agree upon a set of norms, standards, or criteria they can use to choose among the ideas generated from the brainstorming session. Such standards will help you weigh possible packages that might lead to efficient outcomes that maximize value for everyone involved.
• http://www.pon.harvard.edu/?p=33730/?mqsc=E3470856&utm_source=WhatCountsEmail&utm_medium=PON%20Harvard+Negotiation%20Insider%20Tuesday&utm_campaign=Negotiation_Insider_03052013

CRS finds US production grew outside federally controlled areas

WASHINGTON, DC, Mar. 5

03/05/2013

By Nick Snow
OGJ Washington Editor

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While US oil and gas production has climbed to its highest level in 2 decades, all of the growth since 2007 has occurred outside federally controlled areas where production actually declined, a recent report from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service found.

“Private sector investment and new technologies are driving increases in oil and gas production,” said US Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Energy and Power Subcommittee, which released the Feb. 28 CRS analysis on Mar. 5.

“Where the states have been in charge, we have seen energy development boom in a safe and responsible way, but under federal control we have seen a sharp decline in production,” he declared. “A web of red tape and a backlog of delayed permits are blocking important energy production opportunities on federal lands.”

All of the fiscal 2007-12 US crude oil production increase took place outside nonfederal areas onshore and offshore, and the federal share of total domestic crude output fell by about seven percentage points during that period, the report said.

US gas production has grown by 4 tcf/year since 2007 as output grew by 40% on state and private land and fell by about 33% on federal onshore and offshore areas, it added.

Congress may consider two different proposals to increase oil and gas production from federally issued leases, according to the report’s executive summary.

Nonproduction fee

It noted that some members have proposed a $4/acre annual fee on nonproducing tracts which they believe are not being developed in a timely fashion. US Sec. of the Interior Ken Salazar imposed higher federal offshore lease rents in 2009 to discourage holding unused leases and to move more tracts into production if possible, it said.

Other members of Congress may propose legislation to streamline federal oil and gas drilling permit application processing, the report continued. It said that a review mandated by the 2005 Energy Policy Act found the average time it took producers and the US Bureau of Land Management to process a federal drilling permit application climbed from 218 days in fiscal 2006 to 307 days in 2011.

“The difference, however, is that in 2006 it took BLM an average of 127 days to process an [application], while in 2011 it took BLM 71 days,” CRS said in its report. “In 2006, the industry took an average of 91 days to complete [a drilling permit application], but in 2011, [it] took 236 days. BLM stated, in its fiscal 2012 and 2013 budget justifications, that overall processing times per [application] have increased because of the complexity of the process.”

“As [gasoline] prices continue to rise past $4/gal, American families are looking to Washington for solutions to help provide relief at the pump,” Whitfield said. “Expanding oil production on federal lands offers a real opportunity to help increase domestic supplies and stabilize prices as well as boost federal revenues.”

Contact Nick Snow at nicks@pennwell.com.

http://www.ogj.com/articles/2013/03/crs-finds-us-production-grew-outside-federally-controlled-areas.html?cmpid=EnlDailyMarch52013