Dry Cleaner Online Advertising

Posted by Pixelhead

This is a blog post for Joe Fava of Clothes2Home.com, which is a garment care company in Boyertown, Pa. I would classify Clothes2home as a dry cleaning service, but the truth is they do much more than just dry cleaning.

The other day I was in picking up some dry cleaning and Joe was telling me that he would like to increase the activity on his Facebook page.
So I did a little brainstorming and this is the video and blog post that resulted.

Clothes2Home Social Media Ideas

Give aways for doing something like signing up for the Clothes2Home newsletter, leaving comments on posts such as “Your Favorite Fava Page”.
Potential Contest Prizes
- 5 suit drive cleanings(I like the number five, as in a weeks worth of suits dry cleaned)
- a free tux rental
- free Fathers Day gift
- A comforter dry cleaning
- other
- an iPod
To encourage those who get your email updates to follow you on various networks, give them an entry for adding you on each network. Also give an entry for each valid comment. Give additional entries if someone refers more friends.
Coupons- have weekly specials, and vary them to include listing different specials on each of the Social media outposts. Be sure to let your fans on Facebook and/or Twitter know about the special that is available on the other outpost.
Obtain foot traffic patrons email addresses and ask them if you can send them email or newsletter updates of specials and notifications when items are ready to be picked up.
Include links to your social media sites in your email correspondence.

Overall, I think Clothes2Home is doing a great job with their Social Media Optimization(SMO). The main thing is you are doing it, and you are not going to quit.

General SEO Suggestions for Clothes2Home

Add content to your site and do keyword research to find out what possible keywords to optimize.Use the free Google Adsense Keyword tool.
Create landing pages for your main keywords and include text links to them in your bottom navigation.
Bottom Navigation should be text based not graphic. Include links to landing pages, site map, disclaimer, contact page, directions, coupons..etc..
Optimize title tags with keywords..Clothes2Home does not need to be in every title tag or at the beginning of each title tag. Example Home page title tag might be
Make sure you use the same alt and title tag for pictures.
Use H1 and H2 tags appropriately.
Always be Link Building..see my Link Building post for more info.

Clothes2Home Web Pages

Written by Pixelhead on May 29th, 2010 with 48 comments.
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48 comments

Read the comments left by other users below, or:

Maxi
#1. May 29th, 2010, at 8:07 PM.

Excellent SEO/site ideas. My site has been up for approx. 6 months and I’m just beginning to undersatnd search engines. Well written blog.

PRINCE
#2. May 30th, 2010, at 4:54 AM.

Excellent SEO/site ideas. My site has been up for approx. 6 months and I’m just beginning to undersatnd search engines. Well written blog.

Goran | Net Age
#3. June 1st, 2010, at 7:58 AM.

We have a small typo here – Garmet Care Company should read Garment Care Company.

I love the wordplay though. Garment car company sounds much more uppermarket than dry cleaners. Optimizing for the keyphrase will be much easier too, with little competition, as opposed to dry cleaners.

Thank you for the SEO lesson, on site optimization is far too often neglected in the quest for links, links, links.

Pixelhead
#4. June 1st, 2010, at 1:32 PM.

Thanks for the typo info Goran.

sportsht
#5. June 2nd, 2010, at 3:31 AM.

This is a great post.. I’m starting to feel 11 as we speak.. So far my biggest problem is with SEExcellent SEO/site ideas. My site has been up for approx. 6 months and I’m just beginning to undersatnd search engines. Well written blog.

O and Backlink.. but otherwise on the most part i’m following your rules.. You can also add not to use free hosts as a very large majority of them give you space let you build up your site then hijack them..

web developer melbourne
#6. June 2nd, 2010, at 4:18 PM.

Win a new Bike in our ‘Read to Ride’ program! Kids ages 6 to 15 read books (one entry per book) and enter to win a bike or other prizes. Entry forms available online, at all of our stores & through your home delivery driver.

Nanaimo Chiropractor
#7. June 2nd, 2010, at 5:18 PM.

Video is a great (and cheap!) way to promte your business. Our youtube videos even show up on the first page of a google search!

Wholesale Flyer Printing
#8. June 3rd, 2010, at 6:03 AM.

Nice video. I think I should say, this is a cool viral marketing strategy from an online dry cleaning company. It just shows how people are becoming more and more innovative.

Blog link building
#9. June 3rd, 2010, at 3:32 PM.

realy cool seo advices , can you review my blog to ?

Joe
#10. June 8th, 2010, at 5:27 PM.

That was great Adam, we will put some of these idea’s into practice.

USPS change of address
#11. June 8th, 2010, at 10:47 PM.

Dry cleaning- now there’s an industry that I never would have thought of in terms of SEO. You came up with some recommendations. Thanks for giving us something to think about!

seo web service
#12. June 15th, 2010, at 4:15 PM.

It seems that internet marketing is going in the way, with social and search combined that it is all going to be about relationship building instead of just getting a load of backlinks and getting to the top of the search engines.

seo web service
#13. June 15th, 2010, at 4:16 PM.

While my site still gets significantly more traffic from search than it does from FB, Twitter, etc, they are starting to make up a big chunk of our traffic and often are more qualified due to the more social nature of their relationship with the brand. It will be really interesting to see how this develops.

Tarun
#14. June 18th, 2010, at 12:44 AM.

These are great social media tips! It just goes to show that a little creativity can potential go a long way in a “non-creative” industry. Great ideas

Jaime@Backpacking
#15. June 18th, 2010, at 3:03 PM.

Great SEO tips. I like how an existing physical business can “expand” online. I have just started learning SEO myself and I find the techniques easy to follow and very practical. Cheers!

Life insurance Real
#16. June 23rd, 2010, at 11:59 PM.

Social Media has always seemed like a big mess to me but this post helps put my finger on it.

Thanks!

Jan
#17. June 24th, 2010, at 1:06 AM.

It is always so good to see a small business branch out and add value added products/services into their small business. When one has more avenues for revenue into a business the better they will do…and rightly so. Well done guys and I wish you well!

online web marketing
#18. June 24th, 2010, at 6:10 AM.

i think on-page optimization is far much important then off-page if you cant get Google crawler to index your website then what is the purpose of off-page optimization…

New Homes
#19. June 24th, 2010, at 6:58 PM.

You should look into doing some SEO for Plummbers! Check out what they pay per click through Google. I think that it is an easy client to land and you could save them a lot of money.

Benjamin
#20. June 24th, 2010, at 7:55 PM.

Thanks for this article, you mention a lot of great idea about SEO. I will use some of them in the next few days for my business!!

Thanks again!

Online Marketing Expert London
#21. June 25th, 2010, at 8:46 AM.

Taking care of my clothes was another big thing I had to learn. Nothing is worse than clothes that go all pilly and bobbly after wearing them only a few times.

Render Online
#22. June 25th, 2010, at 4:08 PM.

Coupons – I agree on the fact that coupons should have a limited lifespan, this will keep people coming back to C2H’s Facebook/Twitter/site/newsletter for more. They’ll look up for coupons wherever they place them.

Thematic Weeks/Months – Setting a discount every week for a specific garment, for example the “tux week”, the “comforter week”, and so on. This can be organized seasonally, I mean if this guy knows his business he may be aware of his clients behavior patterns, so it’ll be great to surprise them with discounts when they most need them (and at the same time, playing harder against competitors, if any in town). This “thematic discounts” can be announced through social sites, this will attract more people to the social campaign and will also keep them engaged.

A word of caution: most of the time, small businesses give discounts/coupons away for the sake of it, just because “everybody is doing it”. They overlook the need for tracking coupons’ performance, running stats, etc. Every marketing action should be measured. What’s the ROI? What’s the clients reaction? How did competitors counteract?

A “how we treat your garment” video, showing the journey of client’s garments within the company will be great. I’m a big fan of “transparency”, I mean, showing what goes on behind the scenes once you left you garment at C2H.

And how about an Iphone app…?

Grand Pressigny
#23. June 26th, 2010, at 4:15 PM.

Good idea to turn a blog into a good website. Hope I’ll have soon authorization to translate that in french on my dofollow french Touraine du Sud blog.

Clinical Research
#24. June 27th, 2010, at 4:26 PM.

This is really nice advice to dry cleaners. I think the SEO suggestions are good as well. Also to increase activity on FB fan page you need to make sure that you are making it busy and sending as much invitation as possible. Its first time that you need to work on it, then it won’t be too hard next time..

Brian | boat plans
#25. June 28th, 2010, at 3:09 PM.

That’s cool advice, I’m a beginner in SEO and this will help me for sure. Will come back regularly to check for other advice! Thanks

Pixelhead
#26. June 28th, 2010, at 3:22 PM.

Paul, we do have quite a plummers already…but we might do well to continue to focus in on that niche.

New Homes
#27. June 29th, 2010, at 7:08 PM.

Covering all industries! I was surprise at their CPC here in AZ.

web developer melbourne
#28. July 1st, 2010, at 10:23 AM.

When drafting this section of the plan you should heavily discuss the competitive advantages that you intend to have over your competition.

Thule
#29. July 2nd, 2010, at 8:57 AM.

The fact that this business is even aware of the power of SMO is great, I wouldn’t expect dry cleaners to have considered this as a viable form of advertising! By the way, I’ve not heard that phrase coined before… SMO… I like it!

Pixelhead
#30. July 2nd, 2010, at 7:32 PM.

Paul, it is a pretty competitive industry. They do tend to be lower budget types of client, but ther certainly are a ton of them.

Paul @ Sytek MN Directory
#31. July 6th, 2010, at 1:12 PM.

I agree with video promotion to spread the word about clothes2home. Its pretty much easy to make videos using only images like with animoto and other similar websites. I also encourage video submission using traffic geyser.

Legit ideas Pixel, you should treat yourself

Thanks!

Jenny
#32. July 7th, 2010, at 6:28 AM.

I wouldn’t ever thought about a dry cleaning company in terms of SEO. A very good lesson indeed on how each and every online business can have SEO.

InfoZooms
#33. July 8th, 2010, at 1:25 AM.

Very informative and well-summarized. Not many businesses in their niche should be aware of such advanced methods, so if they follow your suggestions they will certainly have a leg up:)

Bidet
#34. July 8th, 2010, at 10:00 AM.

Wow this is a great way to advertise. Its good for small companies to start getting involved in SEO. Thanks for sharing it.

Shirley Kelly
#35. July 9th, 2010, at 1:22 PM.

Thanks, SEO can be very intimidating at times. It was good to read a post with simple to understand instructions.

web developer melbourne
#36. July 10th, 2010, at 6:08 AM.

It is especially important to busy professionals and parents, I think. If I had more time, I’m not sure that I would be willing to pay 20% extra. Given the situation though, I think that is what keeps us there.

Golf Swing Mechanics
#37. July 16th, 2010, at 12:00 PM.

I think These are great social media tips. Its really good lesson indeed on how each and every online business can have SEO…thanks

The Confessant
#38. July 21st, 2010, at 12:57 PM.

very useful tips. I learn a lot as an SEO expert wannabe..thanks..

Sourish | Iphone 4 Jailbreak
#39. July 21st, 2010, at 1:55 PM.

online media is the best way for advertiements , it is cheap and effective

Christopher Ward Watches
#40. July 21st, 2010, at 11:56 PM.

When you say that the same alt text and title should be used for the picture, so is it not classed duplicate content by SEs? Would appreciate your thoughts on that.

sam
#41. July 22nd, 2010, at 1:08 PM.

Nice tips for SEO. It can really help to the new entrants and small businesses wanting to expand. These are some really great tips for sure. The idea of using a video for this type of post is a great idea.

Pixelhead
#42. July 22nd, 2010, at 3:18 PM.

They should be the same for consistency..these attributes were put in place for visual and hearing impaired, not for the purpose of SEO. If you stuff to many keywords, and different keywords, it might be seen as overly spammy and could incur a Google slap.

New Homes
#43. July 23rd, 2010, at 5:14 PM.

I know a guy who is a locksmith and they have no problem shelling out money for PPC. Take a look at their CPC. Before I mentioned plumbers but I meant locksmith.

Pixelhead
#44. July 23rd, 2010, at 8:14 PM.

No, I don’t think I do have any locksmiths…hmm..I will have to consider that niche.

Master Health Education
#45. August 7th, 2010, at 12:24 PM.

it is a pretty competitive industry. They do tend to be lower budget types of client, but ther certainly are a ton of them.

web developer melbourne
#46. August 10th, 2010, at 10:32 AM.

Dry cleaners today are churning customers at faster rates than ever before. Stop or slow big spending customer turnover with a well designed loyalty program that fits into your operation.

Peter | Web Designer in Miami
#47. August 19th, 2010, at 2:13 AM.

Creating landing pages is a good and needed idea but making this page rank well will require additional efforts. It is a great idea but it just doesn’t end there.

Firma Rehberi
#48. September 4th, 2010, at 2:41 PM.

using google adwords keyword tool is not a good idea i think, because google is manipulating keyword statistics.

my own idea is checking search results from google searchs, when you type “dry cle…” to google search form, it brings most searched keywords. this is my way to find good keywords on google

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