Do This ONE Thing To Drive More Traffic To Your Website

In 2019 Google made some enhancements to its Search Engine. In short, they introduced BERT. BERT is an acronym for some very long and fancy technical words that I won’t bother you with. But BERT revolutionized the way people could type things out more conversationally when they were searching for things and BERT would be able to locate keywords and produce the exact results someone was looking for.

Since then, Google has introduced MUM, again another acronym for some very fancy technical words that just took BERT and made it 1000 times more effective.

Google now has launched what is called Search Generative Experience which uses AI to make the Google search experience even more precise with more filters and more follow-up search results.

You have probably already used the photo functionality of SGE which allows you to take a photo of something and Google will search it for you. This is especially useful if you’re trying to find out the exact name of a luxury handbag or pair of shoes or identify a unique or unfamiliar logo.

This also dovetails into Google Ads so it’s now more important than ever to make sure you’re playing in the Google Ads game. Even if it’s $250/ month $500 is better and $1000 is even way better.

I’m going to sidebar here for a moment on Google Ads. Yesterday I was talking with someone about their Google Ads, they spend $1500/ mo. and the question was if they’re still performing well. If you do Google Ads with us, I can assure you that your ads are going to perform, and you will see a direct correlation between your Google Ad spend and traffic to your website. We crush it in the Google Ad space with keywords, negative keywords, competitive keywords, and competitors. We have many tricks up our sleeves. So, if you’ve done Google ads before but reluctantly, and you’d like to have more confidence, we can manage your Google Ads for you, and you will see results.

OK, that’s my sidebar back to your website.

What does this all have to do with you and your website?

We spend a lot of time trying to guess what the bots are doing and how the algorithms work, and Google is actually helping us out and telling us, “Hey everyone with a website, write your product titles this way…” and that way is:

BRAND + GENDER + PRODUCT TYPE + ATTRIBUTES

ALL items need to have their titles written this way because they are searched for based on those specifics. Shoppers don’t search for “Louis Vuitton handbag.”

Additionally… consumers today know what they want, and they are looking for specifics. They know which pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses they are looking for. So, if you know what type of Ray-Ban sunglasses you have for sale, be sure to put that in your product title.

This is especially important for luxury items:

Customers search for Louis Vuitton Jungle Dot Moyen Modele’ or “Medium” Tote.

Or the Louis Vuitton Mahina Tote, or the Louis Vuitton Zippy XL Wallet Monogram, or the Louis Vuitton Zippy XL Wallet Damier Azur.

They know what Louis they’re looking for or what Hermes bag they’re looking for.

Maybe for Christmas, a woman wants her husband to buy her the Kate Spade Darcy Pineapple Colada Large Wallet which is totally different than the Kate Spade Staci Pineapple Continental Large Wallet. If you have either of these items, can a pineapple-challenged husband find the perfect wallet on your website?

See the difference if your in-take team simply types “Kate Spade Pineapple wallet.” You will totally miss out on all of the traffic that is happening around the Staci Pineapple Large Wallet if you don’t type the title correctly.

This is for EVERYTHING, from sofas to lamps to baby clothing.

Too Good To Be Threw, located in San Antonio, TX sold a West Elm buffet cabinet to a customer in Chicago because …. Why? Because they had the title properly written out for the West Elm Buffet Cabinet Cherry Wood 2 Doors. When the Customer in Chicago was searching Google, she saw the exact item she wanted, for sale in San Antonio, TX. It showed up with the title and the image and the customer clicked through to their website where she purchased it. She was able to see the dimensions and all the details written out in the product description.

For those of you who think “Oh, who’s going to pay to ship furniture across the country,” that’s up to your Customer to decide. Often times there are such savings on the resale price that even with shipping the total cost of an item is less expensive than paying full retail locally for it. But also – you get a lot of unique items and hard-to-find items so customers will gladly pay for the shipping if they really want it.

Maybe you don’t know every style name for every Lululemon outfit or every style name for every Jack & Jill infant outfit, that’s totally understandable, but be as descriptive as possible. For example, know how Lululemon describes their legging lengths, do they call them full length and calf length, or do they call them ankle length and capri length?

If you have Stella McCartney workout wear it’s probably in collaboration with Adidas, so be sure to write out Stella McCartney Adidas Women’s Workout Top Burgundy, Navy Pattern, Mock Turtleneck.

If you want more website sales, you need more traffic, one of the ways to get more traffic is to tell people exactly what you have in the title.

Then, let’s move on to the description.

Include measurements and as many details as possible for luxury items and higher-priced items.

For example:

• • Material
    • Is it nylon, leather, vegan leather, fabric, etc? What kind of material is it?

• • Trim
    • Describe the trim in a few words, is it braided, or a different color? What is unique about the trim?

• • Hardware
    • Is it gold, gold-colored, silver, silver-colored, pewter, or rose gold-colored? Describe the hardware.

• • Closure
    • What is the bag’s closure? Does it have a frog closure, zipper closure, piston front closure, or magnetic closure?

• • What is the color and interior fabric of the bag?
    • If it’s Kade Spade, it’s probably some kind of polka dot but she does have other fun colorful patterns. Is it nylon or a fabric interior lining?

• • What other features are there about the bag?
    • Does it have interior pockets? Exterior pockets? What kind of strap does it have? Can this be carried as a crossbody? Does it have a detachable strap?

Always include Measurements:

• • Shoulder Strap Drop
  • Width
  • Height
  • Depth

And put the condition. You can use a scale of 1-10 or 1-5 or Good, Great, Excellent, Like New.

And be sure to include an image of any wear & tear. This doesn’t mean people are not going to buy it, this is being fully transparent for your online shoppers who can’t see, touch & feel the item. I ordered a Stella McCartney dress online and I was totally disappointed when it arrived with the belt straps cut off. I would have appreciated knowing that. I probably still would have bought it, but it wasn’t fully transparent on the part of the consignment store, and I felt bad about my purchase.

It’s about setting expectations. Let customers know exactly what they are buying.

For Furniture:

• • What kind of material is it? If it’s wood, what kind of wood is it?
  • Does it have any trim on it? What is the trim color and style?
  • Does it have any nail heads or any design features on it? What are they?

Always include dimensions:

• • Length
  • Width
  • Height
  • Floor height

Especially stools – if you have any stools for sale, be sure customers know the seat to floor length because that’s what is important if you’re purchasing stools for a bar or island seating.

Let’s talk about Chico’s for a minute. Chico’s is one of those top-searched brands online because they are a little pricey. Chico’s customers are very brand loyal and if you post the jewelry and the clothing it’s well titled and well described you will see more traffic to your Chico’s merchandise online. Chico’s, along with Brighton has its following, and women will seek out online the same items that they see their friends wearing or that they see in the stores. They often will look on Poshmark but that search usually starts on Google. Wouldn’t it be great if your Chico’s items came up on the top searches next to other peoples’ Poshmark Closets?  

Don’t get hung up on how long this takes you to input one item. First, it’s going to take you a little bit longer in the beginning but once your in-take team gets the hang of it, like anything else, they get into a system, and it takes less and less time. 

Don’t look at the ROI of time spent per item. Remember this is a collective or holistic sales approach. The clients we work with who take the extra time to do these titles and product descriptions are crushing it online. Like crushing it. We have clients who started with zero online sales and are now doing six figures and seven figures per year. And every one of them at some point asked us, “Do we really have to do all of this?” And the answer is always “Yes! Yes, you really have to do all of this.”  

I don’t actually know how many resale websites exist on the internet. We know there are over 25,000 Resale & Thrift stores in the United States according to the National Census Bureau but there may be many many more online consignment stores than that. Plus, all of the Poshmark Closets, Mercari closets, Houzz & Chairish accounts, and eBay Sellers.  

So, you may have a handful of local competition where you live but online you’ve got thousands of competitors. All you have to do to start distinguishing yourself from your online competitors is to change the way you do your Titles and your Descriptions to be more in line with Google’s search engines AND be easier to find when customers are searching for what you have.  

If you don’t tell people what you have, they can’t find it online. More than 90% of people will search for things online before they drive to go buy them. Consumer spending online increases as Consumer Confidence increases. To get that confidence up, give customers everything they need to know to make a confident buying decision. By the way, you will also have fewer returns, less customer dissatisfaction, and more Customer Satisfaction when you give them all the information up front to make a confident online buying decision.  

In Consignment Marketing FB Group, I have posted the official Google graphic with the formula for the Titles. You can see apparel and home decor there along with other products.  

If you have any questions, type in your questions in the comments section or type in how you are currently doing your titles and I will have a look and make any suggestions or confirm that you’re doing it correctly.  

Remember – no matter what you sell, get your titles done properly and figure out the best descriptions that will help your customers make a confident buying decision. You can even ask yourself, “What would I like to know if I was buying this online?” Remember, a size 8 and a size Medium is not the same size across all brands!! I know, I’ve got a ton of clothes that I have purchased in my size that do not fit me because I didn’t know the measurements of the items, I kind of bought on size alone. So, help your customers out as much as possible. This is all part of the online experience.