Media Monitoring - What it Is, What it Does, How to Use It

Media monitoring is the process of carefully reading, watching or listening to the editorial content of media sources (including newspapers, magazines, trade journals, broadcasters and the Internet) on a continuing basis and of identifying, saving and analyzing content that contains specific keywords or topics.

Monitoring the News Media

Monitoring editorial content of news sources including newspapers, magazines, trade journals, TV and radio stations is by far the most common type of media monitoring. This typicalls is called "news monitoring".

Media Monitoring - What it Is, What it Does, How to Use It

Most companies, government agencies, not-for-profit organizations (e.g. hospitals, universities, associations, etc.) and individuals such as authors and celebrities utilize media monitoring as a tool to identify mentions of their organization, its brands, and executives in news media. Some organizations also deploy media monitoring tools to track the success of their news releases, to find information about competitors and specific issues relevant to the organization, to benchmark performance against competitors, to manage corporate or brand reputation, to gather industry intelligence, to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of corporate communications, to identify new business opportunities, and other purposes.

In addition to monitoring news, many organizations now also monitor social media on the Internet, tracking word of mouth mentions about their organization in social media such as Facebook, Twitter, blogs, message boards and forums. This is commonly known as social media monitoring, word-of-mouth monitoring, or buzz monitoring.

Media Monitoring Profile & Search Terms

The monitoring process starts with the search profile and the search terms or keyword(s) or keyword phrases. The search profile contains the service terms: the media to be monitored, the type of articles and/or mentions to be delivered, the time period of the monitoring, and the method of article delivery.

The search terms are those key words or phrases that must appear in the article such as the name of the organization or its affiliates or brands. An article containing a key word is usually referred to as a "clip" or "clipping," "news clip," or "press clipping." The clips are delivered either physically by mail or as a digital file, usually via e-mail.

While some organizations use in-house staff to monitor news and social media, most companies and PR agencies outsource the function to commercial services. The commercial services can usually provide more comprehensive media coverage than in-house staff using online news monitoring tools such as Google News. Commercial media monitoring services often deliver better results at lower cost than the actual labor costs of in-house news monitoring with staff.

Media Monitoring History

Media monitoring started in the 1800s as press clipping services. Press clipping services (called "press cutting" in Europe) employed human readers to scan articles in printed news publications looking for the key words of multiple clients. The readers marked the keywords in articles, then used razor blades to cut out the marked articles, put the clipped articles into client folders and delivered the clips via mail to the client. Most press clipping services served a limited geographic area - one country, for instance - and monitored publications in only one language. According to studies by GE, Kodak and other organizations in the 1970s, the human readers typically missed 30 to 40% of articles containing clients' key words, largely because the readers were quickly scanning the articles for multiple clients' keywords, not actually reading the articles word for word.

Broadcast Monitoring Services

In the 1950s, specialized broadcast monitoring companies started to monitor TV news broadcasts for mention of their client company key words. Initially, the broadcast monitoring companies used humans to watch programs, write abstracts of the content and log mentions of clients' key words. The development of Betamax and VHS videotape recorders, along with closed caption text for hearing impaired, enabled the broadcast monitors to record the programs and use software to search the closed caption text for clients' key words.

In the United States, that closed caption system is still in use although computers (not videotape recorders) are now used to record the programs. In countries that do not have closed caption text embedded in the TV broadcast signal, broadcast monitoring companies now often use speech to text software to create a character-based document which can be searched for key words. Closed caption text and the latest generation speech to text software are each about 70% to 80% complete and accurate.

Online Media Monitoring

The growth of the Internet and World Wide Web in the 1990s gave rise to online media monitoring services with automated processes to monitor online news. The online services deploy specialized software called robots, bots or spiders running on high-powered computer servers to quickly scan the new editorial content of online news sources and social media and to index all the words in the news content and social media postings. Once the software has compiled the content, it identifies all articles containing each client's search terms (keywords or phrases) and then automatically clips and delivers those articles or social media postings to the client. Unlike human readers in old-fashioned press clipping services, software seldom misses valid articles because it reads the entire article word for word.

Advantages of Online News Monitoring

The commercial monitoring services offer multiple advantages when compared to old-fashioned print-based press clipping services or in-house media monitoring by staff.

Today, with rare exceptions, every print publication publishes its editorial content on the publication's Internet Web site. By monitoring print publications on the Internet (World Wide Web), online media monitoring services can monitor news media sources in all countries in virtually all languages. Online news monitoring services currently monitor between 20,000 and 50,000+ online news sources in multiple languages. Many of the online monitoring services utilize embedded translation software to include instant software-based translation of foreign language news clips.

Whereas the old-fashioned press clipping services required 2 to 3 weeks to deliver clips, online media monitoring services deliver clips overnight as a standard service and usually offer near real time delivery at additional cost. Most clips are delivered by e-mail in text or HTML format but other delivery methods are available including RSS feeds, XML and PDF via FTP transfer. The daily e-mail reports enable executives in client organizations to keep up-to-date with a fast and comprehensive overview of how their organization is being portrayed in the news and social media. The daily e-mail clip report also can provide early warning of brewing issues and problems.

With the use of Boolean logic in client queries, online media monitoring services can meet very specific and specialized media clipping requirements with great accuracy. Instead of delivering "all mentions" of a specific word, the media monitoring service can deliver a specific subset of articles and postings such as:

(Orange OR Sprint) AND (mobile OR phone OR cell) AND NOT -fruit OR Julius OR Crush OR "track and field" within 25 characters.

Because online media monitoring services deliver clips as digital computer-based files, clip storage, management and distribution are far more easier than with old-fashioned paper-based clips. Most online services store each client's clips in a digital online archive that is available at anytime from anywhere by anyone the client authorizes. Using standard database methods, clients can easily organize and manage their clips in the online archive. Most digital archives include keyword search capabilities - that is, clients are able to search their digital clip book for any key word or phrase. Most of the digital archives also make it easy to circulate clips via e-mail to others within the client organization.

Social Media Monitoring

While news is clearly the core content to monitor, most organizations now recognize the growing importance of monitoring social media such as blogs, message boards, forums, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and video sharing sites such as YouTube. What is published or uploaded in these online social media sites has gained significant credence and influence. As a result, monitoring social media for criticism and complaints is now crucial to protect corporate and brand reputation - and to better understand what consumers think about the organization, its brands, and its customer service.

It's possible, but inefficient, to utilize in-house staff to monitor social media using free online social media search engines. For the most part, however, social media monitoring services are more comprehensive and more time-efficient.

Most news monitoring services offer separate or integrated social media monitoring services. As in news monitoring, the key is comprehensive monitoring across a wide range of social media, especially blogs, message boards, forums, complaint sites and Twitter. With over 50 million blogs worldwide, it is not sufficient to monitor only the so-called "influential" blogs. It's crucial to monitor as many blogs as possible because it's impossible to predict where critical information will surface. It's also important to use key words on a continuing basis to monitor social media. Monitoring social media sources for criticism and complaints can be especially effective as a customer service tool - correcting problems and issues and earning the customers' gratitude before complaints spread virally.

Media Monitoring Summary

Most commercial media monitoring services are subscription based with a monthly fee for on-going service. While some services - usually ones that evolved from old-fashioned press clipping services - charge an additional fee for each delivered clip, most of the newer online services do not have per clip fees. To better understand the quality of each service and the differences in services, it's best to use multiple services on a free trial for a few weeks before committing to purchase.

In summary, monitoring news and social media is a vital function to track news release placements, identify other mentions in the media about the organization, manage corporate and brand reputation, monitor competition, stay current on industry issues and other purposes. Commercial media monitoring services, especially online services, offer superior results and lower costs than in-house monitoring by staff.

© Copyright 2010, CyberAlert, Inc.

Article may be reprinted in whole or part with proper attribution.

Media Monitoring - What it Is, What it Does, How to Use It
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Bill Comcowich is President & CEO of Cyber Alert Inc a worldwide online news monitoring and social media monitoring service that offers a no-risk 14-day free media monitoring trial [https://secure.cyberalert.com/ftorderX.html]. The Company was founded in 1999 and conducts thousands of media monitoring searches each day for corporations, government agencies, not-for-profit organizations, and celebrities. CyberAlert offers a private label version of its service to PR agencies and other communications companies.

The Sims Online Free Trial Becomes Permanent Free Play

The free trial of the Sims Online game is currently undergoing a revision. Very soon, according to EA, the free trial will become permanent free play. Great news for those of us who can't afford the .99 a month for full play, but what has brought about this change?

Well, put simply, EA stuffed up. The Sims Online was released to the public four years ago, and has earned itself a relatively small user-base. The immensely popular game Second Life was released at the same time, and has gone from strength to strength. Now, Second Life is a very good game and plays to different strengths to the Sims Online, but the Sims comes from a franchise that boasts the two highest selling games of all time. It shouldn't have been too hard for EA to come up with a game, then, that at least landed in the top 10% of online games. And initially, they did.

At the beginning of January 2003, the Sims Online claimed over 100,000 active subscriptions, making it top of the list for online games. Sales soared, and EA projected 40,000 subscribers by the end of the year. And then they gave up. Luc Barthelet, the Senior Vice President of Electronic Arts, seemingly turned his back on the game, and bugs and instabilities were left unresolved. Cheats sprang up which allowed players to get large amounts of Simoleons (the Sims Online currency), effectively destroying the in-game economy and rendering many of the objectives of the game (such as employment) useless. Before the cheats came out Simoleons could be sold on eBay for real money, which is one of the attractions to many new players, who want to believe that their actions within the game have some sort of effect in the real world.

The Sims Online Free Trial Becomes Permanent Free Play

So Second Life grew, and the Sims Online - an online version of the most popular games of all time - sank into obscurity. A few faithful users stuck with it, but most players left it well alone, instead finding newer games with more interesting and innovative features. That, however, is about to change. Luc Barthelet announced in March 2007 that he is re-involving himself in the game. The forums have been consulted for the first time in years, and the Sims Online world is in for a shake-up.

One of the first moves that EA are making is to created new cities for players to explore. They are also changing the logo, and have promised to close the loopholes that allow for the money cheats. Registration will be greatly simplified, and the free trial will become, soon, permanent free play. Of course there will be limitations: only one choice of city for non-payers; only one avatar; less starting money. Nonetheless, this is a real show of commitment by EA, and will no doubt draw in many new players. New players, paying or not, will breathe life back into the game, and that's got to be a good thing for EA, whose image was looking a bit tarnished by its failure.

So why now? Well, the Sims 3 is due to be released in (possibly) 2008, which might have something to do with it. Nobody wants a dead goose on display when they're trying to build hype for their new product, and it's going to take a while for the Sims Online to get back on track. This is a very promising (re-) start, though, and a very exciting time to get into the world of the Sims Online. New features such as AvatarBook, which works much like Facebook, will help to provoke interest, and could pull in a very large audience indeed. Few people who have played the Sims games haven't wondered what it would be like to play with other people, but most have been put off by bad reviews or friends' advice. Now that's all set to change, and the community can only get stronger and stronger. The question, then, is not why EA are making these changes now, but why they didn't make them before. Now we can only play and wait, and hope this time EA gets it right.

The Sims Online Free Trial Becomes Permanent Free Play
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Netflix Streaming Movies on VIZIO Internet Apps HDTV - Top Brands Offer Top Satisfaction

Netflix currently has the highest rating for e-commerce customer satisfaction according to market research company ForeSee Results. Founded in 1997, Netflix is now the world's largest subscription service for streaming movies and TV episodes over the Internet and DVDs sent by mail.

VIZIO is another fairly new company with a laser focus on customer satisfaction. Founded in 2002, VIZIO HDTV is now the top selling LCD HDTV brand in the U.S., according to iSuppli, a market intelligence company.

Netflix streaming movies on VIZIO
Now Netflix will stream its movies and TV episodes directly to customers through the new VIZIO Internet Apps HDTV. This service is on demand -- no downloading or waiting is required.

Netflix Streaming Movies on VIZIO Internet Apps HDTV - Top Brands Offer Top Satisfaction

VIZIO class XVT Internet Apps HDTV is available now
VIZIO's new state-of-the-art high definition televisions are Internet-ready - no set top box is required. Simply plug an Ethernet cable into the port provided on the HDTV and connect it to your high-speed broadband Internet service modem or router. With VIZIO's built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi functionality, you can also connect to the Internet wirelessly.

VIZIO Internet Apps HDTVs are available in 42-inch, 47-inch, and 55-inch models.

For easy interaction with Internet content on television, each VIZIO Internet Apps HDTV comes with an innovative VIZIO universal remote control device. Click on the remote's VIA button to activate an Internet Apps dock which appears along the bottom of the screen. Use the VIZIO universal remote to control your cable box, DVD player and other devices connected to your HDTV.

The remote is IR-Bluetooth-enabled so you do not have to point it directly at the HDTV. There is a full Qwerty keyboard for interacting with online television content including custom controls for gaming apps and content navigation. The keyboard slides away when not in use.

Now you can choose from a wide world of Internet content - from movies to games, sports, news, stock prices, sports, Internet radio, and much more. Some services are free - others, like Netflix, require a subscription or fee on demand.

Netflix offers a wide selection of movies and TV episodes

Netflix members can instantly watch unlimited TV episodes and movies streamed to their VIZIO Internet Apps HDTV, and receive DVDs at their homes. Netflix distributes movies by major film studios as well as films from smaller independent studies - known as "Indie films." These films enable Netflix to reach niche customers as well as the broader market.

Netflix Streaming Movies on VIZIO Internet Apps HDTV - Top Brands Offer Top Satisfaction
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For more info, news and review, check out VIZIO VIA HDTV.

To learn more about Netflix streaming movies on VIZIO Internet Apps HDTV go to Neflix on VIZIO.

Welcome to streaming movies from Netflix on VIZIO Internet Apps HDTV.

How To Build A Gill Net

Gill netting is a very productive method of catching fish. Although a lot of states do not allow the use of gill nets, Virginia is one of the few that does. In fact, it allows recreation gill netting as well as commercial gill netting. The recreational fisherman is limited to one gill net whereas the commercial guys have as many as they want. They just buy as many gill net licenses as the need.

I started out as a recreational fisherman/gill netter. It was more fun than I expected and I found that I could catch enough for a weekend fish fry whenever I wanted. Later, I wanted to sell fish and that required me to become a commercial waterman. I did pretty good my first year considering I only had one gill net.

I needed more nets and found that I needed to learn how to make my own nets. The cost of a gill net is cut just about in half when you build it yourself. Gillnets consists of three major parts. The top line, the netting, and the bottom line or lead line are the main parts of the gill net. The top line is usually made of float line. Float line is a line that has a foam core to make it float. Floats spaced out on a line also works but the foam core line is easier to handle when deploying your net.

How To Build A Gill Net

The netting comes in different size meshes as well as thickness. The size of the mesh determines the size fish that can be caught in the net. A three inch mesh will catch fish as small as 6" and as big as 12inches with the average fish being about 8 to 10 inches.

To build my nets, I used 1/2" foam core top line and 65LB. bottom line. I used 600 feet of each. I used three inch net mesh for catching Spot and medium Croakers. For the large Croakers and sea trout I used 3 3/4 " mesh. When you order your netting, order twice the the length of the size of the net you will build.

For example, to build a 100 yd gill net, order 200 yd of netting. Netting is usually measured in "stretched yards". Tie the netting to the top and bottom line at intervals of about 7 to 9 meshes. Use net twine to tie the netting. At each end of your net, run a rope from the top line to the bottom line and secure at both the top and bottom. These are your end lines. I prefer to use hollow braid line for my end lines because I can form loops in the ends easily. You will need to attach a buoy to the top line and an anchor to the bottom line at both ends.

All that's left to do now, is to set the net in you favorite spot and get ready for a fish fry!

How To Build A Gill Net
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Roscoe Ledbetter is an avid fisherman. He specializes in using artificial lures to catch a wide variety of species of fish. Roscoe spends just about all of his free time fishing. Roscoe's Fishing Tips home page.

How to Start an Online Clothing Store in 12 Steps

This article is meant to be a very rough outline in the process of starting up an e-commerce based clothing store or boutique. In the high-paced and competitive world of fashion retail setting up your store is just the first step and quite honestly has little bearing on how successful your store will actually be. For example, Bluefly.com has an estimated monthly traffic of 840K, but since going public in 1998 has never made a single year of profit. As of December 31, 2009, Bluefly has an accumulated deficit of 7,468,000. Your guess on how they remain in business is as good as mine, but think of it this way. Even if you only make .00 of profit your first year of business, then you are technically doing better than Bluefly.

Please note, many of these steps can be done concurrently. For example, while you are filing your legal forms, you can work on your web design. This is especially true if you are depending on a third-party to design and set-up your website. They may work on a longer time frame than you initially anticipated. I do highly suggest that you just focus on the business plan initially. For example, if you decide that you are going to design your website with a specific concept while you write your business plan, then you just might find after researching that your concept is not what you're going to move forward with. In this case, you probably spent 40-60 hours on non-productive output.

1. Write a business plan.

How to Start an Online Clothing Store in 12 Steps

To be honest with you, when my girlfriend and I launched our website, we did not have a business plan, but we did write one eventually. The simple fact is that if you are planning for success, then you must write a business plan sooner or later. In business school, you write it sooner than later. The business plan is important because it forces you to do research about the industry, your competitors, and your resources. Additionally, it forces you to think deeply about how you are going to succeed in this highly competitive industry. If you think that you are going to be just like Modcloth, then why would you expect to be successful compared to Modcloth when they are working with millions of dollars of venture capitalist funds for a workforce, marketing, inventory, etc. I don't have an answer for you, but my point is that you have to come up with a plan before investing your life's savings into this new venture. Also, the business plan is important because it also forces you to estimate how much money you will need and where that many is coming from. The reality is that unless you have real background in finance, you will not be able to build a 5-10 year projected Discounted Cash Flow Model and figure out your WACC, but having some kind of rough idea of your cash flow is better than nothing.

You should also include a plan on how you are going to initially set-up your website. For example, using a subscription-based shopping cart will change your budget than if you decide to use an open-source shopping cart. Also, you should also do your initial research on web hosting companies since they can range from /month to over 0/month. My only suggestion is that you get the fastest and most reliable that your budget will allow. Please note, that all I'm suggesting is that you plan what you are going to do as far as web design and hosting is concerned, not that you go out and pay for these services right now. The only expense that you may want to consider at this moment is that for registering a domain name. That's because they are relatively inexpensive to register and you don't want to possibly miss out on registering your wanted domain.

You should come up with a budget and plan for marketing, public relations, and search engine optimization. These will most likely be your largest expense heading into the future. Remember, buying inventory is not an expense, it is an asset.

Last, but not least, you also want to plan on order fulfillment. This is just a fancy way of saying how you are going to pack and send your product, as well as what return procedure and policy you will have in place. Will you use USPS, UPS, FedEx, or DHL? Will you have free shipping, returns, and/or exchanges? These are all things that should be planned for, though will change over time.

2. Apply for a Employer Identification Number with the IRS

Once again, if you are planning for success in the future, then you are going to have to run your business legally. You will need an EIN to open a bank account, apply for a business license, and get a seller's permit. Just search "EIN" in the Google search engine and the IRS website should be the first result. When applying for your EIN, you will need to know the legal structure of your business. For example, if your business is going to be a one man or woman show, then you are going to apply as a sole proprietor. If it turns out that you and your mom are going to run the business, then you may choose partnership or decide to incorporate.

Pick your fictitious business name, "Doing Business As," and file it with your county clerk

One of the more exciting step in setting up your business will always be picking a name. My girlfriend and chose T.I.L. Darling because before we were officially a couple, she would tell me that in Thailand, her home country, that she and I could never go out alone as even friends. I told her, "This is London, Darling." So, I guess our business name should technically be T.I.L., Darling, to be more grammatically correct. Once you have your fictitious business name, you need to make a pretty good attempt to make sure no one else is using that same name. Otherwise, years down the line when you are making money, you can expect a letter from a lawyer saying how they are going to sue the designer pants off of you.

If your county registrar/clerk has a website with downloadable forms, then search for the DBA filing form, fill it out, and bring it to the county clerk. Otherwise, you will just have to do everything in person. There, you will probably have your first business expense with the filing fee. Your second expense will be the requirement that you advertise your new business name in an approved newspaper or public publication so that if anyone has a problem with your DBA then they can step forward. The county clerk will be able to point you in the right direction for this step.

3. Open a business bank account

Again, planning for future success, you will want to open up a separate bank account for your business. This way, you can track and easily separate business expenses from your personal expenses, write checks or have transactions under your business name, and just generally feel like a real business.

4. Start designing and setting up your website

There are actually a few methods of going forward with your website. I will explore a few options starting from the most costly to the least costly. Even though I would have to question whether or not running an online business if for you, but if you have extremely limited experience with web design or are just not internet savvy, then you may need to do everything third-party. If you realize that you're going to need someone to design your website, initially set-up your domain and site, then you will probably need to find some kind of subscription based shopping cart. For example, if you have money to spend, then search "boutiquecommerce" in the Google search engine. This company will do just about everything for you, from web design, domain registration, web hosting, to ongoing support. There are many third-party shopping carts fitting almost any budget. To be honest, I have no experience with any paid or subscription based shopping cart and so I will limit any opinion I have on them.

Another alternative is to buy a website template designed on top of an open-source (free) shopping-cart platform. Search "templatemonster" in the Google search engine. Filter your search to include E-Commerce templates and choose "fashion" as your category, though you can customize any template to your needs in reality.

On a side note, before you purchase your template, you should set-up your server. During your business plan research, you should have figured out what web host fits best for you, but now is the time to actually spend some money because you will not be able to test your template unless you have a server to upload it to. This also means that if you haven't done so already, then you will have to finally register your domain name, which is something you should have also figured out in your business plan. Most web hosts will actually register your domain for free, but feel free to use a service, such as godaddy, and you'll need to change the namerservers to point to your web host.

Once you have your template and web host, then you need to upload your template and start customizing it. You can either use a "template tuning" service or if you have enough html, php, and photoshop experience, then you can do it yourself. Unfortunately, this step can be pretty difficult even for somewhat internet savvy users because this is where you will need to learn a little bit about setting up a database, setting up a database user, and how to use an FTP program to upload your site. That's why some may opt to use a third-party shopping cart, but this option is by far the most flexible and cheapest if you have the time and are willing to learn.

You will also need to figure out how you will accept payment on your website. If you want to accept credit cards, which you should, then you will need a payment gateway. The most popular would be PayPal Pro and Authorize.net. You will need to apply for an account.

Of course, there is the ultimate DYI approach, where you can not only design your own website, but also code your own shopping cart. If this is the case, then I highly doubt you need to read this section of my tutorial.

5. Make Business Cards

Yes, I actually made this an individual step because you will need a business card to register for trade shows, as well as deal with suppliers. Since you are also working on your website design, it is also more efficient to work on a business card design. Additionally, you need some lead time because printers will charge you extra to expedite printing and shipping. So, if you plan ahead, you can save quite a bit of money.

6. Apply for a business license in your city

Once again, if your city has website dedicated to business, then you should be able to download an application for a business license. In some cities, you can even apply for a home-based business license. Of course, only fill out a home-based business license if that is your case. Bring or even possibly mail your completed application and filing fee to the appropriate location. The reason I put this step after designing your website is because the business license fee is a yearly fee and so why pay when you are not even close to launching your website.

7. Apply for a Seller's Permit

At this point, you should be fairly proficient at filing out forms. The last application you should have to file is for your seller's permit, sometimes mistakenly called a resale license. The seller's permit will allow you to buy from your wholesalers without paying sales tax, but it also requires you to pay the sales tax on any items sold, within your state, every quarter. Of course, in modern commerce, you are allowed to collect the sales tax from your customers.

8. Figure out how you are going to display your products

Before you actually source your products, I believe it is wise to first figure out how you are going to display your products on your website. Are you going to use a mannequin, model, or just lay it flat. Will you outsource your product photography or do it right in your bedroom, which is how we first started. If you are going to do it yourself, then you still need to make sure it fits your budget and business plan as far as purchasing equipment. If you are going to need equipment, then now is the time to either jump online or go out and start making a real investment in your business.

9. Plan your product mix and find suppliers

While you are figuring out how you will ultimate display your products, you will want to start researching where you will buy your products. If you haven't done so, then you will want to start thinking more about your product mix. Of course, it needs to fit perfectly with your business plan, concept, and budget you already established in step 1. Fashion buying is another topic completely and I highly suggest you read up on it if you can.

After you have some kind of buying plan, it's time to find suppliers. If you are lucky, then you will be able to catch the MAGIC Marketplace trade show in Las Vegas. They have vendors for vintage inspired clothing, juniors clothing, indie clothing, etc. It is essentially the largest fashion trade show in the USA and maybe the world. If you cannot find suppliers at MAGIC, then I would honestly be surprised. If you cannot wait for the bi-annual trade show, then you are most likely going to need to take a trip to the Los Angeles Fashion District. If you are looking for the glamorous world of designer labels, then you will be spending your time at "The Intersection." At this intersection you will find the California Market Center, Cooper Design Space, Gerry Building, and The New Mart. Here you can find brands such as A.B.S. By Allen Schwartz, BCBG, and Betsey Johnson. If you are in this market, then be sure to bring copies of your business license, business card, and seller's license. Also, as an online business, be prepared to be rejected by many showrooms. If you're like me though, then it should only inspire you to be more successful so that when the time comes you can reject them.

If your price point is a lot lower, then you are going to really want to spend time around the San Pedro Mart area. You will probably find that 80-90% of these wholesalers are not right for your target market, but that only means that you should find 10%-20% that is right and will be able to focus on building those relationships into the future.

Of course, you can always turn to the internet, registering with sites like fashiongo and lashowroom. Additionally, you can contact individual brand sales reps and they should send you line sheets and look books. In fact, this is how most business will be later in the future, but I suggest you visit trade shows and marts to get your feet a little wet.

10. Start product photography and adding content to your website

Since you should have planned earlier for product photography, this step should be self explanatory. You want to add the products to your website and get it ready for a more official launch.

11. Start your marketing campaign, Search Engine Optimization campaign, and PR campaign

Again, these campaigns should have already been planned in the first step. This step is pretty much a hundred different subjects on its own and so I will not really dive to deep into it. The most rudimentary start would be to submit your site to search engines, such as Google and Yahoo!, sign up for Google AdWords, and start a Facebook and Twitter account. There is probably a good chance that will have to depend on paid advertising to get decent traffic at the beginning, but I highly suggest you plan and budget appropriately.

It might take one day or a whole month, but you're going to get your first order and at that point you can finally say you really set-up your online clothing store.

12. Keep learning as much as you can

Like I said, setting up an online clothing store is just the first step. In reality, you are going to have to learn as much as you can about fashion buying, merchandising, marketing, search engine optimization, html, php, ajax, javascript, analytics, etc.

How to Start an Online Clothing Store in 12 Steps
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Daniel Hsu
Owner
T.I.L. Darling Clothing Boutique.
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