Last week I chaired the London Fashion Network’s Trading Online event, which focused on Getting Noticed.

L to R: Richard, Barnaby, myself, Joel, Stephen

The panel included Stephen Pratley from Shine Marketing, Richard Thorpe from Screen Pages, Joel Vertes from Olswang and Barnaby Brown from motelrocks.com.

Topics covered included search engine optimisation, paid search, fashion blogs, domain names and email marketing.

There were a mixture of experiences on the panel, and I was most pleased that all agreed on the principle of online PR being the focus for SEO and building traffic.

I’ve said many times before about the importance of finding that interesting unique thing, about a website or brand, to shout about, in order to attract links and attention.

There was also a consensus on using paid search as a research resource, for instance to find out which keywords are the best converters. The panel were keen to stress that campaigns should be managed, or at least set up, by a professional, otherwise costs can spiral.

The next Trading Online event will be on July 9th and focuses on ensuring your website is ‘Looking Good’.