Running a Bodystocking shop online

Catsuits and Dancewear

2009-03-07T07:51:00.000-08:00

During the one and a half years Bodystocking Avenue has been running, we have had a number of enquiries about dancewear and catsuits, also referred to as unitards. A number of these enquiries have come from companies embarking on advertising campaigns which involve people wearing bodystockings or unitards. A number of people have also enquired about bodystockings without the convenience opening. Bodystockings as a rule, ALL have convenience openings. Recently, the number of enquiries about these has been increasing, and so we set out to find a supplier. There are a few about, but we have initially settled on Tappers and Pointers, and have put a small selection of products on our site under the new category, Unitards. We shall monitor how these go, and if they prove as popular as we think, then we shall be adding more styles and colours. We are also looking for other suppliers so that we are in a position to provide our customers with more choice. Because of the makeup and material used in unitards and catsuits, they are more expensive than your average bodystocking, but they do fill a need that bodystockings do not

What's In a Name?

2008-12-27T11:41:00.000-08:00

On the front page of the Bodystocking Avenue website, there are many references to bodystockings, some spelt as one word, others as two words with a space separating the words 'body' and 'stocking'.

At first this may appear to be an inconsistency, but in fact it's intentional. The words used on the home page of a website are used by Google and other Search Engines to index the website and help determine what it specialises in, in order to direct visitors to the website who are performing searches using the same words or phrases.

The problem with bodystockings is that there are as many people spell them without a space, as there are those that spell them with a space.

To that end, by using 'bodystocking' and 'body stocking' (singular and plural) in the content of a website we are catering for both types of spelling and will hopefully have traffic directed to the site by Search Engines.

Winter Warmers

2008-11-13T07:37:00.000-08:00

Now that winter is well and truly upon us, the temptation is to bring out the woolly clothing and cover up. However, there is no reason to abandon fashionable clothes in favour of practical ones if you take the appropriate steps with your foundation garments.

If you've never worn a bodystocking before, then maybe now is the time to try one. Bodystockings come in many styles, but a large number of them are of a more practical style than the erotic ones which bodystockings are more commonly associated with.

Opaque bodystockings are the ideal winter warmer. They come in medium to thick denier and are usually available in black or nude. The most appropriate ones come with long sleeves, and some even have a turtleneck collar to provide maximum body coverage.

With a bodystocking, you can continue to wear your mini skirts and cotton dresses without having to worry about matching them with the heavier accessories that you may otherwise need to keep warm.

And it's not just normal everyday wear that bodystockings can be used for when the weather is cold. They can be the ideal body warmer for outdoor activities where it is important to stay warm as well as maintain good body movement and flexibility. Golf is a prime example where a bodystocking can give you an advantage over your competitors. Another place where bodystockings can be ideally utilised is in church halls or theatres where dance or similar activities are performed, usually for rehearsals on cold evenings.

A more fashionable style of bodystocking that also fulfils the warmer role is the fishnet bodystocking. The size of the diamonds can vary between very small and large, and the style works in the same way as string vests used to, whereby the diamonds hold warm pockets of air that are kept in place by whatever garment is worn over the bodystocking.

So, there is quite a lot of choice what is available. Bodystockings are not easily found on the high street, but there are numerous online stores that can be perused for the best selections and deals.

We can be found at Bodystocking Avenue

Special Offers

2008-07-19T12:31:00.000-07:00

One recommended technique to attract potential customers to a site is to offer limited time discounts. However, having offered quite few in magazines and online forums we have found the take up on them to be very small. Even when we openly offered a discount on red and white bodystockings on the home page itself, we still found people buying them without entering the discount code. Why is this? There are a number of possible explanations. One is, the bodystockings are cheap enough for customers to be not really bothered about remembering to enter the discount code. Another is, when it comes to ordering, customers forget what the code was, and simply can't be bothered looking it up. We have tended to offer 10% discounts which appears to conform to what most lingerie websites do, and so maybe the saving just isn't enough to attract buyers or entice them to enter the code when buying. Anyway, if you've read this entry, then let's see if a 15% discount is enticement enough. This is available with the offer code of BLOG until the end of December, 2008 if you make a purchase from Bodystocking Avenue.

Search Engine Visibility

2008-06-23T11:48:00.000-07:00

Being a new site, our aim was to achieve a reasonable visibility in the Search Engines as soon as possible, particularly Google. We followed all the guidelines on Search Engine Optimisation and are still continuing with link building, which is a never-ending process.

Being based in the UK, when using Google, the default is to go to google.co.uk with the radio button the web selected. Gradually, on the single keyword bodystocking we climbed the rankings and currently hover between page 2 and 3 on a Google search listing when displaying the default 10 URLs to a page. There are plenty of other variations on the bodystocking keyword along with other keywords such as sheer and opaque that are frequently used with it, but, as the majority of visitors to our site come from a bodystocking search we thought we'd monitor that one most closely.

However, we became concerned when we disappeared totally from the listings if the pages from the UK radio button was selected instead of the web. The worrying thing about this is that 95% of our business is from the UK, and we believe approximately 50% of UK users select pages from the UK when searching with the intention of buying. On the other hand, we found that if google.com was used instead of google.co.uk, we appeared consistently in the top 3 URLs on the first page. That would appear to be the dream position to be in, except it is primarily US visitors who see it, and the current exchange rate and time to deliver to the US do not make our site particularly desirable to US customers.

The reason for all of this is that we chose to use a .com extension for our website address as opposed to .co.uk. New websites have always been advised to use .com, if they can, as it carries more prestige. However, it can backfire if you want to be seen in a particular location, in our case, the UK. Google apparently uses the extension to help determine the location of a site, and for a .com it assumes the US, to start with. To further compound matters, Google also uses the site's IP address to work out in which country the site is located. Like so many other UK companies, our site is hosted in the US, mainly for cost reasons. So with an IP address located in the US, and a URL extension of .com, it is no surprise that Google sees us as a US website.

How do we remedy this other than changing our URL or moving our hosting to the UK? Well, Google does have a geo-location option that you can use to inform Google which location you wish to be seen in. We have set this to United Kingdom and so now wait to see what effect this will have on search listings. There are a few other minor things one can attempt on the home page to help advise Google where your market is, such as including an en-GB meta tag, and placing UK in the home page's title and description. That also has the benefit of making it clear to prospective visitors who see you listed that you are UK based as .com could well be becoming synonymous with the US now that so many UK companies automatically go for the .co.uk extension.

Time will tell how well this works and whether we do need to consider the other options of changing our URL or re-locating the web hosting, which would be a shame as we have been happy with the current provider.

It is also worth being aware as a surfer, that there are many UK based sites who use .com and have their sites hosted in the US, and so using pages in the UK could eliminate a lot of very relevant sites from your search listing.

This was brought to you by Bodystocking Avenue

POST EDIT: As of the 19th July, 2008 we have moved the site to http://www.bodystockingavenue.co.uk. Anybody visiting the original '.com' site will be redirected. We have done this in order to be more visible to UK surfers.

Internet Security and Practice

2008-05-02T12:04:00.000-07:00

With all the credit fraud that is being currently reported in the news, it is no surprise if online shoppers think twice about making purchases with their credit cards. More so now, than ever before, it has become important to show some kind of logo that demonstrates that a company specialising in internet security and practice has visited your site and deemed it safe to buy from. We, at Bodystocking Avenue, made the decision that we needed to give our customers that extra bit of re-assurance that it is safe to buy from us. We opted for SafeBuy because they came highly recommended and had good testimonials. We also looked at what they deemed important and felt they were the right company to try and get accreditation from. We first of all ensured that we met all their criteria, and having then submitted an application form, were very pleased to be accepted and granted the SafeBuy logo. We also found it satisfying that we were able to comply with their conditions by only making a few small changes to our site. We hope that existing and potential customers will now feel more comfortable when deciding whether to push that 'Place Order' button.

Red and White St George's Offer

2008-04-20T05:03:00.000-07:00

It's always good to do a promotion or special offer periodically, as customers do expect to find them from time to time. It's nice though, when you can do it for an occasion rather than just to try and bump up sales for a particular period.

As it is St George's Day on the 23rd April, we have decided to offer a discount of 10% on all red or white bodystockings. This offer will become active late Sunday evening, 20th April, and will run until the following Saturday, 26th April, so long as stocks last as we do not know what uptake we will have on this special offer.

So, if this interests you, we are at Bodystocking Avenue.

Friendly searches

2008-04-19T04:20:00.000-07:00

When we first created the Bodystocking Avenue site, we were thinking of adding a 'google-style' search facility whereby visitors could enter words or combinations of words to look specifically for certain bodystockings.

As this was a new site, and a specialised one with relatively few categories, we thought it best to keep it simple and let visitors look for items by selecting the relevant categories.

Since then, we have added more styles and brands, and we have realised that if someone has a specific bodystocking in mind, they may have to wade through many pages to find it. The classic example, is if you are interested in a particular colour of bodystocking, red for example. To find all the red bodystockings would take a lot of trawling of the site and I'd imagine a visitor would get fed up and leave before they'd found everything in red.

So, we made a decision to provide a 'point and click' facility so that you can just click on what you're interested in, and all the products that meet the selection(s) are displayed together on a single page. It's simple to use and, we feel, appropriate for a small site like this. There are so many variations on the syntax for word-driven searches we decided to stay away from that, for the time being at least.

We hope that this addition to the site has made it easier and friendlier to visit, but we do realise, as a result, visitors will probably spend less time on the site! C'est la vie!

If you'd like to try it out, just click here.

Bodystockings for activities

2008-02-28T06:31:00.000-08:00

Recently, we've had many enquiries about bodystockings for use on the stage, usually from people in amateur dramatics. These requests have been for activities such as acting and tap dancing. There have been 2 main reasons for people needing bodystockings for these activities; to keep warm, and to make the body look/feel firmer.

However, we have yet to find a supplier who makes bodystockings with these activities specifically in mind, although in the past companies like Damart used to fill these needs, and probably still do, with their thermal underclothing. That said, I can understand a bodystocking being a more practical solution with regard stage work. I've even heard of people wearing tights or bodystockings when playing golf on cold days in a bid to keep sufficiently warm while retaining the flexibility required to play the game well.

We, at Bodystocking Avenue, would like to fill this need and are constantly on the look out for new suppliers and styles of bodystocking, but we do currently have a small number of bodystockings that have successfully satisfied the aforementioned requests. So, we have decided to create a special
practical/theatrical page that just lists the bodystockings we feel are appropriate for these activities. We hope to be able to add to this page in the coming months, especially as plain, functional bodystockings do appear to be generally more popular than the more erotic styles.

Ordering by Phone

2008-01-27T01:58:00.000-08:00

There are still many customers who prefer to order by phone rather than online. Having said that, I often do so myself when given the choice because I feel my order will be dealt with there and then rather than maybe being queued up behind other online orders. There's also the worry about giving credit card information over the internet although our site is as secure as it can be.

Anyway, because of the number of calls we've had, we've extended our Monday to Friday opening times to 9am to 5pm. This means we've added an hour to both ends of the day. We felt this was necessary to give customers normal shopping times.

We're also aware a lot of people do their online shopping at the weekend. To that end, we've now also opened our phone line on Saturday, between 9am and 1pm. I have, on many an occasion, been frustrated that I've not been able to make enquiries about products or place orders on a Saturday, as Monday always seems so distant when you've seen something you like and want to follow up on.

One thing though, when phoning to place an order, please ensure you have the product code(s) to hand as that is the only way you can be sure that we can accurately identify what it is you'd like to purchase.

We can be found here.

Origins, and Dos & Donts

2008-01-12T03:30:00.000-08:00

It's quite difficult finding out about the origins of bodysuits and bodystockings, even using the internet.

The closest I've come regarding bodysuits, is that they were allegedly popularised by designer, Donna Karan, during the 1980s.

Bodystockings (and pantyhose, for that matter) appear to owe their existence to the miniskirt. In 1963, American Vogue took notice of Mary Quant's miniskirts sold from Quant's Boutique on the King's Road in London. By the second half of the decade, the miniskirt became a pop culture phenomenon along with simple, floaty dresses. New undergarments were needed, and so pantyhose and bodystockings were born.

Even finding interesting articles and comment on bodystockings can be difficult. However, I came across this one a short while ago, Bodystocking_Dos_and_Donts, and find it interesting and informative. I'll continue to look for similar articles and post the links when I find informative ones.

Accepting Payments

2007-12-23T10:38:00.001-08:00

When we opened the site back in September, the quickest way to get up and running was to use PayPal for payments. It wasn't ideal for us because customers are taken away from our site to use a system which is out of our control and that we can't configure to our liking. Never the less, we thought that being a well known payment method it would be trusted. However, we found that quite a few customers who went to the checkout from their shopping cart did not complete their orders. Some days this could be as high as 50%. We weren't sure what the problem was, but think that the login and password prompts in PayPal may have put customers off who didn't realise PayPal can now take credit cards. Alternatively, it may even have been the fact that the customers were being directed to a different site which made them feel uncomfortable.

Another problem we had was with ex-pat customers ringing us from places like Spain saying that PayPal was presenting the information in Spanish which they didn't understand. At the time, we were also considering adding Google checkout as an option, but as we owned a secure site ourselves, we decided to put in the extra effort of performing the payment processing ourselves.

The main advantage to us, is that we can look after customers for the complete duration of their visit and are able to personally provide them with order completion notification and details of their orders at the end of it. Another advantage is that it also enables the customer to remain within the site until they are ready to move on. We were delighted to find that customers appear happier or more confident having the payment processing done within the site, because the completion rate is now consistently up at around 80% which is a big improvement, although there are still occasional days where prospective customers have second thoughts when getting to the checkout. The transmitted information is safe because we use a secure server (https:// with the lock symbol) and we do *not* retain card details. However, if anyone is still worried about entering credit card information via the internet, we do take orders via telephone and have done so on quite a few occasions.

Popular types of Bodystocking

2007-12-16T05:48:00.000-08:00

When looking for bodystockings, what other words are predominantly used to narrow the search?

The word 'bodystocking' is frequently entered into Search Engines on its own, sometimes with an 's' on the end, and other times as 2 words as in 'body' and 'stocking'.

The keyword that has been entered most often with 'bodystocking' is 'sheer'. It is therefore no coincidence that sheer bodystockings have been among the best sellers so far.

Definition: Sheer - a semi-transparent material that is usually a very thin knit.

The next most popular word to accompany 'bodystocking' has been 'fishnet'. Our site contains many fishnet bodystockings, but also a variation on fishnet, called 'fencenet'. It has the same basic design as a fishnet, expect the diamonds are much larger. The keyword has never been used in a Search Engine to access our site, but the fencenet bodystockings have proved to be quite popular.

Definition: Fishnet - a material with an open, diamond shaped knit.

Surprisingly, despite being the biggest individual seller, the word 'opaque' has not featured as much in the Search Engines.

Definition: Opaque - a material impenetrable by light, that is neither transparent not translucent.

The only other 2 keywords of note that have been repeatedly used are 'Turtleneck' (a high, tubular collar that fits closely about the neck) and 'Crotchless' (open, underneath).

Finally, although none of our bodystockings are described as 'mesh', the term has been used on a small number of occasions.

Definition: Mesh - a woven knit of open texture with evenly spaced holes.

So there we have it. It is a necessary exercise to evaluate what phrases are being used so that 'ad word' and 'search marketing' campaigns can be instructed to work with the most frequently entered keyword phrases.

The following links take you to a selection of these items on our site:
Sheer - Fishnet - Fencenet - Opaque - TurtleNeck

Web Browsers

2007-12-16T02:21:00.000-08:00

Creating a new site and then doing all that's necessary to support it and attract customers is very time consuming. Some things that should be treated with importance can be missed. Such was the case with Web Browsers. Now that the site has been up and running for just over 3 months, it was time to deal with checks and tests that were deemed not as important at the time. Imagine our consternation when we realised that anybody ordering products using Firefox could not complete the purchase because Firefox could not find the secure checkout site! A bit of investigation, and we found that the oblique characters (\\) in the redirect to the secure site were the 'wrong' way round. Why was this missed? Because Microsoft's Internet Explorer compensates for it, whereas Firefox does not. It's strange, because if you enter a URL directly into Firefox with the oblique characters the wrong way round:
http:\\www.bodystockingavenue.com
as opposed to:
http://www.bodystockingavenue.com/
it works.

Anyway, the problem is fixed now and so apologies to anyone who encountered this problem. There are still some display issues in Firefox, but nothing that prevents anybody from navigating the site. These are also in the process of being fixed, as it appears some of the tags that Internet Explorer is happy to accept are not recognised by Firefox. I think Safari will probably have the same problems, but hopefully fixing the site to display properly under Firefox will also satisfy Safari (the new kid on the block!)

Why is it necessary to support these other web browsers? Because they are becoming more and more prevalent. On looking at what has been used to access our site since it was opened, Windows XP is the most used platform with 69% of the share. The rest comprise other versions of Windows along with Linux, Unix and the Mac. On breaking down Windows XP to the browsers that were used, 84% were Internet Explorer and 14% were Firefox. The remaining ones encountered were Opera, Netscape and Mozilla (a variation of). This does show that Firefox, above all, is important, because it was also the prevalent browser used when a platform other than Windows was used.

So, anybody out there thinking of, or in the process of creating a web site, make sure you keep Firefox in mind as well as Internet Explorer.

Bodystocking Cousins

2007-12-09T11:26:00.000-08:00

It's amazing how many different types of garment are entered into search engines to arrive at our site. I term these, 'cousins of the bodystocking' and thought it would be fun to describe the differences between them.

The most frequently entered keyword is catsuit, usually preceded by another keyword describing the fabric (pvc, latex) or the colour (green, orange). A catsuit is a one piece garment with long sleeves and leggings that is usually made out of a material such as spandex, pvc, leather or rubber/latex. It is therefore very similar to a full, plain bodystocking except for the material, which results in it being worn as an outergarment. People usually associate the catsuit with super heroines, and they are frequently seen in movies and tv series, although they probably became most famous in 'The Avengers' series through Cathy Gale and Emma Peel.

The keyword unitard is also frequently entered. A unitard is sometimes mistakengly interchanged with bodystocking. The difference is that a bodystocking is worn as an undergarment, and is therefore made of a thinner material (usually sheer or fishnet), whereas a unitard is an outergarment, plainer in appearance. A unitard is like a catsuit in construction, but whereas a catsuit is associated with fashion and the movies, a unitard is mainly associated with sports, such as gymnastics. Another difference, is that a unitard would be the term to describe the all in one outfit worn by male performers in the music business. Freddie Mercury was a frequent wearer of a unitard.

Another 'full' garment that gets entered as a keyword, is a zentai. A zentai is a catsuit with the addition of feet, gloves and a hood which totally encloses the wearer. The term is Japanese for 'full body', and it is usually made using a nylon/spandex blend. The zentai was originally developed for modern dance, but is now frequently used to diminish the presence of an actor in a scene. Puppeteers may wear them so that people can focus on the puppets they are handling. Needles to say, these 'full' garments are also often associated with fetishism.

That just leaves us with the 'legless' garments. A leotard is a unitard without the legs. A leotard is usually associated with acrobats (it was named after a famous French acrobat), dancers, thespians, and gymnasts. It is worn as an outer garment. A bodysuit (or body) is to a leotard what a bodystocking is to a unitard or catsuit, in that it is usually worn as an undergarment. Bodysuits (or bodies) are made up of the same materials as bodystockings, and in addition, they may or may not have snaps at the crotch. They are also called teddies. Click here to see a small selection of bodysuits that we offer.

Lycra - explained!

2007-12-02T02:27:00.000-08:00

Ever wondered why there is more than one word used for the 'stretchy' material usually described as Lycra? For example, "90% nylon, 10% elastane" is a blend that makes up a garment that people would normally class as being Lycra. You will rarely, if at all, see the word Lycra used in the material mix for a garment.

Elastane is a synthetic fibre known for its elasticity (it can be stretched over 500% without breaking). As a result, it usually forms the smaller percentage of the blend that it is used in, bodystockings for example. However, in North America, the word spandex is preferred, so the difference in the use of the words elastane and spandex is purely geographical. The word spandex originated as an anagram of the word 'expands'.

Lycra is a brand name featuring this material. There are others, but the Lycra name has become so popular it is has become a household word to often mean elastane/spandex, much to the annoyance of the multi-national company, Invista, who owns the trademark.

So, if you are looking for a figure-hugging material with stretchiness, the mention of Lycra, elastane or spandex will indicate you've found what you're looking for. On our site, you'll see bodystockings that have the word Lycra in the description, because that's how the maunfacturers have decided to label them, but a more appropriate word, elastane or spandex, is used in the description of the material that makes up the bodystocking.

Click here to see what we offer.

Why specialise?

2007-11-28T06:49:00.000-08:00

Why specialise in selling bodystockings? We felt that bodystockings were too often treated as just filler items on lingerie sites. When you do find the bodystocking page, there is usually only a small selection to view, and as a result they are often priced quite highly. Finding them in the High Street isn't much easier as the lingerie departments seem to shy away from them, possibly because of the 'erotic' tag they are often associated with.

Our wish was to create an online shop that offered as much variety as possible, but at very reasonable prices. To that end we have tried to collect as many variations in styles as we can find as we want anybody who is looking for a bodystocking to be able to find something they like on our site. We'd like the site to become synonymous with bodystockings. We have recently added some supplementary items such as body T-shirts and lace gloves, but our main focus will always be bodystockings.

Over the coming months, we'll be continually trying to freshen up the site and add new bodystockings to complement our line even further. We value visitors' feedback and have already acted on some by adding more lycra bodystockings to the site. These tend to be a little more expensive than nylon bodystockings, but it can be money well spent in the long run (not that they run!).

If you'd like to come and take a look at what we have to offer, then we are at Bodystocking Avenue. If you have any suggestions you'd like us to look into, then please fill out our Contact page.

Hello, and Welcome!

2007-11-28T03:18:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Bodystocking Avenue's blog. We hope that you find it informative, and maybe, even interesting. As well as making announcements about the main site, we're going to use this blog to look under the hood of the site a little. By that I mean, we'll explain the thinking behind some of the things we do to the site, or even talk about plans we have for the future, be it site improvements or product changes.

We shall also be including a number of short articles relating to the industry or products we sell, when we think we have some interesting, valuable, or even humorous news to impart. Essentially, we'll be using this blog to cover issues and news that does not sit easily within the structure of the Bodystocking Avenue web site.