Fashion Web Site Design Tools
Hosting, domains and the site tools behind a fashionable web presence.
Having a fashionable web presence is very important. A fashion website needs the same foundations as any serious site — hosting, a domain name, build tools, ways to interact with visitors, and ways to earn — assembled here as the fashion web site design tools directory. The tools below are provided through Bravenet, a long-running web services provider whose free tools powered many early fashion sites.
Start with visibility: SEO Tools & Keyword Research helps a site get found, and the general Design Tools guide (in the navstrip above) covers the artwork programs that fill a site with images. Apparel Search's own starting points include the Clothing Industry Directory and the guide to earning money with fashion blogs.
Hosting and Domains
- Website Hosting & Domain Name Registration — Website hosting with generous storage and bandwidth and free web tools, plus domain name registration so a fashion business can register its very own domain name.
Build Tools
- Calendar — Keep track of your life right from your website.
- Counter Stats — Learn everything you need to know about your site's visitors.
- URL Redirects — Redirect your visitors to the URL of your choosing.
- Guest Books — Keep a list for newsletters, and let your visitors leave messages for you or the world.
- Headline News — Provide up-to-the-minute fashion news for your visitors automatically.
- Password Gate — Password-protect pages of your site.
- Template Gallery — Choose from over 500 professionally designed web templates.
- Web Journal — Share your thoughts with an online diary service.
- Photo Center — Display your favorite fashion photos in an online photo album.
- Site Search — Enable visitors to do keyword searches on your website.
- Traffic Exchange — Increase the hits to your site with a traffic exchange.
Interaction Tools
- Mailing Lists — Inform your visitors of site changes or product news.
- Mini Polls — Tap into the minds of your visitors with a poll service. Compare Apparel Search's own fashion industry polls.
- Message Forum — A message forum with many popular features.
- Live Chat — Chat with others in real time.
- FAQ Service — Develop a frequently asked questions service for your site.
- Email Forms — Receive feedback or information from your visitors via email.
Website Profit Tools
- Affiliate Programs — Let your website earn money for you. Learn more about fashion affiliate programs in the terms section.
- Fashion Classifieds — Allow your visitors to buy, sell and trade their products and services.
Putting a Fashion Site Together
The order matters. Secure the domain and hosting first, then choose a template whose look fits the clothing, then add the working tools in the order visitors meet them: photos and search for shoppers, a mailing list and calendar for regulars, a forum or polls for community, and affiliate or classified tools once traffic exists. Fashion-specific companions on Apparel Search include the Fashion Gadgets page and the wider Fashion Industry Tools collection, both in More to Explore below.
Common Questions
Why does a fashion business need its own website tools?
Having a fashionable web presence is very important: customers judge a clothing brand by its site before they judge its clothes. Beyond design, a working site needs hosting, a domain name, and practical tools — calendars, counters, search, forums and mailing lists — of the kind collected here.
What site tools matter most for a fashion site?
The essentials are reliable hosting and your own domain, a photo center for lookbooks, site search so visitors can find products, a mailing list for collection news, and counters or stats so you know who visited. Interaction tools — forums, polls, guest books — and profit tools such as affiliate programs and classifieds build from there.
Where do SEO tools fit in?
Search visibility decides whether the site is found at all. An SEO and keyword research toolset, linked at the top of this page, helps a fashion site choose the terms its customers actually search, and Apparel Search covers fashion affiliate programs and industry polls in its terms section.