BigOkes Wishes You a Happy 2022

Goodbye 2021, Welcome 2022

In January 2021, I opened my online shop and website, bigokes.co.za with little fanfare and much to learn.

Truth be told, initially, I really wanted clothes that fit my body shape and if I couldn't find them I was going to have to have them made just for me. It was towards the last half of 2020 and due to the COVID pandemic, I found myself without formal employment and no real income to speak of.

Somewhere along the way it dawned on me that, there must be big okes like me with a similar dilemma, and so the idea of Bigokes.co.za was born. Personally, I was rather excited about what the future may bring with this new adventure. I was confident that big okes in South Africa wanted quality, comfortable and loose fitting locally made clothing which thus far, for me, was impossible to find.

Being an entrepreneur at heart and having some amateur skills in web design, and as I could not really afford a team of professionals to do the job, I decided to upskill myself to create the online eCommerce shop. I spent hours upon hours doing tutorials online and became proficient in the technologies I needed to proceed. The website was taking shape, but in hind site, that was a very small step in a much bigger picture.

The next BIG task was to find the raw materials to make the Bigokes T-shirts. It was, and still is, important for me that everything going into the finished product must be South African. I love this country and I am adamant to do anything I can , even in my small way, to help employ the people, contribute to the economy and put smiles on South African faces. So everything from the cotton, to the dyes, to the CMT, to the men and women on the sewing machines and even the packaging and the shipping is 100% local and carbon neutral.

Building an eCommerce website is cheap if you don't want anybody to find it. If your online presence is not on the first page of a Google search, you are basically invisible. To get onto the first page and to be listed within the top 5 search results initially seemed to me a bit like sneezing with your eyes open. So, many many more online tutorials, this time on search engine optimisation, Google ads, Facebook and Instagram advertising, Google shopping, Google snippets and more. The issue I quickly realised is that I am competing for advertising space against the biggest clothing retailers, not only in South Africa, but also with overseas online shops targeting South African consumers. This has been and still continues to be my BIGGEST challenge as I just don't have the budget to match them. But I have persisted and learned the difference between a broad search, phrase search and the concept of a Google longtail search.

Online advertising is like a dark art, it is shrouded in much mystery and jargon and will take me much more time to really understand it all. I have already spent so very many days refining and honing my online advertising accounts, keywords and phrases and It is still something which I need to do almost every day. Clearly I am doing something right because you have managed to find me.

My first order for a single t-shirt was placed and shipped on the 25th of January 2021, I cannot explain my elation to you.

Thank you for your patronage and support, I wish you a happy, healthy and prosperous 2022.

Warmest regards


Russel