By Glyn Caddell, CEO of Caddell Prep
There are certain products and services that are so unusual and specific that their targeted audience is a fraction of the size of well-known major industries. Although there are many benefits to catering to these unique audiences, it can be challenging to learn how to do it the right way. Thus, many businesses fail because they don’t know how to dominate SEO for a niche market.
Given the small size of niche markets, a huge amount of refinement is necessary when creating SEO campaigns if you want to reach your target customers. Ranking high in Google search results is nearly impossible with traditional marketing alone, so you need the Internet to target ads o consumers who might be interested in what you’re selling.
Since the target audience of most niche markets is small, knowing how to do proper search engine optimization makes you one step ahead of competitors.
Starting SEO for your Brand
Niche markets have specific needs–it’s either the customer preferences are very unique or the market itself has a small size. Whichever the case is, one of the best methods to increase customer conversion is to come up with a precise strategy for SEO and apply it.
When I started Caddell Prep, I got a little lucky. I was competing in a niche market. Our company helps students prepare for high-stakes test such as the SAT. However, some of the high-stakes tests are also end of the year exams or high school entrance exams that are specific to New York City. As a result, we got a lot of our first customers from organic search. I stumbled into the realization that I could dominate my niche online, and then I put a lot of effort behind it.
Here are some tips I learned to help get you started.
Creating the Right Content
Content marketing is an excellent way to get your monthly searches up. Publishing quality content regularly enables you to have higher search result rankings compared to those who don’t. You have the option of producing informative articles, conversational blogs, or a mixture of both types. The content you make can also me shared on social media to achieve a greater reach.
Doing research on your niche market’s behavior gives insight on what would be interesting for them. Begin by creating useful articles that could solve potential problems of your market. Then, you could branch out to various formats such as video blogs, infographics, etc. Aside from establishing credibility, this gives you the advantage of link building from trustworthy sites.
Optimizing Keywords for Search Engines
Keywords for niche markets have search volume and a low amount of competition which could make you think there’s no more need to optimize. But it’s actually the opposite of that. If users do not frequently search for your keywords, your goal should be to capture the attention of as many online searches as possible.
Let’s say you are selling power tools for left-handed consumers (Yes, this kind of business exists in real life). Searching for the term “power tools for left-handed people” may only reach 60 searches in a month. However, if you rank well and capture the attention of each of those searchers, it could mean 60 new leads for you. If there are two other competitors who rank the same, you’ll end up with around 20.
To increase the likelihood of your site ranking higher, use relevant keyword phrases. You could incorporate those keywords into your meta description, alt tags, paid ads, body copy, header, and title. This helps maintain consistency in your online presence while allowing you to build your business as a top supplier of products or services your niche market needs.
Research Keywords
Find out what your target audience is searching for online. What are the specific terms and phrases they often use? Is there a specific keyword they use to describe what you’re selling? What are the long tail keywords associated with your business? How commonly do they make those searches? In order for you to know the answer to these questions, you need to conduct thorough keyword research.
Doing this allows you to easily determine how consumers generally react to and define your products/services. Having an idea on how people search lets you optimize your site in a way that better accommodates the terms of your customers. This makes your business easier to find potential customers.
Measure Performance by Running Stress Tests
When optimizing your website for search engines, the goal is to be at the top of rankings and drive a huge amount of traffic to your page. But what happens if your webservers fail to handle extremely heavy traffic? What if it starts to slow down–or worse, crash–once a few dozen users flock to your website?
The answer: poor customer experience and a significant drop in ratings.
As a business owner, it’s always a good idea to be prepared in everything. Before a serious disaster hits, experts suggest you run load/stress tests on your website. This helps you gauge if it can deal with an upsurge in traffic.
The good news is that there are lots of free tools to help you do that (i.e. Load Storm, Load Impact, ZebraTester, etc.). These tools basically send huge numbers of virtual visitors your site within a small amount of time and measure the performance of your server.
Always Check Metrics
Unlike a remarketing campaign or PPC, the results from SEO efforts are not instant. It’s necessary for you to have an analytics program in place so you can track and monitor your optimization work on a regular basis. Always keep an eye on important metrics including popular pages, time on site, and website traffic.
Let’s say one specific strategy is doing well. If something is working right, invest more money and time on it. On the other hand, if there are tactics that seem to be doing more harm than good to your metrics, pull them back. Find new ways to optimize your site better.
Take note that there’s no perfect SEO strategy. You can’t find any one-size-fits-all technique online to make your website rank no. 1 in search engines. However, constantly monitoring metrics can help you improve. And as you continue to refine your strategy, you can expect your results to grow.
Conclusion
A website is a powerful tool–it allows potential customers from every corner of the world to know what your brand is all about. Niche businesses can benefit from this, especially those who have very small customer bases. But it doesn’t mean your work ends there–you need to optimize your site to reach your target audience and produce quality content.
As long as you have the perfect SEO strategy in place, you’re sure to reach and engage with even the smallest of niche markets.
