Case Study: Retail Niche Site
Marketing Activities Include:
- Garnering first page listing in Google, MSN and Yahoo – primarily through link building.
- Category pages are just beginning to rank on the first page in Google, Yahoo, MSN – using unique title tags, headers, copy to pick up specific search phrase.
- Detailed keyword rich product descriptions so specific product pages rank extremely high in Google, MSN and Yahoo.
- In depth tracking using analytics tools to calculate bounce rate, vistor path, exit pages, etc. to improve conversion rate on the site.
- Special Promotions/Incentives to buy
- Email marketing – creation of mail list by adding subscription information to the purchase page and giving users an opportunity to sign up
- Press Releases (digital press releases)
- Creation of buyer's guide area to establish this site as expert in the fountain area and set it apart from the competition.
- Articles submitted to article directories
- Established relationships with journalist/editors of national and local publications to provide high resolution images and product samples for photo shoots and tv spots.
- Set up and management of googlebase datafeeds and msn live product datafeeds.
- Set up and management of shopping comparison datafeeds to drive traffic
- Use of blog to direct traffic to site
- Use of Social Shopping Media sites
Results: Steady growth of traffic flow and sheer volume of products sold.
What you should know: The advertising budget was pretty much non-existent and the web site niche focus changed three times over the course of a two-year period. We were able to level out the navigation and page set up and the site is currently showing stable growth in search ranking as a niche water fountain site. This site is one of three owned by the same company.
*What I would add to the marketing mix: If the budget existed, I would definitely use reviews to harness the power of word of mouth to generate more traffic, content and organic search rank.
