MumsTheWord.com - Keyword Strategy Inspires Niche Business by Neil Davidson, 22 July 2007
Finding a niche business is often the key to online success. Andrew Smith thought that most of the competitors for his new online baby store seemed to ignore the needs of mothers. In this case study Smith focuses his keyword strategy on the needs of mums, not just babies.
Key points
- Taking a particular point of view is important in establishing a niche business. MumsTheWord.com spotted that the needs of a new mum were often overlooked and built their online business around the idea of putting that right.
- Keyword insights can drive product development. Basing a product or a product group around a core set of popular keywords can lay the foundations for long term profitability.
- MumsTheWord.com were clever to recognize that because potential customers were searching for 'vouchers', they often didn't have enough knowledge to make an informed purchase decision – so he created content educating them.
Andrew Smith always wanted to set up an internet based business but his only problem was in deciding what that business should be. Then Mother Nature gave him a helping hand, as Andrew explains.
'I had been waiting for an idea. My friends were at the age of thinking about starting families, and a few of them announced they were pregnant. Baby conversations were common and a business based on pregnancy and babies seemed obvious. It was a clear niche, but I needed to find a strong position within it.
When Andrew looked at the competition, he saw that most of them catered for the baby's needs and forgot about mum. He decided that his website would focus on the mums first.
Keyword insights soon became a key part of doing business.
From day one, Andrew focussed on making his website (www.mumstheword.com) visible. He understood the importance of SEO, but the more work he did with keyword research data the more he saw that it could help him with more than just search engine visibility.
'I started thinking about its wider implications for the business. It wasn't just telling me the best words and phrases for SEO; it was telling what my potential customers were thinking, and what their unfulfilled needs were.'
One example was around the area of 'baby shower gifts.' It's one of the most popular search terms, but one that Andrew admits he would never have thought of it without keyword research data.
'It kept coming up in my results, so I couldn't ignore it. I soon came up with baby shower offers for customers and it's still one of our best selling product ranges, and a big driver of the business's profitability. That's been the power of keyword research, in adding value to other areas of my business, like new product development.'
Keyword insights bring the baby sector to life.
No one new to the mother and baby market could hope to equal Andrew's level of knowledge, but it's still fascinating to see what consumer insights an examination of keyword research data reveals:
A high number of searches for 'baby gift vouchers.' The most obvious conclusion is the desire for vouchers and the need to offer them within a baby business, but it could reveal more than this. If consumers are searching for vouchers it's probably because they don't have the knowledge to decide what to buy, or even how to deal with the uncertainty of not knowing the gender of the baby.
Businesses could think about meeting these needs by offering more than gift vouchers - advice on the most popular and highest-rated purchases, a clear returns policy and help in guiding purchase decisions, e.g. what to choose if you do or don't know the baby's gender.
Searches around the area of natural baby products. There are a high number of search terms based around 'organic' and 'all natural', in terms of advice and products. Not only could a business offer advice in this area it could also rate products against these criteria and offer it as a way to choose a gift.
The need for general information, reassurance and safe products. Few consumer groups want more information and reassurance than first-time mothers, for obvious reasons, and this seems to be proven by high-ranking search terms such as 'consumer reports baby products', 'parent-tested baby products' and 'baby safety products.'
A mother and baby-focused business could capitalize on this by recognizing and dealing with this audience as different to second or third-time mothers, as well as offering relevant products and gifts, e.g. a first-time mothers' starter-kit.
Keyword research data will continue to add more value to the business.
Business is good for Andrew, with turnover up 37% year-on-year so far, and he attributes much of that growth to keyword insights. Keyword research is already doing the business for Mum's The Word, in terms of general SEO, informing copy decisions for the website, getting maximum value from paid-for search terms and helping in new product development, but Andrew agrees that there is potential for most businesses to get more out of keyword research.
'It makes you think more laterally than you would if you thought through issues without its stimulus and insight, and that's what all businesses desperately need if they're going to stand out from the competition. We're developing a new version of the website and the lessons we have learned from keyword data will enhance this. But thinking about the wider business, I can see other uses in the future, such as using the keyword insights to drive brainstorming and idea-generating sessions. Of course, using keyword research to improve search engine optimisation is crucial for an internet-based business, but it's only part of the equation when it comes to making the most of the insights it offers.'
About Neil Davidson
Neil Davidson is a marketing communications consultant and writer with fifteen years experience in advertising and direct marketing at a senior level, in client and agency organisations, managing several major agencies and his own companies. He now works with several partners in the areas of advertising, direct marketing, digital marketing, narrative marketing and writing. He also teaches creative writing from time-to-time. Read his blog at Silver Darlings
13 comments
Hi There Neil,
Funny you were talking about things for mother and baby…
I’ve been seaching for ages for people who have bought Maclaren Baby Strollers and it’s a little like trying to find someone to own up to buying a Maclaren F1 road car (not necessarily related).
You niche is slightly different from mine in the sense that I really am looking for testamonials of people who have bought Maclaren Baby Strollers.
The people I have spoken to (few and far between) have said that they are excellent but if you are able to help me out - or let me know of a website where people are giving genuine comments on what they thought of them - I would really appreciate it.
Best Regards
Jos
Jos:s.
Re your article and how to procedure, please get in touch with me.
I am partially blind and could use some pointers.
It would be most appreciated.
Thanks
Lonnie
1st comment for Jos above - I had a Maclaren baby stroller and it saved my sanity. When my daughter was young, my grandmother was in a nursing home. My daughter was a climbing maniac and Maclaren was the only stroller at the time to have a 5 point harness. I could visit with my grandmother and attend to her needs without having to constantly keep one hand on my daughter.
2nd comment for the site - when I was 1st looking for a consultant I came across so much junk that I decided to start my own site. My husband uses wordtracker and we used it to select the site name, url and write much of the text.
We found specifically that when people looked for consultant referrals they were generic - IT, strategy, small business - so rather than keeping my descriptions specific where these more generic names would have overlooked them, I made sure to include plenty of common terms.
I think that when we have a very specific service we tend to think everyone who needs that service uses the same specific terms we use in order to find us. But, they don’t.
Thanks for your help.
Jill Roy Jolley www.jillsconsultantlist.com
Hi. Please update this case study with a newer one.The site is ranking no where for any of its keyword. I would really appreciate if you can put up some more elaborative case studies. Regards !
Any examples on real estate web sites, more specifically on the condominium niche market.
Regards,
Daniel Surian Boston,Mass.
Thanks Neil
This is good strategy.
I was looking for inspiration on using keywords for optimization of my website. Couldn't think past the keywords given from a list from a search engine. My add was shown thousands of times, hundreds of people visited my site, one person bought--that's terrible.
Now that I have the inspiration I will reassess my keywords, add them into my copy, and see what happens.
Thank you sir Duane Gray Gray's PresenTime On-line Gift Shop
no all of the hottest keywords are not a most suitable ones,the most of important ones are the ones which can bring you more deal/successful conversion.So it is very important to find a correct keyword!
It's interesting reading the article and all the comments that have been submitted. It's obviously very important not just to find the right keywords but to find a happy balance between specific long-tail keywords and generic terms which should attract low volumes of buyers and higher volumes of researchers respectively. Thanks for some more useful insights - Ewan Kennedy.
"no all of the hottest keywords are not a most suitable ones..." I also think so.
It's important to understand that different types of keywords will achieve different types of results. For example certain keywords are used to find information (as in free info!) and some keywords obviously will lead to better conversion rates as in more sales. "weight loss" could be an information seeker; whereas "buy weight loss products" is obviously a much hotter prospect.
Its important to analyse your keywords in relation to what you are trying to achieve and not just lob them all into the pot. If you were using them for ppc ads you really want to avoid the freebie info seeker, don't you?
Good to see such a vast topic being illustrated with some real life examples.
Why does it take so long to a comment published?
mitch: we're getting faster but had a 'technical' in the last few days