search engine optimization long tail

Online Niche Marketing

January 9, 2017 1:30 pm By InBusiness Strategy

Before the Internet, small companies with small ad budgets had limited distribution channels for reaching their niche customers. It was not very cost-effective for a company to market to the “long tail” because the only way to reach out to enough people and ultimately reach those interested in specific niches was to spend money on large audiences where only a small portion was interested specifically in their niche. Even with targeted direct mail, reaching people interested in niche products was not cost-effective marketing. Now with the right SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and SEM (Search Engine Marketing) it is possible for companies to reach people specifically when they are searching for the niche that they provide. The saying, “there is riches in niches,” finally can work for everyone.

As an organic example of this (in the very early days of SEO, our President, placed a video his son on YouTube eating wasabi for the first time (He knew what he was getting into, he saw his brother try it earlier). When he first put the video on YouTube, it received only a a few views over the course of several months. Later, he set up the proper keywords, descriptions, and wrote the appropriate content needed to alert the search engines (SEO) to drive traffic to the video. (Of course it was much easier in the good old days of SEO) He spent several more days publishing and posting relevant content at key websites I built that would drive more traffic.

In less than two months, the video began averaging a thousand plays a month and continues to grow. When you search for “Kid Eats Wasabi” in Google, there are over 2,230,000 results, but even today, it’s  top spot of for this “long end of the tail” search. It would be very difficult to own “Kid” or “Wasabi,” but he was able to lock in on a specific niche and given the limitless distribution channel of the Internet, anyone searching for that term finds this result. The search engine results game has changed significantly since then and continues to change rapidly over time.  However the basics of quality relevant content for your audience remains the same.

Owning your niche in online search by honing in on the keywords that people are searching for related to your business  is only part of the Online Marketing equation for successfully marketing your business online.  You also need to motivate, educate and brand your company to the larger universe of potential customers.  This is why a strategic online marketing plan should also include Social Media and Video which also dramatically impact your SEO. Finally, a targeted display advertising campaign should focus on areas where your potential customers go online.  This includes Facebook, local and National news sites, and niche websites pertaining to your product or service. Knowing how to wisely spend your online ad dollars is part art, part science and a dose of experience.  As you reach out to define what your niche is, we hope you’ll let us join you.

We now have clients in Las Vegas, New York, Denver, and throughout Ohio, but the principles are the same. We provide Digital Strategies and Tools for Success to help small businesses carve out their niche through compelling creative, Web Design, proper SEO, Video, and Mobile.  We’re small enough to work with small businesses, but smart enough to work with a few Fortune 500 companies.  If you’d like to see what we can do to help you improve your online marketing results, please get in touch.

About Matt Ross

Matt Ross is the President and Founder of DigitalHipster Inc. est. 2009.  Matt and his Wife Wendy have two adult sons. He's a Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Alumni, a member of The Society of Martin Scholars at The University of Akron, and an active member in a few book clubs. When he's not deep in code and cranking music, or trying to keep up with the latest Google Algorithm, Matt is gardening, mountain biking, off-roading in his Jeep, writing for fun or being a guinea pig for his wife's yoga instruction. He lives and works in Highland Square Akron, Ohio. For the 15 years prior to launching DigitalHipster Inc.  Matt worked as a Senior Advertising Account Executive and Integrated Sales Director for major television stations and newspapers in the Akron, Cleveland, Phoenix and Las Vegas markets. He has successfully planned, sold and executed millions of dollars in innovative multi-platform advertising campaigns consisting of television commercials, web video, content integration, multi-carrier mobile WAP sites, print ads, and radio. Matt says, "During my years working in broadcast and print media, I learned how to gather real-time advertising response rates and develop cost-effect creative that works for my clients.  By working for over a decade on the sales side with millions of dollars of advertising revenue, I learned how to spot bargains for my clients and see what worked and what didn't. We're not just a team of graphic designers, or artists that take chances with your ad budget. We have real advertising experience across all the major advertising channels."