I’ll be the first to admit this post does not necessarily need to exist.
eCommerce websites have plenty of content to help them bring in all the traffic they need, right? Whether they have hundreds, thousands, or hundreds of thousands of products — each one allows them to rank for a set of keywords we blogs and lead generation type websites have no chance to rank for.
Regardless, there are a few online shops out there that only sell limited, high-end items – which means they could definitely use a boost in terms of search visibility and subsequent conversions. And who knows, we may even decide to get into the field one day and could use a reference for ourselves!
So, in no particular order, here are some ideas you can implement to generate targeted content and take full advantage of the SEO opportunities out there as an eCommerce player:
1. Budget
Everyone has a budget in mind when they are shopping for something. At least, almost everyone. When they do, they want to make sure they don’t see products that are out of their price range. It’s why Amazon has a price filter. And while a price filter is a good start, if we want to maximize our visibility, we would create pages which already feature products in a certain price bracket. Some examples would include:
- [PRODUCTS] under $50
- [PRODUCTS] from $25-50
- [PRODUCTS] that cost less than $100
Using a keyword research tool (e.g. SEMrush, KeywordRevealer) can help determine what syntax and types of searches your target audience is utilizing, allowing you to showcase the diverse price range you offer your customers and reach a greater number of people with the creation of just a few extra pages.
2. Features
SEOs typically overlook the singular features some of their products boast. They tend to assume the search engines are smart enough to discover what their products are about. For the most part, they are correct: search engines will decipher the keywords, syntax and co-citations to understand what your product is and does. It just doesn’t translate well on a product description page.
For example, let’s say your online watch store carried a selection of self winding watches. Despite your product descriptions clearly indicating a watch is self winding (or not), the chances of such pages ranking well for “self winding watches” is minimal. Having a page dedicated to self winding watches would be much more appropriate, listing the products which match the description, while educating the customer as to what makes them unique. The same would apply for any feature-set e.g. solar power, chronograph or any other marker commonly shared among a number of products.
What features are potential customers looking for in the products you currently sell? Make it a highlight – a point of reference to stand out from the pack.
3. Location
Location can mean many things, and may or may not apply to certain industries and categories.
Continuing on from the watch store example, many a customer would want to browse for watches that are made in Switzerland. Swiss made watches are a popular search term, and creates an easy opportunity for an ecommerce site to capitalize on. Products that are “made in USA” is another prime example of products tied to a specific location, whether it be produced in a certain region, or simply become available to ship to, as is the case with certain countries/states and their alcoholic shipping restrictions.
A working knowledge of your products and their location relevance is key in discovering new ways to create content which will reach more potential visitors.
4. Race
Perhaps “race” may not be the most accurate word I was looking for. Depending on the context, a product may be a certain fit for a particular person of a certain heritage, genetic makeup, or simply a different skin color.
One example would be hair products. There are now many ecommerce sites which only sell “shampoo for black women” or “combs for black men”. If we look at cosmetics, there are some creams and foundation that are specifically targeting certain shades of skin color, whether that be on the lighter or darker side. Even something as common as kitchen appliances or apparel can be reframed in this light to create a new segment of search traffic.
This approach is obviously not simply tied to a single race or nationality, which makes for an interesting strategy which may take some creativity and brainstorming, but could yield a result like few others.
5. Occupation
There’s no denying the fact that most people derive their identity and self-worth from the work that they perform on a daily basis. Their career is extremely important to them and they often cannot disassociate themselves from what who they are and what they do. As a result, it’s not unwise to target visitors on an occupational level.
If you sell watches, you may consider creating a category for lawyers — so when people search “watches for lawyers” your page can be positioned as a competing result. Of course, you can duplicate this concept for doctors, pilots, engineers, architects, officers and accountants to name a few more examples. It doesn’t matter if there is indeed watches made specifically for a certain field; the fact is that people are looking for something suitable to them in this particular way, which you may as well provide the best possible result for.
Curation is not a difficult thing, and can bring great rewards if executed effectively. The great thing about this method, clearly, is that it can apply for any industry you can think of, for any product you sell, at no extra effort. The opportunity is near endless.
6. Brands
Whenever SEOs discuss the concept of ‘low hanging fruit’, this is the kind of content they are talking about. The list of brands an online shop carries is a SEO goldmine and perhaps the most straightforward way to target high search volume keywords.
For a watch store, making pages for the Hublot, Longines and Rolex are a no brainer. For a shoe store, creating a Nike, New Balance and Supra category is a must have. It’s simple and arguably the first content strategy you should be implementing, if not for SEO then for UX and UI in general. The other great thing about this approach is that most established brands are inherently trusted, making them much more likely to purchase a branded product you resell as opposed to a private label/custom item provided by your own company.
Furthermore, even if you don’t carry certain brands, it would still be wise to create pages for them and identify the most likely alternative brand in terms of style, pricing or mission in order to capture wayward customers who could be convinced either way, say, a certain segment of customers who were looking for Android Homme shoes could simply be looking for laceless high tops — something another brand you carry could also sell — thus becoming an opportunity to capture extra sales without deception or sleazy tactics like some stores engage in.
7. Colors
A simple, yet often overlooked strategy is identifying products by certain colors, shades and tones. As a customer, you do it all the time as you search Amazon or Google for a good pair of “black socks” or “green hats”, but as an online store owner/SEO specialist, you seem to forget all about it.
Granted, some products easily lend themselves to this concept, while others may be a struggle. A “blue sapphire” may be more popular than a “blue handkerchief”. However, that should not deter you from building out these unique types of color-based categories — especially for the customer who is overly enthusiastic about blue handkerchiefs!
Some products may need a little revision and creativity. There may not be many people searching for a “purple watch”, but there are a great deal who are looking for a “purple face watch”. Some people may like to browse for “red shoes”, but you might do better to target those seeking “red bottom shoes”. It’s a matter of context.
Similar to the brand example, it is also recommended to create categories for colors which you may not currently have, but have a resembling tone or shade as an alternative. You may not carry an orange iPhone case, but you may very well have gold and yellow colored iPhone cases for potential buyers to browse from. Create that orange page and be transparent with what you have and what’s coming. It’s worth the effort.
8. Material
Wood. Silk. Titanium. On their own, these types of textures and materials don’t mean a whole lot. Combined with popular products, they are an untapped resource which SEOs can take full advantage of.
It’s not farfetched to imagine users searching for “silver cutlery” or “stainless steel watches”. But why stop at one source of material? There are a now a multitude of products that can be made with alternative bases. Cutlery could also be made in brass or copper for their anti-microbial benefits. Wooden watches are on the rise, too.
Going beyond the standard plastic or metal mold is a great way to differentiate from the competition and get a head start on ranking for terms that will only increase in popularity in the future as more people become aware of their presence and any extra benefits that come along with them.
9. Generation
Like the distinctions made with people of different nationalities and race, come the optimistic searches of those who want to find a product that was made specifically for their age range or generation. This goes beyond the standard child, adult and senior type grading.
Stages of development are far more nuanced and diverse. Board games are completely different when we want to look for “board games for toddlers”, as opposed to “board games for tweens”. The same would apply with “furniture for millenials” or “rifles for boomers”. There are clear item differentiators for all generations and age ranges. There is no reason you cannot create curated product guides for each — with a little bit of brainstorming, creativity and trending research.
Depending on the niche, there could also be language used to the effect of “for young people”, “for middle aged women” or “for older men” to name a few examples. It’s always wise to test and experiment to discover the right combination of pages for your store and target market.
10. “Best, That, With, For”
Profitable, yet wayward and lesser known content ideas are still available for most store owners today. Even when all other keyword modifiers and strategies have been utilized and exhausted, they still tend to be overlooked. Don’t make that mistake!
Using a good keyword research tool, however, you can implement these modifiers as a prefix or suffix to generate some lucrative content ideas for your store, such as:
- best [PRODUCTS] 2020
- best [PRODUCTS] online
- best [PRODUCTS] to buy
- [PRODUCTS] with charging port
- [PRODUCTS] with portability
- [PRODUCTS] with warranty
- [PRODUCTS] that are durable
- [PRODUCTS] that fold
- [PRODUCTS] that don’t rust
- [PRODUCTS] for introverts
- [PRODUCTS] for grandma
- [PRODUCTS] for halloween
And the list goes on and on. There are many more examples than the minute list highlighted here, but it gives you a sense of how wide and open the playing field really is — if you do enough research and intentionally think of what your products can be used for, under what circumstances and at what capacity.
Don’t Just Stop Here
By no means is this an exhaustive list, but it should be sufficient to get you moving down the right path and sparking some creativity to build your own content models.
Let’s do it!
