Passion and expertise are often found beneath the surface of professionals working in a niche industry. Perhaps a formative experience drew you to your profession. Maybe an early internship exposed you to the earnings potential of your niche. No matter how you arrived at your chosen profession, your fine-tuned expertise is valuable.
However, connecting your business or service with the very specific individuals in need of it can be tricky. With the vast array of options online, sorting through them can be challenging for a potential client. Fortunately, there are ways to tailor your SEO campaign to draw the right clients to your niche business.
1. Commit to Content With Depth
Sure, your website is great — it’s attractive, it has engaging colors, and the font is easily legible across platforms. But why would a would-be client stick around, much less trust you with their biggest problems? And that question assumes they’d be able to find you through organic search in the first place.
To establish credibility in your niche, you can’t go wrong with producing and distributing quality content. However, not just any content will do — your content strategy has to go beyond generically helpful information. What you need is content with depth that digs into industry issues and trends and conveys a mastery of your industry.
For example, individuals practicing utility law aren’t just regular attorneys — they’ve got a deep understanding of regulatory requirements, rate structures, energy efficiency rules, and more. If you’re developing your law firm SEO strategy, you’d benefit from a thought leadership content program.
By carefully crafting your content to sit comfortably within the education space rather than offering advice, you’ll protect your legal practice. Use new legislation, industry trends, and current generation demands to inspire long-form pieces that interest your niche.
Leverage your content by partnering with external entities like your local bar association or news outlet to increase your reach. Weave in relevant keywords and use backlinks from reliable third parties to bring readers back to your website and establish credibility.
2. Use the Right Industry Terms and Keywords
Specificity matters, and it’s especially important in a niche industry. Simply searching “home repair” won’t help an individual who’s turning a Carnegie Library into an event space find a limestone restoration expert.
Take a step back and explore what makes your business unique, even within your niche. Once you’ve made an exhaustive list, consider the needs your current clients have brought to you. Are there trends when you compare both lists? Create pairings that combine client needs with your expertise as well as the industry terms that are easily searchable.
In the library conversion example, the customer may need a flooring expert who can seamlessly repair time-worn wood floors. Keywords that could help them find their expert might be “historic+wood+floor+repair+CITY NAME.” If they’re searching for preservation-sensitive HVAC system installation, they might use: “retrofit+historic+building+heating+and+air.”
If you aren’t sure which keywords to target, test a few iterations and track link performance for 30-, 60-, and 90-day test windows. Be willing to try new long-tail keywords before you unleash a full-blown strategy. Remember, testing is important for nearly every industry, including SEO. A woodworker will measure twice and cut once — so follow your own best practices within search.
3. Leverage Analytics to Help Focus Your Strategy
Slinging out content full of backlinks and keywords will give you a feeling of productivity. But before you hit “publish,” check to make sure you’re placing your effort in the right spaces.
Use free analytics tools like Google Analytics to get a pulse on what your audience is searching for. Search is a moving target, so you’ll need to commit to regularly reviewing analytics and pivoting your strategy when necessary. Set alerts for key terms you’re utilizing or want to track for future consideration.
Review your report to see how customers are viewing your website currently. You’ll identify enhancement opportunities and may even uncover new terms to target. By viewing web search trends, you could find a trending keyword that resonates with your industry.
Don’t be alarmed if search volumes aren’t in the thousands — in a niche industry, it’s expected that you’ll have a small, focused audience. What matters is that your valuable information, service, or product reaches them in the right way, at the right time. When you use analytics to guide and refine your SEO strategy, you’ll be able to connect with your niche customers.
Using the Factors That Impact Your Industry to Stay Relevant
Niche industries tend to draw a tight group of committed professionals. Just like clubs or affinity groups, similar perspectives or interests bring people together. As you work on your business and your SEO strategy, it’s important to stay in touch with your industry.
Collaborate with others who work in your space and monitor potential competitors’ SEO strategies. While what others may do shouldn’t force you to shift your approach, understanding what’s market-standard is helpful. Individuals on the other side of search will set a baseline expectation of what’s out there. And if you know the baseline, you can reach beyond it, and show up at the top of SEO rankings.