Optimizing A Website for A Small Niche

Optimizing a website for a small niche often comes with a few unique challenges. Sure, you probably don't have a lot of competition, but it can also be harder to reach your very specific market.

It all starts with your website, especially when you need to reach as many people as you can across the country, or even the world. Understanding both the challenges and advantages of operating within a small niche is very important when it comes to optimizing your website and making sure your online presence is performing the way you need it to.

Here are some essential tips for optimizing a website for a small niche, as well as some seasoned advice on how to overcome those struggles and challenges to grow your business within the limitations of your industry.

Understand Your Audience

If you're operating a business within a small niche such as a local rental listing business, you're going to have a very specific audience.This gives you the opportunity to narrow down that market and create content or services that cater directly to their needs and wants. 

Many big businesses that offer a variety of products and services tend to have multiple buyer personas, but with niche markets you can narrow these down to just a couple without all the extra guesswork. Usually, smaller audiences mean more qualified customers in general, so your conversions can become more valuable when you target for the right audience. 

Don't Let Keywords Control You

When you're working with a very small niche, you're not going to be targeting keywords that have hundreds or thousands of hits every month. Your keywords are likely going to have small numbers, which can make it hard to do keyword research and properly optimize for SEO. This can also be a problem when it comes to ranking in Google, as keywords that are too specific or don't have a huge search volume can become ineligible in search engines. 

So how do you overcome this problem? Focus on topics, not just specific keywords. Produce content in related topics that surround the niche, and you can start to gain a broader online presence. Of course, you need to make sure you're on topic, but that doesn't mean you have to limit yourself unnecessarily when it comes to making great content.

Produce Quality-Driven Content

Speaking of content, yours should be a major priority. Operating within a small niche gives you a great opportunity to provide high-quality content that targets your specific audience, without a whole lot of competition on the Internet. This allows you to create a stronger connection with your audience and become a trusted resource for them to go to for new information and value. Put yourself into that target customer's shoes and think about what problems you would be facing if you were them, and then give them solutions.

Chances are your audience is only going to a few different websites to look for the products or services they want, so if you offer them regular quality content you'll be at the top of their mind when they need solutions to their problems. This also gives you a great opportunity to showcase your own expertise and be a guiding force in their life.

Know How to Network

When you're faced with the challenge of producing higher quality content and optimizing for lower-volume searches, you have to look at all of your options to create a stronger strategy. This means reaching out to other websites and either writing guest posts or forming connections that could help you get mentions and inbound links to your site. 

If you have a brick and mortar location or an e-commerce business, you can also look into events and trade shows where you can create small pop-up shops to reach your target market. For example, if you run an ecommerce business that sells licensed novelty items, you could purchase a booth at the nearest pop culture convention to you.

Social media is another great tool that can help you network yourself and/or your business. You can share your content, connect with your audience, and form valuable connections that can help you get the word out to relevant people. It's also a great customer service tool you can use when you're operating a small business and don't have a whole team of agents available for your customers.

Pay Attention to the Details

One of the best things you can do to capitalize on your smaller audience is make sure that your website is running efficiently and optimized for a good user experience. No matter what size your website is, you should always make sure you've got your technical bases covered.

This includes, but is not limited to:

• Site speed
• Regular SEO auditing 
• On-page elements (titles, headings, images, etc.) 
• Attractive design 
• Mobile responsiveness

Each of these elements comes together to ensure that your site is fully functioning and working to grow your business, no matter what industry you operate within or what size your business is. When you put all of these moving parts together, you can create an online space that helps you improve your bottom line and grow your business to new levels.