Keyword research drives 42% growth in natural search revenue for Park Seed
Search marketing and, in particular, heavy research on keyword selection has been a factor in fast-rising revenue from search marketing, according to Park Seed Company. The web site of Park Seed, a 140-year old brand and catalog, saw revenues from natural search increase by 42% and revenue from paid search increase by 85% over a recent 12-month period by using keyword research data from vendor Wordtracker, according to the retailer.
Park Seed worked with Wordtracker keyword research data before starting any Internet marketing activities, according to Walt Yates, search engine marketing manager at Park Seed. Yates says the data helped the company understand the true nature of its business on the Internet. For example, the term “seeds” was less successful in separating out buyers from other Internet researchers than was “seed catalogs.”
Searchers, says Yates, were still looking for the online equivalent of seed catalogs – a useful lesson in developing the company’s online strategy. However, searchers looking for “seed catalogs” were finding Park Seed`s competitors first – which Park Seed then addressed by optimizing web page content.
Wordtracker data also showed that botanical plant names are frequently misspelled. To further help potential buyers find the company and its products online, Park Seed’s web site copy incorporated different spellings of plant names, correct and incorrect. While “Crepe Myrtle,” for instance, brought in 206 searchers in a recent analysis, “crape myrtle” captured 38 searchers and “Crepemyrtle” brought in 53.
“You would never turn away a customer because he turned up at your store and mispronounced the name of one of your products or got the spelling wrong,” says Yates. “Why do it online?” Yates believes that other businesses on the Internet should think more about incorrect, regional and vernacular spellings.
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