This is probably one of the toughest things I come up against. There are a few examples I can talk about.
Firstly “physiotherapy in Ripon” which I tried to help AVA Physiotherapy with around a year ago – they are ranking well now, but there still isn’t any demand there.
Secondly my brother in law, Marcus’, jazz band – you would no believe how little search volume there is for jazz bands in the north yorkshire area!
And today, as part of one my surveys I sent out, I found that Tom Bathgate has a similar problem, he is providing singing lessons in Edinburgh using a new technique called Speech Level Singing. He’s doing all the right things, he’s done his keyword research, run through the Yoast WordPress SEO guide, but what else can you do in a situation like this?
1. Try and rank for your competitors’ brand names
In this instance Tom could try ranking for his nearest competitor (Absolute Pitch Coaching), my jazz band is probably best off ranking for Saxandhoney.
2. Try to rank for related keywords
For example, with Frankly Jazz I’ve started creating a wedding directory, this has two purposes, firstly it allows them to exchange links by creating a really high quality resource for the couple to be, secondly it also enables them to rank for venue/place names such as “Northallerton wedding venue”. Tom could maybe try something similar to this, unfortunately I don’t know the singing profession well enough.
To be honest though, in these cases, there are often better ways of promoting yourself both online and offline. It’s best we remember that SEO is only a small part of the arsenal at your disposal when promoting a business, SEO is not the be all and end all and a total reliance on SEO is risky.
Couldnt agree more, i have recently been handed the task of increasing traffic for a website that sells eco friendly shower tops in the grimsby area! Where do I start!
Wow Jonny that’s not easy, to be honest it doesn’t sound like SEO for “shower heads Grimsby” is going to give you much luck. If they sell whole bathrooms you could go for “bathrooms Grimsby” or maybe instead just aim for a generic term like “shower heads” or “water saving shower heads” – something like that.
Sounds like they need a better marketing plan though – that’s a product I don’t think many people will be actively looking for, they need to be sold to realistically.
I agree, its actual a family product that has been trying to get to market for the last 10 years. Its called the Aquatop 1700, and its struggling. As far as Im aware there isn’t a plan of action in a marketing sense, I think the creator maybe waiting for someone to stumble across it online and buy 1000s. Im trying to help where I can, but its extremely tricky!