Written by Colette Nichol, SEO Expert and Story Strategist, Founder of Story Envelope Media
Organic Traffic Case Study for a Service-Driven Product Business
Fresh Design Blinds: Vancouver Brick-and-Mortar Business with a Focus on White-Glove Service
This local SEO case study focuses on a service and product business in Vancouver. While the business sells blinds and drapes, which are products, it differentiates itself by offering white glove service and design consulting services. Our focus with this project was to increase calls and visits to the store, as these are the highest-value actions a potential customer can take.
Success Highlights
Organic traffic up 100% in 8 months
Position #1 on Google for most important keyword in under 6 months
Brick-and-mortar location experiences the “busiest two Saturdays of its entire 25+ year history” after doing SEO for just 5 months
Business ranks on Google above franchises that have large marketing budgets
Organic traffic up 166% in August of 2024 compared to the previous year. (11 months into the project)
Q1 & Q2 sales went up dramatically (exact numbers are confidential) during the traditional “slow season” for the business
Important Note about Story Envelope’s Secret Sauce
While this case study gives you a basic overview of what we did to achieve success, I won’t reveal any industry-specific secrets or technical tactics that allowed us to outperform the competition.
We keep our tactics confidential because we don’t want our clients' competitors to know how to replicate our successes. We offer non-compete contracts to all our clients so they can feel secure that we will not work with anyone who is directly competing against them within the same market.
Our secret sauce is that we are obsessed with deeply understanding our clients’ ideal clients and using great design and high-quality visual and text-based content that’s enjoyable for visitors to read and interact with.
Custom video is another ingredient in our secret sauce. High-end videos that create a connection and feeling of trust with the visitor are often a key element in our website strategies.
We’ve created a process called the Traffic for Experts Method that we use for every client. This method allows us to understand the essence of a business and craft a strategy that helps business owners achieve their goals.
Who & What
This case study focuses on a local blind, drapery, and window treatments company based in Vancouver, BC.
Fresh Design has been in business for over 25 years and is one of Vancouver’s top blinds stores. It sells premium, high-end blinds, and custom drapery. Like all the businesses we work with, it is a company focused on quality and customer service. They have one showroom location in a busy neighborhood.
Before Doing SEO
Before doing SEO, this business did not rank on the first page of Google for the majority of its most important keywords.
This local Vancouver business had built its substantial success from referrals and word of mouth, doing an annual home show, working with designers, and Google Business Profile (GBP) traffic.
Because it is located in a central neighborhood, it gets walk-in customers who find it on Google Business. However, before working with Story Envelope, Fresh Design didn’t rank in GBP for all its products.
In addition, in the many years this business has been online, it had never once been on the first page of Google for blinds or drapes outside of the Google Map Pack.
It’s important to rank on the search results listings as well as the map pack. Ranking in Positions #1 and #2 on Google can be particularly beneficial as a local business because these spots are sometimes shown above the map pack.
Goals
The goal of this project was to increase the sale of blinds and drapes.
To do that, we focused on increasing the number of walk-in clients, as these are typically the most valuable to the business. We also made it easier to find the business phone number, as clients who visit the showroom often call first.
We also wanted to get found in certain areas outside the service provider’s 5 km radius. There are a few locations that are within Fresh Design’s service area that are home to many high value clients. We wanted to rank on the search listings in these areas.
We understood that ranking in the Google Business Profile for these areas would not be possible due to the nature of the Google Map Pack. However, we could still work to get found on the first page of Google.
Call to Action
Our main Call to Action (CTA) was a “Visit the Showroom” button.
We used a variety of strategies to encourage visitors to take the time to visit the store.
Our second CTA was to schedule an in-house consultation. We used this CTA in various strategic locations on the site.
What Worked
We created product pages for all of the most relevant pages.
These pages focused on creating an editorial feeling while including all the important information and keywords we needed to rank.
We wanted to create beautiful, SEO-optimized pages. These pages all began to rank within three months of their launch. The Google Business profile was also optimized to contain all the important products and links to their correlating pages.
The winning strategy included the following:
Google Business Profile update with competitor analysis of imagery and text
Service/Product pages for all the most valuable products with a focus on design aesthetic and keyword optimization ie. getting the right words on the page
Complete upgrade of the home page - turning it from a brief overview to a comprehensive SEO-optimized “sales page” for the business
New navigation bar
Updated footer
Custom video strategy
Blogging to support service pages
Desktop and mobile optimization
Design upgrades to supporting but non-SEO pages to keep the flow of traffic going
Results/Wins
All of the top keywords landed in position #1-3 of Google on March 27th, 2024, approximately five months after the start of our work together.
Keep in mind that this business did not rank on Page #1 for any of the majority of their top keywords. We were able to move them to the top of Page #1 within five months of our work starting. From there, we continued to gain the top position for critical keywords, driving additional organic traffic.
Our SEO work resulted in 2x traffic and an increase in business revenue. (Revenue numbers are confidential.)
What We’re Still Doing
We’re not done yet! We want to dominate this niche even further. So here’s what is coming next for this client:
Custom video for the website home page and about page
Supporting post blogging to get product pages ranking higher
Additional content for the most important service pages
Additional service pages for less critical products that still drive valuable customers
Challenges
The main challenge with this project has been to ensure that we clearly communicate the value and benefits of the products offered without confusing the potential customers.
This industry is full of products that clients don’t understand. They often get confused. We needed to ensure we were clear throughout all the service pages.
It’s also a very visual industry, so creating engaging pages was critical.
Finally, having a KPI that focused on physical visits to the store meant we could not just measure success based on organic traffic.
What Would Page #1 of Google Do for Your Business?
If you’d like to discover more about how we can help you, please get in touch. You may be in a niche where dominating Google is actually within reach.
Some niches are super competitive. In these cases getting to Page #1 is prohibitively costly for a small or mid-size business. However, most local businesses do not fall into that category. In fact, most local businesses can massively increase their organic traffic and walk-ins if they have a solid SEO strategy that’s properly executed.
Schedule a 15-minute Call to Discuss Your Business
If you’re serious about getting on Page #1 of Google with your business, please reach out and schedule a call. I’d love to hear about your goals and see if our services align with your needs.
The Traffic for Experts Method
The Traffic for Experts method is a systematic approach to getting high-quality organic traffic for expertise-driven businesses.
As a service provider whose main focus is to use your expertise to help your clients get results, your marketing requires a thoughtful approach. You can run fire sales or do any “fast marketing” techniques.
Trust and authority are the backbone of your business. If people don’t trust you, then they’re not going to book an introductory call.
The Traffic for Experts Method has 3 pillars:
Connection
Content
Conversation
CONNECTION
In order to connect with your ideal client, we dig deep to understand who exactly your business is targeting.
It’s not just people with $5M or more in investable assets. You offer something that appeals to a very specific type of person. So let’s find out who that is and then target them with precision. When this is done well, you may find perfect-fit prospects signing within just a few weeks of the first call.
CONTENT
When we know who we’re trying to reach and connect with, we can create content focused on engaging that particular avatar.
We’ll ensure that service pages and blog posts are based around the exact type of clients you wish to see more of in your business.
CONVERSATION
Your perfect-fit prospect will schedule an introductory call with your team if they feel a connection to your business.
That first call is a chance to have a conversation with the prospect and see if there’s a mutual fit. But they won’t go out on a limb and book that first call if they don’t feel connected to your business.
How do we create that connection?
We connect by mirroring your ideal client’s hopes, wishes, and dreams while covering their main challenges and the solutions you offer. We make sure to use the right words and imagery to reflect their goals and desired outcomes.
We don’t shy away from discussing their challenges and the problems they want to solve. People don’t seek out a new service provider if they’re totally happy with the current solution.
When your website focuses on solving their problems and reflects who they are and what they want, they will feel a connection to your business.
In other words, when your content is about them and their problems, they’ll seek your services. If you just talk about how great you are, they won’t feel the connection that drives them to schedule a first conversation.
Steps in the Process
Included in the process are the following steps:
Understand your ideal client deeply
Set KPIs and begin tracking
Map out the best website experience for your ideal prospect
Transfer and upgrade your website if necessary
Select page types from our proven framework
Do keyword research for your location and ideal client
Create content for all necessary service pages and execute
Create blog posts that support your service pages
Create a home-page optimization plan and execute
Ensure your call-to-action is optimized to get the best results
Plan a premium-video strategy and execute
Assess progress and add off-page SEO strategies as needed
Following the Traffic for Experts Method, you get the best possible results for your service-driven business.
Get Started with Traffic for Experts
If you’re the owner of a growing wealth management firm, and you want to add a new source of high-quality leads to your sales pipeline, let’s talk.
Traffic for Experts is a service we offer to financial services firms who wish to grow their businesses with organic traffic. We love to work with fiduciaries and premium service providers who care deeply about their clients and want to make a difference in the lives of those they serve.
Read More
Are you interested in growing your financial services business with high-quality digital marketing? Read more of our articles.
About the Author
Colette Nichol is the founder of Story Envelope Media and the creator of the Traffic for Experts Method. As an SEO (search engine optimizer) and Story Strategist, Colette helps successful businesses grow and achieve their goals with high-quality content strategies that include SEO and premium video. Colette is based in Vancouver, Canada, where she lives with her husband and business partner. She’s passionate about using storytelling and high-quality content to help service-oriented, honest, and values-driven business owners grow their businesses with ease.
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