Case Study Friday: SimpleBabyNecessities.com
This week’s Case Study Friday features a baby cribs website submitted by Greg who is one of our readers: SimpleBabyNecessities.com.
(Notice the juicy anchor text for the above link that I am giving the site because A. I think its a well done and trustworthy site about baby cribs and B. Maybe this will incentive YOU to contact us and submit any sites that you want reviewed for a future Case Study Friday – we currently have a backlog of 5 sites to review for the next 5 weeks but if you submit a decent site then we will be happy to work it into the lineup).
OK, let’s just jump right into this case study and as always please participate by leaving your own input in the comments below.
I want to be sure to not just list of the things I like and don’t like about the site but also to make sure to give Greg some really practical action steps that he can maybe consider. That being said, here are some pros and cons for SimpleBabyNecessities.com and then I will give some recommended steps to take to make the site even better.
PROS
#1 For a site that is just over a year old (it appears the domain name was registered on 10/16/08) and that is not an exact match domain or even a keyword rich domain then to rank on page #4 in Google for the sites main keyword of “baby cribs” is not too shabby at all given that “baby cribs” is searched an average of 90,500 times per month in Google (exact match).
Granted, the competition is not overly fierce as the CPC is only $1.21 but it can certainly be a chore to try and get a big product site like this ranked.
(The site is also ranked on page 1 in position #10 for the secondary keyword phrase of “convertible cribs” and although “convertible cribs” only gets searched a relatively low 9,900 times with a CPC of $1.17 it is still a very nice phrase to rank for).
#2 Although I am not too familiar with Volusion, the shopping cart software that powers his product pages, I think that the individual product pages look professional and have nice big product images which is something shoppers want to see.
#3 The left hand navigation bar does a nice job of being user friendly while still making sure to be SEO friendly at the same time because of the strong internal anchor text.
CONS
#1 I think we can all agree that the domain name chosen could certainly have been a little better. As you know I am a huge fan of exact match domains but in this case I doubt that Greg has the budget to go out and purchase Cribs.com or BabyCribs.com so I understand the brandable domain approach (after all that is what I am doing with my website CreditCardChaser.com that was previously featured in a Case Study Friday since I do not have the budget to buy a CreditCards.com but at least my domain is a keyword rich domain that contains my main keyword phrase in the domain).
That being said, I would have liked to see a shorter keyword rich domain that contains the sites main keywords – i.e. BabyCribsLLLL.com or BabyCribLLLL.com and does not have any long and potentially hard to spell words like “necessities”. In other words, if there is going to be a long and hard to spell word in your domain then it really should only be there because it is a part of your target keyword phrase.
It is worth noting here that maybe Greg has plans to move beyond just selling baby cribs and would like to offer all kinds of baby products – if that is the case then maybe it would even be a better idea to choose a very short brandable domain that does not contain the scope limiting words “crib” or “cribs” but just the word “baby” – i.e. BabyLLLL.com etc.
2. It a very very very good idea for e commerce sites to have as many trust building and credibility boosting symbols as possible on the site and while the site does have some of these symbols down towards the bottom of the site in the footer (Google Checkout logo, credit card logos, PayPal logo, “Privacy Guaranteed” logo, etc.) at least some of these logos should be moved above the fold and into a much more prominent location.
3. The individual product pages do a really nice job of showing a strikeout price/sale price, upselling a mattress, and showing related products but (prepare yourself because many may not like this suggestion) I think that the site could benefit from taking a Buy.com approach by not only doing all of the things I just mentioned but also showing competitors prices (with an affiliate link of course) and maybe even Adsense ads ONLY at the very bottom of the page.
I will be the first to admit that I am definitely not a fan of Google Adsense in most scenarios but I think that Buy.com has a nice approach to product pages (and I am sure that they have tested this to death) and that is that for any admittedly “second string” player (AKA anyone who’s name does not rhyme with “Swamazon”) then it makes a lot of sense to monetize not only the people who will click on your product and add it to your shopping cart and buy from you but to ALSO monetize the people who scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page and choose to look elsewhere (likely on Amazon.com).
After all, if those people are going to leave by either hitting the back button or by clicking on an Amazon.com affiliate link/Google Adsense ad then as the site owner you want them to at least make you a small amount of money by clicking away on one of your affiliate links or Adsense ads rather than leaving your site and not making you a dime.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
#1 Consider optimizing the monetization of the product pages by using the Buy.com approach outlined above.
#2 Weigh the benefits of sticking with the same domain name vs. moving the site (and 301 redirecting everything) to a new keyword rich domain name.
#3 Move the credibility boosting symbols up from the footer to somewhere above the fold (or copy the symbols and have them visible in both the footer and at the top of the page).
OK, don’t be shy so let’s all pitch in with some advice for Greg. What are your recommendations for SimpleBabyNecessities.com?
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BuyCribs.com is available for a list price of $5k. http://www.nameshopping.com/?domain=buycribs
It’s not mine. Regardless of whether you negotiate or not, that’s a great name for a pretty fair price. I like call to action names like that.
Meta Description on the home page is poor and they don’t have a call to action. The Free Shipping should be a major selling point.
The Meta Description on the product pages are even worse.
The slugs for the pages isn’t the way I would do it (directory name is good, but “31.html” and such as the page name isn’t).
I don’t like the mouse over zoom in and it’s broken in Chrome.
Where’s the bedding and mattresses? Seems like a simple category but I had to do a search and only found a couple of options.
That’s just the on-page stuff (and only a fraction of it at that). Off-page optimization would be essential with such a long domain name. You’ll need lots and lots of good links.
Best of luck.
Thanks for the detailed suggestions! I agree that if the target keyword is “cribs” rather than “baby” something then BuyCribs.com would be a great domain (especially for around that price). Great input all around and I will look forward to your comments in future Case Study Fridays too – good stuff! – Joel
Thank you very much for the comments and suggestions. It is my goal to begin selling more baby products other than cribs, but the idea of “Call to action” names is helpful.
I like the site. Although long term it needs to be more engaging and take advantage of active or engaging content versus static content.
First thing I did was type in simplebaby.com to see the difference and the engagement factor is 100% better with simple baby.
First the headline content is relevant (holiday shipping) and categories are more attractive such as baby bling, the perfect gift and main menu tab “What’s New”
Additionally the 4 categories under the holiday image engage the user right away
Our Philosophy, Our Friends, Blog, Baby Showers.
Right away the visitor is aware there is a lot of interesting stuff here.
The site in the case study above (simplebabyneccessites.com) is aesthetically pleasing.
Obviously a site targeted at the Goth market would use primary dark colors and the choice of colors here are very relevant to the theme so thumbs up there.
I am not a fan of the domain at all since the word necessities lends itself to typos but as Joel mentioned its not about the name here.
As for basic Meta it seems like the owner is basically re-hashing the same words over for almost every page which can lead to duplicate content flags. Each description should be worded differently avoiding the use of the same words in every description.
Using the exact text “Shop our large selection” on every page or “We offer free shipping” could be re-worded in multiple ways
Ex – page for portable baby cribs
Shop our large selection of Portable baby cribs today. We offer free shipping on all our Portable baby cribs. Our Portable cribs make commuting with a baby easy
Page for Modern Baby Cribs
Offering Modern baby cribs online. Shop our large selection of Modern baby cribs today. We offer free shipping on all our Modern baby cribs. Our Modern cribs help with your home’s modern looking decor
Where’s the BLOG??
The only link to the blog is at the bottom of the page so 90% of visitors will never know a blog exists. In this case it probably doesn’t matter since the owner is publishing no more than an article a month however active or new content is very important to SE ranking and many consumers want to see more than just a catalog of items. Engagement is key to long term value so comments and consistent articles should help people stay longer, help with SE placement and even become a measure of community feedback for the owner.
# 1 KUDOS – No Adsense. !! Big Ups there.
Who is the company?
This is interesting because the site looks trustworthy however before I order anything I want to know about the company unless Fox TV has made me believe these guys are cool. No such media ads here so I’m going to look.
http://www.simplebabynecessities.com/v/blog/
On the blog page – which again, many people will never know exists – there is an ABOUT ME link…. Interesting — minus street credit here since about ME is for a personal blog – about US is for a company.
View my complete profile
http://www.blogger.com/profile/03411551573835312533
A blogger page … little weird here. The link should be removed or linked to a more detailed page within the site.
Site Structure
http://www.simplebabynecessities.com/Convertible_Baby_Cribs_s/30.htm
Everyone does this different but I’m not a fan of caps in page urls and will never get the need to number pages even if it is a storefront. If it was my site I would have
http://www.simplebabynecessities.com/convertible-baby-cribs/product-name.htm
Over all the site is nice but engaging users, publishing more content and keeping the home page relevant to the time of season are key to grab the users interest.
Its black Friday – everybody want a deal … Wheres the deal here? Same for christmas, easter, back to school, new parents.
Over all the site is nice and I would rate it 6 out of 10 since it seems like the concept is there but the excution needs a little more work.
If you’re a domainer then 8/10 since not many domainers get past anything unless there are 3 units of adsense
Alan – awesome feedback!! (and lol about your last sentence
) – Joel
Thank you very much for all the feedback and suggestions Alan! I will definitely try to begin adding more relevant and engaging data (holiday, sales, etc.) to the site. I will also take a closer look at the Meta tags/names to correct them. The idea of changing how I say “free shipping on cribs” and “shop our large selection” is also something I will improve on the site. I will also fix the blog and try to put it in a place where it is easier to find.
I really appreciate all your help. Thank you for taking your time to review the site and post comments. -Greg
Overall the site looks great – I also like to break my analysis down into pros and cons – starting with the pro’s since I’m a glass half-full kind of guy!
Pros:
- Excellent color-scheme, soft and inviting perfect for a baby-related site
- Good selection of products with simple navigation for quickly finding what you are looking for
- Nice logo – catches your eye and brands the site well
- Great idea to have a blog!
Cons:
- Text is a bit small, might be better to move it up one font-size to make it more readable
- White space along the sides makes the site look a bit bland, I would use a page-border design so that the page in centered with a border on the sides (doesn’t have to be dramatic – maybe a light blog or gray on the sides)
- Resources section and blog should be in the very top nav so users will find it
- Blog should be updated 3-4 times/month to keep visitors coming-back. When people see a blog hasn’t been updated for a month they oftentimes don’t return
- Privacy Guaranteed and card logos should be higher-up to make people feel more comfortable right-away
- It would be great to have the featured product automatically slide to show 4-5 products in 5-10 second intervals – makes the site feel a bit more dynamic and can help showcase more products above the fold
All-and-all great site Greg and I look forward to watching it grow over time!
Awesome comments Morgan and we will look forward to you hopefully lending your expertise to future Case Study Fridays too!
Thank you very much for your help Morgan. I will definitely take your advice on changing the text size. I will also try to find a color to add more to the background. Updating the blog more often is great advice. We really do need to update it more. We would really like to add a featured product slide of pictures, but currently don’t have the ability to create flash. Any advice?
Thanks again! Very helpful.
-Greg
@Greg
There are a lot of different product carousel scripts out there that you can get for free or very cheap. Try checking out a couple of the results in this Google search as they look like pretty decent solutions: http://www.google.com/search?q=product+carousel – Joel
There are a couple of solutions, jQuery and such have various controls for this style of interface. If you really want flash, you can use http://www.openlaszlo.org/ to generate a static flash file from an xml file. I’ve used it in the past, but generally ajax makes it possible to do most of what you would have done with flash before without requiring flash and toolkits like jQuery make it fairly simple to do.
Greg,
Also try activeden.net – flash site of theme forest – some really good product showcase files there for dirt cheap