In the competitive field of print-on-demand services, particularly AI imagery, understanding product market fit and SEO optimization is vital. We want to increase our organic search traffic, and because we are highly focused on automation and rapid scaling, we are perfectly positioned to leverage insights that influence product creation at scale. Our recent experience at Paws and Prints Boutique illustrates this point effectively, and hopefully may spark some inspiration for your own storefront.
Our Initial Launch: Shirts Only
Our journey began with a focus on dog-themed shirts. During the first two weeks, we recorded approximately 15 Google search impressions per day. Though modest, this initial data helped us gauge our market position. We used Google Search Console, and highly recommend you ensure tracking and Google Analytics are properly setup on your storefront.
Introducing Stickers to Test New Products
Unfortunately, t-shirts are a remarkably crowded space in the print-on-demand world. While we’re confident our art is beautiful and high-quality, getting views is keys and t-shirts simply weren’t getting the job done alone. We decided to test other products to see if there was a significant difference in organic reach.
As a first attempt we explored the sticker market. Despite being a low-margin product, stickers represented an opportunity to test a new vertical within our niche of dog imagery that would focus only on the artwork and not on the product, hoping to draw visitors to explore more of our store.
Additionally, stickers make an ideal ad-on product to drive users to increase their average purchase order. We used a free shipping pricing strategy that incentivized adding stickers to every order to clear a minimum spend requirement.
Surprising Results with Stickers and SEO
The impact of adding stickers to our product line was immediate and significant. Within 48 hours, our search engine impressions tripled. This rapid increase demonstrated the SEO potential of a less conventional product. While 50 impressions a day is still tiny, this increased our expected sales rate from a product every 5 months to a product every 6 weeks.
The stickers not only contributed to our visibility but also dominated our organic search results. This showed their relevance to a specific audience segment within the broader market.
In creating this product we went from an additional 340 to 420 indexed pages, but tripled traffic. Looking at this another way, sticker pages are 750% more effective than shirt pages at driving organic traffic.
This fact is reflected in our 7 day search traffic data, as you can see here in our ranking search terms.
Conclusion: Niche Products and Scalability
Our exploration of stickers reinforced several key insights:
- Niche Appeal: Less popular products can indeed excel in performance when targeted at a narrow niche. Our stickers found a unique space within the dog-loving community.
- Agility and Scalability: Being able to adapt and scale quickly is essential in the fast-paced print-on-demand industry. Our ability to pivot towards stickers and witness immediate results underlines this point.
- SEO Impact: The profound effect on search engine impressions emphasizes the role of product diversification in SEO strategy. Our stickers didn't just supplement our existing line; they carved out their own space in search rankings.
The tools we are developing at Paws And Prints Boutique aim to help others find their unique niche and scale accordingly. By understanding the market dynamics and leveraging SEO effectively, we were able to uncover a simple business insight we are exceptionally well positioned to leverag