The Business
Specialist ID was founded in 2001, as a family business that sells security-related items such as ID cards and lanyards. This is a niche industry that corporate giants such as Amazon, Office Depot and Target dominate. Their goal is to ensure that every workplace is safe, using the power of access cards and visitor management tools, and to sell B2B for businesses as well as B2C for individual customers. There are many security retailers who sell ID cards and other means of protecting the workplace.
Owner Patrick Bernhall came to us for SEO consultation and Amazon marketing in February 2011; we have since provided consulting and digital services for their website. While their previous practices worked well for eCommerce in the 2000s, Amazon greatly changed the digital frontier with its amenities for customers such as discounts and 2-day shipping. We had to help Specialist ID with increasing their conversion rates and to break into this new eCommerce field.
The Objective
Our objective was to improve their SEO and increase conversion rates, which were a concern. To implement that, we created relevant content to help them rank for certain keywords related to the security retail industry. We also worked on a brand new content hierarchy. Furthermore, they experienced fast growth and had integration and platform challenges.
The Strategy
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eCommerce SEO & Content Marketing
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eCommerce Migration
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Link Building
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Custom Programming/Functionality
eCommerce SEO & Content Marketing
Our copywriters and marketers worked together to create a viable content hierarchy that prioritized SEO and kept it consistent despite changing Google algorithms. Specialist ID would earn revenue from organic traffic from keywords and visibility.
eCommerce Migration
Generally, at Optimum7 we do a single migration to assist our clients with leveraging the newest digital platforms. Our data told us to do the move to help the store increase revenue. Specialist ID was an exception in that we did not one but two migrations over the course of working with them. The website was originally on Yahoo, and we moved it to Volusion, which at the time in the 2010s was the best emerging eCommerce platform for businesses to leverage its features. In June 2019, we then moved Specialist ID to Shopify, as well as the functionalities that we designed. We believed that Shopify vastly improves the user experience and allows for website customization.
Link Building
Backlinks provide the means by which eCommerce platforms can gain domain authority. In the case of Specialist ID, we used backlinks to drive traffic toward category pages, with blogs highlighting features and expanding the keyword universe. Thanks to Moz, our high-quality links included Business.com, Forbes, the Huffington Post, and other authorities on security in the workplace.
Website Redesign
Specialist ID for the 2000s had a functional, well-designed website that would direct customers to the products that they wanted. When Amazon greatly changed eCommerce, however, other storefronts would have to change as well to enhance the user experience. Our developers did several basic features — redesigning the website display
Custom Programming/Functionality
A few of the custom functionalities created include:
Advanced Search and Filter
The advanced search and filter would allow clients to browse through the website, search for specific badges and lanyards, and add to their carts accordingly. This would allow people to avoid overwhelm from all the choices, place orders faster, and see which products would deliver the highest value for their business.
Marketplace Integration
Amazon has been a detractor for eCommerce, providing products at discounts and shipping policies that other businesses cannot match; nevertheless, eCommerce businesses can leverage the giant’s functionalities to earn higher revenue. One of our strategies was to merge Specialist ID’s eCommerce store with Amazon so that the products would display in tandem with the corporate giant’s platforms. Such a strategy can be risky, but despite the lower margins, sales increased for Specialist ID. We ensure their visibility and ability to survive new Amazon challenges.
Tax-Exempt Functionality
Certain businesses such as nonprofits can receive tax exemptions for purchasing ID badges and lanyards in bulk. This allows them to reduce the budget needed for such orders, increasing the value of working with Specialist ID. Our functionality would ensure that they always received these exemptions to save on costs and know how much they should pay for security supplies.
Custom Design and Product Pages
One of the most important features we added was customization for Specialist ID products. Many businesses want to use lanyards and badges to show branding, as a means to promote the business and increase customer loyalty. On category pages that allow for customization, users can choose from a wide color palette, type in the words they want to see, and even upload images related to their company. Customers can see how their images will look on badges, lanyards, or temporary IDs and get a preview on the branding.
Results
