Do you niche your services?

Well after getting a wicked head and chest cold, combined with moving into a new place, and being handed a rush deadline on a client site; I triumphantly return. Whew.. was starting to wonder when I would make it back.

During this overload of responsibilities, an interesting thought kept crossing my mind; would my professional life be any better or worse if I went around only targeting a certain industry for my services? More to the point; are there business owners out there just looking for “[INSERT INDUSTRY] SEO” on the web? Would it be wise to only advertise yourself as an SEO specialist for that type of client? Is it worth it to only service that industry alone?

To be honest, I’m not totally sure how that would pan out. I know that there are some people out there already advertising it, but from what I can tell it’s only for the sake of ranking on a longtail term hoping to convert a very specific target. So what kind of things need to be considered for this kind of shift in self-promotion?

• Is the industry something that interests me?
• Do I have any experience in it that can give me a better insight to its inner-workings?
• How much time should I spend daily/weekly/monthly learning about this industry?
• How heavily searched are the elements this industry represents?
• What turns up on local searches for this industry? (lack of info is an opportunity!)

If the industry was dynamic enough maybe it could be a smart gamble to become a leading voice in online marketing for it. Or maybe if you got contacts out the wazoo that do this kind of work, then you already got your foot in the door. It’s not everyday that industry leaders show up; it’s like a fine wine made with dedication and patience.

As it stands right now, I have close to 6 years of internet and print marketing experience for both commercial and residential real estate. In all fairness, I could attempt to declare myself as a Real Estate SEO Specialist and start calling old contacts left and right whenever I need some extra work. But what happens if Hawaii real estate suddenly goes completely stagnant?

Just earlier this year I was doing optimization for a mortgage brokerage firm and they had decided that they wanted to introduce telemarketing into their campaign and somehow tie it to the website. That was my cue to exit this contract because I don’t want my work getting devalued by something as intrusive and tacky as telemarketing. Ironically enough, about 1 week later, the mortgage market started going into a death spin all over national news.Could you imagine where I would be now if I was strictly a Mortgage SEO Specialist? Perhaps the biggest thing to watch for is the longevity of the industry itself versus how hot it is at the moment. Do you think it’s worth it to dedicate yourself to only one market?

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