Father Knows Best (Practices)

How to Reach Customers Shopping for Father’s Day

Father’s Day may not get the same amount of attention as Mother’s Day—ask any dad—but consumer spending for Pop is on the rise. According to a 2007 poll conducted by BIGresearch, consumers were expected to spend $9.9 billion on Father’s Day gifts in 2007, with the average person spending $98.34, up from $88.80 in 2006.

If you own or work for a site that sells items that are possible Father’s Day gifts, these suggestions may increase your appeal to consumers who are looking to spend for Dear Old Dad:

• Yahoo!’s keyword insertion tool can work wonders, but be sure to keep an eye on your keywords when using this feature. Keywords such as “father day” will not automatically be changed to “father’s day” when keyword insertion is employed; it may show up without the apostrophe, depending on the search query. To avoid this, create Alt Text for those keywords to help ensure that they appear correctly when placed online.

• Avoid the “feminine” touch in ads that are geared towards men or products that appeal to men. Steer clear of words more typically associated with women, to avoid confusion among searchers seeking Father’s Day gifts. The following example illustrates an ad that could deter people who see it, but which could easily be fixed by changing one word:
  

  Men’s Leather Purse 
  High-quality full-grain leather. Free shipping; no sales tax in USA.

  In case it wasn’t obvious, changing “purse” to “bag” could make all the difference.

• Be careful not to “mom-ize” your listings. While references to flowers and cookie baskets may be great for moms, ads for dads may benefit from focusing on things like gift boxes and mugs, or other “non-mom” items you may sell.

• Listings for tools or appliances perform better when they contain product branding. Be sure to call out the brands you sell, because they catch searchers’ eyes.

• Listings for novelty golf items should focus more on the item itself, rather than the hilarity of the item. Since title and description space is limited, it’s better to use that space to be as descriptive as possible about what you sell.

• Sites that sell golf cart parts and accessories should focus on the accessories in their titles and descriptions. Searchers seeking to buy dad a golf cart accessory probably aren’t interested in buying him parts, as well.

• Personalization helps: If you offer personalized golf clubs or other gifts for dads, be sure to call it out in your ads.

Following these simple rules should help your potential customers bust open their piggy banks to spend for dad—and maybe even find an alternative to the boring old necktie.

– Noah Belson, Content Quality Analyst

Photo courtesy of Karl Gunnarsson via Flickr