How This 36-Year-Old’s Musical Instrument E-Commerce Store Earns $7k/Month From SEO
Michael Sandford, a seasoned SEO professional, grew tired of using his expertise to help others succeed in their businesses. He made the decision to venture into running his own e-commerce business.
After a series of fortuitous encounters, Michael acquired an existing business in 2021 known as Big Whistle. This online store specializes in Irish tin whistles, a niche market that Michael saw great potential in despite its perceived obscurity.
Within a short span, Michael and his partner have managed to boost revenue by over 450%, currently earning a monthly income of over $25k.
Continue reading to discover:
- How Michael stumbled upon the business
- The backstory of Big Whistle
- Michael’s previous business endeavor
- His current earnings
- The store’s website traffic
- His primary marketing tactics
- His views on SEO
- His strategy for keywords and content
- His perspective on link building
- His preferred resources and tools
- His main challenges
- His proudest achievement
- His biggest blunder
- His advice for aspiring entrepreneurs
Meet Michael Sandford
Hello, I’m Michael, based in the UK. I currently work with an SEO agency while also managing my e-commerce website, Big Whistle. Music has always been a significant part of my life, and I also own a music blog, although it’s currently inactive.
Why He Created His Site
The inception of Big Whistle holds a distinctive narrative.
I didn’t create Big Whistle; it was originally established over twenty years ago by someone else, and I acquired it in collaboration with two friends. The e-commerce platform focuses on Irish tin whistles and low D whistles, catering to a specialized audience of musicians.
A series of fortunate events led to the acquisition. One of my partners, David, who co-owns the business, played a pivotal role. He had recently acquired a tin whistle manufacturing company, and I assisted him with website development and marketing in 2018.
Witnessing the positive impact of my SEO efforts on David’s business, I felt a mix of satisfaction and frustration. While I was pleased with his success, I yearned to build my own e-commerce venture.
Coincidentally, David shared a conversation he had with a fellow in the tin whistle industry who expressed interest in selling his website.
Big Whistle was a labor of love for its previous owner, Phil, who had cultivated a stellar reputation through the website and a music festival under the same brand.
Upon investigating the site’s potential, I recognized its 20-year-old domain with valuable backlinks and promising search rankings, hinting at further growth opportunities.
The negotiation with the previous owner commenced in early 2021, culminating in a successful acquisition by the summer of the same year.
While Big Whistle may seem niche to many, I understand the value of serving a specialized market, as evident in the joy our products bring to our customers.
Prior to Big Whistle, I founded Pink Wafer, which has its own intriguing backstory.
Originally conceived as a music events brand alongside a blog, Pink Wafer hosted monthly events and featured artist interviews. In 2020, I ventured into print media by launching a physical magazine, just before the onset of the UK lockdown.
Despite encountering setbacks due to the pandemic, I persevered and eventually focused on driving substantial traffic to my blog, leveraging my SEO expertise.
I had been solely focused on the idea of a print publication for some reason. However, when I discovered that a colleague in SEO had a successful music blog with high traffic, it motivated me to shift my focus. Thanks to the reputation I had built through events and the magazine, I was able to recruit talented writers and expand the site. Despite reaching nearly 90,000 monthly sessions and earning $1.6k/month, my progress was halted by Google’s “Helpful Content Update.”
With Pink Wafer, a brand I had established with dedicated writers and high editorial standards, it was disappointing to see Google’s disapproval of my site. Thankfully, I had already launched Big Whistle at that point, softening the blow of my blog’s sudden decline. Sharing my traffic decline in a bloggers’ community sparked a lively discussion and even earned a mention on the Niche Pursuits podcast, which was a silver lining for me.
In the realm of e-commerce, I learned that generating significant revenue doesn’t always equate to huge profits. Working with suppliers typically involves a markup of 30-40%, which then must cover various overhead costs. Despite the challenges, we managed to increase revenue by over 450%, now averaging $25k/month compared to the initial $3k/month. Additionally, venturing into manufacturing with David has added another revenue stream, resulting in approximately $7k/month in profits between both operations.
In terms of marketing strategy, collaborating with influencers has been a valuable asset for us. In the musical instrument niche, influencers who genuinely love their gear have helped promote our products through honest reviews on their channels, fostering strong relationships with their audiences. Approaching influencers without pressure has yielded positive responses, showcasing the power of authentic partnerships.
SEO plays a crucial role in our business, accounting for half of our revenue through organic search. While initially focusing on site structure and category pages, I realized the significance of building our link profile to further enhance our SEO efforts. Currently, my main focus is on commercial keywords, although I do occasionally work on informational content. As an e-commerce site, our goal is to sell products, so I prioritize keeping an eye on emerging brands to add to our inventory. While the search volumes for these brands may be low, our aim is to offer a wide range of quality products to our community.
In terms of link building, I have recently realized the importance of it and have embarked on a fresh link building mission. I reach out to micro-influencers with relevant websites for authentic backlinks, and also respond to editorial and journalist requests for high authority backlinks. By taking these different approaches to backlinks, I believe I cover all bases and have started to see improvements in visibility.
I don’t focus much on creating blog content for the site at the moment, as there are already informational sites in the niche that do a great job. Instead, I prefer to build mutually-beneficial relationships with them. Additionally, I use our email list mainly for seasonal promotions and view it as a safety net in case of any organic traffic issues.
I highly recommend Niche Pursuits as a valuable resource for bloggers looking to bring traffic to their sites and explore new business models. The pragmatic approach of Niche Pursuits sets it apart from other channels that may be more idealistic. I also find content from Odys, a company that deals with aged domains, to be pragmatic and helpful in the SEO space.
When it comes to SEO tools, I rely heavily on Ahrefs for link acquisition and competitor analysis, as well as Google Search Console for understanding organic traffic trends on my sites. Seeing the specific keywords that drive traffic to a page is incredibly valuable. Recently, I have been impressed with SEO Monitor and its constantly improving interface and features. I appreciate how it now tracks and highlights the impact of changes on rankings. It also provides insights on the year-on-year changes in search demand for tracked keywords.
In terms of challenges, shipping always presents difficulties. Fortunately, I don’t deal with this aspect too much, but delays and lost products can occur when managing a large inventory. Additionally, Brexit has resulted in extra fees for our mainland European customers, which is unfortunate. Despite these challenges, our customers are generally understanding of these issues that are beyond our control.
My biggest accomplishment was acquiring the business and taking the risk to see its potential. Growing the business has also been significant, but the decision to acquire it was the most important. One thing I wish I had known when starting out was the importance of internationalizing the business and removing barriers for customers worldwide.
I have been guilty of being complacent at times, particularly with SEO, despite its importance and potential for further growth. It’s crucial to pay attention to diverse marketing channels and not rely solely on organic search and ads for success. Please provide me with a rewritten sentence or passage for me to assist you with.
