Fierce Competition Didn't Stop this Website from Increasing Traffic

Updated: May 5, 2025

A Creative Content Marketing Strategy was the Solution

This case study explores our strategic approach to marketing a client’s dog product, and then used content marketing, to increase website traffic despite operating in a highly competitive category. That made selling what is a fairly simple product like dog leashes difficult to promote online. Leashes are ubiquitous; you can buy one almost anywhere, from drugs stores to big box, let alone on Amazon.

Defining Benefits to Develop the Value Proposition

The first step was to look at the product’s attributes to help us determine what might set our client’s line of dog leashes apart from others in the category. In other words, to find its differentiation value. The most significant differentiators were:



• Grippy rubber threads woven through the leash material
• Leather bands sewn at periodic intervals
  

Messaging translated into product copywriting, such as:

A Reliable Grip is a Safe Grip

Trainers and pet owners love these leashes made with grippy material superior to plain nylon for control and comfort even in wet and cold conditions.

We used this approach and built out the site from there to support the messaging, with appropriate product and lifestyle imagery, and then fully ecommerce-enable the site on Shopify.

We then did keyword research and Search Engine Optimization, along with other basic marketing attraction techniques. Next up, content development to drive traffic.

Content Born from Strategy

Knowing that Google likes to surface sites that answer questions, we had to determine the types of questions dog owners had about leashes. It couldn’t just be any questions. In a competitive category, you have to reach people before they’ve had a chance to shop around too much or are already  accustomed to a particular brand or place to buy. So new dog owners, who needed to buy a leash for the first time, became our target. Their trigger event, or what would cause them to search for a leash in the first place, would be getting a new puppy or rescue dog. Being new to dog ownership, they're more likely to seek advice before buying. That's where my client's knowledge about dogs came in handy. We could use that to come across as subject matter experts, which Google especially likes as part of the EEAT algorithm.

Developing Content Ideas

We then needed to come up with questions to answer that didn't have an overwhelming amount of content written already. This was where we got creative to find a topic or angle that wasn't crowded, so we would have a chance of showing up on the first few pages of Google search results. Based on the deep knowledge my client has about dogs, and the following methods, we came up with a list of typical questions people have.

• Our method for discovering FAQ’s
• Answer the Public, which shows you the questions people are really asking on Google
• A Google search for the topic to see what came up. We looked for “snippet” boxes that provided questions and answers.
  

​Bingo! Leash Length is a Hit.

The question we decided to create content around was:

“What leash length should I buy for my dog?”

To build out the content, I asked my client how she would answer that question. She created an outline, and we proceeded to write and create a page to answer that very question. Of course, we optimized it for search as well.

Results

It's the Gift that Keeps on Giving.

We first published the piece back around May 2021. Even with competitors jumping in with similar articles, Google continues to reward us with great position (most of the time in first place). In addition:

• It generated 71% of organic Google search clicks to the site in the past year.
• RuffGrip gets a snippet for leash width, even with many, many articles about leash length.
• In the past year, the page got 258K impressions vs. 52K for the home page.
• RuffGrip is appearing in Google AI search results now too.

Not all of the content you create is going to yield the same results. What’s important is that you start with a strategic approach, apply creativity, and measure your results. If the numbers are good, follow the same process. If not, analyze your results to determine what you can tweak up and try again. It’s not always easy to find the sweet spot, and there’s a lot more that goes into the content game. With a good strategy, that's also creative, your odds of boosting website traffic go way up.