Pinot-Meow Anyone?
Do you ever want to sit back, uncork a bottle of wine and enjoy slowly sipping your favorite red with your very best friend? You know, the furry guy curled up at your feet. You may have thought that you were the only one who fantasized about sharing a drink with your pet, but it turns out that you’ve got plenty of company. Cat wine is all the rage!
As the Apollo Peak website asks, “Why drink alone?” The company, which sells wines for both dogs and cats, has been around since October 2015. The brainchild of owner Brandon Zavala, their pet-friendly wines are non-alcoholic and filled with organic herbs like peppermint, chamomile, beets and some tempting catnip. If you’re worried, rest assured that there are no grapes in this wine, since they can be toxic to cats. (Hence the beets which are also red, but pose no risk to our feline friends.)
Apollo Peak is in fact the original creator of all natural cat wine, (Yes, there are copycats) and thanks to the heroic SEO efforts of Brandon, the website is soaring on Google. It is ranking better than its competitors and the business has grown exponentially in the past year and a half.
A unique and memorable product, drinks like the MeowMosa and the MosCATo make the perfect gift for that cat or dog-obsessed aunt or cousin we all have. The business has managed to garner a great deal of attention online and Apollo’s products have been featured in popular publications including People Magazine, The Huffington Post, National Geographic and Today.
Why Brandon Built His Site on Wix
Brandon originally decided to work with Wix because he loved what he referred to as the beauty of the platform. “The layout is gorgeous and I love that I have a website that can get people’s attention without having spent too much money or time on it.” He has even had people offer to make him another site (some of them for free!) but he’s turned them down. “I honestly don’t think anybody can make a better site,” he said.
How Did Apollo Peak Conquer Google?
As the President and CEO of Apollo Peak, Brandon manages all of the SEO work for Apollo Peak. “Wix has been a part of our SEO journey since Day 1,” he told us. He told us that when he first created his website, he “had no idea what SEO was.”
The Wix SEO tutorial and step-by-step process helped him a great deal at the beginning stages. Then, after getting his introduction to SEO from Wix, Brandon continued to research the topic more in depth. “I read on Google to learn how to capitalize on keyword searches and the media links we were getting.” He learned about anchor text and how to get links with his primary keywords. “As we have grown I’ve learned to adapt to what people are searching for and adapt to the market.” As his competition increases, he stays ahead of the curve through savvy SEO!
Once he had an understanding of how SEO works, Brandon did extensive keyword research and decided to target both “cat wine” and “dog wine.” He optimized his content and learned how to write good page descriptions and product descriptions. He also learned about how to keep people on his site for longer periods of time, sending them via internal links to explore other pages of his website.
Meet Brandon Zavala,
SEO Hero, Wine Aficionado and Creative Cat Lover
“I never expected my SEO to grow so quickly!”
Brandon’s SEO work has paid off!
Apollo Peak now ranks first for “cat wine” and “wine for cats,” terms which receive far more search volume than one might expect! Brandon told us that as competition is increased, he’s had to shift his SEO strategy to keep up with current trends.
A self-taught SEO Hero, Brandon is keeping an eye on his traffic and checking his Analytics. Thanks to all he has learned about SEO, Brandon said he feels prepared and ready to go when it comes to optimizing his website for search. The real test of his success, however, is in his bottom line.
Apollo Peak is doing very well, selling their products online and in stores, and the company now boasts a staff of 10 humans who help with production, distribution and marketing as well as some furry friends on board to boost morale more. Thanks to the relatively nascent company, thousands of cats, dogs and their owners are bonding over these unique libations and coming back for more.
Great SEO in a Surprising Niche
New websites are created every day and it can be hard to come up first in Google if your business is in a highly competitive market. What Brandon has learned is that success in SEO is often all about finding just the right niche. It’s far easier to dominate the SERPs and “own” a market for terms that are less competitive. The benefit of the world wide web is that it enables niche businesses to tap into large markets. Turns out, there are lots of people around the world who really want to drink with their cats!
How Do People Find Apollo Peak?
Customers learn about Apollo Peak’s cat and dog wines largely through search engines. The company also brings in a lot of visitors through social media and by word of mouth. Fans say they love the site at first glance and, the truth is, we fell in love pretty quickly as well. Cat wine is just the kind of unique, fun product that makes you laugh, smile and run to share. Brandon himself has been surprised to see just how quickly his business has grown!
When I first started this, I had no idea what SEO was. Did a lot of Google searches to learn what keywords are and how to use them. I do understand more. You want to attract people into your internal pages and u\have good descriptions
As we have grown I’ve learned to adapt to what people are searching for and adapt to the market. I know we have people who have copied our website and try to get attention through Google ads. THink about how to work around that
Wix has been a part of our journey since Day 1. Signed up in Oct 2015 - from day one. Looked up Wix. Thought it was a cool drag and drop site to work with. It made it easy for me to be able to set up a site and work with SEO to bring people into our website and into our product. Helped us get where we were today. The beauty of it. The layout is gorgeous. Make something look cool
Helping small businesses like ours. Get the attention of people without spending too much time and money to do it.
I don’t think anybody can make a better site.
The SEO tutorial and step by step process really helped me at the beginning stages. Helped me get set up. Then looked on Internet to learn how to capitalize on keyword searches and media. When an article comes out, I want to link to our key search term. Wix SEO tutorial help.
We like Wix!