How to Get Blogging Done Right - A Case Study

SmartDreamers is a startup in the recruitment marketing automation space and is seeing significant returns on its content marketing efforts. Specifically, let's look at their blog and how they're getting it right.

Today, we will go into more detail on the what, why, and how of the SmartDreamers blog. We're going to bring in some statistics from the backend to emphasize both the short-term gains and the long-term benefits of a solid blog they're seeing. To keep it simple, we'll use the same sections as in our last piece, then connect each aspect with stats showing how each aspect impacts their performance.

Regular Posting Schedule: Boost Your SEO

A regular, consistent posting schedule is one of the first things we tell clients they need to have in place to see gains in their SEO pull. There are many reasons for this, and there is no single definition of the "right" schedule—it depends. We won't examine your subject, industry, staffing, or other factors here. The best answer we can give when asked about this is "experiment and analyze."

That's exactly what SmartDreamers' blogging pros did. The result of their research was to settle on a schedule of 2 regular posts per week, with special reports slipping in as a third post most weeks. This schedule means their reader could expect new content consistently, and the search engines got plenty of new pages chock full of great keywords and subject matter to index. These factors contribute to their steadily increasing page visits and organic search results.

SmartDreamers' organic search numbers are promising; this stat shows nearly 6,000 visits from organic search results pages and a 4.3% contact conversion rate (2-5% is considered a good target) from those visits leading to 256 new prospects in the last 90 days alone.

Over the last 90 days, blog page views have skyrocketed, especially year-over-year. This reflects the change to a consistent posting schedule and the other aspects discussed below, all implemented during the preceding 12 months.

Targeting Conversions: Grow your Contact Database

Conversions are created primarily via links to ebooks and newsletter subscription forms located at the bottom of each blog post and in the header. By using a template for posts, the bottom of each post displays a selection of ebooks on related topics. These links go to a simple form that collects the visitors' contact info to add to SmartDreamers' contact database. Each subscription request does the same, in addition to providing consent for receiving additional emails in the future.

View-to-submission rate is a metric that lets a company know how many people click through and ask for more information by submitting their contact information. This can be a CTA, subscription request, demo request, etc. This number is generally divided by page, category, or a similar factor. 

This shows the blog posts with the top 3 view-to-submission rates. Across industries, an average target for this metric is 3-5%, so these numbers are already looking great!

Appropriate Backlinks: Cluster your Topics

Internal links to other pages are another way to improve SEO pull by creating "topic clusters." These collections of primarily blog posts and landing pages center around a single "pillar page." They show authority in the subject matter, which tells search engines to give more weight to these pages. 

The idea behind these clusters is to give your readers a sort of one-stop-shop for everything they want to know about a subject you're a thought leader in. Whether directly related to your product/service or more generally applicable to your industry or sector, these pages tell people (and search engines) that you know your business and help position you as a trustworthy source of further information.

SmartDreamers' top 5 topic clusters, showing session-to-contact rate (another common conversion metric, cross-industry targets here are in the 2-5% range).

Images: Engage While Increasing SEO Pull

Images are a particular subject when it comes to metrics and KPIs. No one number or set of numbers can tell you the direct impact of the proper use of images. They aid in the overall SEO pull of your blog posts by allowing you to add keywords to the AltText of each image and provide visual interest to your posts.

Both of these impact the ranking of your blogs in that the AltText will be indexed, so search engines find the keywords used, and by engaging your readers, you increase the likelihood of them clicking around and viewing more of your excellent content. This amounts to a general boost in ranking, engagement stats, and organic search pull.

"Entrances" refers to site visitors clicking to another page within your domain from the page listed. These pages were exciting and engaging enough to cause visitors to stick around and view more content. Again, these numbers represent the most recent 90-day period.

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Informative, Non-Sale-y Content: Be Useful

And lastly, we get to the actual crux, the reason the SmartDreamers blog is so successful—the content.

SmartDreamers understands that content marketing is about building lasting relationships with its audience. They get that each new post won't be bringing instant customers. Instead, their readers have come to value the general information they provide, the engaging nature of that content, and the fact that they offer it freely with no expectations. And over time, they know these readers will come to them when the time is right, and they're ready to hire SmartDreamers for their recruitment marketing products and services.

Take another look at the first graph in this article. In the last year, SmartDreamers' blog has gone from just over 1,000 views to nearly 10,000. That's a 10-fold increase in readership. And with their conversion rates hovering near the top end of the ideal 2-5% range, that's a healthy ROI for blogging efforts alone.