Increasing conversions & sales for Krishtel Coaching using SEO and Content Marketing strategies.
Situation
At Krishtel, my role as Growth Marketing Consultant was a dynamic blend of strategic innovation and hands-on execution. I spearheaded a comprehensive brand overhaul, beginning with the development of a fresh visual identity and SEO-focused messaging guidelines.
This strategic groundwork was then translated into a cutting-edge digital presence, complete with a redesigned and re-platformed website.
In tandem, we executed a strategic re-introduction of the brand to both existing and new audiences. A series of thoughtfully crafted drip email campaigns and sales materials were deployed, strategically engineered to captivate attention and capture new leads.
Task
After the rebrand was complete, our social media and outbound marketing strategies were working, so we looked for other opportunities to increase lead flow. We decided the lowest hanging fruit was our search engine presence, so we took steps to increase our search visibility.
I was tasked with increasing our monthly page visits by 50% and ideate 10 pieces of content to prioritize creating for ranking in top 10 on SERPs.
Content Marketing
Keyword Research
On-Page SEO
Link-Building
Using what we learned in our “Discovery” phase, we were able to map out our buyer personas with SEO in mind. Asking ourselves questions like:
“What are they searching for?”
“What words and/or phrases are they using?”
Once we had attributed desires, pain points, and possible keywords to each of our personas, we’re ready to move forward with the process.
3. Business Value Check-in
As part of my process, I like to return back to grounding ourselves in our purpose and mission.
What do we want to be known for?
And, always ensuring what we are working on is still aligned with our overall goals as a company.
Is this going to provide value to our business?
Is this getting us closer to (goal)?
Keyword Research Prep
for Krishtel
1. Seek to Understand
In our SEO keyword research process, I prioritized understanding our customers and their goals. We dove into customer surveys and testimonials, referenced sales call transcripts, and Google Analytics to tell us exactly what brought our clients to us. By delving deep into their needs and aspirations, we were able to tailor our strategies to resonate with their intentions.
2. SEO- Focused Buyer Personas
As we were essentially starting from scratch SEO-wise, it didn’t make sense to go after the #1 spots for the most competitive keywords. Our strategy was to find the long-tail and body keywords with a high monthly search volume, but relatively low competition.
Some examples of this were, “What is business development” “Business Development Plan”, “Business Development Strategy”, “What does biz dev mean” and so on….
6. Competitor Research
Then, I took a look at the SERP for these keywords in Google, in order to determine:
The format of the content ranking in spots 1-5
The search intent
In this example, it’s pretty clear searchers were looking for a definition, a strategy guide, and/ or template, with the intent of possibly creating one on their own.
Since this is a service we directly offer, with high search volumes and relatively low competition for spots 4-10, this is a keyword phrase we decided to target.
4. Keyword Research
With the SEO-focused buyer personas done, I had a good understanding of our target audience and their needs, as well as some seed words I would need for the next phase.
To find more relevant keywords & phrases, I utilized Ahrefs Keywords Research tool.
I input seed words such as “leadership coaching” and “business development training” and used the keyword ideas report to find thousands of related search terms.
5. Search & Competition
Summary
In this process, I leveraged what I learned during the keyword research process, and provided detailed content briefs to our copywriters. Implementing this process was crucial to increasing the quality of our content output.
Leveraging AI in the QA Process
I introduced a process at Krishtel which leverages ChatGPT in the content QA process, in order to check our blog content for any content gaps.
Here’s the process:
1. Enter target keyword into Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer
2. Scroll down to SERP Overview
3. Check 3 relevant top-ranking pages
4. Click Open in and choose Content gap
The Content gap report shows you the common keyword rankings among these top-ranking pages. Export all keywords from the report.
Then, go to ChatGPT and write a prompt like this:
I’m going to give you two things.
#1. A blog post on the [topic]
#2. A list of keywords that are related to the topic
I need you to tell me which keywords, entities, or subtopics I’ve missed in my content based on the keyword list.
And ChatGPT would tell me what keywords were missing! Most times, it will give a pretty extensive list, so I usually identify which ones are most appropriate for our target keyword and give our copywriter an updated QA brief in order to refresh the content accordingly.
LinkedIn Presence
We leveraged Social Media as a tool to boost traffic to our blog posts and website, as well. Posting our blogs to LinkedIn, a platform we were using for business outreach already, was a great way to spark conversation and engagement with our audience.
Repurposing Content
We repurposed blog content and topics found in keyword research into other content types:
Video content (short form)
Social media captions
Instagram carousels
Ad copy/ angles
Content Marketing
for Krishtel
Crafting Content for Search Intent
Since we weren’t already ranking, we targeted less competitive long-tail and body keywords that were still within the confines of what we wanted to be known for. We took note of what type of content our competitors were ranking highly for in SERPs, and produced similarly structured content, ensuring to stay aligned with the searchers intent.
Creating Content Briefs
In order to prioritize content with higher business value, I use Ahrefs’ business value scale, but adapt it to the comapny I’m working with.
Content Prioritization
Making sure your content is internally linked where relevant is very important. Not only does it help users navigate the site, it passes page rank (authority) from one page to another, which can help them rank higher in Google.
In order to audit our internal linking structure, I used Ahrefs’ Link Opportunities tool in Site Audit.
Publishing & Sitemapping
Once all of the t’s were crossed and i’s were dotted, we then moved onto publishing the content to our website blog.
After publishing each new piece of content, I updated our XML sitemap in Screaming Frog and submitted it to Google through Google Search Console in order to allow Google to index our pages.
Performance Analytics
Over the following months, I monitored Performance in Google Search Console and Ahrefs.
Metrics tracked:
Organic traffic to website pages
Position in SERPs
Number of search impressions
On-Page SEO for Krishtel
On-Page SEO Checklist
On-page SEO is crucial to ranking for keywords in SERPs, letting Google know the structure of your webpage, and what topics your webpage covers.
I like to run through this checklist before publishing any new content to our website:
Heading Tags
Page title in h1 tag
Subsequent headings follow correct h2, h3 structure
Title Tag
Includes primary keyword & is aligned with search intent
Doesn’t truncate (<60 characters)
Meta Description
Compelling copy that entices searcher to click
Aligns with search intent (summarizes page content and shows the answer to the searcher’s question is on our page)
URL
Short & descriptive of page’s contents
Includes 1-2 keywords
Avoids non-alphanumeric characters, uses hyphens between words
External links
Takes opportunities to link to sources or authoritative websites
Internal Linking Structure
Summary
After quickly realizing the competitive nature of receiving guest-blogging spots, I started putting in work emailing publications we wanted to be featured on, created a script, and handed it off to a VA.
I also created a new email (highly recommend) and signed up for Press Request Alerts, and created a list of content and quotes for any alerts that aligned with our brand.
Link-Building Strategy for Krishtel
Finding Competitive Searches
First, I started out by using Ahrefs Backlink Checker to find number of root domains linking to competitor sites. This gave me insight to which searches we could possibly advance in SERPs for by increasing our authority (by passing up other sites for number of backlinks).
I then narrowed down which content could be used and/ or repurposed for these purposes.
Relationship Building
6 out of 10 blog posts ranked in top 10 of SERPs
increase in organic traffic
6 Features
in highly authoritative website publications
+50%
increase in calls booked organically
+3000
LinkedIn Followers
50+ Backlinks
from other blogs/ freelance journalists/ business owners
+400%
6/10 Ranked
Next Steps
I parted ways with Krishtel a few months after this work was completed, but if I were to have continued working for them, here’s what I would’ve done to increase results:
Update under-performing content
Start with content that is already currently ranks in spots 4-10 (using Ahrefs’ Rank Tracker tool)
Focus on content you could see movement with on Page 1 of SERPs (low effort/ high impact)
Prioritize most lucrative keywords
Find content gaps using Content Gap report in Ahrefs
Use Surfer to create content briefs & update blogs for better keyword usage, etc.
Leverage Keyword Data Insights
Include a row in our content calendar that captures keyword search to keyword difficulty ratio
Consider Funnel Stage
Map topics to user journey in the Marketing funnel (TOF, MOF, BOF) and add to editorial calendar
Topics lower in funnel may garner less search volume, but possess more value since readers are closer to purchasing decision
Thoroughly Evaluate Competitors
Improve upon what they have
Fill in gaps & create content to out-perform theirs
Determine Internal Linking Structure
BEFORE moving on to copy briefing stage
Create Content Hub/ Pillar Pages: Determine what pages will serve as pillar pages and link internally to subtopics from there (passes authority & builds more topical authority/ credibility)
Featured in:
I’m looking forward to working with you, too.
Let’s chat about your company and goals and see if it’s a good fit for us both.
