Braveheart Sports Case Study
Campaign Results
- Sales grew by 336% (from S$731,000 To $2,460,000)
- We increased website visitors from 414% (from 652,000 visitors to 2,700,000)
- We grew our Twitter following by 315% from (111,000 followers to 350,000)
- We grew our email subscribers from zero to 25,000
Challenge
Sports is as competitive online as it is offline. The online world of sports encompasses teams, leagues, major publications, TV networks, and tens of millions of fans worldwide writing about their teams and sports.
<p”>How did we attract more fans to our sports sites when the competition for their attention was so fierce?
Solution
Driving web site traffic is relatively easy for us with our combined 20+ years of
SEO and marketing experience. The hard part was driving qualified, engaged traffic full of fans likely to buy something. Here’s how we did it:
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
The sports market is very competitive online, and the top competitors were using a combination of organic SEO and
Pay per Click (PPC) marketing to drive traffic and sales.
We implemented an organic SEO strategy using a combination of creative design and the application of advanced
search engine optimization techniques.
We started by conducting technical SEO audits across each of the websites, identifying fundamental issues that were preventing Google from properly crawling, indexing and ranking their content.
Once these foundational issues were fixed, we turned our attention to solving these three major challenges:
- The league, team, and major media outlets were all viewed as authority sites by the search engine, making it nearly impossible to rank for one or two word terms. We had to find a better alternative.
- Build relationships with fans in the US and across Europe, so we needed a customized tactical approach for each site.
- To produce 8,000 pieces of content per year while considering SEO best practices.
How did we achieve success?
By implementing SEO best practices we made sure that the important search engines could find all the content that we were publishing daily.
We used a combination of tools and widgets to make sure that the ongoing content had optimized title tags, had all the appropriate internal links, and automatically shared via the appropriate social networks.
We took the time to research and understand our audience. What topics were fans interested in? We found out and developed content for each topic that sparked major interest. We didn’t waste time and money producing content that fans weren’t interested in.
We were focused on the best performing topics and keywords using a simple metric—revenue per search engine visitor.
Cultivating Referral Sites
Organic search was only one source of traffic. Another potential source of quality traffic was referral sites. On referral sites, sports fans looked for ways to interject themselves into conversations and share our content. The process of identifying and researching quality referral sites was worth our time and effort.
Traffic from Referral sites has a different “feel” than organic search traffic. The ability to “feel” traffic is a benefit of years of experience generating qualified traffic. It’s a sense one develops over time and exposure to many different scenarios where audience building is critical.
People from fan sites were at a different phase in the buying cycle, so we offered them chances to subscribe to newsletters or follow us on Twitter. This allowed us the opportunity to build a strong relationship with them. Relationships built over time and within the context of a common interest lead to sales down the road.
Content as a Strategy
The best way to bring fans back to our sites was to produce interesting and engaging content.
Our content was written for fans by fans. Instead of just regurgitating the news, we gave our opinion on it. That drew fans and debate to the sites and kept users coming back for more.
The network of sports websites that we started with broad content became more niched and focused as it grew. This allowed us to reach the most passionate fans, the fans with burning interests in their teams, the fans who wanted to engage and interact with other fans.
We published great content several times a day, bringing those fans back to the sites on a daily basis.
We also used the
scheduled post feature to ensure that we were publishing at the most optimal time to reach our target audience. For example, with London five hours ahead of New York City, it wouldn’t make sense to email Londoners and New Yorkers at the same time. The scheduled post feature allowed us to publish at local times and ensure we reached the most fans at optimal times.
Social Media
Social media was a great source of traffic for us. We focused on accruing followers for our social media accounts by creating a voice and tone that resonated with fans. Our Twitter followers grew from 111,000 to over 350,000. That meant more fans were exposed to our content, which drove even more visitors to our sites.
If you’re looking for help with SEO, contact Braveheart Digital Marketing today. We are a leading
Digital Marketing Agency in Manchester NH that can help you to improve your website and reach new customers. Contact us today.