How we helped a regional credit union dramatically increase conversions by enabling a max conversions bidding strategy.
SEO + Content Case Study
500+ media placements for niche B2B company
Digital PR can seem out of reach for many niche brands. Through creative production of tangential research, and strategic use of data, we were able to effectively tap into the news cycle and earn impressive media coverage and brand mentions for an online auction site.
Results
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20%
increase of linking root domans
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570+
media placements
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28%
media placements on DA 70+ websites
The Client
Bid-on-Equipment operates an online marketplace for businesses to buy and sell used machine equipment. When they came to Digital Third Coast, they were looking for a strategic partner to help with their visibility online. At the time, they were branching off from traditional machinery sales tactics and created something new — a virtual market for equipment. Their immediate needs were SEO and pay-per-click related, but we saw an opportunity to do more.
The Objective:
As a niche business, they had little to no name recognition outside their field. They had never attempted an outbound PR strategy to increase brand awareness. Like many industry-specific businesses, they didn’t immediately see a place for their company’s content in the mainstream media. We saw an opportunity in their field to enhance on-site optimizations with outward-facing content creation and digital PR aimed at enhancing name recognition and driving more, authoritative links to their website.
“That fit in perfectly, then, with working with DTC. Because then we didn’t have to limit our exposure. It was important for us to get to this broad audience because we’re not just trying to sell machines, we’re trying to get people into the marketplace to interact with us in a much more active manner.”
John Spaw, Technical Operations, Bid-on-Equipment
Identify tangentially relevant topics for original client research
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The Problem
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Finding content to market a niche, B2B company.
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The Solution
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Produce a series of content pieces, grounded in original research, that were tangentially related to Bid-on-Equipment’s field.
To garner more widespread interest in their content, our team researched, created, and produced three content campaigns whose focus maintained a delicate balance between industry relevancy and broad appeal: Most Popular Halloween Candy by State, Most Popular Super Bowl Foods, and Most Popular Quarantine Recipes.
These three subjects tied back to key industries Bid-on-Equipment serves: candy and food production, used restaurant equipment, cooking and other industrial equipment. -
Why it Matters
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When embarking on a media strategy aimed at earning mentions and links on high-authority websites, the content needs to be substantial, authoritative, and hold broad appeal to the publication’s audience.
When working with B2B industries to produce content, we have to find research topics outside their direct line of business to avoid appearing overly promotional or advertorial. Similarly, tangentially-related content, holds more general news interest and is more likely to be cited, referenced, and mentioned in conventional media.
“You’ve got all the big name links that show up. But within all of that is CBS local in Chicago, NBC local in Baltimore. All over the country we now have high-value links, our content is being shown in local distribution areas, which is now giving us name recognition. For a small business like us, to be able to get our name out in front of people, it’s not about needing our service right now, but at that time when all of a sudden you remember the Halloween study you saw or the fast food study during Covid, I’ll take that, that little bit of memory of us.”
Increase inbound linking profile by earning media placements in general news and industry publications
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The Problem
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They had limited visibility in search and needed assistance marketing their new virtual marketplace.
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The Solution
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Expand and diversify Bid-on-Equipment’s backlink profile to raise their site Domain Authority (DA) and improve their rankings in search. To accomplish this, we needed to secure inbound media placement’s from both industry and general assignment news publications.
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Why it Matters
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This strategy went hand-in-hand with the creation and promotion of tangentially related research. Once we had the newsworthy content, we were able to target a mixture of authoritative news websites and relevant, industry-specific publications during our media outreach.
General news publications are viewed favorably by Google; and any links or mentions made on this type of high-authority website carry considerable value. Google also favorably weighs inbound links from industry-relevant publications, and assigns greater authority to the host website.
When this link building strategy paired with concurrent on-site search engine optimization work, the benefits to the client amplified
“I was able to show, we got a link on Fox News and we’ve got a link on Huffington Post, and here’s a new one in Entrepreneur. Those links are nice to talk about, and obviously from an SEO perspective they’ve been invaluable, but they’ve also driven our Domain Authority up. It’s a really interesting interaction between the SEO team. What they’ve done to help me re-understand, from outside the site, how to better get customers and to reorganize things on my site — that dovetailed so well with the campaigns going on because it was almost a doubling effect at some points where we were attacking the problem from directions I hadn’t thought of.”
Three campaigns produced more than 570 media placements, of which more than 500 contained inbound links to Bid-on-Equipment’s website. The average Domain Authority (DA) of these links is 57 — 35% higher than the DA of the client’s website (42).
Results
The client experienced a 20% increase in the total number of linking root domains to their website.
When looking at ranking factors Google considers, a robust backlink profile can significantly improve a website’s visibility in search. Our combined digital PR strategy dramatically increased their website backlink profile, and resulted in greater visibility.
During this 11-month period of work, they experienced a 15% increase in organic impressions. As a result of our digital PR initiatives and on-page SEO work, impressions increased consistently month-over-month, driving more eyes to their brand, services, and website.
28%
Of all media placements were on websites with domain authorities (DA) above 70.
Inbound links from high authority websites pass along greater value than those from less-reputable sites. By targeting leading digital publications nationwide and securing linking, brand mentions, our outreach efforts produced more significant SEO benefits.
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Lyndsey Maddox
Chief Executive Officer
Email Lyndsey. Find out how we can help.