Attribute: B2B

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About Westbridge

As a renewable energy company investing in promising projects, Westbridge.energy was confident that SEO was an important channel for attracting investor leads. 

This sector presents an extremely small niche with a handful of important and highly lucrative keywords. Hence, we knew that even ranking for a few hundred keywords would create sizeable value for Westbridge. 

Westbridge wanted to ramp up SEO spending slowly, so we initially started on a smaller budget.

Team

Westbridge Team

Action Plan

When Westbridge came to us, they only had their domain operational for 3 months. We were effectively working with a completely new site. 

This is extremely exciting for the NUOPTIMA team as it gives us a chance to shape Westbridge’s journey completely! With any new site, our goal is assert topical dominance and authority through writing great content and building high-quality links.

Backlinks

We were able to acquire topical and relevant backlinks with great anchors and all within our monthly budgets.

Content Writing

We were also wholly responsible for all the on-site content for Westbridge. For most of our clients, this is only blog content. However, the Westbridge team needed help with some general on-site landing page content which we were more than happy to do!

Technical SEO 

For the majority of clients, we focus on on-site content and backlink building. However, Westbridge lacked the internal development team to deliver on the on-site technical SEO requirements that Google is currently looking for from top-ranking sites.

There are lots of requirements for Technical SEO, from page speed to LCP. This is because of a recent update requiring websites to have green web vitals.

We see SEO as a holistic task with web development, and so internally, we have a web development team capable of working inside WordPress, Magento, Shopify and other top CMS’. Our internal team was quickly deployed to further build out the website, publish all the content we had created and ensure the domain met Google requirements.

About Netmap.net 

Netmap.net is a trusted provider of digital security solutions. The VPN company uses advanced data and traffic encryption to secure the privacy of its users across different channels, platforms and devices. After doing a series of technical work and experimentation to become the most effective and reliable VPN provider in cyberspace, the developers seemed unhappy with the initial results. So they reached out to us at NUOPTIMA in hopes of finding the best marketing solutions to their needs. Hand in hand, we started working with Netmap.net in November 2019 with the goal of optimising every little detail of their web structure to get their traffic and sales multiplied.   

Action Plan

Our main priority was to help Netmap.net increase authority and brand awareness, targeting potential consumers from e-commerce sectors, streaming services and B2C. At first glance, the site seemed to be working pretty well; however, some issues cannot be concealed easily. There were multiple errors in URL structures and redirects, and some content pages are duplicated, which is obviously not appealing to search engines.

Technical SEO

After conducting an in-depth SEO audit, we made quick changes to ensure we were meeting Google’s guidelines. 

• Fixed duplicate/canonical pages
• Resolved indexation problems
• Created proper meta tags for each page
• Set up Google Search Console configuration
• Removed language detection and redirects 
• Created suitable Hreflang tags
• Improved page loading speed
• Retrieved some previously deleted pages
• Enhanced Core Web Vitals
• Added Table of Content to every blog post
• Practised internal linking
• Switched from www to non-www
• Repaired server-side rendering issues

By combining technical SEO and content strategies, which will be discussed below, we were able to refresh the domain anew and witness positive results in just a couple of months. 

Content Strategy

The goal for Netmap.net was to rank for the keyword “Buy VPN” in the Russian and Ukrainian markets. So we planned to write at least 50 pages of niche-related content, all optimised with our targeted keywords, as shown in the screenshot below.

Those pages were basically a combination of landing pages and blog articles tailored to achieve the top, middle and bottom of the funnel marketing. We created landing pages that underline specific keywords, such as “VPN for XYZ website” and “Top VPN services”, with the intention to rank for those keywords on Google and drive as many top-funnel audiences to the site as possible. The top of the funnel (TOF) is the marketing stage where you start generating leads and converting people from being “unaware” to “fully aware” of your business. Once people know a thing or two about the brand, our next step was to wriite blog pages that touch on topics like “How to Access Hidden Websites”, discussing potential solutions to the pain points of the targeted consumers. This strategy, known as the middle of the funnel (MOF), is highly essential in customer acquisition and engagement. We also extended our blog campaign toward specific websites that might benefit most from VPN services. The last stage of the marketing funnel aims to reach bottom-funnel traffic, particularly these are audiences that manifest their buying intent.

About InstaGrow

InstaGrow is a social media promotion site offering real engagement packages to corporate or individual accounts for organic growth. As a growth service, InstaGrow understands the importance of investing in SEO and other unique marketing channels to see consistent sizable results. 

InstaGrow came to us with barely any traffic due to its novelty and very small, specialised niche. NUOPTIMA has worked with multiple startups of all sizes, so we know exactly how to get the most out of a slim market and bring in as much traffic as possible to the site.

Action Plan

The goal was to boost traffic volume for InstaGrow in the shortest possible time. So our in-house team worked on creating hundreds of rank-worthy landing pages tailored to long-tail service-related keywords to attract quality visitors. Because the InstaGrow website was relatively new, there were noticeable issues affecting essential ranking factors, including site speed and schema markup. Our technical SEO strategies were valuable in improving its overall structure and maintaining exceptional web performance. 

Content Strategy For InstaGrow

To achieve our initial plan, we opted for long-tail keywords as these are highly targeted. That means there’s an increased chance of reaching high-converting traffic if we use a keyword that specifically responds to a searcher’s intent. For instance, if someone types the key phrase “buy 2k Instagram followers” in the search bar, that curious visitor is more likely to convert into a paying customer than a searcher who uses a more generalised term. 

Because the competition for long-tail keywords is relatively low, ranking well is often very realistic and attainable. Shown in the image below is a list of suggested long-tail keywords for InstaGrow. As you can see, the first three keywords, “buy 2k Instagram followers”, “15 Instagram likes”, and “buy 15 Instagram followers”, accumulate hundreds of clicks and hold high places on the SERP, showing high intent for those specific keywords.

Results

We were able to produce over 750 landing pages for InstaGrow between May 2019 and January the following year. In such a short span of time, InstaGrow was able to see steady growth in organic traffic as a result of our combined SEO efforts.

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About Cubux

Cubux is a mobile phone application for home / personal budgeting. It is primarily a mobile phone application. 

Cubux approached the NUOPTIMA team after a heavy penalisation from Google. The previous SEO agency had acquired inauthentic backlinks in an attempt to work around Google’s algorithm. Whilst in the short term Cubux saw results, once Google introduced a new update the domain was quickly deranked and a huge amount of SEO progress was lost. 

The NUOPTIMA team took this on as a recovery and scale project. It was imperative to gain back as much of the traffic Cubux had lost, and to begin ranking for new and important keywords.

Team

Action Plan

After a thorough technical audit and deep research into the latest Google algorithm update we prioritised a cleansing of Cubux’s backlink profile. In our research we identified a blue ocean opportunity for Cubux to also expand more aggressively from Russian into English. Finally, we identified the lack of dedicated landing pages for key search terms we were imperative to address immediately.

Backlinks

Cubux had acquired a large number of toxic backlinks which were the main cause of Google penalising and deranking the site. This was visible through loss of traffic for any non-branded search keywords.

The NUOPTIMA team manually sorted through every single backlink Cubux had acquired since inception and manually disavowed those we believed were negatively impacting the site. 

As we disavowed backlinks we quickly saw an improvement in Cubux’s search visibility. The improvement was enough for us to make a decision to not acquire any new backlinks given the fragility of the domain.

Landing Page Creation

After discussing target keywords for Cubux, we immediately created dedicated landing pages targeting them as part of a comprehensive Fintech SEO strategy.

For example:

• Home budgeting software: 
• Personal budget software: 
• Free budget software: 

Generally, target keywords for any busines are more competitive and transactional in nature. As a result, it takes longer to rank for those keywords given the need to build topical and domain authority in the niche. 

Hence, the first action we take with 90%+ of our SEO clients is to build out target keyword landing pages to give them as much time to rank as possible.

Content Writing

There were a small quantity of transactional and informational keywords related to personal budgeting software which we quickly wrote out content for in the first few months. 

In order to support these pages to rank, and without the ability to drive backlinks without further risking the fragility of the domain, we focused on building topical authority futher with the ideal consumer persona.

At the time, Cubux’s app was only accessible for iPhone users. With the Cubux team we identified a broader variety of keywords their ideal consumer persona would use and created hundreds of articles targeting these keywords. 

The result was a huge traffic influx of potential Cubux users who were then shown a variety of conversion blocks and display ads to encourge app installation. 

You can see some example content pieces below.

Example Content

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About NUOPTIMA

NUOPTIMA is a growth agency. We have the capabilities internally to deliver nearly all online digital marketing services and have an expert team doing so. We typically acquire clients through word of mouth or referrals, given the quality of work we deliver. However, we have been thinking about utilising SEO to produce a steady stream of new clients. 

The difficulty of using SEO to find new digital marketing services is that the industry is very mature. Most digital marketing service keywords and niches are highly competitive. However, we tasked ourselves internally with searching for sub-niches where there may be an opportunity to acquire clients long term.

Team

Action Plan

After analysing various niches and thinking about the long term e-commerce space, we hypothesised that Amazon digital marketing services might be an interesting sub-niche. After analysing the competitive landscape, we quickly identified that most Amazon store owners only have a small pool of reliable service providers to buy from. 

We also analysed the SEO digital marketing space, hunting for sub niches, and what we found was incredibly interesting. There exists a wide host of sector-specific SEO niches, such as SEO for physiotherapists, which remain untapped.

Content Writing for Amazon

NUOPTIMA previously had very little topical authority in the Amazon niche. Our parent company, Alphagreen Group Limited, does buy Amazon brands, but this link is limited at best in SEO perspectives. Hence, we focused on creating high-quality Amazon-related content. A quick Google search reveals we now have 296 individual pages related to Amazon.

Those 296 pages are ranking for just under 2,000 keywords in the Amazon niche, in under 2 months. 

The long term goal is to rank for keywords such as “Amazon Agency”, which would routinely bring in high intent leads to NUOPTIMA.

Content Writing for SEO Sub Niches

Given that NUOPTIMA already has high topical authority in the SEO niche, our focus was on building high intent landing pages for various sub-niches. We are in the process of systematically creating hundreds of pages targeted at specific verticals. Google has begun to index these keywords below.

With SEO, it is always key to first write the content and publish it as soon as possible. We want to maximise the time Google has to read, ingest and index our pages. After we work through our content backlog, we revisit the pages to improve UX/UI and behavioural factors. 

This is only the beginning of NUOPTIMA’s SEO journey, but from current indexation leading indicators, the future looks bright. By ranking these pages organically, we expect to see materially lower customer acquisition costs; the below table highlights a cost per click of over £18 just for “SEO for estate agents”, which we’re very likely to rank organically for.

Backlinks

Given our move into the Amazon niche, it was vital we married any new content with high-quality backlinks. Our process for identifying high-quality sites includes measuring the publisher’s site quality. We analyse their inbound and outbound backlinks and identify how Google treats them. 

If we see a site is on the rise in organic traffic, it’s a good indication that Google looks upon them favourably. It also means that acquiring a backlink from that site is highly valuable – in other words, it’s an appreciating asset! 

You’ll notice we’re heavily introducing Amazon-related anchors into our backlink profile to further signal our authority to Google.

Customer Review

Award Nominated Case Study

Our cybersecurity case study was shortlisted in the Drum Awards, standing out among thousands of entries from international growth agencies. This recognition highlights just how effective and innovative our Microminder SEO strategy is in this highly competitive market.

About Microminder

Microminder, with over 35 years in the cybersecurity industry, has established itself as a leading IT and cybersecurity solutions provider. Focused on servicing the dental industry, they have built a reputation for understanding and tackling unique cybersecurity challenges, transcending beyond mere IT support to become strategic IT business partners.

Their service offerings are comprehensive, including Microsoft Cloud Solutions, robust cybersecurity measures, and VoIP Telephony. This array of services ensures clients not only maintain efficient IT operations but also stay safeguarded against the latest cyber threats, keeping them technologically advanced and secure.

The company’s strength is its team of experienced professionals who are committed to innovation and delivering cutting-edge cybersecurity solutions. Microminder places a high emphasis on recruitment, training, and development, ensuring their team is at the forefront of the cybersecurity field. This dedication to excellence and continuous improvement makes Microminder a trusted partner in the cybersecurity landscape.

Team

Microminder Team

The Results

The SEO efforts for the project yielded impressive results: a total of 122 backlinks were established, significantly enhancing the website’s authority and online presence. Additionally, the website now ranks for 2,700 keywords, demonstrating a broad and effective reach in search engine results. Out of these, 128 pages have achieved rankings within the top 100 search results, indicating a strong and widespread online visibility across multiple pages and topics. These improvements across key SEO areas now generate Microminder 20 quality leads every month.

Organic Traffic

• Organic traffic went from an average of 13 when they first started working with us in July 2022 to an impressive 3,056 as of November 2023 – that’s 235x more visits from organic search.

• Their organic traffic value skyrocketed to $14,601, a significant leap from the initial $106.

Organic Keywords

• In July 2022, Microminder had no keywords ranking in positions 1-3. After 16 months of our SEO strategy, they now have 40 and growing. 

• They now have 358 keywords ranking on the first page of search results. This is a fantastic result, considering when we first started working with Microminder, there was only 1.

Cybersecurity Backlink Results

• Microminder only had two referring domains but now has 122 high-quality and relevant backlinks, helping to improve its authority in the cybersecurity space.

How We Achieved These Results

In our SEO action plan for Microminder, we initially conducted a thorough analysis of their website’s structure, particularly after they transitioned to a new domain. We quickly identified a significant gap: the absence of dedicated landing pages for each of their service lines. This oversight was critical as it meant that Microminder was not effectively capturing service-specific search intent, leading to a loss of potential bottom-funnel traffic.

Our plan involved several key steps to help address this:

• Development of Service-Specific Landing Pages: We advised Microminder on the creation of distinct landing pages for each service they offered. This strategy was aimed at capturing targeted search queries specific to their diverse services like Microsoft Cloud Solutions, cybersecurity, VoIP Telephony, rental, and consultancy.

• Content Creation and Optimization: Recognizing the importance of content in SEO, we focused on producing technical yet engaging content. This content was meticulously crafted to include service-level keywords, ensuring that it would rank well in search engine result pages (SERPs) and attract the right audience.

• Collaboration with the Design Team: We worked closely with Microminder’s design team to ensure that the new landing pages were not only optimized for search engines but also for conversion rate optimization (CRO). Our goal was to make these pages not just discoverable but also compelling and user-friendly, encouraging visitors to engage with the services offered.

• SEO and CRO Optimization: In our collaboration, we emphasized the importance of balancing SEO with CRO. We guided the design team on best practices for both, ensuring that the pages were structured and designed to perform well on Google while also providing a seamless and persuasive user experience.

• Continuous Monitoring and Improvement: Post-implementation, we set up a system for ongoing monitoring and analysis of the performance of these landing pages. This allowed us to make data-driven decisions and continuous improvements, ensuring that the pages remained effective over time in both attracting and converting potential clients.

By implementing this comprehensive SEO cybersecurity strategy, we went all out to significantly increase Microminder’s organic traffic, generate leads, and grow their average monthly revenue.

High Ranking Keywords

In our SEO campaign for Microminder, we focused on elevating their rankings for critical cybersecurity keywords, including: “penetration testing,” “OT security solutions,” and “cyber security company.” Our strategy involved comprehensive keyword analysis and optimization of website content to enhance relevance and authority in these areas. This targeted approach led to Microminder achieving high search rankings for these key terms, significantly boosting their online visibility and business inquiries and demonstrating the effectiveness of focused SEO in the competitive cybersecurity industry.

Here is an example of some of Microminder’s top-performing keywords in the SERPs:

Keyword	Position	Volume
uk cyber security companies	1	40
cyber security companies dubai	1	30
vulnerability assessment and penetration testing companies in dubai	1	30
uk pen testing companies	2	40
pen testing companies usa	2	20
top pen testing companies uk	3	30
internet security company	4	450
top pentest companies	4	90
digital security companies	4	70
vulnerability assessment company	4	30
security solutions companies	5	150
cybersecurity software companies	5	70
security operations center checklist	5	30
pci penetration testing vendors	5	20

Technical Content Writing 

For Microminder, a client required to demonstrate a top level of cybersecurity expertise, we recognized the need for content that is both accurate and engaging. To achieve this, we formed a specialized content team, combining technical knowledge with writing skills, to ensure the delivery of top-quality, industry-relevant content. This consisted of the following:

• 1 Head of SEO
• 1 Lead Editor
• 1 Senior Content Writer
• 1 Content Writer
• 1 Cybersecurity Consultant

With the challenge of competing against established brands, we focused on building topical authority for Microminder. Our strategy was to create informative and comprehensive pages, positioning Microminder as a credible and authoritative source of cybersecurity information on Google, capable of outranking even the most prominent competitors. This included producing service pages, listicles, and blogs.

To maintain the highest standards of quality and accuracy possible, we also implemented the following rigorous editing process:

Stage	Description
Initial Draft Review	Writers created the initial draft focusing on technical accuracy and engagement. The lead editor then reviewed it for technical and readability standards.
Revisions	Modifications were made based on the lead editor’s feedback to align with Microminder’s standards and guidelines.
Secondary Review	The lead editor conducted a second review, focusing on minor adjustments for publication readiness.
Expert Review	Microminder’s cybersecurity experts verified technical accuracy and industry relevance. Final changes were incorporated.
Publication	The approved content was published on the landing page to engage and inform Microminder’s audience.

Below are some examples of the blog topics we covered, showcasing our ability to translate complex cybersecurity topics into clear, informative, and engaging content.

Landing Page SEO and CRO Optimisation

When developing cybersecurity content for Microminder’s service-specific landing pages, we adopted a bespoke approach. Each landing page was carefully crafted to highlight the unique features of the respective service, requiring close collaboration with the design team to ensure content and design coherence.

Our strategy for Microminder focused on creating service pages optimized for both search engine rankings and conversion efficiency. Recognizing the importance of bottom-funnel traffic, we emphasized conversion-oriented design and copy, including strategically placed call-to-action (CTA) elements. This approach resulted in landing pages that effectively engaged visitors, guiding them towards desired actions such as inquiries or sales.

To illustrate the effectiveness of our approach, we have included screenshots showcasing one of  Microminder’s top-performing landing pages below. These visuals highlight the specific sections of the Penetration Testing Services landing page, demonstrating how our content strategy was implemented in accordance with the site’s overall design and functionality.

Conclusion

Over 16 months, our team at NUOPTIMA worked closely with Microminder to revolutionize their online presence, achieving remarkable results in traffic, keyword rankings, and overall digital authority.

Microminder’s organic traffic saw an astronomical increase, resulting in a significant organic traffic value of $14,601, up from a mere $106. This growth was not just in quantity but also in quality, as they now get 20 leads every month with a website ranking for 2,700 keywords and 128 pages in the top 100 search results.

Contact NUOPTIMA today to learn more about our SEO services and how we can help you replicate similar results.

Generating leads for an agency on demand is hard—especially for the type of clients we love working with. 

Since we’re selling an £18k to £45k contract (that’s between £3.5k to £7.5k per month for a minimum of 6 months), it’s challenging to find qualified leads. The best ones came from brands that know what they want and are actively searching for SEO assistance. Likewise, we also had strong leads come through referrals from our network.  

Here’s the thing. Most of these leads already had two things going for them. They either knew who we were already or understood the value of SEO and were seeking support from an agency like us. 

We had to think about this realistically. What was holding us back from signing client after client? Considering the impressive results we’ve achieved with our clientele, we trusted our service was providing what we knew it could. So, since our close rate is 30% on proposals, we hypothesised our issue was to do with getting people to knock on our door.

What Limitations Were We Facing?

We knew that outbound prospecting for SEO is very hard. There are many things that must be right timing-wise for a business to consider SEO as a growth channel. So, it’s imperative we position ourselves as the obvious choice when they are ready. 

As you can see, this highlights a clear limitation for our growth potential. Our ability to scale is tied to our brand awareness. 

Fortunately, we have lots of drip-feeding strategies to combat this, such as attending events and running workshops. However, this is a long-term approach. We wanted a quick catalyst to get a bunch of new leads through the door.

We needed to get crystal clear on what was stopping businesses from coming to us for growth support rather than us reaching out to them. We’ve already emphasised some of the pain points above, including the need for strong brand awareness. More than this, though, through our efforts to onboard brands, we realised many of them had one thing in common. The decision-makers (CEOs, CMOs, and marketing leads) didn’t fully understand or grasp the true value of doing SEO work. 

Education and SEO awareness are monumental in attracting new clients, thus, indicating another pain point in our strategy. So, what else did we identify?

• SEO is expensive and perceived as a “spammy” word, which fundamentally means people don’t truly understand it.
  
• Over 60% of people, when asked, believe SEO takes 3-6 months to generate results (which is true for new sites), so businesses need to be confident in investing upfront. However, many don’t know how to predict if their SEO tactics are working until months down the line, potentially costing them thousands. 

These are just some things that could be stopping leads from getting through our door quickly. So, here’s what we did.

We decided a webinar series would be an effective way for us to speak to hundreds of people in one go, increase their awareness of us, and show our authority in the space. It gave us a chance to teach the correct way businesses should think about SEO and for us to create our own category. 

We developed this hugely successful cohort-based program, giving away our valuable internal strategies and educating decision-makers on why SEO is so important. We revealed the types of results they could achieve, how to execute a top 1% SEO strategy and how to interpret leading indicators to communicate their probable ROI. 

Results

We were astounded by the success of the SEO Accelerator. During the program, we never asked people to enquire with us or try to sell at any point. This was really important for us. The objective of the webinar series was never to close revenue; it was always to educate and increase awareness. With that in mind, here are a few noteworthy statistics that we’re extremely proud of: 

• 568 attendees
• £90k in closed contract value
• £200k pipeline contract value

The best bit? This is all INBOUND.

We were able to provide practical, tangible solutions to common SEO problems. Instead of directly selling our services, we demonstrated our knowledge and proficiency in this area. Building this trust between our brand and the wider community is huge in building long-term relationships in the industry and developing a positive reputation for ourselves. 

How Did We Do It?

The execution came around, and we knew we had to get this right. Sure, we wanted to boost our brand awareness and promote our services, but the priority was to showcase our unique expertise. Demonstrating this was the key to establishing a strong, genuine brand and positioning ourselves as specialists. The SEO Accelerator had to provide authentic, sincere, and practical advice. Businesses might not have trusted us with their growth if it didn’t. 

The core idea of the SEO Accelerator was to educate investors, marketers, VCs, and founders about SEO, its potential, and how to predict ROI. We decided it would be a four-week cohort-based course. The reason behind this decision was definitely lacklustre. We guessed that four weeks would give us as much exposure to our ICP as possible while covering our core topics in enough detail. 

We view SEO as having four pillars. So, after some deliberation, we decided on four key topic areas to cover over four sessions: Strategy, Backlinks, Content, and Technical. 

Within these, we explored the following:

• How to plan, model, and execute an expert SEO strategy
• Core content lessons, including how to structure SEO pieces, perform keyword research and rank in position #1
• Demystifying technical SEO and helping brands understand when it’s time to invest and communicate priorities with the tech team
• Finally, everything they need to know about securing backlinks, how to use them and when they are useful

After coming up with the idea of an SEO Accelerator, we gave ourselves a 3-week deadline to sort out the logistics since the webinar was not our only business priority. Alongside creating and marketing this intensive program, we had to run the business and service our existing clients. After the initial 3-week setup, we had 4 weeks to market the event.

Preparing for the Launch in 3 Weeks

Setting up a high-converting landing page

In those first few weeks, our main goal was to set up a landing page to collect leads and tease attendees about what was in store. We knew it had to have a killer headline and loads of social proof, so we turned to our market research to guide us.

From our sales calls, we knew people cared about having ample traffic and that SEO is at the top of their mind right now due to increased CACs on Facebook. It was clear that we could highlight SEO’s cost-effectiveness and demonstrate how it can save money across the board. 

Ultimately, we created the headline, “Learn How To Increase Your Site’s Organic Traffic by 20k & Cut Your CACs Permanently”.

We could have gone with 100k or 50k as the enticing figure, but we had an exact case study that took a website from 0 to 20k, making it even more believable. Even if we had a website that went to 100k in organic traffic, it seems a bit far-fetched. We wanted to be realistic; our buyers are sophisticated and don’t fall for crazy stats.

Acing this landing page was crucial to getting businesses interested, so we had to make every line captivating, encouraging them to read the next. 

Using social proof to showcase our leadership in this category 

Next, we focused our efforts on evoking as much social proof as possible. We reached out to our network and any companies we had done SEO for, had ever created proposals for or had given free SEO advice.

We’re good at what we do, so testimonials came flying in, and many companies were happy for us to use their logos. With these, we created a wall of logos and leveraged each relationship as a teaser to get more.

This additional layer of social proof proved to people who didn’t know us that we were worthy of their time and attention. Moreover, it created a sense of demand and solidified our expertise.

Creating a seamless sign-up process

Creating an exceptional sign-up process was a crucial step, and it took us about a week to work out. We’re not going to reinvent the wheel here, so we turned to some proven strategies for guidance. Firstly, knowing about the insane success of Harry’s referral mechanism, we knew we wanted a referral loop. 

For context, Harrys captured more than 15,000 emails on day one of their campaign. By the end of the week, they had skyrocketed their numbers, getting to an astounding 100,000 emails. Their initial launch relied on email capture, and the referral system was at the very heart of it. For every friend referred, people would receive a free product. They used the idea of gamification as people tried to earn as much free product as they could. They took various steps, such as installing a visual aid to track each “players” progress, and by the end of the campaign, referrals accounted for 77% of the total campaign sign-ups, which was 65,000 people. This is an example of how powerful a good referral system can be, which is why we knew this was crucial to our own sign-up process.

Furthermore, the team didn’t want the price to be an objection to people signing up for the webinar; thus, we made it free and more accessible. Our goal was to increase reach, not make money on the front end. However, to not diminish the value, we used the words “apply for access,” similarly to how Reforge has “Apply” on a $2k coaching course. Considering how much value we planned to pack into this course, we wanted the Accelerator to feel exclusive. 

We had to make sign-up seamless to maximise reach. Although we could’ve built an in-house referral tool, the team tested loads of referral SaaS tools to save time. The verdict? Honestly, they were subpar at best. Most had poor UI and were way too difficult to use. 

We eventually chose one that let us do something similar to Harrys and provided milestone rewards. Every time a user signed up, they would be redirected to /refer-friend, giving them access to a free technical SEO audit and lifetime access to the recordings if they referred a certain number of friends.

The results were wild. 27% of all our sign-ups were referrals, and this is why:

• People like to access free stuff
• (More importantly) the SEO Accelerator provides free education with fantastic social proof backing it. It’s only natural that you want to be the person telling your team to sign up.

The landing page also called out personal avatars, telling readers which sessions are suitable for which employee titles. So if you’re a CMO, you could invite a content writer to attend the 2nd session. Additionally, we clearly stated how each person (investor, marketer, and founder) benefits from attending the SEO Accelerator.

Deciding our most suitable growth channels

Our secondary goal during this preparation period was to define our growth channels for acquiring attendees. We wanted to ready all the creative marketing assets as soon as possible so we could push our course over the 4-week marketing period with minimal delays.

Fortunately, we already knew our audience lived on LinkedIn, so we decided we would do a lot of organic posting. Since we didn’t want to budget too much marketing expense on this, we avoided running LinkedIn ads as they are known to be costly.

We were yet to run any ads on social platforms for our SEO services, so we thought offering a free SEO Accelerator would introduce us effectively. We decided we’d run on Facebook & Twitter initially, but halfway through planning, we also added TikTok to our schedule.

Alongside organic posting on LinkedIn and ads across other social platforms, we also decided to do the following:

• Partnerships ended up becoming an essential channel and drove immense results
  
• We have some members in our team who are experienced in Cold Email and had a bunch of inboxes already warmed up. This was a good opportunity to target some key accounts.
  
• We also tried a tool that let us DM Reddit users at scale, but we’ll share more on this later.

Now we knew the channels, we had to create a bunch of static creative assets optimised for Twitter and Linkedin.

We didn’t have much time to run assets across Facebook Ads, so we crafted one creative piece. It had a thumb-stopping hook and a few different versions for opening messaging. We managed to shoot it on an iPhone over 1.5 hours. Our brilliant video editing team finished it by adding subtitles and some quick animation.

So in those 3 weeks, we were planning and creating like crazy, accomplishing our major goals, including:

• Spun up a landing page with loads of social proof
• Decided on our growth channels
• Designed all the creatives we needed to execute

Marketing the SEO Accelerator in Record Time

The groundwork was set; now, we had 4 weeks to market this event and make it a success. In this next section, we’re diving into how we executed our marketing plan and got people excited for our sessions. 

Developing a killer organic LinkedIn posting strategy

Instead of posting from a company page, we utilised the 3 personal profiles of Alexej Pikovsky, Viktor Bartak, and Aman Ghataura. We leveraged each network and found these would perform better than company profiles as we already had a good rapport with our audiences. 

The SEO Accelerator was huge for us and encompassed a company-wide effort. We wanted to make our social strategy seamless and cohesive where possible. So, we used all the free resources we could find on Twitter and LinkedIn to optimise a profile. Then, we set about creating a guide for our whole team to do it too. 

We needed to create a post formula that enticed readers in and converted well. Naturally, we analysed all the top SEO influencers to work out which of their posts performed the best. We found some obvious patterns with hooks, using big numbers, and leveraging case studies for social proof (as you can see literally everything is social proof). 

Initially, we followed a similar pattern with our first handful of posts, changing the necessary sections for our case studies. Eventually, we developed a simple framework of writing out all the pains our Ideal Customer Persona feels about doing SEO and what we would have to say to make them curious enough to alleviate that pain.

For instance, people feel a genuine pain that writing SEO-optimised content is hard and demanding. With this in mind, our post hook was “Here are the 7 changes we made to our blog pieces that helped us win Featured Snippets 34% more often”.

After identifying all the pain points our audience experienced, we created posts for each one. We aimed to link hooks to real case studies, used supporting graphics as proof, and posted them across all our profiles over the 4-weeks leading to the Accelerator. Astonishingly, organic LinkedIn posting generated around 25% of our sign ups. 

Testing ads on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and TikTok

The results from our ad strategy took us by surprise. We ran the same ad across Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, and TikTok, over the course of 4 weeks. Some were a success, and others were a learning curve, to say the least.

• Facebook gave us a Cost Per Sign Up of around £12
  
• Youtube gave us a Cost Per Sign Up of around £50
  
• TikTok didn’t work at all (we think we didn’t have the right creative)
  
• Twitter traffic was incredibly cheap and had huge engagement metrics but resulted in a tiny amount of sign ups. We were very, very surprised by this outcome.

Facebook yielded the best results overall, but it was clear that ads didn’t impact sign ups as much as you may think.  

Cold emailing decision-makers

As we had a lot of in-house expertise in cold emailing, we took a very specific route. We ran cold email campaigns targeting CEOs, CMOs, and Head of Growths of companies that had raised money from investors in the last 18 months.

In total, we hit up around 1000 leads, generating around 30 direct sign ups (excluding referrals). That’s 3% which turned out to be pretty good, especially when you compare it to other cold email campaigns. For instance, our book-a-call rate for an SEO cold email lead gen campaign was abysmal the last time we tested (close to 0.2%), so this was performing 15x better.

The reason we attributed to this was because we were offering free value upfront. In fact, these 30 leads were incredibly valuable. This was us targeting with spears and getting in front of 30 new accounts which are qualified buyers from a budget and decision-maker perspective.

Reddit cold DM automation 

When we made the decision to use Reddit’s cold DM automation as one of our growth channels, we already had a few predictions. Firstly, we’re a team of growth hackers, we’re keen to try out new tools and jump on emerging trends where we can, so naturally, we knew this would just be a bit of fun! We had low expectations and weren’t convinced it would generate any significant leads (but we’re all for being proved wrong and finding a new tool).

Considering this, why would we invest our funds and time into a potentially useless tool? Well, here’s the thing. The Reddit Cold DM tool is something that may work today but could easily become banned tomorrow. It doesn’t fit the ethos of Reddit, nor does it work with the platform. It’s a short-term tactic / hack, but it’s likely to fizzle out long-term once enough people realise the potential of this tool. So, there was no time like the present to give it a go.

We paid £500 to use the tool and send out 250 Reddit DM’s a day. We targeted all the users who mentioned SEO-related keywords in some specifically chosen SubReddits. We messaged a total of 4000 users and had a 7% reply rate. Of these, 4% or 160 were positive replies, resulting in 38 sign ups. Truthfully, this was probably our lowest quality acquisition channel.

Running partnerships 

The final method to get users was to run partnerships. Our marketing was working, and within a week, we had passed 200 high-quality sign-ups. These were VC-backed founders, startups, marketers, and scaleups. A really valuable audience.

With this, we leveraged the social proof to gain partnerships with organisations we were friendly with. We approached them offering a chance to gain awareness in front of this acquired audience in exchange for them running an email shout-out to their audience. Consequently, no money was exchanged. 

It was important that companies we reached out to had similar audiences to ours to ensure there was mutual benefit. These targeted partnerships easily pulled in additional 150 sign ups.

The Final Verdict: Did Our Hard Work Pull Off?  

The focus of the SEO Accelerator was to expand our brand’s reach and show off our expertise. We wanted to generate relevant, quality leads and start converting them into clients. To do this, we had to address why companies weren’t knocking on our door and demonstrate how we could solve their pain points. However, did it pay off? What was the real result of this program? 

Interestingly, a lot of our network saw our promo for the SEO Accelerator. In fact, our first closed deals came up from people in our network as they became aware we were an SEO agency and reached out to us for a proposal. To put it plainly, this was easy revenue; we closed quickly.

Moreover, we were gaining massive reach through the LinkedIn algorithm and engagement. Alongside this, our profiles were optimised, so cold buyers, who happened to be looking for an SEO agency, stumbled upon our profiles and booked calls inbound. Again, revenue closed even before we had started the SEO Accelerator. With that said, partnerships easily became one of our favourite growth channels, and it’s something we’re going to double down on in the future.

Finally, throughout the Accelerator, attendees were booking calls on our website through our Calendly form to gain more insight into how they can work with us. We had successfully demonstrated our prowess and ability. We never pitched or tried to sell but simply showed off our case studies, and the clients came inbound.

About Zelt 

Zelt is a growing B2B agency that specialises in people management services. Its HR software named after itself, Zelt.app, is a digital interface through which employers connect with employees to discuss and/or send everything from tasks to documents, payments, feedback and more. 

Just like any startup, Zelt struggled to build brand awareness and keep their sale pipelines filled during its initial months of operation. To attract more clients, we strongly believe that cultivating a website’s visibility score is a no-brainer strategy. Thus, when Zelt management reached out to us at NUOPTIMA, a B2B SaaS SEO agency, for assistance, we absolutely understood the assignment. Our specialists began sketching up our online marketing solution for Zelt with the intention to raise as much traffic as possible by simply creating relevant and reputable backlinks.

Responsible NUOPTIMA Team

Action Plan

The goal for Zelt was to upgrade its prior stream of marketing tactics to further improve the site’s authority and boost brand awareness. So we aimed to create 10 editorial backlinks and get them published on highly reputable sites whose DR is no less than 60. 

Marketing agencies everywhere often argue that buying lots of low-quality backlinks is the key to ranking faster. But the reality is that focusing on QUANTITY alone can be wildly detrimental to a website’s credibility and reputation. In fact, this tactic is very outdated and often ineffective. Here’s the deal when you pay more attention to the number of backlinks than their effectiveness. If Google finds out that your content lacks relevance and accuracy, it is unlikely that your website will be considered useful to the readers. This makes ranking for numerous yet poor-quality backlinks oftentimes problematic. To ensure the success of our SEO campaign, we made QUALITY our top priority for each backlink we wrote. 

Content Strategy

Our strategy was to rank for high-intent B2B keywords on Google. So we developed and published a total of 10 editorial backlinks, whose anchor texts were unique, strategic (specifically related to the landing page), relevant (all in the same niche) and reputable. To help increase the site’s authority, we made sure that each backlink was placed on reliable websites, targeting an average Domain Rating of 62. 

We started writing backlinks for Zelt in June and stopped the month after to give Google enough time to crawl and index organic keywords properly. With thorough and powerful SEO efforts, it did not take long before we began seeing substantial growth in traffic. Our approach was effective in increasing the site’s traffic by over 300%. And even if we paused writing and publishing backlinks, Zelt was still able to get an additional worth of 500 organic keywords, and it didn’t stop there!

Below are some example backlinks we wrote for Zelt under the B2B niche. 

What is the Role of the HR Department in an Organisation?

6 Best Talent Acquisition Strategies for HRs in 2022

Results

Interestingly, Zelt experienced a three-fold traffic growth despite our approach of placing only 10 quality backlinks. We placed the backlinks on the first 2 pages in the Google search Console report below, which gained the most traffic: 

And the most impressions:

There were also significant changes in ranking positions for organic keywords outlined in the below image. 

About Quolum

Quolum is a full-stack SaaS procurement platform which allows companies to manage their SaaS subscriptions more efficiently, reducing the time and resources required to ensure minimum spend. The platform is designed to integrate with existing quality management systems and provides a centralised, cloud-based solution for managing contracts, invoices, and used logins.

Quolum’s mission is to provide companies with a modern, digital solution that simplifies SaaS subscription management, enabling companies to focus on running their businesses rather than SaaS payments and renewals. Quolum’s platform is built on the latest SaaS requirements, including a payment card option, subscription management, strategic sourcing, security and compliance. 

Quolum’s team is committed to providing exceptional customer service and support, focusing on building long-term partnerships with their clients. The company’s founders and management team bring decades of experience in SaaS procurement and are dedicated to making Quolum the most cost-effective solution on the market.

Team

Responsible NUOPTIMA Team

Quolum Team

Action Plan

When we first started working with Quolum in November 2022, despite having a well-designed website, they struggled to attract the desired level of traffic. We identified the need for more landing pages and content.

Our Head of SEO and Lead Editor swiftly put a plan in place to create high-quality service pages and long-form blog content to attract the people actively searching for SaaS tools. This also led to the SEO strategy of creating SaaS tool comparison articles, which have proven very popular and improved traffic and keyword ranking.

Keyword Research

We conducted a comprehensive analysis of Quolum’s website using Ahrefs, an industry-leading SEO tool, to identify relevant keywords that could help drive targeted traffic to their website. Our analysis revealed that keywords related to comparing SaaS tools had high intent and search volume and presented a significant opportunity for Quolum to have high SERP results.

We also found that the competition for these keywords was relatively low, making it easier for Quolum to rank highly for them. By incorporating these keywords into Quolum’s content, we improved their search engine rankings and drove more traffic to their site.

Keyword	Current position	Volume
stripe vs plaid	1	200
divvy vs brex	1	100
brex vs divvy	1	90
ramp vs brex	2	350
brex vs ramp	2	250
negotiating saas contracts	2	50
plaid vs stripe	3	350
saas compliance	3	70
saas contract negotiation	3	50
ramp vs divvy	5	50
stripe plaid	6	350
plaid stripe	6	250
stripe and plaid	6	150
vendor management saas	6	80
figma.com pricing	6	70

Bottom-Funnel Content

Creating effective bottom-funnel content is essential for Quolum to drive conversions and increase interest in their SaaS management, payment, sourcing and security solutions. We developed a strategy to create informative and engaging content to help highlight Quolum’s unique features and benefits.

One strategy we adopted was to create listicles that compare different SaaS tools and contacts available on the market. These listicles were optimised for relevant keywords such as “stripe vs plaid”, “brex vs ramp”, and “saas contract negotiation” to attract users who are actively searching for these types of solutions.

By providing informative and comparative content, we have established the Quolum brand as a reliable source of information for potential clients. This helped to highlight the need for Quolum’s SaaS management services, ultimately leading to higher conversion rates and more interest in their cost-saving solutions.

Backlinks

A backlink strategy was also implemented for Quolum to improve its search engine rankings and drive more relevant traffic to its website. By acquiring high-quality backlinks from authoritative websites relevant to SaaS, Quolum has improved its website’s domain authority and increased its visibility in SERPs. 

Additionally, the backlinks have served as a form of endorsement or recommendation from other websites, which helps build trust and credibility with potential clients. This is especially important for Quolum, as trust and credibility are critical factors in the highly regulated and compliance-focused SaaS industry.

Results

Organic Traffic

• Organic traffic increased 3x from 1,027 to 2,947 in only 4 months.

Organic Keywords

• Organic keywords ranking on the first page have shot up 168%.

Backlinks

• We acquired topical and relevant backlinks leading to an average domain rating of 50.

Conclusion

Quolum faced challenges in attracting organic traffic to its website and converting those visitors into leads. To address this issue, we developed a comprehensive content marketing strategy that included keyword optimisation, carefully structured pages, articles and strategic tracking.

Thanks to our expertise, Quolum increased its website traffic and improved its keyword ranking by 168%. This helped Quolum reach a wider audience and position itself as a leading SaaS sourcing and management provider.

Although the past four months have been successful, more can be done to improve Quolum’s ROI from SEO efforts. One area for improvement is implementing improved conversion rate optimisation (CRO) techniques to encourage visitors to take action and convert them into leads. By implementing our recommendations, we anticipate a further increase in traffic and lead generation for Quolum.

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About Market Finance

Market Finance is a British finance and invoicing lender. They were the first company to allow businesses to borrow against outstanding invoices and raised over £500m from VCs and incumbent banks such as Barclays and Santander.

Market Finance approached NUOPTIMA when they saw the huge growth Alphagreen.io, the CBD marketplace, was undergoing as NUOPTIMA scaled the internal content team. We were engaged during COVID to help launch new financial products and ensure they capitalised on the changing search patterns from consumers, including bounce back loans.

Team

Market Finance Team

Responsible NUOPTIMA Team

Action Plan

NUOPTIMA has worked with the Market Finance team for nearly two years. During this time, the SEO goals have changed as the UK has come in and out of COVID waves. As a result, financial regulation also adapted, which meant there were a regular new wave of financial products that Market Finance could offer.

Given SEO can sometimes take 3-6 months to see effects, it was imperative that we worked closely with the Market Finance team to predict the need for future financial products and write content in advance of search traffic.

Backlinks

Market Finance regularly generates authoritative press links from a strong PR team. Therefore, NUOPTIMA focused on building relevant links from sites that were contextually relevant. To Google, contextual links are highly valuable and help drive the correct rankings to your domain.

As a result, Market Finance saw a 3.2x increase in referring domains throughout our engagement. During this time, we have also garnered a strong roster of financial and business publications, relevant for a wide variety of B2B segments.   

Content Writing

After analysing the competitive Fintech SEO space, hunting for the green space opportunities and meeting business needs, we regularly presented high-quality content plans for the Market Finance team. Every few months, the team would batch approve and discuss the content for the following months before our writers began.

Content plans varied from being covid-related and timely to highly technical pieces focusing on the intricacies of financial products.

As a result of the content writing and backlinks, Market Finance saw a 250% increase in organic traffic. 

Technical SEO

We also conducted one-off in-depth SEO audits for Market Finance as they transitioned their website and blog. This involved our SEO specialists spending 2 to 3 days taking a complete deep dive into the Market Finance site and producing an actionable report. This was a 39-page report for their development and content team. It also included a strategy session to discuss any open questions.