When I launched Popa & Associates in 2017 from our guest bedroom, I was freshly post-partum and excited to use my brain in between episodes of Friday Night Lights and nursing my infant. You may already know that I started my business backward—the client came before I registered an LLC. The client was a forcing function to create my company and, in full transparency, I probably wouldn’t have if it hadn’t happened the way it did.

It was a good time to go freelance in the unique combination of social media management, influencer marketing, and public relations I had. Essentially, I took myself out of my 9-5, but created the same structure around myself. Instead of working for one company, I worked for a small handful—but more on my terms.

It was what I knew, and, mostly, it worked.

Lakedale Resort on San Juan Island was the third client I signed. The first was a startup in the Midwest. I managed the owner’s Twitter and LinkedIn accounts for six years. The second was Sur La Table (the client that started it all).

The Starting scope of work

Since I hadn’t had time to think (I had a newborn, remember?), let alone come up with a bUsInEsS pLaN (side note: I still don’t have a business plan, and no plans to ever write one), I told all potential clients that I could support them through full-service social media management, influencer marketing, and public relations. Going into my vibe check call with the resort’s owner, I knew they needed just social support, so whatever proposal I probably sent to her in a Word doc after focused on Facebook and Instagram.

That was over six years ago.

The expanded scope of work

A few years ago, Lakedale’s owner decided it was time she took a step back from writing the property’s blog. I had become more confident in offering writing services to my clients and was excited to take over both the blog and the resort’s newsletter. We doubled my scope of work and I’ve been managing Lakedale’s social media, blog, and newsletters since.

Partnering with A Seattle SEo Company

When I took over Lakedale’s blog, I was introduced to the resort’s Seattle-based SEO company, Portent. I was a little nervous because in the time that I had started writing more long-form content for my clients—P&A’s sea-salted bread and butter at that point—I’d worked with several SEO “experts.”

Many local SEO experts focus on the science of getting visitors to a company’s website. Meanwhile, I was focused on the art. Often, I’d find myself in a tête-a-tête with the search optimization companies, bickering about how it doesn’t matter if we get people to our shared client’s website if they didn’t want to stay and read. They’d send me briefs full of irrelevant or nonsensical keyword phrases (“Offices to rent near me,” for example) that no one reading a blog would understand.

I was pleasantly surprised at how Portent approached Lakedale’s SEO. They put together a simple grid with half a dozen columns that included topics, suggested titles, keyword phrases, and questions to answer. Each year, they create a new tab with new ideas. I use that grid as my guide, choosing blog topics that feel good and make sense to me, building off of previous articles, and suggesting additional ideas that I sometimes ask Portent to research a bit further for me.

I have intermediate skills in SEO (I took my friend Marissa’s course a few years ago), but I know their tools are more robust and their knowledge more finely tuned.

SEO Copywriting examples

What Portent’s grid gives me is the beginnings of an outline. As I mentioned, I use their grid as a guide. I then supplement with a little more research, build out headings, and start researching. Most of the blogs I write for Lakedale are about 1,000 words or more. They’re meaty! Our goal is always to provide value and to rank.

It probably wouldn’t surprise you that if I had to choose, I’d opt for providing value instead of ranking (like I did with this blog, which is pretty niche), but the ideal scenario is always both.

Lakedale’s 2023 q4 blog traffic

Each month, my client shares Portent’s web traffic report with me, which has about a dozen pages of data I love to look at, including my favorite page: “How did the blog perform?” Here are the results from the last three months of 2023.

And here are the most interesting insights from these numbers, as far as my work is concerned:

Month-over-month blog traffic is healthy, and the top-read blog each month has been consistent, banking 500ish readers each month
The bounce rate (the amount of people leaving the page once they start reading) is super low. That means we’re providing huge value! Let’s put that one in perspective. If 100 people are visiting the blog and—using December’s bounce percentage—18 of them leave, that means 82 are staying to read through the whole thing. This website doesn’t even have numbers close to that! Maybe something to work on in an upcoming Website Chuch ;)
The blog is attracting close to 1,000 new readers each month. That means new people are discovering us through Google searching, reading, and staying

Does your website need a blog?

The short answer is yes. Most websites need a blog. Keeping your content fresh and flowing is a great way to expose new potential customers to your company. It helps them get to know you, allows you more space than you have on social media to tell longer stories, and go into depth with case studies like I’m doing here.

Writing blogs for my clients continues to be one of the most fulfilling parts of what I do at Popa & Associates, especially since I no longer offer social media management. I’m always happy to consult, but long-form writing is my happy place.

Wanna talk blogs? You know where to find me.

Case Study: The Lakedale Resort Blog