How to write articles that rank and convert - Belkins case study
How to write articles that rank and convert - Belkins case study
The results gained and process used to consistently rank in the top 3 positions on Google
Executive summary:
Belkins sought to improve ROI generated from their company blog content. They contracted me through a boutique content marketing agency, starting with 2-article test. After coming up with a unique writing process, I consistently produced articles that achieved the results Belkins was after. I share my entire process along with detailed results over the course of 9 months produced by several articles.
About the client
Belkins is a B2B lead generation company founded in 2017 by Vladyslav Podoliako and Michael Maximoff. They're headquartered in Dover, Delaware with over 250 people employed worldwide. Their team of specialists are experienced in lead research, outreach, appointment setting, and a host of digital marketing services for SMBs and enterprises in various industries in the US and internationally.
Belkins has been recognized for the quality of its services, and is featured on the Clutch 1000 List as a top performer in the professional services sector. The company is well-regarded for taking on projects with budgets exceeding $5,000 and achieving a high ROI in competitive markets.
Challenge
While lead generation and appointment setting make up Belkins' core strengths, they lacked the content marketing expertise to produce blog posts that would both consistently rank in Google searches and convert members of their target audience.
Solution
I became Belkins' dedicated writer, which included regular strategy sessions with their SEO Expert, Eugene Zatiychuk and Content Manager, Iryna Yelisova along with Subject Matter Expert (SME) interviews.
Additionally, I developed a multi-step process for producing content that consistently ranked high in Google Search Engine Results Pages (SERP) and resulted in signed deals with companies within Belkins' target market.
Results snapshot
Over the first 3 months, the content I wrote achieved 5+ leads, 2 deals, 5+ page snippets, and 2% average CTR. Within 9 months of publishing the first article, 7 different articles have resulted in 30 Sales and CRM-qualified opportunities, and continued content marketing work for myself.
Background: How I started writing for Belkins
Belkins is an appointment setting and lead generation agency that targets mid-market and enterprise B2B companies. They had an extensive blog and some impressive rankings for high-value keywords, but because of the lacking ROI generated from their content marketing efforts, they felt they hadn't yet "cracked content."
Without the return needed to justify on-going investment in blog content in-house, they looked to outsource. They started by hiring more freelancers. When that didn't produce the results they were looking for, they hired a small agency that I was working with at the time.
My time with Belkins began with a 2-article test project—one a competitor piece, the other a guide. This test not only gauged my writing ability but also how well I could assess search intent and come up with ideas and outlines for articles. I handled the following tasks:
Content strategy sessions
Subject-matter-expert interviews
Outlines
Writing
Edits and revisions
Both articles performed better than expected in a short span of time. Belkins was impressed and I became the dedicated writer for the Belkins account.
Margaret Lee, chief marketing officer at Belkins goes on to say that they had tested 20 freelancers—"those considered to be the best marketing writers"—before contacting the agency I was working with.
Here were the results produced by the test articles:
I was off to a strong start but, there were some growing pains ahead. What I lacked was a content production process that yielded consistent rankings and conversions.
The problem with most SEO content
Most marketers are too focused on writing for Google. Most of them are still trying to game the system.
SEO is competitive. Even if you play by all of Google's rules, you still need to produce exceptional content—the kind people actually want to read. You need to value writing quality over algorithms.
On top of that, quality is subjective, which means that you don't just need "good writing," you need to know what makes for a "good article."
In other words, you first need to figure out what people want to read.
In B2B, that means thoroughly understanding your audience to create highly relevant content. Lacking knowledge of pain points, business requirements, and company goals means your published articles won't be focused enough to attract and persuade the C-suite.
In a word, most content lacks specificity.
Why you need a multi-stage process
Producing content that's highly specific to your audience entails a multi-stage process, not just SEO best practices combined with good writing.
Research, strategy, production, and performance tracking are all necessary outgrowths of the writing. Without these, content won't be informed or strategic enough to achieve the kind of results businesses are looking for.
However, one case study is not enough for me to fully cover such an extensive process. In this article, I focus on how I executed the production stage (includes writing) for Belkins.
While the actual stages of production are simply interviewing, outlining, and writing, the key success factors are as follows:
Foundational principles
Information inventory
SME interview
Compelling argument
Work-the-body structure
How my process worked for Belkins
The first 2 articles set a high performance bar. Afterwards, there was some inconsistency in the quality of the content. Among strategists and editors, disagreements arose, production slowed, and the articles were, from a subjective standpoint, admittedly not as compelling.
So, I reviewed some of the published content to figure out why it was performing so well. What had gained Belkins' attention in the first place? What was ranking? What was converting?
After some analysis and discussion, I put together a more structured process that I share below. Again, each step of this process is essential. If I were to leave one step out, I would expect very little in terms of performance.
1. Understand foundational principles
This section encompasses what I already knew when I wrote the test articles. I still consider these foundational principles to be the most important and difficult to master.
The specificity principle
Most online searches are for content that's specific to the user's situation.
The specificity principle came from the content marketing agency Grow and Convert. It's now a regular practice among marketers for creating blog content.
The concept is that you first get specific about what topic you're writing on. For instance, an article titled, "How To Generate Leads in B2B" is very broad. While this might work as something like an ultimate guide, it's not likely to go into much depth on tactics for different industries.
Applying the specificity principle, we might break this into a series of articles:
B2B Lead Generation Best Practices in 2024
How to Use LinkedIn for B2B Lead Generation
Cold Email Trends for B2B Lead Generation
Lead Generation for FinTech: Tactics and Case Studies
etc.
You can probably see how each of the bulleted topics could be broken down further. To know how specific you should get, it's helpful to refer to your target keyword(s). Always aim to address the topic completely so that there are no questions remaining in the reader's mind.
Analyzing the SERP to determine search intent
Breaking into the top 3 on a Google SERP is all about discerning the user's search intent for a given keyword. The better you can satisfy search intent, the higher your chance of ranking.
I don't stuff or pay attention to the number of relevant keywords used. Instead, I focus entirely on writing an article that better satisfies search intent than what's currently ranking.
However, there's no point in appearing in position #1 on Google if your article doesn't bring in qualified traffic or convert readers. This is why I break search intent into both broad search intent and narrow search intent. Here's the result for the Belkins article: B2B Appointment Setting Costs & Pricing Models Explained
There were multiple target keywords, but the primary one was "b2b appointment setting pricing."
Not every user has the exact same search intent when they search a keyword. There's plenty of nuance stemming from the user's unique pain points, situation, business requirements, even the event that triggered them to conduct a search. To address a broad range of search intents, start by finding the common denominators.
I focus on the top 3-5 results on Google, ignoring obvious outliers. I may also skim the top 10 for other clues and insights. From there I can get a sense of what the searcher is looking for by answering some basic questions:
Do most of the results cater to someone looking simply for information?
Are they looking to buy?
What format is most of the content in? List posts? Landing pages?
I try not to put too fine a point on broad search intent. It mostly tells me the general question in the searcher's mind and what content strategy I need to start with.
Broad Search intent for "b2b appointment setting pricing":
Primarily informational with transactional (buying) intent. People are trying to understand what the different B2B pricing models are, how they work, and what's best for their company.
Narrow search intent refers to the search intent of your target audience. While broad search intent told us that we need to create an informational article dissecting the different pricing models, narrow tells us exactly who we're talking to, what their knowledge gap is, and where to meet them emotionally and professionally.
For narrow search intent, I do my best to fill in the variables of this formula as it pertains to the client's ICP:
I'm looking for X...because of A (pain point), B (business requirement), and C (trigger event: possible thing(s) that happened that made me search for a solution)
Narrow search intent for "b2b appointment setting pricing":
I'm looking to understand appointment setting pricing models because we need a lead generation service to replace the current methods and I don't know where to start, we need a reliable means to drive new revenue, and a recent meeting or review has made it apparent that we're not currently set up to hit quarterly or annual sales targets.
With both broad and narrow search intent in mind, come up with ideas to not only satisfy Google's algorithm for what all users are searching for, but also make the article specific to your target audience.
Originality nuggets
The term "originality nuggets" was also coined by Grow and Convert. I will admit, I've learned a lot from these guys. If you're in the B2B SaaS space and considering investing in content marketing, their blog is an incredible resource.
But for service-based businesses, originality nuggets are just as helpful. The point is to give your articles something to make them stand out in the SERP.
Here are my favorite strategies to separate your article from the others:
Unique examples - Use unique examples to grab attention or back up your points. These could be stated examples with links to sources, screenshots from social media, embedded YouTube videos, or anything that connects your content with the real world in relevant way.
Quotes and expertise - Include quotes and expertise from specific industry experts or companies. These not only break up regular text, but attaches a real expert to your content to build credibility.
Unlearned lessons - Take common fails, frustrations, and whatever bad advice has been floating around, then destroy it. Include "how not to" as a means to resonate with readers who've already tried (and failed) relying on this bad advice or practice. This creates a basis for better understanding to build upon.
Don't be afraid to try something new or creative. Just make sure it adds something valuable to your content, and isn't solely for the sake of being different.
2. Information inventory
The rise of generative-AI means the Internet is being flooded with generic, regurgitated content. This brings up many questions, but mostly, it's about the validity, accuracy, and truthfulness of your content.
Both Google's E-E-A-T quality guidelines and searchers want trustworthy content from real-world experiences and experts.
An "information inventory" is not only an answer to this problem, but also makes for more interesting articles and compelling arguments.
Translation: information inventories increase ranking and conversions by better satisfying Google's algorithm and making content more relatable to humans.
An information inventory is a curated body of assets from your client's business that serves as a resource to be used in all your long-form content. It consists of the following:
Customer reviews
Client testimonials
Answered questions from clients, coworkers, or customers
Interviews
Brand videos
Surveys
Case studies
Repeated questions from private Slack communities, social media, forums, and where ever your target audience hangs out
Webinar recordings
Real life stories (based on your experience, your team's, or other members of your organization)
The idea is to have all of these resources in one place, typically, a spreadsheet. You can also create snippets, such as high praise from testimonials that communicate a value proposition, or impressive figures from a case study for quicker referencing.
Here's how some of that information was put into action for the Belkins article, B2B Appointment Setting Costs & Pricing Models Explained:
3. SME interview
Interviews with SME serve as the informational backbone for all the content I produce. No amount of research beats what an engineer who developed and sells a complex product can tell you about what problems it solves, how it works, etc.
Similarly, if you want to understand trends in B2B lead generation, who better to ask than someone with a decade of experience in the C-suite of a competitive B2B lead generation agency?
The SME interview is also instrumental in giving your articles a unique perspective on a topic. If the expert doesn't agree with widely-held industry beliefs, don't resist or try to steer the conversation towards more commonly held beliefs. Instead, lean into it. Ask follow-up questions that expand on his or her opinion.
Once you've uncovered a unique perspective, you can then use that to formulate a "compelling argument," which I cover in the next section.
In terms of conducting the interview, know that interviewing is a skill that takes practice. The idea is to keep things as loose enough to let the expert speak at length and take the answers in their own direction. But, you also want to keep them specific enough so that everything contributes to an article that satisfies broad and narrow search intent.
For questions, I ask 7 open-ended questions for a 1-hour interview. I share these ahead of time as a courtesy but, it's not necessary.
To help you come up with questions, there are 2 different routes to choose from based on the topic and style of article:
Create a thorough outline with headers, sub-headers, and detailed bullet points first. Base your questions off the gaps in knowledge—areas where sharing unique in-depth knowledge is most necessary or beneficial.
Create a basic outline of possible headers, then create questions that use the interview as a compass for what direction to take the article in.
The preferred route becomes more clear when you know what the keyword and topic are.
A final important note about SME interviews, I recommend you do these live over a video conference. Make it a real conversation, ask them what they personally think, then ask follow-up questions.
Avoid sending a list of questions and having them fill it out. You want the raw and uncut version of your SME. That's what's going to grab the attention of your readers, add authenticity, and make your content uniquely valuable.
4. Compelling argument
When Belkins first came to the agency I worked with, they were looking for the kind of content that added something to "the conversation."
For example, if the topic you're writing on is SEO best practices, you could just list whatever the current best practices are. However, that's not really adding anything new to the Internet.
Why read your article instead of one of the countless others published on the same topic? Why not just ask ChatGPT?
Adding to the conversation means providing new information or insight that can't be found elsewhere. To get the reader to accept your new info or way of thinking, you need to first persuade them that what you're saying is valid. Hence, the way to add to the conversation is through a persuasive argument.
But, I don't want to just persuade the reader to believe something or think a certain way. The point of the SEO blog content I produce is not only to attract and engage readers, but also to convert them. I need to compel them to take an action: click the link, submit an email, sign up for a demo, book a call, or something that else that moves them along the funnel.
So, how do you craft an argument that compels someone to do something?
Here's what your argument must accomplish:
Polarize the audience
Demonstrate a thorough understanding of the problem
Permeate the entire article
Here's how that played out for the Belkins article, B2B Appointment Setting Costs & Pricing Models Explained.
Polarizing the audience
Polarizing the audience means taking a stance on an issue that's either one way or the other.
Either SEO is dead, or it isn't. Content marketing provides the best ROI, or it doesn't. Measuring performance and attribution are important or they're not.
The audience may be on one side, the other, or have yet to decide. The job of the argument is to articulate why one side of the issue is the right one.
In the case below, Michael Maximoff, one of Belkins' co-founders, was my SME. He explained to me how different pricing models were not as much designed to provide value or accountability, as they were marketing tactics meant to appeal to different types of companies.
I personally hadn't seen that angle used before so, I adopted this unique perspective to form my argument.
The compelling argument acts as a thesis statement. It should always be stated clearly in the introduction.
Demonstrating a thorough understanding of the problem
You've made a claim. Hopefully, you've got enough authority or data along with it to intrigue the reader. They objective is to make them curious enough to keep reading.
Once they get past the introduction into the body content, you have to actually argue your point. This is also where the selling happens.
The concept is simple: If you convince the reader that you understand their problem better than they do, you then appear better equipped to deliver a solution.
This is why you must demonstrate a thorough understanding of the reader's problem. There must be no doubt, no questions left in their mind. I explain how to craft body content that accomplishes this below in the section, Work-the-body structure.
Here's a passage that serves as an example of going into depth to explain the reader's problem: they need lead generation but, don't understand different pricing models.
Keeping in line with our compelling argument that different pricing models are designed to appeal to cost-saving, we continue our explanation of project-based pricing models.
Before I get into how I structure sentences and paragraphs, I'll cover the third part of building a compelling argument.
Permeating the entire article
Imagine going to the doctor because you're sick with a fever. You tell him that you've got a high temperature, you're achy, dehydrated, and have no energy. The doctor listens, then tells you that he thinks you've got a rare terminal disease.
Alarmed, you ask him why he thinks so. He starts by describing how your symptoms are common for this rare disease but then quickly goes into the recommended treatment. He's telling you how it works, the medications you'll be taking, how long, how much it'll cost, etc.
You're still reeling from the diagnosis. You ask again, "are you sure about the diagnosis? My symptoms don't seem that unusual." He responds by going into how fever, aches, and pains are all caused by the terminal disease. Beyond matching your symptoms to the disease, he doesn't explain why.
Would you begin the very expensive and potentially dangerous treatment? Would you even accept his diagnosis? Or would you be eager to seek a second opinion?
The doctor would have better convinced you to take treatment by holding off on recommending it. He should have asked more questions, conducted tests, and found and presented other markers that are indicative of the rare disease.
Even if he'd been sure of his diagnosis, you'd be more receptive to his proposed solution if he'd first thoroughly convinced you of the problem.
Most blog posts make this same mistake. They start off with a catchy angle, then quickly devolve into hard sells, generic content, or off-topic information.
Your entire article should be a natural extension of the argument you made in the introduction. Every section and header of the body content serves the purpose of completing your argument.
When you take this approach, nothing in the article becomes extraneous or irrelevant. You're seeking and destroying every objection, doubt, or question in the reader's mind. Once you feel you've exhausted ever point, the article should naturally arrive at the conclusion.
In the article, B2B Appointment Setting Costs & Pricing Models Explained, I thoroughly demonstrate an understanding of pricing models by covering what the different models are while connecting them with a unique expert perspective.
The headers and sub-headers are as follows:
H1 - B2B appointment setting costs and pricing models explained
H2 - B2B appointment setting pricing models overview
H2 - Fee-for-service pricing models
H3 - Retainer pricing model
H3 - Project-based pricing model
H3 - Hourly rate model
H2 - Pay-for-performance pricing models
H3 - Pay-per-lead model
H3 - Pay-per-qualified-lead
H3 - Pay-per-appointment
H2 - Which pricing model is right for your business?
H2 - (Conclusion) A final point on AI and automation
5. Work-the-body structure
When you're producing a lot of content, day after day, it helps to have guardrails to maintain consistent quality. What I've coined the "work-the-body structure," evolved for exactly that purpose.
Belkins was impressed with my first couple of articles but, they weren't as thrilled with the next 3 or 4. I realized that I was relying too much on my creativity to structure and write new pieces. Each one felt like its own experiment.
I'd also been pondering over the aforementioned specificity principle. I was interested in finding a way to apply it at a more granular level, rather than just for choosing the article topic.
After some inspiration from watching UFC fighter Randy Couture work the body of his opponents, I came up with my own structure. Here's how it goes:
Set it up - Prime the reader to receive the argument
Make the argument - Make a clear and concise point that's also an extension of the compelling argument
Get specific - Back the argument with explanation, example, data, and whatever else the reader needs to be thoroughly convinced
Tie it back - Reconnect with your point
I apply this 4-step framework to all body content under an H2 or H3 within the article. This keeps the entirety of the post tight and on-topic. Here's how it looks for a section in the Belkins article, Martal Group for lead generation? What high volume really means.
Set it up
Setting up the argument can come in the form of a descriptive sentence or two that helps the reader make sense of the coming argument. It can also be done by posing a question in second person.
Sometimes, a section header is all that's needed to prime the reader.
We can see that both the section header and the first paragraph creates a question in the reader's mind.
Make the argument
The compelling argument for this post centered on why Martal was not the best choice for lead generation because of their high-volume, automated approach.
Here's how I continued that point, with the "make the argument" part boxed in red.
The argument is specific and chooses a clear side. While this kind of boldness is important for convincing the reader, it requires backing up.
Get specific
Getting specific is where you provide actual substance. This is your opportunity to tell the reader what they don't already know and leave no room for doubt in their mind. Often, this part takes up the majority of the word count in each section. If it doesn't, the section is either going to be very short or lacking in value.
If we look at a different section of the Martal article, we can see a clear example of getting specific. The third paragraph (boxed in red) is highly specific to Martal's service model as well as common reviews and complaints about having a single dedicated professional at the helm of the entire funnel.
Ask yourself, if you were Martal, how would you object to this?
You'd first have to admit that, yes, you do assign one professional to run the entire lead generation funnel per account. And, yes, it's true that there are plenty of reviews on sites like G2 and Clutch that have repeatedly mentioned this as a shortcoming.
Regarding the issue of "having a single person at the helm of the entire funnel," there's very little, if any, chance to refute this point.
That is what "getting specific" looks and feels like. Much like Randy Couture's dirty boxing, it pressures the opponent by throwing unexpected blows in quick succession.
Once you've thoroughly driven your point home, the final step is to reiterate your message by tying it back to your main point.
Tie it back
If we're sticking with the fighting analogy, you could call this part the "knockout." Instead of just repeating your main point, use whatever new information you've provided to complete the section.
Here's an example, with the "tie it back" part boxed in red.
In the screenshot above, we've set up the argument by bringing up the issue with having a single person at the helm of the entire funnel.
We've made the argument by stating that you need multiple professionals working to analyze and properly address issues as they arise.
We've gotten specific by pointing out that Martal only employs a single, highly-limited, professional to oversee a complicated process.
And we've tied it back by arriving at the idea that multiple specialists are needed for long-term success.
If you go through this article, you'll see that I've repeated this process section by section until my compelling argument has exhausted itself. The second half of the article moves into a list of alternatives.
Results of my process over 9 months
Over the course of time I was writing for Belkins, I learned a lot about what it takes to get an article ranked in the top 3 on Google, have it stay there, and bring in the kinds of leads that result in high-value deals.
At the time of this writing, I am working directly with Belkins as an independent contractor. They've been very happy with my work. Below I share some of their sentiments as well as performance data.
"I've invest over $500K in content from 2018 to 2022 with minimal returns, but partnering with a content specialist...changed the game. We began seeing significantly improved results, all at a fraction of the previous cost."
- Michael Maximoff in his newsletter, From Zero To Agency Hero
Here's some of Belkins tracking data for 4 articles within 3 months of publishing.
Google Search Console Data within the first 3 months:
(Screenshot of data for the article, A guide to SDR outsourcing: 21 exploratory questions to ask)
(Screenshot of data for the article, B2B appointment setting costs and pricing models explained)
If you'd like to share my process with your team, I've put together a content brief template that I use for my clients: Google Doc - Content brief template.
