/// Success Story

 

 

What began as a simple home page redesign resulted in over 300% growth in MarketingProfs' subscriber base in under three years.

 

When editor Ann Handley posted a "Got Graphics?" message in the weekly MarketingProfs Today email newsletter back in July 2004, we responded quickly with a simple, non-nonsense approach to reorganize the content on the MarketingProfs home page. Publisher Allen Weiss was impressed with the smart thinking around the content redesign. "It was exactly what I was looking for," he said, "Most of the responses we received were way over-the-top... flashy redesigns or complete rebranding exercises. SterlingKlor's approach made the most sense from a content perspective and business perspective. I was a little leary about working with a firm from Canada, but in the end it paid off."

 

WEBSITE

Our first task was to improve the website's content organization and to simplify access to selected articles without compromising the existing back end architecture, integrity of the website template and the legacy SEO. We embarked by focusing soley on improving the content areas. We introduced editorial illustrations to help visually identify paid content and created a new subscription process that provided a more familiar and customer-centric buying experience. The results were immediately noticeable as traffic increased considerably within six months. Conversions grew from 1.75% to more than 8% and membership nearly doubled from 70,000 to over 130,000 — adding 60,000 new members during that time.

 

CONTENT

More content features were introduced to the website and promoted by integrated email and banner ad campaigns. The retooled content included landing pages, interactive features like vendor selectors, an updated premium content library, downloadable content bundles, direct mailers, renewal programs and a new blog, the MarketingProfs Daily Fix. The Daily Fix was launched in March 2006 and by August it debuted at #22 on the Top 25 Marketing Blogs. Mack Collier, keeper of the list, said, "The Daily Fix continues to set a torrid pace. If Alexa had updated, the Daily Fix would have probably jumped to the Top 15. So don't be shocked if Daily Fix cracks the Top 10 for the next list." Not surprisingly, by the following September the Daily Fix jumped to #9 in the list.

 

LIVE EVENTS

In 2005, MarketingProfs hosted their first ever live seminar in New York, Chicago and San Francisco, with world reknowned Web content guru, Gerry McGovern. We helped create email campaigns and landing pages for the event which focused on "Creating Killer Web Content". The response was fantastic, and the demand generated from the event was so positive that MarketingProfs has hosted regular live events ever since.

 

RESULTS

From 2004 to 2007, we helped MarketingProfs.com triple its membership from 70,000 subscribers to over 230,000, a 300% growth pace that helped MarketingProfs pave the way to new opportunities. Since then, MarketingProfs has continued to significantly expand its business on several fronts — including its subscriber base, product line and position in the market — and is now the largest online publisher in its category.

 

In 2006 we created new mockups for the home page and inside pages that introduced a more open and legible design, an easier to use navigation system, features such as a member counter and better ad space usage, as well as some ideas for a new corporate identity. The new design paradigm was adopted and has been improved since for the new website. "SterlingKlor's work is an important contribution to our growth," said MarketingProfs president, Roy Young, "The foundation they helped create along with our marketing team for our content continues today. They are insightful, talented and a lot of fun to work with."

 

(Source: MarketingProfs.com)

 

For more information about MarketingProfs, please visit www.marketingprofs.com