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Poolman Case Study HighlightsPoolman worked with Brafton to create a content strategy and integration approach that generated more website visits and conversions. 

Poolman is a pool company, based in Phoenix, Arizona, that primarily caters to residential homes. What started as a local service company grew into an operation that now services 7,000 pools annually across other major Southwest regions, including Dallas/Fort Worth and San Diego. The business has expanded significantly since it was founded in 1964 (and recently celebrated its 50-year anniversary).

Leah Vogely, Director of Creative Communications for American Pool and Poolman, recognized she needed help to build a better web presence and become active across social channels.

Challenge:

Build a bigger web presence with organic content 

Vogely had already helped Poolman build a better website that was designed to improve the search experience, but she wanted the site to have the audience it deserved. The company was primarily looking to increase organic website traffic when it partnered with Brafton, but that wasn’t the only goal in mind. Vogely was also hoping to increase the brand’s presence on social media networks and the web at large, while also relying less on pay-per-click campaigns for web leads.

Goals: Poolman Case Study image

  • Increase organic search traffic
  • Become a recognizable service provider
  • Build a stronger social media presence

“I really wanted to increase organic traffic to the site. Poolman is the largest pool services provider by far in the Phoenix Metro Valley, and Arizona in general. A lot of people know about Poolman, but we wanted to show up in feeds (and SERPs) for terms like “pool service” in certain locations for people who don’t already know about Poolman.”

Strategy:

Produce content that educates readers and engages customers

Brafton worked with Vogely to produce news content for the website that would educate customers and answer frequently asked questions about topics like pool maintenance and renovation. They also created news sections about broader industry updates and company news.
Poolman saw implemented a content marketing strategy that used integration best practices.

Strategy:

  • Headlines on the homepage
  • Better content organization
  • More attractive calls to action

However, the strategy went beyond basic content production, as Brafton’s strategists found opportunities for Poolman to build its web presence with better integration practices. Vogely worked with Brafton to add its news headlines to the homepage with visible timestamps, update the site’s archive with a breadcrumb structure and link to secondary pages under new content categories.

“I think the best part is the way Brafton has become a partner with us in order to improve our strategy. When I get any idea, I can throw it out there and my Brafton team either takes action or we discuss it further.”

These integration strategies make it easier for site crawlers to navigate through the domain and index pages. By building a content archive, the company also shows site visitors that it has an arsenal of information on relevant subjects.

“If we ever needed an article for a newsletter, the editorial team is ready to write it in a pinch, which I realize goes beyond the overall service contract. For us, it’s the small services Brafton provides that are really great.” 

Results:

Increase organic search traffic & conversions from content readers

Poolman is moving toward its major goals after implementing integration best practices and consistently publishing content across the site. Its organic traffic for Q3 2013 was up nearly 30 percent compared with data from the previous year. Many of these were people discovering Poolman for the first time, as evidenced by the fact that around 40 percent were new visits.

Results:
Poolman case study image

  • Content readers spending 23 percent longer on the site
  • Conversion rate up 2 percent during Q1
  • 135 percent higher social referral traffic

Poolman also began to see the ROI needle move for organic search traffic. Brafton’s news content was effectively keeping those visitors on the site with helpful tips and information. During the same timeframe, Poolman saw that around 45 percent of visitors were clicking through to the news content on the site.

“We have seen some definite activity with organic search. Visit duration has increased and its been nice to see these results.” —Vogely

in a single business quarter, Poolman determined that 21 percent of all on-site conversions came from visitors who viewed Brafton content. These readers were spending about 23 percent longer on pages across the site – and sometimes twice as long on news articles. During Q1 2014, the site was seeing 135 percent more social referral visits compared with the previous business quarter, and Facebook was providing the lion’s share of this traffic.

“It seems like we’re getting more page views and getting more people to read the articles, then they click and go to the pages we want, such as service and coupon pages.” —Vogely

What’s next?

What's next? More social marketingVogely said Poolman’s next goals are to continue working on its strategy and find ways to benefit from all the resources at its disposal, specifically with Google+. Overall, Poolman is looking to make its content even more successful by gathering data about articles that get the most clicks and conversions, and bringing those qualities to other pieces across the site for even stronger results.

“Next, we want to improve our Google+ presence, and just take advantage of everything the network offers.” —Vogely

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