Corey Eridon - 18 Hard-Earned Lessons from the Trenches of the HubSpot Blog

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18 HARD-EARNED LESSONS FROM THE TRENCHES OF THE HUBSPOT BLOG

Corey Eridon

Managing Editor, HubSpot

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Hi, I’m Corey.

I’m the managing editor of HubSpot’s blogs.

1. Not-So-Best Practices

2. Writing

3. People

4. Growth

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1 NOT-SO-BEST PRACTICES

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#1 BIG NAMES DON’T EQUAL BIG RESULTS

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-12% APV

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#2 REAL-TIME MIGHT BE A WASTE OF TIME

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Traffic patterns for real-time blog posts

Traffic

Days

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76%Monthly post views that came from old blog posts.

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#3 YOU DON’T NEED TO GET SALESPEOPLE BLOGGING

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Inbound marketing is about being helpful

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Inbound marketing is about being helpful

You should create blog content that helps your prospects

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Inbound marketing is about being helpful

You should create blog content that helps your prospects

Salespeople know what your prospects need help with

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Inbound marketing is about being helpful

You should create blog content that helps your prospects

Salespeople know what your prospects need help with

Get salespeople to blog

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#4 DUPLICATE CONTENT HAS ITS PLACE

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2 WRITING

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#5 LENGTH IS NOT AN INDICATOR OF QUALITY… ish

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(general blank slide)@matthewbarby

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#6 DEPTH DIFFERENTIATES GOOD FROM GREAT

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Are there unanswered questions?

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#7 DON’T BLOG SCARED

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+438% APV

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#8 YOU WON’T RUN OUT OF THINGS TO WRITE ABOUT

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THE INVERTED PYRAMID

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THE INVERTED PYRAMID

Facebook

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THE INVERTED PYRAMID

Facebook

The Evolution of Facebook Ads

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THE INVERTED PYRAMID

Facebook

The Evolution of Facebook Ads

X Metrics You Need to Close the Loop on Boosted Facebook Ad ROI

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TOPIC

FORMAT

BLOGGING

EMAIL

SEO

SOCIAL MEDIA

ANALYTICS

HOW-TO LIST SLIDESHARE DATA ROUNDUP

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TOPIC

FORMAT

BLOGGING

HOW-TO LIST SLIDESHARE DATA ROUNDUP

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TOPIC

FORMAT

BLOGGING

HOW-TO LIST SLIDESHARE DATA ROUNDUP

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#9 ASK FOR (OR PROVIDE) DEADLINES

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The Laptop Trick.

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3 STAFFING

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#10 BURNOUT OCCURS AT MONTHS 12-16

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Months 0-3

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Months 3-6

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Months 6-9

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Months 9-12

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Months 12-16

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1. Make it a true content marketing job.

2. Hone editing skills with 1:1 coaching and feedback

3. Offer more ownership over premium assets.

4. Work on secondary skills.

WAYS TO KEEP BLOGGERS ENGAGED

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#11 THE BEST BLOGGERS HAVE A SECONDARY SKILL

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Emma Snider

• Design• Editing

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Jami Oetting

• Journalism• Teaching Writing• Coding

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Ginny Soskey

• Product Evaluation• Agile• Analytics

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Why does this matter?

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#12 FREELANCERS COST MORE THAN THEIR RATE

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+61% APVPosts written by in-house writer on TAP

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+74% APVPosts written by in-house writer on Marketing

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1. Provide as much context as possible up-front.

2. Offer specific feedback on an ongoing basis.

WORK BETTER WITH FREELANCERS

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#13 GHOSTWRITING IS A BUM RAP

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Can you write this without their SME?

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4 GROWTH & MARKETING

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#14 SCALE COMES WITH TIME

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What it feels like when you publish a blog post.

Traffic

Days

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What it’s actually like when you publish a blog post.

Via T. Tunguz

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76%Monthly blog post views that came from old posts.

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92%Monthly blog-sourced leads that came from old posts.(2 years ago, it was 70%.)

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#15 NOBODY CLICKS THE TWEET LINKS

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155,260Tweet impressions

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1.1%Retweeted or Favorited

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1%Clicked the link to the story

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#16 MORE ISN’T ALWAYS MORE

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http://bit.ly/GSinbound15

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#17 FOCUS ON YOUR LOWEST PERFORMING CHANNELS

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Opportunities lie not in what’s already working, but in what’s broken.

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#18 BROADER OFFERS LIBRARIES = BETTER CONVERSION RATES

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240%Conversion rate increase with the more specific offer.

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Blogging is about more than blog posts.

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@Corey_bosTweet me if you want to talk more.