From Spread Thin to Content-Stacked: A Blog Sprint Case Study
I met Abi when I posted on Threads asking if any brand designers would be open to a service trade (true story).
She was one of the first people to comment, I sent her the deets, we emailed back and forth a bit, and the rest is history!
Abi runs Flourish Foundry, where she offers branding and web design primarily for female service-based business owners – interior designers, photographers, social media managers, etc.
The Backstory
When we started our project, Abi had recently hired an SEO specialist who implemented a once-monthly blogging strategy for her.
She wanted to expand her blog and focus on getting more posts published, but with growing her business and taking on new clients, it just wasn’t something she had time to add to her own plate. She told me:
“I LOVE writing, but truly am spread thin between working on my business and in my business.”
Abi’s situation was super ideal for a sprint-style project because she already understood the benefits of blogging and had a publishing schedule in place. The problem was that a 1x/month frequency was making it slower to build up a content backlog, which makes finding internal linking opportunities and building topical authority more difficult.
So when she replied to my Threads post about a service trade, it was like a match made in heaven!
The Strategy
In Abi’s onboarding questionnaire, she told me she had two goals in mind:
- Maximize the time she’d already spent on content – Abi has an email list, a blog, AND she’s consistent on Instagram, so she had a lot of great stuff for me to work with
- Create a brand universe that people want to be part of – I LOVED that she said this, because I happen to believe that blogging for your business can be so valuable even aside from the obvious SEO reasons.
Abi has several different brand and web design offerings, but she specifically mentioned wanting to promote her Showit template customization service. She’d also recently launched a support day service for business owners with an existing website – brilliant for bringing past clients back into her orbit.
She told me this in her questionnaire when I asked about her target audience:
“A lot of my clients are creative, but cannot execute their ideas when it comes to web design. If they have an existing website, it doesn’t reflect where they are in their business NOW. It usually is outdated and extremely simple.”
When I asked about the biggest misconception she sees about her industry, she said “that Instagram replaces having a website” – and I instantly knew I wanted to include a blog post on that very topic.
All of this gave me SO MUCH to work with strategy-wise. Of course, each of her blog topics was written with SEO in mind, but I also opted for topics that would validate her audience’s pain points and position her offers as the natural next step.
The Brand Voice
Abi described her brand voice as warm, encouraging, positive, and witty.
But not only do I ask blog clients to describe their brand voice in their words – I also pride myself in being a professional stalker when you hire me. When I dug into Abi’s content, a few things stood out to me.
Her voice truly is warm and encouraging, just like she described it to me in her questionnaire. Abi’s content thoughtfully guides people toward web design and branding services, but she’s never mean or judgmental – not an ounce of mean girl marketing. There’s a quiet confidence to her work that I wanted to make sure carried through into every post.
Knowing all of this helped me step into her brand and write in her voice so the drafts truly felt like her.
Project Deliverables
My blog sprint offer, The Big Bang, always includes 10 done-for-you blog posts with SEO optimization and one round of revisions.
Since Abi specifically mentioned wanting to get more out of the content she already had, I started by digging in and seeing what she had that would make a good blog post.
The final blog topics we decided on for Abi’s project were:
- What to Consider Before Investing in a Showit Website Template
- When to DIY Showit Template Customization vs. When to Hire a Designer
- How to Refresh Your Website Without a Complete Redesign
- 7 Signs Your DIY Website Isn’t Working (& How to Fix It)
- My Brand Design Process: What to Expect When We Start Working Together
- Why Your Instagram Can’t Replace a Real Website
- 7 Simple Ways to Elevate Your Online Presence as a Creative Business Owner
- Before You Invest in Professional Brand Design, Do This One Thing
- Why You Should Design Your Brand and Website Together
- Make Your Website Feel Like You: 5 Ways Interior Designers Can Add Personality
Each post was written with a specific goal in mind – to drive readers to a specific offer of Abi’s, target a subset of her audience (ex. interior designers), or create awareness for the problems her ideal clients face that her services solve.
Several were written to drive readers specifically toward Abi’s Showit template customization, since that’s the service she wanted to spotlight the most. Since Abi’s template customization is a lower-priced alternative to her full web design packages, I told her it would be more accessible to people new to her world.
We also included what I call a “Taste Test” post in her sprint project. This blog broke down the entire process of working with Abi on brand design. People love knowing what to expect, and this post will help prospects feel more confident investing in Abi.
The Result: A Brand Universe Website Visitors Can Step Into
The great thing about blog sprint projects is that you leave with a batch of blogs you can publish right away, or schedule to slowly drip out over the next few weeks or months.
Before we even started the revision process, Abi told me the blog drafts I delivered to her were nearly perfect. She shared that she was so grateful for our partnership, and the feeling was mutual.
Abi is still publishing her new blogs, and with each one she publishes, she builds a stronger website foundation. More internal linking opportunities, stronger topical authority, and a brand universe that her audience can step into, stay a while, and eventually say: yes, this is exactly who I want to work with.
Ready to Stack Your Blog With Content, Too?
The Big Bang, my blog sprint package, is the fastest way to create a brand universe from scratch without the overwhelm. Get your blog launched and populated with 10 SEO-friendly blog posts delivered in just 10 days.