Grew annual organic growth by 300% with a from-scratch content strategy
The Good Stuff blog was doing okay. Okay wasn’t the goal. Here’s how I turned a plateauing brand blog into a high-traffic content destination, all with a strategy built from the ground up, a team of nine freelancers, and a few Google featured snippets along the way.
Coupons.com
Company
Content Marketing Associate
role
Jun 2015–Apr 2017
timeline
300%
annual organic traffic growth
Content mix
covering social media videos and blog content
9
freelance writers and editors
Featured snippets
earned in Google search results
the situation
The Good Stuff had some momentum, and it wasn’t starting from zero. But it had hit a ceiling. Traffic was steady, not growing. The content was decent, but it wasn’t built around a strategy that connected editorial decisions to company goals or search behavior. It was a blog doing blog things, without a clear reason why.
The real opportunity wasn’t to publish more. It was to publish smarter and build the infrastructure to do it consistently at scale.
WHAT WE DID
Breaking through a plateau means finding new angles, not just optimizing existing ones. The strategy had four parts:
01
Aligned SEO and strategy with company goals.
The blog existed in isolation from what Coupons.com actually cared about. Every content decision was mapped against keyword opportunity, audience intent, and company priorities. That alignment is what turned traffic into something the business could use.
02
Managed a freelance team.
Scaling content without scaling quality is just producing more mediocrity faster. I hired writers who could work across topics like recipes, DIY, and personal finance, and worked closely with each of them to maintain consistency of voice, accuracy, and editorial standards across every piece.
03
Expanded into content formats that earned visibility.
Beyond standard articles, I planned and edited content that went after featured snippets and structured search results, including a video format that was relatively under-explored at the time and paid off in earned visibility without paid amplification.
04
Coordinated multi-channel campaigns.
I planned and edited the calendar and wrote content supporting recipe videos and Instagram posts. I also coordinated 15+ blogger campaigns for brands including Verizon, Microsoft, and Hyatt, managing editorial prompts, performance tracking, and budget in one role.
Plateaus aren’t a traffic problem. They’re a strategy problem. The blog didn’t need more content, it needed a reason for each piece to exist, and a team that could execute that reason consistently.
what i’d do differently
I’d push harder on content attribution earlier. We knew traffic was growing, but connecting specific content types or topics to downstream behavior, like coupon redemptions, email signups, and repeat visits, would have made the business case for the program much stronger and sharpened prioritization decisions.
I’d also formalize the freelancer onboarding process sooner. Nine writers across multiple content verticals is a lot to keep consistent. The feedback loops I built over time worked well, but starting with a documented brief framework and style guide from day one would have reduced the early revision load significantly.