Compose.ly

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Cleverly is a digital marketing organization that specializes in LinkedIn lead generation. I’m chief of staff and I also handle support and a lot of HR projects, while Nick is the co-founder of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Compose.ly?

We had no SEO presence and didn’t rank for any keywords, so we approached Compose.ly to start a blog.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Compose.ly writes around 5,000 words or anywhere between 2–6 blog posts per month. We come up with the SEO strategy on our side and research keywords as well as blog topics. We then communicate that to Compose.ly who then writes the blog posts, submits them to us for feedback, and makes the necessary revisions and finalizations. We then publish those blogs on our website. 

What is the team composition?

We work with two members of their team. The account manager makes sure that we’re happy as a client and that our strategy is working, while the content manager makes sure that we get in all of our topics on time so that they could write blog posts for them. 

How did you come to work with Compose.ly?

We searched for content writing agencies on Google and chose Compose.ly because of their affordable monthly price. We also liked that they would assign a dedicated, US-based account manager that we could talk to. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2020, and we are still using their services to this day. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

As far as results, a handful of the posts that Compose.ly has written have helped us rank on Google and have brought in traffic and qualified leads. Their writers are very good. Though their pieces require edits, it is not an overwhelming amount. When they sometimes swap out writers, there is a change in the quality of a blog post. However, they’ve been quick to fix that or swap in a better writer. 

How did Compose.ly perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very fast to reply; we can email them any time and get a response within the day. They’re also always on time when submitting, revising, or finishing blog posts.

We use Google Docs and emails to communicate and manage the project. We also use Google Sheets to fill them in on our brand guidelines. There, we post our research for each blog topic, the number of worlds we think a certain post should have, and other details that their team might need in order to write a good blog post. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m impressed with Compose.ly’s process for cranking out good, consistent blog posts on time. They hold us accountable to finishing our research so that they could, in turn, create blog posts quickly. It’s just a very clean process that doesn’t require a lot of back and forth. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Sometimes, their writers are not up to standard.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You need to provide a lot of supporting documentation for each blog post to make sure that their writers are informed enough to produce good, detailed content.