Can you provide a ballpark dollar figure for the size of the work that they’ve done for you?
We’ve been with Hop Online for about two years. It might be a little less, and it’s been consistent. Per month, about $1,800 is what we’re spending. I think a portion of that is for the content creation. The majority is for the content marketing and social media marketing services that they provide.
What were the results of the project?
Relationship has been ongoing for two years.
Do you have any statistics or metrics to track improvement from the project?
The overall traffic to the site increased about 500 percent, so we saw a significant increase in overall traffic. Obviously, the bulk of that was from organic traffic. There was a fair amount that has also come through referral traffic, but the other nice thing is that we’ve also been able to scale back some of our traditional marketing because we’re getting so much just through the content marketing campaign and the social media marketing.
Is there anything unique about them that really makes them stand out, compared to other companies?
We haven’t worked with many other companies solely focused on SEO [search engine optimization] so it’s hard to compare them in that way. In general, there’s a lot of cooperation from Hop Online. It’s not so much that we are just handing our request off to them, and they run with it. There’s a lot of cooperation, and we’re working together to come up with strategies and ideas as far as where the campaign should go. Whether it’s as small as the type of topics for the articles, or it’s just the overall approach to what type of market we’re targeting, we’re working together throughout the whole process. It feels less like we are contracting it out as opposed to they’re just working with us on the project.
Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or something that you might do differently?
The one area that they have improved upon, at least specifically with our campaign, we had some issues with the content creation at some stages early on. At times, it was inconsistent, or I just wasn’t very happy with some of the content that was being produced. Hop Online has really become much more consistent in the quality of their work during the last six to 12 months. I would still recommend anybody who works with them to review and edit the articles before they are posted. Obviously, they’re focused on the marketing aspect, they don’t have the expertise of whoever is working for the school or the business, so it’s always best to make sure you review and edit it in-house. Overall, the content has really improved.
Occasionally, there were certain content pieces that were written from a different cultural perspective, they would see things and write things differently. Initially, some of the articles would be a little bit too heavy on opinion and because it was coming from somebody writing it from a different culture, that could cause issues. Usually, it was something minor that could be fixed while reviewing and editing, and like I said, now it’s gotten much better.
The only other constructive criticism I have would be that there is a lot of changeover in project management. I haven’t really seen this affect the campaign, but every few months I feel like there’s somebody leaving and a new person’s coming in to manage the campaign. That can cause issues. I haven’t really noticed any, but that would be the only other constructive criticism I would have.
Over the past five years, Hop Online has significantly improved keyword rankings. Their team is openminded and responsive. They’re accommodating and provided results within a specified timeline. Their controlled and organized approach spurred continued engagement.