Author: Franz Malten Buemann

Last Updated on December 1, 2020 by Rakesh GuptaBig Idea or Enduring Question: How can you automatically send password expiration reminders to users?  Objectives: This blog post will help us to understand the following Schedule a Flow that runs every … Continue reading →

What are some favorite tools / software for creating tiered payment plans for ad buying? Do you have a system that you made in-house?
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A few releases ago Salesforce introduced a new screen input component File Upload that allows users to upload files. For example, you can build a Flow that allows your sales rep to create an Opportunity and then attach a Pre-sales Evaluation … Continue reading →

Every year, we see new elements and styles in website design begin to emerge.
Some elements — when incorporated thoughtfully — help tell stories and explain your company. Other elements work to improve how content looks on a specific device. While it’s not necessary to include every trend that comes about on your website, many of them have the potential to improve your visitor’s experience.
But with so many options to choose from, it can be challenging to determine which ones are really worth considering. To help you narrow your focus, we’ve detailed eight important elements of modern website design that you can include to improve your site’s performance.
8 Modern Website Design Elements and Trends
1. Unique & Large Typography
Most companies have a particular font or typography that they use to help their customers immediately identify them versus their competitors. In recent years, designers have received a larger selection of fonts to choose from, making it easier for brands to more accurately express themselves through typography. 
For example, The New Yorker is recognized instantly through their use of unique font, Adobe Caslon Pro. While more unique fonts, such as Blokletters-Balpen, have begun to be used by startups and technology companies like Zero.
Why is it useful?
Typography uses one design trend across the website to lead readers to different parts of the page. For instance, The New Yorker website leads visitors from one section to another based on the typography and font sizes.
When creating your company’s brand, your choice in typography can indicate subtle hints about who you are. Are you fun or serious? Functional or informational? Regardless of what font you choose, be sure that your designer considers its applicability across browsers and computers. Choosing a font that is not supported by common browsers and computers could mean that your website displays awkwardly on different devices. 
2. Large & Responsive Hero Images
You don’t have to go far beyond the popular publishing website Medium.com to see an example of a large hero image:
Large images such as this one do away with the concept of above and below the fold. By focusing on just the image with text rather than a CTA or social buttons, Medium creates a strong visual experience that encourages you to scroll down to read more. 
Large hero images are also often placed in the background with text and other content overlaid on top, like on Uber’s website. Regardless of the approach you utilize, large images can help visually tell your story without having to rely on just text. 
Why is it useful?
Your customers are coming from all over the place and have high expectations. You may not be sure if they are finding your website from their phone, tablet, or desktop computer. The image that Medium uses above is extremely powerful, but if it was only visible from desktop computers, many people may miss it. 
That said, ensuring your images are responsive makes for a good user experience. Website visitors can look at different images — whether they are the background or product images — and be able to get the same experience no matter what device they are coming from. 
3. Background Videos
Videos that automatically play in the background can add a lot to a page. They can be used to tell a story and significantly reduce the amount of other content that is needed to explain your business.
Let’s take Wistia’s website, for example. When you land on their homepage a large video automatically starts playing in the background, and by clicking on the play button, you get a deeper look at Wistia:
This background video serves as a brilliant way to get the visitor engaged to click-through to the main video. 
Why is it useful?
Background videos focus on enticing the visitor from the moment they land on your page. The video allows your visitor to understand the key points about your company without ever having to read a single line of text. 
In addition, video is processed 60,000 times faster by our brains compared to text. While people are often hesitant to read heavy blocks of text, videos appear effortless and can be consumed very quickly. It also helps that connection speeds are increasing and mobile device sizes are growing, making for better video experiences.
4. Semi-Flat Design
In 2013, Apple fundamentally shifted to flat design. Simply put, flat design is any element that does not include or give the perception of three dimensions, such as shadows. Not only is flat design is easier for users to comprehend, but it can also load more quickly on websites without complicated or overly-technical elements.
Following in Apple’s footsteps, many other organizations — both large and small — have shifted to flat design. However, companies like Uber have put their own spin on the style by adding subtle shadows and dimensions. As you can see in the image below, the boxes have an element of depth with shadows around them, without overdoing it:
When you scroll over any of the boxes on the Uber homepage the shadow disappears and relieves the image behind it.
Why is it useful?
Flat design helps the visitor understand your content more quickly, and adding some elements of depth can bring it to life. Regardless of whether you fully design your website using flat design or utilize shadows and other elements, it’s important to be consistent throughout your website. Ensure that your homepage, product pages, and any other key sections of your website all utilize the same design cues so that visitors can instantly understand what they’re viewing.
5. Hamburger Menus
It’s likely that most websites you come in contact with have a long menu of options to choose from. The advantage of this is that the menu can take the visitor directly to where they want to go. However, the disadvantage is that they generally take up a ton of valuable screen space. 
The hidden, or hamburger, menu changes this. This menu was common in web applications before making its way to web design — even in Google Chrome you can find a hamburger menu on the right-hand side.
Source: UX movement
Wondering why it’s called a hamburger menu?
If you use your imagination, the three lines that are stacked on top of one another look like hamburger patties. Get it?
Why is it useful?
The pages of your website should have a clear path for the user to take. Removing a busy navigation makes the experience cleaner and distraction free. This improved experiences help to improve the likelihood that the user will find the information they need to complete a desired action. 
6. Giant Product Images
You may have noticed that many B2B websites are starting to display large product images on their sites to highlight different features or parts of their product. This is no coincidence. 
To give you a better idea of what we’re talking about, let’s take a look at the product page for the HubSpot Website Platform:

There is a large featured image at the top of this page, and as you scroll down the page there are additional in-depth product images. The images are also responsive which aims to ensure an optimized experience for viewers coming from different devices, as we mentioned earlier. 
Why is it useful?
Larger product images help designers highlight different features of a product in a more efficient and effective way.
This approach reinforces the benefits of a feature by providing the opportunity to highlight the most valuable pieces. For instance, in the second image, you will notice that there are numbers on the image corresponding with benefits of certain features.
These large images are also scan-friendly. They help visitors generate a solid understanding of what the different product features do by convey them through images instead of words.
7. Card Design
With the rise of Pinterest, designers and marketers alike have become fascinated with cards. Individual cards help distribute information in a visual way so the visitors can easily consume bite-sized pieces of content without being overwhelmed. 
Brit + Co’s homepage serves as a great example of card design in action:

By breaking up different pieces of content into cards, users can pick and choose which articles they want to expand. This helps to keep the homepage feeling clean and organized, without relying on a ton of text. 
Why is it useful?
Card design is becoming more and more popular across B2B and B2C websites because it helps to deliver easily digestible chunks of information for users. Using this design on your site can help highlight multiple products or solutions side-by-side. 
Keep in mind that your cards should be responsive. This means that as the screen size gets smaller or larger, the number and size of cards shown should adapt accordingly.
8. Short Product or Feature Videos
In addition to background videos, companies are also beginning to use short product or feature videos to highlight a specific use case. These short videos are great at bringing your solution to life, while not overwhelming the visitor with a long experience that they must sit through.
A strong example of this comes from the folks at InVision. They display this short illustrator of how easy it is to use their product by dragging-and-dropping a design directly on their homepage:

Why is it useful?
According to Inc. Magazine, 92% of B2B customers watch online video, and 43% of B2B customers watch online video when researching products and services for their business. Therefore, B2B companies need to create videos that explain their products because it is influential in the buyer’s decision-making process.
These short videos allow for your prospect to quickly understand value without watching a really long, in-depth experience. Sure, both have value, but the shorter videos allows for quick understanding that is best for top of the funnel.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in August 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

  

According to a recent survey, blogs have ranked as the third most trustworthy source of information, following only friends and family. That’s right — bloggers are trusted more than celebrities, journalists, brands, and politicians.
But how do you get people to fall in love with your blog in the first place? (Aside from remarkable content, of course.)
Well, just as your website homepage is like the front door to your business, your blog’s design — much like a welcome mat — is the front door to your business blog.
If you’re not attracting people visually, how will you get them to take the next steps to actually read (and, hopefully, subscribe to) your content?Once you’re done creating the quality content, you still have the challenge of presenting it in a way that clearly dictates what your blog is about. Images, text, and links need to be shown off just right — otherwise, readers might abandon your content, if it’s not showcased in a way that’s appealing, easy to follow, and generates more interest.
That’s why we’ve compiled some examples of blog homepages to get you on the right track to designing the perfect blog for your readers. Check ’em out, below.

17 Inspiring Examples of Beautiful Blog Homepage Design

1. Help Scout

Sometimes, the best blog designs are also the simplest. Help Scout, makers of customer service software, uses a unique but minimalist design on its blog that we love — it limits the use of copy and visuals and embraces negative space.
What we particularly like about this blog is its use of featured images for all posts, including a banner one at the top that highlights a recent or particularly popular entry. These icons are set in front of bright, block colors that catch the readers’ eye and signal what the post is about. And it works — everything about this blog’s design says “clean” and “readable.”

2. Microsoft Stories

Full disclosure: We’ve totally gushed over Microsoft’s “Stories” microsite before. We can’t help it — what better way to revitalize an old-school brand than with a blog that boasts beautiful, interactive, and inspiring branded content? Plus, the square layout of these stories is reminiscent of the Microsoft logo, which achieves a valuable brand consistency.
Microsoft Stories is also a prime example of how a business blog can be a major asset for an overall rebrand. In recent years, Microsoft has worked to humanize its brand, largely in response to a rivalry with Apple. The “Stories” microsite has a simple tagline — “Get an inside look at the people, places and ideas that move us.” It’s the softer side of Microsoft, so to speak.
When you’re trying to convey a certain brand message, your blog can be used to communicate it — both aesthetically, and content-wise.

3. Pando

An important aspect of a well-designed blog is a consistent color scheme and style — after all, 80% of consumers say that color boosts their recognition of a brand.
It’s interesting to see how color consistency can unify the more diversified elements of design. Pando, a blog that explores the startup cycle, incorporates bluetones in several sections of its site — the background, highlight bars, and certain areas of text. But it also uses several different fonts — all of which manage to look seamless together,when tied together by a cohesive color scheme.

4. Design Milk

Design Milk, an online contemporary design outlet, uses a very simple layout to highlight its posts. The sidebar to the right — which remains visiblewhen a blog post is opened to read — is perfect for showcasing thumbnail images for new articles. That’s an internal link strategy, which helps to encourage readers to remain on the site longer.
The social icons at the top are a pleasant addition to the overall look and feel of the site — they’re easy to spot, and make it easy to share Design Milk’s content. (And to learn more about adding social buttons to your blog, check out this post.)

5. Fubiz

Fubiz, an art and design blog, is an example of a really sleek design that also includes some cool personalization.
Near the top of the blog’s homepage, readers can side-scroll through “highlighted” posts. Below that is the Creativity Finder, where visitors can select their chosen personas — from “Art Lover” to “Freelance” — location, and the type of content they’re looking for. From there, readers can browse content specifically catered to them.
We can’t help but love the header image, too. It uses something called “blue mind” psychology, which has found that the sight of open water can naturally draw us in. By using it in a design scheme, Fubiz is able to visually attract visitors to its content.

6. Webdesigner Depot

With a name like “Webdesigner Depot,” it’s no wonder that this design news site is visually appealing.
One thing that we particularly like is the way Webdesigner Depot has incorporated social sharing icons on each individual post. While we of course suggest actually reading each piece, having those links readily available helps visitors immediately share a headline they find interesting. And check out those navigation arrows on the right — never before has it been so easy to scroll to the top or bottom of a page.
What’s more, the color scheme, background, and fonts are all consistent — which keeps this blog looking professional, but still distinct from the basic blog templates we might be used to seeing.

7. Mashable

I mean, just look at that header image. The bold colors, the wiring overlay, the gripping pupil and the contrasting text. It absolutely catches the reader’s eye — no pun intended.
Mashable breaks its content into three noticeable sections on the homepage: New posts are listed on the left in the smallest sized thumbnails.”What’s Rising” posts are displayed in the center column as large thumbnails, and the “What’s Hot” posts are shown to the right, also as large thumbnails. This three-pronged approach to displaying content can help readers decide which kind of news matters to them the most — the attention-grabbing top story, or other posts that are currently trending.
Plus, we like that the number of shares is displayed in each post preview — that’s a great form of social proof.

8. Brit + Co

Everything about the Brit + Co homepage says “clean,” “warm,” and “welcoming.” It’s free of clutter, making the content more digestible, and the layout is extremely organized.
We dig the seasonality of the site, too. I mean, avocado jack-o’-lanterns on the dawn of October? Adorable, and replete with a colorful, fun photo to illustrate the story’s content.
The subtle “trending” header also serves as a nice way to promote popular content, without being too in-you-face about it. Plus, with such great visuals, we took note of the nod to Pinterest — that icon is important to include when your blog incorporates attractive imagery.

9. Tesco Living

We love the colorful, consistent design of Tesco Living, the blog site of British grocery chain Tesco.
Remember how we keep harping away at brand consistency? Check out the rhombus-like designs in the top banner — that reflects the same ones that appear in Tesco’s logo.
What Tesco Living has achieved is a great balance of simplicity and boldness. The layout is extremely minimal, but it isn’t dull. Warm and welcoming shades underscore each content category, and the photos add dashes of colors throughout the site. It’s a great example of how the right imagery can achieve an appealing “less-is-more” appearance, especially if that fits in with your overall brand concept.

10. Crew

Crew Backstage, the blog of the Crew platform for designers and developers, has a fabulously minimalist blog design, but quiet a unique one.
Notice that, above the fold, it features one blog post with a large title, subtitle, and call-to-action to read more.
To the left, there’s an equally minimalist call-to-action that makes it easy for readers to connect with Crew, or learn more. Plus, there’s that consistency again — everything above the fold is the same shade of blue, which has been shown to invoke brand trust.

11. Innocent Drinks

Not only are the folks at Innocent Drinks great copywriters, but the design of its blog is also a great reminder that blog designs don’t have to get super fancy.
Notice how the logo — displayed in the upper left — is simple, cartoonish, and almost delightfully child-like. It works for Innocent Drinks (hint: childhood innocence), and that brand presence is maintained throughout the company’s blog.
The colorful fonts, for example, match the logo and stay in line with the brand’s casual, playful voice. We also like the easily-navigable archive links on the left, which are complemented by the geometric social sharing buttons on the right.

12. 500px

Much like Crew, the photography blog, 500px, leads with one featured article and a big, bold, high-definition photo to draw the reader in. That makes is pretty clear what the blog is about — it boasts valuable content on photography with gripping photography.
Plus, how cool is it that the social links are right there, obviously displayed above the fold? They keep readers engaged with the content, and make it easy to share the photography — and, content with images is up to three times as likely to be shared on social media.

13. Pixelgrade
Pixelgrade is a design studio that creates stunning WordPress themes for all sorts of creative people and small businesses. Their blog page does a great job of highlighting one of their most recent or popular blog posts, alongside a clear call to action and a short excerpt. What I like best is that the design of the page is 100% in line with their brand and how they communicate on other channels as well, like
Instagram,
Facebook, or
Twitter. You will have no problem in identifying their blog posts, among other content you might come across while scrolling on social media.

14. BarkPost

It’s no secret that we kind of like dogs here at HubSpot. So when a blog dedicated to life as a dog owner came across our radar, it got our attention.
BarkPost, the blog of canine subscription box company BarkBox, is a great example of design for a number of reasons. First, look how easy it is to subscribe — the call to action is right there, above the featured content. The social share icons are easily noticeable, too — and, of course, all in the brand-matching, trustworthy blue.
We also like that BarkPost draws attention to its sister companies, all of which are owned under the Bark & Co portfolio of brands. But at the same time,the blog doesn’t hock its own products — rather, it serves as an informational resource to dog parents and lovers alike.

15. Goodwill Industries International

Who says nonprofit organizations can’t blog? Nay, they should — and Goodwill’s clean, colorful navigation (again — the trustworthy blue) draw the reader to the important elements of this blog.
The posts are also neatly positioned and easily accessible to readers. And, visitors can pick the type of information that matters to them the most by choosing a topic from the drop-down menu on the top right.
Finally, we love that there’s a collaborative call to action in the introductory text that invites readers to contribute content to the Goodwill blog. After all, the organization’s services have reached 37 million people — here’s a way for them to share their stories, or invite donors to write about why they chose to support Goodwill.

16. charity: water

Keeping the nonprofit blogging train going is charity: water, which makes excellent use of high-quality photography.
Recently, the organization redesigned its blog with a lengthy post dedicated to its 10-year anniversary. Using that opportunity to share its impact over the past decade, charity: water maintained a simplistic design with concise text and bright images from the anniversary event.
Plus, there’s a clear CTA to donate at the top of the page. Placing that above a story about charity: water’s impact is a double-edged sword, by both inspiring people to contribute to the cause while making it easy to do so.

17. Johnny Cupcakes

To clear up any confusion, Johnny Cupcakes doesn’t actually make cupcakes. It makes clothing. But the company has done a great job of playing up its brand association with baked goods — its blog uses the subdomain “kitchen.”
Plus, the folks at Johnny Cupcakes know a thing or two about brand consistency across channels. Its blog’s simple color scheme and matching fonts help to create a unified user experience from the shop togeneral content, all the while throwing in bold, colorful images to catch readers’ attention.
Also, visit the website and have a scroll — we think it’s pretty cool how the background images vary, but stay positionallystatic for each entry.

Looking for more beautiful blog designs? Here are 15 more award-winning website design examples.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in 2013 and has been updated for comprehensiveness. 

The infographic is one of the most effective mediums content marketers have at their disposal. It’s a format that allows you to create content that’s compelling and compulsively shareable without sacrificing utility and thoughtfulness.
But there are some cases where normal infographics just don’t cut it. So what can you do to elevate them? Is there a way to make them that much more gripping and intriguing? If you’re asking yourself those questions, you might want to consider making your infographics interactive.
Here, we’ll go over what an interactive infographic is, learn what it takes to make one, see some examples, and review some of the programs you can use to make one of your own.

In many respects, interactive infographics are a big part of the future of informational content. According to research by DemandGen, 85% of B2B marketers are already using or plan to use interactive infographics as part of their strategy.
But why is that the case? Why are companies so interested in incorporating these kinds of infographics into their content marketing strategies? Well, simply put, interactive infographics are more compelling than static ones.
They add a more immersive element to the medium and, in turn, drive greater engagement. Interactive content can also help express and promote a brand voice and identity. A study by the Content Marketing Institute found that 75% of marketers agree that non-gated interactive content can provide a “sample” of the brand, resulting in a higher degree of lead nurturing.
Ultimately, you can rope readers in by letting them directly interact with your data, they’ll be more inclined to learn and retain the information you’re sharing. That often translates to sincere interest in your business as a whole.
How to Make an Interactive Infographic
1. Gather and compellingly convey your data.
The first step to creating an interactive infographic — along with virtually any kind of informative content — is gathering data. An interactive infographic without interesting data is more or less a pretty picture with some information.
Once you have your data on hand, try to find a way to convey it with some oomph. A dry infographic isn’t going to drum up the kind of enthusiasm or engagement you’re looking for. See if you can tell a story with your information. Be intentional and interesting with the language you use.
Take a look at this example:

Image Source: VisMe
Whoever made this graphic managed to incorporate hooks, powerful language, and a cohesive theme to articulate their data and what it entails — making it more compelling, engaging, and readable than it would’ve been if they just threw out a laundry list of hard statistics.
2. Organize your data with compelling visual elements.
The operative term in the phrase “infographic” is “graphic”. Visual elements separate this kind of content from bland lists of facts or statistics. When making an interactive infographic, you need to incorporate interesting visuals to spur and sustain the interest that will keep people engaged with your content.
Find relevant, eye-catching images to supplement the data you’re trying to relay to readers — whether they be actual photos, illustrated graphics, or any other kind of engaging visual. The key here is to abide by a consistent theme.
That means maintaining consistency in the color, tone, and visual medium you decide to go with. Breaking up that kind of cohesion can be jarring and turn some readers off.
3. Determine and apply the interactive elements you’d like to include.
Finally, once you’ve pinned down the written and visual themes you want to use to convey your data, you need to identify and apply the interactive elements that can best complement and enhance them.
If you want readers to test their knowledge of the subject you’re covering, consider using a quiz. If you’d like to show them how your data might impact them personally, try including a survey. If your data covers physical landmarks or geographic data, think about including a heat map.
There are tons of interactive elements you can choose to make your infographic pop. Just make sure the ones you decide to include are engaging and appropriate without being too jarring. They need to be relevant to the information the infographic covers and tailored to keep readers hooked.
Interactive Infographic Examples

BBC’s “Will a Robot Take Your Job?”

This interactive infographic from BBC addresses the future of work and automation. It allows you to enter your line of work into a survey field and uses compelling, fun graphics to detail the degree to which your field will be automated in the future.

Adioma’s “What the Internet Thinks About”

This infographic from Adioma links out to a variety of popular articles that capture the essence of what kind of content most people on the internet are thinking about.

National Geographic’s “New York City Skyline”

This infographic from National Geographic provides a seamless, interactive view of the New York City skyline, along with some information about the individual buildings that compose it.

QZ’s “Dude Map”

This infographic is a fun heat map that details the names men use to greet each other by region in the United States.

1. Infogram

Price: Free Plans Available

Infogram is one of the preeminent resources for creating interactive infographics. The program’s suite of interactive features is robust and eclectic — including elements like interactive chart legends, timers, and interactive maps.
The software is particularly user-friendly. It has an accessible interface and a host of straightforward, seamless integrations — users can smoothly translate data from spreadsheets into well-crafted, engaging interactive infographics.
Infogram’s pricing structure includes free plans for smaller operations and reasonably priced tiers available as your organization’s graphic needs expand.

Image Source: Infogram
2. VisMe

Price: Free Plans Available

Visme is one of the foremost online design software for non-designers. The program includes resources for first-rate presentations and infographics. And while its static infographic creation features are cutting edge in their own right, Visme sets itself apart from similar software with its interactive infographic capabilities.
The software lets you easily incorporate interactive elements like links, quizzes, videos, and surveys into your infographics. And as I mentioned, Visme is tailored to suit the needs and skillsets of non-designers, so if you’re looking to put together compelling interactive infographics with limited design experience, consider giving VisMe a shot.
VisMe offers a free plan to let users get acquainted with the software and appropriately priced plans for everyone from individuals to enterprises.

Image Source: VisMe
3. CopyPress

Price: Contact for Pricing Information

Creating interactive infographics isn’t always intuitive. It can be a complex process to nail. In some cases, you might want to outsource that work to an esteemed, effective creative agency. If your needs fit that bill, you might want to get in touch with CopyPress.
CopyPress can apply your research, work with you to pin down a tone that fits your specifications, and translate both into engaging, thoughtful interactive infographics. The firm even has an interactive infographic about how it makes interactive infographics.
As you can assume, this is one of the pricier roads to take, but if you want your interactive infographics to be thorough and professional, it might be the right way to go.

Image Source: CopyPress
The interactive infographic is a format that can capture and retain consumer interest when done right — an emerging medium that’s worth some time and consideration when you’re wondering where to go with your content marketing. Creating one often takes a lot of effort, but if you’re looking for an effective way to compellingly convey hard data and quickly hook consumers, it might just be worth it.

How do you win brand visibility in a crowded market without overspending on resources?
For SaaS companies, content marketing is, in many ways, the most powerful opportunity to achieve growth and outshine competitors.
It’s no secret the SaaS market is highly saturated – some would even say polluted. In fact, nearly 60,000 software companies are listed on the G2 Crowd across over 700 verticals as of 2020.
Additionally, startups don’t have the luxury of being unique anymore. They must be better – not just different – from competitors if they want attention and sales.
Whenever brands come to me with this issue, I give them the same answer: Focus on customer-centric content, and you’ll achieve outstanding customer-centric growth.
The concept is really that simple. Putting it into practice, however, is another story.
Gaining thought leadership in a market filled with intelligent experts is not easy. Ranking for major keywords isn’t enough. You must commit to the craft with authority, relevance, and warmth.

Your customer should always be the hero of any story you tell.

That’s the secret recipe I’ve used for years to help SaaS companies thrive. Today, I’ll explain my rank-and-win process I used to help a leading content collaboration company (which I’ll call “Brand X” for our purposes). While I can’t disclose the brand name, I can promise you the tactics I used to help the company achieve growth are very, very real.
Let’s dive into four methods you should consider implementing for customer-centric growth.

1. Establish a voice.
Voice is everything. Any successful brand voice must:

Immediately resonate with your target audience.
Maintain consistency across all content and platforms.

Brand X developed an ideal voice to suit their content: funky, conversational, and banter-heavy.
Using this quirky voice, we managed to create content engaging enough to spark interest without pushing leads away with a sales-y tone.
Consider how you might find your own brand voice to ensure your readers are consistently delighted with the valuable content your company — and your company alone — can offer.
2. Map the repeating method for customer-centric growth.
Next, I had the team map out a flywheel diagram – an idea I got from Jim Collin’s book, The Flywheel Effect. The flywheel diagram dictates a repeatable process that achieves growth every time it’s implemented.
Like Jon Dick writes in this post, funnels lose momentum as they close in. Flywheels, however, leverage the momentum to continue spinning.
At the top of the diagram, we placed the goal of increasing Brand X’s website traffic. The wheel would spin like this:
Increase traffic to the website → Traffic generates demos and trials → Demos and trials turn into sales → Sales earn brand recognition → Recognition triggers more website traffic and the cycle repeats
At the end, we reinvested in research/development, sales, and marketing.
The flywheel diagram works for customer-centric growth every time because it’s focused on buyer needs and pain points, and can prevent lost ROI from bland marketing or sales strategies.
Our analysis found that 438 articles produced more than one lead in the last three years. That’s just the average, so that’s significant.
3. Create a rank-and-win thought leadership strategy.
You can’t complete the flywheel growth process without content. Content marketing – specifically thought leadership – fits perfectly with the flywheel strategy because it delivers ongoing ROI.
Every SaaS company wants to position itself as a thought leader and inspire its audience. I’ve noticed, however, that most people approach thought leadership the wrong way.
Instead of striving for nuance in every blog post, focus on filling a gap with authority and dedication.
Here’s where the rank-and-win idea comes into play: first, Brand X filled an information gap with consistent quality content.
That content then earned Google’s approval and ranked in the top-five for high-volume keywords.
Next, other websites found that content and linked back to Brand X. And, finally, people shared the original content widely on social media.
These keyword rankings drove substantial traffic to Brand X’s blog, with 80% being new traffic.
But how can you fill gaps and rank in saturated markets? Brand X focused on six key themes in their content cluster. They then built a structure and workflow for each theme for ideation and planning.
Brand X wasn’t trying to be annoyingly unique with their thought leadership. They were focusing on authority, and customer-centric content.
4. Develop a content strategy for organic blog traffic.
When content marketing starts delivering conversions, it’s not by luck – it’s by persistence to quality.
Since our initial flywheel goal for Brand X was to increase blog traffic, we focused on producing quality and consistency. They currently publish four blogs per week on average.
We set Brand X’s KPIs to reflect what we hoped to achieve from increasing blog traffic:

Page views
Assisted conversions (when a user clicks from a blog page to a conversion page like a content download or a free demo sign up)
Subscribers

For Brand X, volume was instrumental – both in the number of blogs published, and traffic.
They first saw steady returns on traffic from content marketing. As they added more posts per week, the views spiked dramatically.
This dedication to customer-centric content earned them a 50% to 615% increase year-over-year in organic search traffic.
Content is the Secret to Unlocking Customer-Centric Growth in Saturated Markets
For SaaS companies, quality and consistent content wins every time. Today, Brand X has a defined content strategy complete with a mission statement, frequency, resources, and budget.
Best of all, they continue ranking in the top-five for high-volume keywords and producing customer-centric growth from their content.
Ultimately, it’s critical you focus on buyer needs and make prospects and customers the hero of all your stories. With a commitment to this mindset and action, you can develop content that reaches, engages, and converts.
To learn more about creating customer-centric content, take a look at 8 Tips for Becoming a Customer-Centric Organization.