{"id":9076,"date":"2023-06-12T11:27:09","date_gmt":"2023-06-12T11:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/seobuddy.com\/blog\/?p=9076"},"modified":"2023-06-12T11:29:09","modified_gmt":"2023-06-12T11:29:09","slug":"my-seo-journey-lemonlight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seobuddy.com\/blog\/my-seo-journey-lemonlight\/","title":{"rendered":"My SEO Journey: Hope Horner from lemonlight.com – Focusing on long-form pillar page content has been a huge win"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

My SEO Journey is a series where entrepreneurs and Indie makers share their honest SEO Journey filled with failure and success, and most importantly, proven results.\u00a0Episode #126 features Hope Horner from Lemonlight<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Hope<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Hello! My name is Hope Horner and I\u2019m the CEO and Co-founder of Lemonlight<\/a>, a video production marketplace that allows companies to create custom branded content at scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lemonlight’s mission is to make content creation easier for every brand on the planet. We do that by empowering brands with innovative tools and connecting them with the world\u2019s greatest creators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the past nine years, we\u2019ve created 20,000+ videos and we\u2019ve worked with many of the world\u2019s top brands and agencies, including Amazon, Facebook, Google, Tesla, GE, Airbnb, and Deloitte. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our accomplishments have been honored with over 25 prestigious awards, including Inc. 500 for five consecutive years, Entrepreneur 360 for three consecutive years, BuiltIn’s Best Places to Work in 2023, as well as numerous creative accolades such as a Viddy Gold and NYX Platinum award.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What’s your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Growing up in Johnson City, TN, a charming small town in the state’s northeast corner, I always dreamt of moving to Los Angeles and starting my own business. At the age of 18, I made the move to LA for college and have stayed there ever since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2008, I embarked on my first entrepreneurial venture when the startup scene in Los Angeles was quite limited. Resources were scarce, and learning to start and run a business without experience was challenging. I persisted through the ups and downs for a few years, gaining some success and many valuable lessons, but it didn’t turn out exactly as I had hoped. I spent a few more years working with startups and honing my leadership and entrepreneurial skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In April of 2014, I started my third company, Lemonlight, out of a second bedroom with my two co-founders, Daniel Marlow, and Chad Rogers. Lemonlight\u2019s mission was to offer small and medium-sized businesses access to high-quality, affordable video content that they could use to advertise their brand online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time, the average cost for a 30-second commercial was $342,000 according to the American Association of Advertising Agencies. It was filled with lengthy creative meetings and customized prices based on the size of the brand. We saw an opportunity to bring transparency to an industry that had long operated in a very opaque world limited to the business elite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We wanted to validate the market so we built a $12 website on Squarespace, signed up for a free Mailchimp account, and hacked together a rough sales presentation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We credit that early success to our unique approach of commoditizing video production. We offered a pre-built pricing menu that was affordable to most business owners. After the videos were made, we taught them how to use them as online ads to grow their own business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since launch, what has worked to attract more organic traffic?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"lemonlight.com<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Our main focus has been to develop a content marketing strategy that focuses on providing informative, engaging, and relevant content to our target audience. We regularly create blog posts, pillar pages, and gated content like webinars and case studies that address the many pain points of video marketing and video production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once we established a backlog of valuable content, we started investing more in effective SEO strategies to improve our website’s visibility in search engine results. This includes switching our hosting provider to increase our site speed, conducting keyword research to identify our strengths and gaps, and focusing on building high-quality backlinks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In terms of increasing sales, we have leaned heavily on email marketing efforts. This includes optimizing email lists and nurturing our contacts with valuable content, promotions, and personalized offers. We also use email marketing triggers to send targeted messages to different segments of our audience, often driving traffic back to our website or specific landing pages to increase conversions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, we have been increasing our paid advertising spend as of late, focusing mostly on Google and Facebook ads. We\u2019ve used remarketing campaigns to reach out to users who have previously visited our website, showing them relevant ads to remind them about our services and encouraging them to complete a purchase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Email marketing has been our main tool for acquiring customer rebuys, as well. We\u2019ve created personalized and engaging email campaigns to re-engage our existing customers and push them toward starting a membership with us: Lemonlight Pro. As part of these rebuy efforts, we offer exclusive discounts and relevant content that adds value to the customer experience.<\/p>\n\n\n

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There\u2019s more\u2026<\/div>\r\n

Now it\u2019s time to discover the other 102 steps that will get more organic traffic flowing to your website. Get the SEO Checklist here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Want to get a sneak peek of what it looks like?<\/strong>
\nEnter your email and get a free demo version of the SEO Checklist.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\r\n

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