They Ask, You Answer, 2nd Edition

24 How They Ask, You Answer Saved River Pools and Spas

At this point, you may be wondering what the final impact of They Ask, You Answer was on River Pools and Spas.

As mentioned at the beginning of the book, in March 2009 we at River Pools and Spas were getting ready to lose our business. After learning about inbound and content marketing, we embraced what we called They Ask, You Answer and brainstormed every single question we had ever been asked by a prospect or customer. Night after night, after having heard multiple questions during the day from prospects, I (with the help of my business partners) wrote articles and produced videos addressing these questions.

When we first started this process, we were receiving about 2,000 visitors a month, and most of that traffic was coming from pay-per-click traffic on Google. We were spending about $500 every two days, and the money had finally run out.

But within three months of beginning to generate content, our site’s organic (free) traffic began to double. Then, month after month, it just kept getting better.

Although 2009 was our toughest financial year as a company, we managed to survive. Our focus on content and great teaching was just enough to scratch and claw our way to at least keeping the lights on.

By 2010, I could see the work was starting to pay off. Our traffic and leads had exploded. The sales began to pour in.

Today, River Pools and Spas has thousands and thousands of inbound links coming from other sites—even though ...