{"id":8479,"date":"2020-02-20T10:31:15","date_gmt":"2020-02-20T10:31:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beta.gosquared.com\/blog\/?p=8479"},"modified":"2020-02-20T10:44:59","modified_gmt":"2020-02-20T10:44:59","slug":"designing-blog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/designing-blog","title":{"rendered":"Why we redesigned the GoSquared Blog"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Welcome to the shiny new GoSquared Blog!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the last couple of months, we\u2019ve been working with creative agency Manifesto Studios to give our Blog an overhaul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Content marketing has become a fundamental part of every comprehensive marketing strategy, which means there is a vast amount of content on the internet competing for the attention of readers.
\nIt\u2019s hard to stand out in this space, but that doesn\u2019t mean that you shouldn\u2019t contribute to this ever-growing library of online content.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\n It\u2019s hard to stand out in this space, but that doesn\u2019t mean that you shouldn\u2019t contribute to this ever-growing library of online content. <\/p>\n

\n <\/use><\/svg> Tweet This<\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/blockquote>\n \n\n\n

The most important thing is working out how you can uniquely contribute to this library and carve out your own space amongst all the noise.
\nRedesigning the Blog was more than just an exercise in aesthetics, it helped us to dive into the core reasons of why we create content and how we want GoSquared to serve our customers and visitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this post, we are going to share the lessons we learned about content marketing and finding your space in the crowded blogosphere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why do we have a blog?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Good projects always start with healthy strategic thinking. As we began to think about redesigning the Blog, we took it right back to the roots and challenged ourselves to answer the question: why do we have a blog?
\nIt\u2019s good practice to question yourself every once in a while. Practices and routines that we take for granted might be outdated or could be improved. The perfect moment to do this is when you\u2019re embarking on a redesign (or new build) of your blog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if you decide that you\u2019re on the right track and don\u2019t want to edit any parts of your strategy, it\u2019s good to remind yourself, and your team, of your purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have knowledge that we want to share.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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The most central and most important reason for us to create the GoSquared Blog is to share the knowledge that our team has spent years building up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From design and engineering to customer success, sales, and marketing – we have a lot of expertise and a tonne of experience. We know that this information can be useful to others, and keeping it to ourselves just doesn\u2019t seem right. That\u2019s not a world we want to live in or a culture we want to build.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By sharing knowledge and supporting each other to thrive, we can make better products, grow our businesses, and reach personal and professional milestones. This is why we take the time to share our knowledge on the GoSquared Blog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We want to help other businesses grow.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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The reason GoSquared exists as a company is to help other people start and grow businesses. One of the ways we do that is by creating a suite of products and tools. Still, another essential part of this mission is educating and inspiring likeminded people with new ways to grow their businesses. This, we primarily bring to life through our blog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can think of it in a similar way to the \u201cteach a man to fish\u201d proverb.
\n\u201cGive a man a fish, and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we put that back into the context of our own business, it means that making products isn\u2019t enough. We also have to help our customers understand how to use those products, and share our solutions to the problems that so many businesses face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We truly believe our products are useful and want to talk about them.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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If we didn\u2019t think our products were helpful, we wouldn\u2019t make them. Our team is ambitious and incredibly talented, and no one wants to work on products that aren\u2019t needed or aren\u2019t used. We make the tools in the GoSquared suite because we hear from our customers that they want what we can build, and we hear success stories from customers who use our products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To get the most out of any tool, you need to know how to use it. The Blog fulfils a lot of this function for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We gain so much from reading the content that other people put out.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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We are part of a massive network of intelligent contributors, copywriters, and content marketers. Each week we read countless articles, case studies, how-to guides, and posts from all around the world (some of which we curate into our Weekly Newsletter). We gain so much from reading about other people\u2019s ideas and experiences, and part of the enjoyment of having our Blog is getting to contribute back into this pool of collective knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Often, we change our own strategy and behaviour based on the articles we read. This, to us, proves how valuable good content can be to a business, and we hope to have a similar positive influence on others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why have we redesigned our blog?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Once we all were sure we were aligned on the core reasons for creating the GoSquared Blog, we thought about why we want to redesign the Blog itself. Here\u2019s what we came up with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To make it easier for customers to find what they\u2019re looking for.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Each piece of content on our blog has been written as part of a more extensive collection that, when linked together, can help guide businesses through the entire customer journey. This is one of the foundational elements of our content strategy. We work hard to create content that can be a resource for each step of your business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In our old blog design, it was difficult to navigate between posts or to understand how content linked together. We wanted to make a smarter design that smoothly guided readers towards related content and pieces they might find interesting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To bring the design more in line with our product and brand.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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The last blog design happened in 2013. Since then, so much has changed in the way we present the GoSquared brand and tools.
Simple, clean, and beautiful design is a principle that we hold close at GoSquared. After its years of service, the old Blog no longer felt like it was living up to the standards of design we set for ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To give our content the best home.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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We spend a lot of time and effort researching, planning, writing, designing, and uploading every single post that goes up on this blog. Over time it started to feel like we could do the content better justice by hosting it in a new space.
Although we firmly believe that the real value of a blog post lies in the quality of the information it contains, good design helps to bring that to life and engage readers in a new way. Paired together, we have a perfect recipe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What lessons can you apply to your content marketing strategy?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Learning from the journeys other people have been on is the best way to get a head start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s one of the few \u201cshortcuts\u201d available to us in business and in life. Sharing knowledge is one of the core reasons for any company to engage with creating content. If you\u2019re just starting to create content, you\u2019re about to become part of a fantastic pool of resources and guidance. Use this to your advantage, absorb all the information you can, and then contribute your knowledge back in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Get into the \u2018why\u2019 of your whole business before you start doing anything.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Our most significant learning is one that we\u2019ve already covered in this post: get to the \u2018why.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you don\u2019t know why you are putting energy and resources into creating content, it will show in your writing and in your results. Go right back to the source and understand your company\u2019s reason for existing. Then, use this to understand how you can provide resources and knowledge to your customer base, while also being able to promote your product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Strong content begins with effective planning. And robust plans start with a foundation of research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Understand what you want to gain from a blog redesign.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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We outlined out a clear set of aims and metrics before we even began discussing what the new Blog might look like and how it might function. Knowing what we wanted to gain from redesigning the Blog helped us to justify why we were making decisions and choosing to focus on one aspect rather than another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In case it\u2019s helpful to you, the metrics we are using to measure the success of our new Blog are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n