Informly founder Dan Norris produces stacks of blog posts, podcasts and guides on things like using metrics for a new startup and advanced segmentation for Google analytics — he finds it the most effective way to drive traffic to his analytics dashboard tool.

He came up with the idea for Informly during his last venture, digital agency Web Circle, which he sold in 2012. Informly allows you to collate all your user metrics in one place, from services like Mailchimp, Google Analytics and Stripe, so you can tell with a quick glance how things are tracking.

“Content marketing is what I do,” says Norris. “Even before I started Informly, I was writing a blog, doing podcasts and sharing information.”

Before launching, Norris found around 10-15% of people were signing up once they visited the site, while around 3-5% convert to the paid version.

The service is free to use for up to six charts. Need more and you can pay $9 a month. Although SMEs have been the focus so far, Norris thinks agencies will provide a better income stream. He plans to charge a minimum of $30 a month. There’ll be different packages depending on the number of clients. In return, agencies can offer clients easy-to-understand reports on their marketing or website activities, pulling in data from a range of services.

“I’m sort of scratching my own itch. I’ve tried a number of other dashboards but they’re all difficult for most clients to understand.”

While the startup is relatively new — he officially launched Informly in December — Norris is investing time and energy in developing content as it seems the most effective way to generate users.

Dan Norris, Founder of Informly, uses content marketing to promote his startup (Image: supplied)

Norris outlines some of the ways he uses content to market Informly:

• Blog posts. It took a number of years to build up a sizeable audience on Norris’ blog. He says it comes back to persistence. Only after two years of a post or two a week, was he able to reach an audience of 5,000 a month. His advice is to keep posting. Your writing will get better, and people will gradually start reading and sharing if you’re writing honest, useful posts about your own experiences. Norris is a finalist in the Telstra Smarter Business Ideas‘ Top 25 Small Business Blogger awards.
• In-depth guides. There are now six in-depth guides on the Informly website, including ‘the beginners guide to podcasting’, ‘the practical retargeting guide’, and ‘the practical guide to actionable analytics’. While Norris produces guides on topics for his industry, these can be produced for most things, and are a good base for future blog posts and podcasts. Norris says he often refers to this content elsewhere, in guest posts or when he speaks to customers.
• Podcasts. Norris has just launched a new podcast for digital agencies called ‘Agency Talk’. Each week he plans to feature a short interview with a different expert and get their tips on building a web business. He’s just lined up content marketing coach Joe Pulizzi for an interview when he’s in Australia later this year. Norris has found most people are willing to chat for a podcast. He uses a cheap microphone, and records interviews using the Skype Call Recorder.
• Guest posts. Writing posts for other blogs has been one of the most effective ways to generate traffic. In fact, he’s even written a post on, yes, guest posting, for Problogger. He has also written articles for Think Traffic. If a blog gets 500 visitors and you get the topic right, you may pick up 50 new users from a post. Be careful not to write something that people will read everywhere else though. Unique content is always best.

Norris uses a virtual assistant in the Philippines to help with his social media communications, and some of the client relations work. When someone signs up on the website, he’ll personally email them, and then have his assistant follow up on any questions or concerns they might have. His advice for recruiting a similar position is to trial any potential employees with a day’s work, finding that a better way to test someone’s ability than an interview.

“With interviews I never really know what to ask. Virtual Staff Finder is pretty good for helping to find people.”

While Norris continues to test and improve his platform, he’s very much focussed on building his reputation as a go-to source for agencies, and hoping that gets them using Informly.

“Around 800-900 people logged in last month, and around 100 people clicked to try the paid charts. Over time, I’ll be wanting to improve that conversion rate.”