Welcome to LeadVenture! Whether you’re part of our Dealer Spike team, or ARI team, or both, we’re excited to have you on board. This page offers a quick overview of resources you’ll need and processes you’ll need to become familiar with. Bookmark this page, leave it open while you’re working, and use it as much as you need. You’ll be trained by me (Lyra) and I’m excited to show you the ropes!

Phase One

Learning about our company, new hire expectations, and the products our dealers sell

About the Company

Many of your coworkers are spread across the United States and the world. You may be just down the street from a fellow writer or on the other side of the world. If you’re unsure what time zone the person you’re talking to is in, try hovering your cursor over their Teams or Outlook profile.

I started in 2018 and remember the Days of Old being in the startup office and Dealer Spike milestones such as The Great Flood. Crazy how far we’ve come!

LeadVenture is a digital marketing company with many brands under its umbrella, including Dealer Spike and ARI. While all brands offer something a little different for our customers, we work together to share knowledge and improve efficiency.

You have joined either Dealer Spike or ARI. Each brand has its own team of writers, and you’ll notice the work is very similar, which is why we still work closely together. You may even find yourself jumping to the other team to help with the workload.

The entire Digital Marketing team can be found on this organization chart. You likely won’t need to interact with many of the people listed, but it can still be helpful information to have.

You can also find this link in the Kickback Sheet on your monthly tracker.

The Content Team interacts with the SEO team on a regular basis. The SEO reps are in charge of creating monthly requests and curating keyword lists that drive each client’s SEO campaign.

You can find the full list of SEO reps on the organization chart or in the Kickback Sheet on your monthly tracker.

Our QA team assumes many responsibilities, including copy editors. They may screen some or all of your content for basic errors and let you know when larger sections require revisions. Our teams work closely together to establish best practices and create the best possible content for the clients. In fact, you’ll find a separate Teams chat reserved just for QA and Content. Our QA team assumes many responsibilities, including copy editors. They may screen some or all of your content for basic errors and let you know when larger sections require revisions. Our teams work closely together to establish best practices and create the best possible content for the clients. In fact, you’ll find a separate Teams chat reserved just for QA and Content.

Our Juniper team, based out of La Paz, Mexico, offers support for teams across most Digital Marketing teams, including Content. They’re primary role in the content process is to published fully written and approved content onto the clients' websites.

While you likely won’t interact directly with them, you can find their names and titles in the organization chart, linked in the Kickback Sheet of your monthly tracker.

About Our New Hire Expectations

~ ACTION ITEM ~

Read through our content Style Guide so you know what’ll be expected of the content you create. It’s a helpful resource to bookmark - or even have open while you write content.

Phase Two

Learning more about the topics we write about, how to edit pieces, and how to submit pieces

You’ll begin by learning just a few steps out of our entire content fulfillment process. At this stage, you’ll be editing and adding to pieces known as “Up-for-Grabs”.

I’ll pick an Up-for-Grabs assignment for you and put it in your Trello column. You will then go through the following steps.

Add Any Missing Information

An Introduction Paragraph

A Conclusion Paragraph

The Specific Keyword Requested

More Words If Needed

Optional: Mention the dealership name and its target location(s)

Mention the dealership name and its target location(s)

The UFG piece may use a term (such as “three-wheeled motorcycle”), but the rep requested a keyword synonym (such as “trike). Simply change some of the “three-wheeled motorcycle” mentions into “trike' mentions.

The minimum word count is 250-words.

Edit the Content to Meet Our Standards

Update Formatting As Needed

Fact Check Claims As Needed

Add Trademark Symbols As Needed

For titles/headers, we use Title Case. Simply put your header into this tool and it’ll do it for you.

Pieces like this need to be changed to match our format like this

Articles can be fact checked using the linked article on the topic in the 2024 Index. Pagefooters about brands can be fact checked with the company’s website. Unless the UFG piece was written in the last 6 months, you’ll need to check that claims match the current company’s lineup. Their 2020 RV lineup may have 10 models, but their 2023 RV lineup may have 7.

The Trademark Guide is a helpful resource!

Submit the Content
1. Use the template to post the content link in the Trello card comments. This helps the QA team and the posting team know where to find your work so they can do their part of the process.
2. Add the content link to the dealer’s Work Done Import tab. This helps keep a record of what is created for a given dealer and what month it was fulfilling.
3. Go to “Actions”, then click “-> Move”, then click “Madison - In Progress”. I’ll quickly glance over your piece, let you know if there's any suggestions, then I’ll send it onto QA )

Phase Three

Learning how to do the meta data for articles

Next, you’ll learn how to do a handful of small tasks that we collectively call “article meta data stuff”. These are created by the writers and submitted alongside your completed work, but are uploaded to the dealer’s website by the posting team.

You’ll submit your completed work with the Finished Article/PF template. The top half is the format you’ve been using to submit UFG/Researched Originals, the bottom half has previously been done for you by the Content Team Trainer.

Here is the breakdown:

Image Link → This is the image that shows on the dealer’s blog post. We use Adobe Stock Images. Our posting team has the accounts that let them download photos and upload them to the dealer website. With our 2024 Index that I’ve built out, each topic already has a pre-picked photo you can use. If you want to use something different, all you’ll need to do is submit the URL to the photo you want them to use. Search for a term, click the photo that you like, then click the file number for that photo and submit that URL on the Trello comment.
Title Tag → This is the blurb that pops up when you hover your cursor over a tab. There are a few ways to structure yours. You want to keep it at or below 160 characters (you can use this awesome tool for that). Remember that the Title Tag should be written in Title Case.
- Option 1: Summary of Topic | Primary Target Location
  Example: Kanye West Explained | Tokyo, NE
- Option 2: Summary of Topic | Dealer Name
  Example: Kanye West Explained | Jimmy McJimmy’s Power Shop
- Option 3: Summary of Topic | Primary Target Location | Secondary Keywords*
  Example: Kanye West Explained | Tokyo, NE | Ye’s Brain
  *If you choose to use secondary keywords, please do NOT use “For Sale”
Tags and Categories→ These help group like topics together on the dealer’s site, making the site easier to navigate for the reader. You’ll simply use the tags and categories in the 2024 Index for the given topic.
Meta Description → These provide the value of the article to the user, including keywords relevant to it that could get highlighted on SERPs.
- Example #1: Trying to make sense of Kanye West? No need. Let us explain it all in this guide!
- Example #2: Questions about what in the world happened to Ye? This guide has all the answers you’ll need and then some!
- Example #3: From Taylor to Kim, Trump to Tweets, and more, if you wonder if Kanye’s spiral downward will ever end, this guide has your answer!

Phase Four

Learning how to create content

Now that you’ve learned and practiced some steps of the process, it’s time to add in a few more and learn about Researched Originals!

Create the document in the dealer folder

Create the File Name

Create and edit your content

Submit the Content

Go to the CONTENT: Dealer Spike folder. Click on the corresponding letter that matches the first name of the dealer, then find the dealer among the list. There are some dealers with similar names or with multiple locations, so be sure you’ve found the right one!

Follow our File Name Guide.

Dealer Name (State Abbreviation): Keyword - Topic (Type of Content) #/#

If the state is in the dealer’s name, you don’t need to repeat it
- For example: “Joe Schmoe’s of Portland (OR)” vs “Joe Schmoe’s of Oregon”
The “Keyword - Topic” will match its entry in the 2024 Index
- For example: “Motorhomes - Buying Guide” or “Boat - Preventative Maintenance”
For now, the only Types of Content you’ll be doing are articles and pagefooters. Later, you will learn about the 2022 New Product Packages which have a slightly different file name approach.
The “#/#” refers to the number that piece is / the total number of pieces that dealer gets each month
- For example: 1/1, 1/2, 2/2
- This helps the QA and Posting team, so it’s important to be accurate

Side Note - I love writing in WordCounter so I can see key pieces of information (the word count and the most common keywords) as I type. I also find it helpful to edit my piece here, paste it into a Google Doc, and then edit it again. The different formatting/fonts make it easier to catch issues. Feel free to use this tool, a different tool, or to write in the Google Doc itself.

Same process you’ve been doing submitting Up-for-Grabs content

DigMS - Digital Marketing Services

New Content Writer Training - 2023