Cliff View Golf Course, Inn & Brewhouse wins at SEO with help of Popmenu Boost

Client spotlight:
Cliff View logo and Popmenu client.

It’s a feel-good scene straight out of a movie: Dad and son work together to turn their Covington, Va. family farm into a successful golf course. For Matt Sponaugle, that was his reality when he opened up Cliff View Golf Course & Inn with his father in 1996. In 2020, “Brewhouse” was added to the name when they opened their signature restaurant.

As the business grew, Matt hired Jen Mann to serve as general manager and event specialist. Jen saw an opportunity to expand their marketing capabilities, especially given the addition of the restaurant. A chance meeting with Popmenu made it clear they were not realizing their full marketing potential. While they had built an aesthetically pleasing website, it was static, cumbersome, and lacked functionality that would draw customers to the site–and ultimately to their establishment. After learning about Popmenu’s technology, solutions, and customer service, they eagerly signed on the dotted line.

Cliff View logo and Popmenu client.

"The key selling factor [to working with Popmenu] was that not only could we be involved in the development of our website, but we would have direct control and editability of our product. And we never had that with our original website. So that kind of access is really what sold us on Popmenu."

Matt Sponaugle
Owner of Cliff View

Working closely with their dedicated Popmenu Boost consultant, Hailey, Cliff View built a comprehensive website and marketing strategy that drove guests to their business and captured their contact information in the process. They worked together to craft messaging and campaigns that catered specifically to all of Cliff View’s potential patrons, from golf lovers to event planners and brides-to-be.

The secret sauce: SEO

There’s no point in having a beautiful website if no one is visiting it. So Hailey worked with Jen to optimize their website for search–which helps Cliff View attract more people who are likely to visit their establishment. Popmenu’s platform is built to optimize websites for search engines, and prioritizes location-specific content that’s easily identified by guests and search engine crawlers, thus improving the rankings for Cliff View’s golf, lodging, and restaurant offerings. Cliff View’s website has built such a strong SEO presence that over half of its traffic comes from search.

Before working with Popmenu, Cliff View’s small but mighty marketing team juggled multiple tools for website management, email marketing, and social media. It was time-consuming and inefficient. By switching to Popmenu and partnering with Hailey, they streamlined everything into one platform and gained expert marketing support along the way. The results speak for themselves: Cliff View generated over 340,000 marketing impressions, with a 50% increase in reach from year one to year two.

The devil is in the data

The platform captures data–such as click through and conversion rate–and displays it in a digestible way, enabling the team to easily assess the success of a campaign. They don’t have to sort through complicated reports just to understand what’s happening on their own site. They can then work with Hailey to determine what worked and what needs some work, and can adjust campaigns on the fly.

The data also helps to craft the right message to send to the right customers at the right time. A guest may have loved their experience when visiting Cliff View, but that doesn’t mean it will always be on their radar. The Popmenu platform enables Cliff View to target these customers with specific messages aimed at their interests–whether they’re a golfer, a restaurant patron, or an overnight guest. By doing so, Cliff View is now top of mind when that guest is deciding where to take a swing, eat a meal, or enjoy a night away.

Cliff View example and Popmenu client.
Cliff View example and Popmenu client.
Cliff View example and Popmenu client.

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