When we launched Meoun in early 2024, the vision was simple: career guidance should feel personal, timely, and accessible. But here’s the challenge most guidance platforms are either too manual, too generic, or too hidden online. We wanted to fix all three problems at once.
As Co-Founder and Head of Digital Strategy, my role was to take our mentorship expertise and layer it with systems that could scale: AI for efficiency, analytics for clarity, and digital campaigns for visibility. Looking back at our first year, the results tell a story of steady growth, sharper visibility, and a student journey that feels both human and smartly automated.
Building a solid foundation
The first step wasn’t flashy. It was about getting the basics right: a website that
converted, data we could trust, and a CRM that could actually move leads through a journey.
We built Meoun on WordPress but didn’t settle for templates. I wrote custom snippets to control login rules, security, and automations that would save hours down the line. This meant that the platform wasn’t just a brochure site it was ready to capture interest and act on it.
At the same time, we brought HubSpot online as our CRM. Instead of just storing names, HubSpot was configured to nurture leads, send timely follow-ups, and track where students were in their decision process. Within weeks, the system became the backbone of how we responded to inquiries.
Making Meoun visible in search
Good mentorship doesn’t matter if no one can find you. That’s why we treated visibility as priority number one.
We started by creating and optimising our Google Business Profile. Within a few months, it had generated 2,566 interactions and 2,526 views, with mobile users making up more than half of the discovery traffic. Interestingly, terms like “bsc” (567 searches) and “university” (131 searches) became some of the biggest drivers of traffic. That insight helped us refine both copy and campaigns.
At the same time, we dug into SEO with Search Console and Google Site Kit. Over the year, Meoun recorded 10.6K clicks and 4.06M impressions. CTR averaged 0.3% with a steady upward curve, and around 67% of clicks came from the UK showing that we were connecting with the right geography. Site Kit confirmed the lift, with a snapshot showing 1.5M impressions, 1.2K clicks, and 291 unique search visitors in just 90 days.
This was the moment Meoun stopped being invisible. When students searched for guidance or degree options, we actually showed up.
Using AI as a multiplier
We never wanted AI to replace human mentorship, but we saw clearly where it could save time and add reach.
One of the best examples was a custom Google Apps Script we built with OpenAI. It allowed students to type in messy course queries like “cyber degree UK” and get back refined results from our course database. This not only sped up searches but also reduced the friction in early conversations with students.
Content was another area where AI made a difference. Our team used AI to draft articles like “Top Skills for 2025” or “How to Choose Your University Path.” Instead of taking two weeks to produce one article, we could now do it in five days or less. Every piece was edited by humans, but AI gave us the scale we needed.
Meeting students on social
Not every student starts their journey on Google. Many of them live on social platforms, so we made sure Meoun did too.
We connected 23 social media channels and managed them with a scheduling system. Consistency was the goal, but more importantly, we tracked clicks and engagement by platform so we knew where to double down.
On Meta (Facebook and Instagram), the campaigns quickly proved their worth. Across one campaign window, we reached 90,779 people, generated 1,610 link clicks, logged 1,514 interactions, and drove 2,669 visits to our site. We also picked up 331 new followers, building a base for future organic reach.
The budget wasn’t huge most tests ran at just £1–£5 per day but the data showed that even small spends, if well targeted, could bring in quality leads.
Fixing leaks with CRO and UX
It’s one thing to bring people to your site. It’s another to make sure they don’t bounce. That’s where conversion rate optimisation (CRO) and user experience tweaks came in.
We used Hotjar to watch how people actually interacted with our site. The data showed 5.3K sessions with an average of 7 minutes per visit and nearly 3 pages per session. The most-clicked elements were exactly what we wanted: the Submit button (415 clicks), Home (321), Courses (284), and Apply Now (148).
But we also saw the pain points: rage clicks on certain forms and console errors that hinted at technical issues. Every fix we made here reduced drop-offs and improved the lead-to-signup journey.
Testing intent with paid search
Organic search is powerful, but it takes time. To speed things up, we ran targeted Google Ads campaigns.
Over the year, these ads generated 458 clicks from 28.8K impressions, at an average CPC of just £0.13. That’s extremely cost-efficient for education-related keywords. The campaigns also recorded 387 interactions, 100 new leads, and 1 qualified lead in early test runs.
In the end, the insight was as valuable as the traffic: we validated keywords, saw where paid made sense, and then shifted more budget back into organic and social where ROI was even stronger.
Learning from the bigger picture
The most important part of this entire process was measurement. With Google Analytics, we could see the whole story.
From Feb 2024 to Feb 2025, Meoun recorded around 28.3K total sessions. The traffic split told us exactly where to focus:
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70% from organic social (~19.9K sessions)
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21% from organic search (~5.9K sessions)
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The rest split between direct, referral, and paid.
The engagement rate improved significantly after we fixed CRO issues, and we saw stickiness rise meaning more returning users and longer sessions. This confirmed that we weren’t just attracting visitors; we were keeping them.
The impact after one year
When you stack up all the numbers, the picture is clear:
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Visibility: 10.6K clicks and 4.06M impressions in Search Console; 2,566 interactions on Google Business Profile.
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Engagement: Meta campaigns reached 90K+ people and generated 1.6K link clicks.
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Acquisition: 28.3K sessions, 70% organic social and 21% organic search.
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Conversions: +30% qualified leads, +25% conversion rate, 50% faster content production.
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Efficiency: CPC as low as £0.13 on paid tests, proving our keyword strategy.
Looking forward
Our next chapter will focus on partnerships with schools, building a video-based guidance library, and using AI to personalise guidance even further.
But the first year already proved what we set out to do: combine mentorship with technology in a way that feels both human and scalable. Meoun is now visible, measurable, and growing and the story is just beginning.
