Posts Tagged ‘search engine optimization’

The crash course in generating leads with search engines

Tuesday, May 24th, 2011

If you need people to find your business easily – and the competition in your market is fierce – you ought to invest in optimizing your website so Google and other search engines understand what you sell.  By doing so, you will rank higher than your competitors.Search engine optimization from MarketSmart

The goal is to be in the first position on page 1 of Google’s results, right? Big books have been written about the subject of search engine optimization (SEO). But the important things to remember are that you need to do two things in order to help search engines rank your site highly.
1. On-page optimization: Add the proper code, tags, descriptions, headings, etc. If your site provides valuable information (which is a “must” these days), then you need to organize that information for search engines as you would organize a newspaper for readers.  Headings, sub heads, descriptions… all help readers determine what is relevant to them.  Same thing for your website.  Only difference is… Google needs to understand what is relevant to searchers so they can index your site properly.  Adding the proper code will help Google do that and will increase your rankings- thereby driving relevant traffic to your site.
2. Off-page optimization: Get lots of links from other credible, relevant websites to point to your website. By doing so, you’ll be signaling to search engines that your site has valuable information and is credible.  Sure it’s a bit of a popularity contest.  But didn’t the most popular kid in high school become the home coming king or queen?

SEO is time-consuming and tedious and it could take many months before the search engines recognize and reward your efforts with high rankings. If you don’t have time to do it yourself, hire a reputable firm to help you.

In the meantime, any optimization is better than none so start with the most basic optimization first, which is to add a well-conceived title tag to your site. This is what people (and search engines) see at the top when viewing your site in their browser.

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Posted in Inbound Internet Lead Generation, lead generation, marketing, SEO - Search Engine Optimization, strategy, Uncategorized, website | No Comments »

Is your website your most effective marketing tool?

Saturday, May 7th, 2011

Your website should be your most effective marketing tool for lead generation and education. The days of “online brochures” are gone.

At the very least, make sure your phone number is on every page of your site. But if you want to get the best results, be sure to add conversion opportunities such as:
• Sign up forms (offering a newsletter, notifications of special offers, etc. in exchange for their email address)
• Opportunity to download discount coupons
• Free report downloads
• Webinar invitations
• Ways for prospects to email you with questions
• A “chat now button” for online instant messaging questions

And be sure to tie your blog to your website.  People want to be educated these days- not sold.  Blogging helps to position yourself as an expert (or at least very knowledgeable) in your field.  Plus tying your blog to your website helps increase the likelihood your site will move up in search engine rankings for keywords you use frequently in your posts and articles.

If you don’t have a blog and think you don’t have time to create one, think again.  Almost 80% of our website traffic here at MarketSmart is generated by our blog.  Often I meet people (face to face) for the first time and they recount blog articles they liked.  Two weeks ago I ran into someone I hadn’t seen in 15 years and he commented that he liked my blog!

So, get blogging and make sure your site is set up to make it easy to convert visitors to leads.

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Posted in Inbound Internet Lead Generation, lead generation, marketing, SEO - Search Engine Optimization, strategy, Uncategorized, website | No Comments »

3 simple ways to get prospects to CALL YOU.

Monday, November 8th, 2010

MarketSmart's Phone Number

Here's our number. CALL US to get a free website assessment- Over 34 ways to turn your website into a marketing machine.

These days there’s a lot of talk about how you should use your website as a marketing machine.  …A lot of talk about search engine optimization (SEO) and pay per click advertising (PPC) to drive traffic to your web site or landing page.  …A lot of talk about Facebook fan pages and social media.

But what you really want is to have an interested prospect call you… not just click around here and there online.  Right?

In order to increase the likelihood of that happening, here are three things you should do:

1- Make sure your phone number is on every page of your website or advertising landing pages.

I can’t tell you how many times I have looked at a website and wanted to contact the company but could not easily find the phone number.  So then I’m forced to look for a “Contact Us” page.  If that’s not too hard to find, I go there.  But very often even I can’t find that because their designer got cute with it and called it something else.  Or, after I finally find it, the phone number is buried somewhere on that page.  Sometimes I’ve found myself scrolling way down below the fold to find it.  Huh?  Why on earth would you put your phone number so far out of reach?  Or worse yet, I’ve seen some companies’ websites that are absent a phone number so it’s impossible to call them unless you leave the site and search a phone directory.  Crazy, isn’t it?

2- We recommend the top of your web pages.

That’s where people expect it to be.  So just put it there.  Don’t get tricky.  And don’t let your designer try to get creative by putting it sideways or by doing something cooky that only a designer would understand.  Getting calls is not about style.  It’s about money.

3- To improve your chances of getting a call, try an offer.

This works especially well on advertising landing pages but it’s worth trying on your main website if your business is well-suited for it.  Say, “Save 25%!  Call Now.” or “FREE Gift! Call Now.”  If they are looking at the phone number, they are in the consideration phase of the decision making process.  That’s the point at which people often need a little push to go just one step further.  An offer may be just the push they need.

Also, if you are doing a lot of advertising (online and/or offline), we recommend you use several 800 numbers to track your calls.  Each ad and corresponding landing page should have a unique 800#.

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Posted in Inbound Internet Lead Generation, Lead Generation/Nurturing, marketing, Pay-per-click marketing, SEO - Search Engine Optimization, strategy, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Beware of cookie-cutter blogs.

Thursday, September 2nd, 2010

I recently came across a company that creates blogs for home improvement service firms.  They post two articles each week and to their clients’ blogs.

They have a video that promotes this “super-duper” service.  It emphasizes how important it is to blog regularly.  “Google LOVES frequent updates,” they say.  “It’s important to blog frequently in order to get your business found,” they continue.

Well…. not so fast.  They are right in one way.  But they are very wrong in another.

BEWARE OF COOKIE-CUTTER blogging services!

Yes.  Blogging is important.  It’s an excellent way to update your website often.  And, yes, Google does, indeed, like to see websites that are frequently updated because it signals that your site is active and therefore more likely to be relevant, engaging and valuable to humanity.

But here’s where the plan falls short.  It’s not real!  And you can only “fake it” for so long before people (and search engines) wise-up.

If you want your website to rank high in the organic search results, you can’t just throw up cookie-cutter blog articles.  You can’t let someone who isn’t part of your business write it.

Google and the other search engines are smart.  Their job is to help us (the searchers of the world) find stuff.  Google’s job is to figure out what’s real and what’s a scam.  Google will see that your blog is just like 20 other companies who are also buying the same copy and posting it online.  They will be confused and/or (worse) they will downgrade your website in the search results.

Blogging is about offering valuable information to the rest of the world.  It’s about giving without any hope of receiving.   It’s about helping people.

It’s about personality, uniqueness, and distinction.

In the old days (two years ago), companies had to spend tons of money to carve-out their uniqueness with fancy ad campaigns and quirky concepts like clowns (McDonalds), cowboys (Marlboro), and guys dressed as fruit (Fruit of the Loom).

A blog is the perfect tool to create a unique selling proposition… a differentiator…. a competitive advantage for your company in the new era of marketing.  A blog helps potential customers learn about you, your company, your staff, your philosophy.

We (at MarketSmart) use our blog to help humanity.  But our strategy is also one that was created with the hope that prospective clients will read the blog to see that we’re real.  We care.  We understand stuff they don’t want to understand.

Also, we use our blog to help current clients keep up with the right way to engage in marketing and sales these days.

We do it because we like to do it.  We do it because it helps the rest of the world.

And… of course, we know that Google likes helpful, useful, original content.  We realize that drives traffic to our website and delivers leads through our conversion funnels.  But first and foremost, we blog because it’s good for humanity.

So beware of cookie-cutter blogs.  You can’t fool Google.  And you can’t fool the world.  Not for long at least.  Attempting to “game the system” will only hurt you and your business in the long-run.

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Posted in Blogging | No Comments »

What’s happening to newspapers and the Yellow Pages?

Friday, August 27th, 2010

Newspapers in decline.

In the first half of 2009, 105 newspapers collapsed, shut down their presses and closed their doors.  U.S. newspaper circulation has been dropping by 10%-20% per year. In fact the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) now estimates that less than 30 million Americans buy a daily newspaper.  The Washington Post, once a powerhouse media vehicle with well over 1 million daily subscribers, now modestly sells less than 580,000 papers from Monday through Saturday.  That publication has fared better than most.  Yet they continue to see declines of at least 5% each year.

If people are not reading newspapers, then they are not reading advertisements.  And, without question, that severely diminishes your potential to garner a return for your advertising investment.

Chart comparing daily newspaper circulation

What about the Yellow Pages?

The first problem with the printed Yellow Pages is that no one uses them anymore.  They are perceived as “anti-green”, clumsy, difficult to read, and the ads do not give you nearly enough information to make a value-based decision.  It’s no wonder in 2009 alone Yellow Pages revenue declined by 7.5% in the U.S.

In response to these declines, Yellow Pages businesses have attempted to create online marketing “packages”.

Comparing monthly online traffic for Google, Yahoo, the Yellow Pages, City Search, yellowpages.com, and superpages.com

Following are the reasons these efforts are failing:

  • While monthly traffic is on the rise for Google, Yahoo, Bing and other legitimate search engines, it is declining rapidly for Yellowpages.com and SuperPages.com
  • You cannot “own” your campaign, see your analytics reports, nor test multiple landing pages
  • Although you will be tied into a year-long commitment, your “campaign manager” could change almost daily
  • Your contract will be carefully written with fine print and disclaimers that cover the Yellow Pages, not your business


So what’s a business owner to do?

A comprehensive internet marketing strategy is a necessity in order to survive and thrive in today’s tough business environment.  Every day people will search online in your product or service category.  And, if they don’t find your business, they will find your competitors.

Search engine optimization (SEO) and a “content” strategy.

While SEO and content strategies are all the rage in message boards and blogs, they take time and effort that many business owners simply don’t have to spare.   Every business should, indeed, update their website with the proper metatags, keywords and title tags.  And you should create content that is valuable to your target audience.  But keep in mind that this type of strategy is like planting seeds in your farm.  It will surely deliver a crop but only after several months (or perhaps) years of hard work and lots of patience.

An easier first step.

An internet advertising strategy will generate interest in your business quickly.  But to generate leads, sales and a return on your investment, you must do the following:

  • Create a landing page or micro-website that provides information and converts an interested internet surfer to a lead
  • Test hundreds of keywords
  • Test dozens of ads varying copy, offers and incentives
  • Place the ads on up to 150 advertising networks (including Google, Yahoo, Bing and others)
  • Keep an eye on where and when you get clicks
  • Determine which clicks turn into leads
  • Pay attention to the leads that turn into sales

Backtrack to tie it all together and maximize your budget.

It is important to backtrack through the entire process.  In other words, once a sale has been achieved, you must determine which keywords, which ads, and which offers generated the initial click; and from what geographical location did the lead originate.  Also you will want to take note of the day of the week and the time of day the click occurred that ultimately delivered a sale.

By doing all of the above, you will be able to determine where to spend your marketing budget in the coming months.  Eliminate keywords and offers that do not turn into sales.  Increase your bids on keywords and offers that do.  Reduce your spend in geographic regions that do not convert and increase your spend in regions that do.  And finally, you will want to increase your bids only during the days and day parts when conversions that turn into sales are most likely to occur.

<<Alert:  We’re selling here>>

Sound too time-consuming and difficult?  We can help.

  • We will make sure your business is seen online
  • We will test keywords, ads, landing pages, geographies, days, and day parts to continually refine and maximize your marketing efforts- and deliver a return on your investment
  • We offer sales coaching to ensure that every lead is handled right
  • We provide detailed reporting
  • Your phone will ring and leads will show up in your email inbox while you run your business

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Posted in Inbound Internet Lead Generation, marketing, Pay-per-click marketing, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Why we’d rather see you call an inactive customer before engaging in SEO marketing.

Tuesday, July 20th, 2010

In my last post I told you why I hated SEO and SEO firms.  But I also mentioned that we (at MarketSmart) recommend you have an SEO strategy.  So… what gives?

Here’s the deal:  (And I should first warn you that I was trying to say this to a CEO just this morning during an early morning coffee meeting and I swear his eyes crossed and he started drifting into space.  So, I recognize that this stuff is dizzying).

SEO is sort of a basic thing you just need to do.  It means “Search Engine Optimization”.  You don’t have to go nuts with it.  I repeat:  YOU DO NOT HAVE TO GO NUTS WITH THIS!  Even though… Lots of people are talking about it.  They are making a mountain out of molehill because most small businesses are really better off just sticking with pay-per-click marketing, email marketing, or just picking up the darn phone and making a cold-call.

But at the very least, you should make sure to get your page title, metatags and headings right so Google knows what you sell.  Then get listed on directories.  Blog regularly with interesting content that truly helps people.  And finally get links from relevant websites.

Now… I could write a book about each of those directives.  But I just won’t.  Because, frankly, I’d rather see most of my clients do about 25 other things before they start stroking a check to some joker calling himself and SEO expert who “guarantees” my client will be listed on page one (if only my client could wait 6 months or a year).

And one of those things is to just pick up the phone and call an inactive customer.  That’s cheap and will probably get them to buy from you right away.

Bam!  Done with SEO for now.  Let’s talk about other stuff.

See ya’ next time.

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Posted in SEO - Search Engine Optimization | No Comments »

5 reasons to be frustrated with SEO and SEO firms.

Thursday, July 15th, 2010

Alright.   I’ve been holding back on this post for a long, long time.  But I just can’t hold my breath any longer.

SEO is ticking me off!  Not because it’s tedious and a lot of work.  That I can deal with.  But it’s ticking me off because:

  1. Everyone- including my best friend’s grandpa- seems to be “selling” SEO like snake-oil salesmen in the old west.
  2. Clients don’t understand SEO and fall prey to the snake oil salesmen- who all seem to say that they… and only they… are “the best!”  And guess what?  They are pretending that they know how to “game the system”.  And that’s just wrong.  Plus it can’t actually be done.  Not for very long at least.  Trust me…. Google is like Santa.  They know who’s been naughty and nice.
  3. No one is really talking about the return on investment SEO should deliver.  And they certainly aren’t measuring it.
  4. Most people seem to “want” SEO but they don’t even take the time to create a serious strategy so the traffic they drive to their website (if any) actually converts into leads, sales and profits.  So the monthly check they send to the SEO firm is wasted on both ends because the SEO firm isn’t really doing anything and neither is their client.  Thus, everyone feels good but nothing is actually happening.
  5. And finally, if most firms could get their sales teams to properly address the leads the are already getting AND make sure they hit their quota for cold-calls, they wouldn’t even need the all-too-tempting crutch of SEO.  Sorry but I think writing a check each month for SEO makes some people feel they figured out how to properly manage the mysterious forces of the internet.  They hope one day, in the near future, their SEO pal will finally actually come through and drive tons of people to their website and money to their bank account.

There!  I said it!  My therapist will be so proud of me.

Ok.  So what do we do about this?

Well first, let’s remember what SEO is and why we (at MarketSmart) recommend it.  That will be in my next post.  So stay tuned!

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Posted in SEO - Search Engine Optimization, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Two things every CEO needs to know about marketing for the next decade.

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

Two of the keys to marketing in the next decade are simple.  Get found.  And help people when they find you.

Get found.

These days, the first thing people do when they want to learn about something… anything… is they search for it online.  Young and old alike now search.  So pretend you are your customer/client.  Go to your search bar and type in whatever they would type to find your product or service.  Are you there at the top of the list?  On the first page?  Can they find you easily?  Or are they finding your competitors?  Hmm.

Disagree?

You may say that your business doesn’t work like that.  Ok.  So suppose your sales team does a great job.  The cold calls were made.  The meetings are over.  The proposals were submitted.  At some point the decision maker or a team in a board room will decide to look-up your company online.  First they can’t find you.  So they type in your web address and YUCK! … your site is slow, looks bad, is clumsy to navigate and offers nothing helpful.  It’s all about you, not them.

Help people.

Once they find you, your site needs to be helpful.  If your website is basically an online sales brochure, you probably aren’t helping anyone.  And if you don’t help people, they’ll bounce to your competition.  Fast.

Most websites need to be completely re-thunk.  Smarter.  Make it easy for people to find you by implementing search engine optimization and online marketing strategies.  Then, be truly helpful once they arrive at your site.

Keep your eye on those two things and you’ll at least have the basis for a sound internet strategy going into the next decade.

Happy New Year!

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Posted in Multi-channel marketing | No Comments »