Inbound Marketing Blog

Do you own or manage a medical service group? Whether your group includes medical doctors, chiropractors, or another kind of specialty, marketing is a critical factor in the success of your business. Even though people will always need your services, the competition in your local area can be intense.

Thankfully, hiring outside marketing help from an experienced agency can put you at the top of your industry. Learn more about what value trusted professionals can bring to your business from Virtual Support Systems.

Boost your SEO

If you don’t have a strategic search engine optimization (or SEO) plan, you need to develop one ASAP. While this is important for every kind of organization, it is especially important at the local and regional level. Using the right keywords — and utilizing other SEO best practices — is essential when looking to rank at the top of local search engine listings.

As Search Engine Journal notes, SEO strategy is always evolving, and cannot be learned overnight. The techniques used are incredibly involved, which is why it is an absolute must to find a knowledgeable professional outside of your company. There are many individuals who specialize in this specific area of marketing. A quality marketing agency will also be able to provide your medical group with the right tactics to get ahead of your competitors.

Create an effective social media strategy

Social media postings can be far more challenging when trying to promote a medical group. Rather than being able to market something simple — such as a line of products — marketing health services is a bit tricky. Not only are there certain rules and regulations that you need to follow, but coming up with quality content is tough.

At Virtual Support Systems, we have the know-how to create an effective social media strategy that will keep your clients and patients engaged. We’re experts in generating creative content that is on-brand, and that follows your business’s privacy practices. Rather than trying to have someone handle social media in-house, it is critical to have marketing professionals take on this task.

Teach you how to use off-the-shelf services

In addition to being able to perform various services for you, some freelancers and marketing agencies can show you how to use select “off-the-shelf” marketing programs for some of your other needs. This includes design programs, web design platforms, writing software, and related programs.

The biggest advantage of using marketing-related software for some of your daily needs is the time and money you’ll save. As you continue to build your Florida business, experts may also recommend forming an LLC. This is primarily to protect your personal finances, and to take advantage of the flexibility of this type of business structure. When showing you how to operate various programs and platforms, some freelancers and professionals will be able to recommend online formation services that make the LLC application process a breeze.

Write and post informative blogs for patients and clients to read

Think that blogging is just a hobby? If you’re not yet leveraging the benefits of blogging for your medical group, now is the time. Whether as part of your SEO strategy, or to better educate your patients and clients, having a blog page that is consistently updated is crucial. Adding valuable content that describes the benefits of various services, health habits, or health reminders is a wonderful way to establish your group as an authoritative voice in the field.

If you do not yet have a cohesive marketing strategy for your medical service group, hiring outside professionals is a wise move. When you contract with freelancers and agencies that are working in their expertise, you’ll experience amazing results.

About the Author:

Poppy Williams created TechBizGuide.com to help small businesses make the best possible choice of software that can make a difference. Since 2019, TechBizGuide.com has been seeking and testing software that can give small businesses a boost. It connects you to insights and software to help you do better work.

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Virtual Support Systems is a full-service digital marketing agency, specializing in blogging strategy, SEO development, and social media strategy. Discover how we can attract more clients to your business today.

 

 

Even with promising signs that the global pandemic is beginning to slow in many parts of the world, some prospective entrepreneurs are still on the fence about starting a business. After having come through some massively challenging personal and nationwide financial challenges, jumping into business ownership may seem like too much of a risk.

However, as history has proven over and over again, there is no perfect time to launch a business. Companies that were started in the midst of dire economic conditions have become some of the world’s most loved and recognized brands. If you’ve been thinking about launching your first business Virtual Support Systems shares their strategies for becoming a successful entrepreneur by year’s end.

Be unique and creative

Playing it safe isn’t always the right decision. This is definitely true when it comes to your branding and product/service offerings. Trying to “blend in” or mimic what others have done won’t lead you down the path of success.

Instead, be bold enough to express your creativity and uniqueness. If you have amazing ideas, show them off! Average business names, logos, and marketing do not get anyone’s attention. To stand out among your competitors, you’ll need to harness every ounce of your creative abilities, and use them to create something that your audience will love.

Use business tools that eliminate stress

The various business tools that have been released over the last few years are nothing short of lifesavers. Project management software, photo apps, and team communication software can ensure that everything with your business runs as smoothly as possible.

A highly valuable tool for paying your employees on time is a payroll template. Since your organization is likely too small for an automated payroll system at this stage, payroll templates are incredibly valuable. They can also be integrated into other business tools, including ones that track scheduling/time worked and invoices.

Build a solid marketing strategy

Gone are the days when you could make a simple social media post for your business and see results. Now more than ever before, having an innovative marketing strategy is a necessity to thrive.

From SEO to social media, to email campaigns, you need to have a cohesive and effective plan to reach your potential and existing customers. One of the best ways to do this is to outsource all related tasks to a team of proven experts. At Virtual Support Systems, we provide inbound marketing solutions that deliver real ROI. We’re dedicated to attracting traffic and leads that convert. Learn more about our services and the value of inbound marketing today.

Surround yourself with an expert team

From day one, it is critical to recognize that you cannot do everything yourself. Trying to do so will rapidly lead to burnout. Additionally, you are not an expert in every area needed to help your business thrive.

That’s why it is so helpful to surround yourself with a team of experts across industries. From bookkeepers to IT professionals, leveraging the knowledge of others not only saves you time, but it also makes your business grow more quickly.

Since you can’t predict the future, you will never truly know the exact right moment to start a business. There are so many variables that you can never be guaranteed that your business idea will be a success. When you’ve done everything you can to prepare for a successful launch, you can rest assured that now is the best time to start your new venture.

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Virtual Support Systems is a full-service inbound marketing agency. We provide our clients with top-tier SEO development, blogging and social media strategy, analytics, and much more. Request your no-obligation consultation to see what we can do for your business.

 

 

Medical providers have a very unique set of needs when it comes to effective digital marketing. 

In many cases, the medical providers themselves need to understand and meet a significant list of potential obstacles before handing over further development to their chosen professionals. For example, many medical providers neglect to ask the appropriate questions that directly relate to their goals & expectations. In fact, many simply can't define their goals and without goal definition, expectations will end up being far to elastic. At this point, only luck will ever bring together performance with a strategically developed marketing plan.

As a digital marketing professional, I work with many different medical providers. One of the first conversations we have revolves around the need to establish tangible goals. One of the realities that makes this understanding even more important is the unique limitations that most medical providers have to deal with on a regular basis. These limitations or regulations (HIPAA) can significantly affect the goal development process. This is why taking the time and working with a professional to create realistic goals is a good idea and in some cases, necessary. Many times, there are very obvious business goals that have to be approached differently because these regulations simply demand it.

One of the more prevalent situations that reflect this quandary is determining what, if any HIPAA regulations affect the marketing process. In more than a few of the medical practices my teams support, they haven't yet understood how to identify what constitutes a "patient" in digital marketing terms. If they collect an individual's name through their online marketing efforts, when is that individual considered a "patient" should they become one 3 months down the road and as a direct or indirect result of their marketing campaigns? Because it's the "patient" record that is at the heart of many HIPAA regulations, it's critical to know when a contact or lead is technically considered a "patient".

In many cases the software or applications used within a digital marketing system can answer these questions. Think about all the different technologies or applications might be used to support a comprehensive digital marketing solution. The more of these components that start out with HIPAA compliant designations, the more of these dilemmas can quickly be avoided from the start. Reaching realistics goals is difficult enough so recognizing those systems and/or professionals that can help the medical provider recognize potential pitfalls becomes an important first step.

The piece of advice I normally discuss with a medical professional at the beginning might seem fairly simply but as many of my digital marketing colleagues will confirm, it is never safe to assume a client (or prospective client) understands anything, no matter how simple it may seem. Digital marketing vs. traditional marketing. There have been many bottlenecks my teams could have avoided simply by explaining to a client the differences between digital marketing strategies and their already existing traditional marketing strategies. It is quite natural or easy for an organization to develop a new digital marketing strategy without considering the problems that exist or ongoing tasks of its current marketing efforts. After all, they have their finger on the pulse of the advertising and sales campaigns for years so starting up a digital strategy need not affect what is already working, right? Not right. Not only do these two different strategies need to work together, both marketing strategies need to work in support of the sales activities.

To wrap up this line of thinking, it is important to take the time needed at the start of developing any marketing strategy to recognize these realities and consider all the variables of these different but dependent systems. As a medical provider, ask your marketing agency or professional how your new digital strategies affect the mailers or magazine advertising campaigns you have in place. How can the events you hold experience more success through the use of your digital resources. How can your online campaigns generate and provide new leads to your sales team and so forth. The more these three components are closely aligned, the more effective and efficient your overall marketing efforts will be.

Digital Marketing Trends & Changes

Information from the horses mouth: Many small business owners are forced to get critical marketing information from sales professionals. This isn't the best place to be operating from is it? As a small business owner, you're responsible for the success of just about every element of your venture. We all know that small business owners are forced to wear too many hats and be placed in the position of becoming an expert in marketing, sales, accounting, software development, distribution, call centers, customer service and much more.

I wish I could help with some more of these ownership challenges but I can help shed some light on balancing an effective digital marketing configuration. I will start by recognizing that not all business are the same and after I carefully explain the major marketing components and their functionality, I will make this blanket statement that all of you must take this information and further determine which of these primary online marketing solutions will get the most attention.

One of the most common traps I see is that decision makers get sold on, or for another reason want to focus on only one or two of the marketing elements I list below. I can say with confidence that for most of you, utilizing as many of these options as you can will work better than simply focusing on one. For example, you might be told that social media is an important element of a comprehensive marketing strategy, and it is. However, concentrating on only this strategy will most likely end up being a waste of precious time. For this particular example I will tell you that social media carries much of it's effectiveness by promoting content. If you have neglected your blog development, you may not have much content to promote. Therefore you fall into the trap of pushing your social media campaign forward not realizing that you are spinning your wheels because you're missing a critical component of a solid social media campaign.

That is only one example and believe me, there are many. If you're not a social media expert but want to be sure you have a well balanced solution, take note of the many marketing components I've listed below and ask yourself if your overall campaign takes most of these into consideration or you're really spending too much time, effort and money in only one or two of these areas.

1. Pay Per Click or PPC: This is now more of a solid and fruitful strategy than it's ever been before (when executed correctly). I recommend you earmark a small piece of your marketing budget to utilize this component in various ways that will help fill specific gaps in your current marketing performance.
2. Blog Development: A blog is just another term for an article. Typically it's an article you create to educate and contribute your expertise to others. This article is a good example.
3. Content Development: Don't confuse content development with blog development. Yes, creating a blog post or other article is creating content but what I am referring to is creating a more functional, more targeted piece of content that would actual be used as a downloadable item. Maybe certain case studies, webinar recordings, a more advanced video or podcast. Content come come in many different forms and the more you can offer to your target markets, the better. But remember, and this is the point of this post, be sure you have the other digital marketing solutions that squeeze the most possibilities from the content you can create.
4. Social Media: As mentioned before, social media is a fantastic place to promote your existing content and any new content you publish. The more, relevant social media platforms you have, the better. Another related point is to consistently think "contribution". The social media world isn't interested in sales, selling or the I, I, I & we, we, we factor. Give them something useful.
5. Email Marketing: Most small business owners use one or more configurations of email marketing but I see too many using it without the support of the other items I am listing here. A good email marketing solution will be used in many different workflows and not only used to blast your entire database a sales pitch or discount.
6. CRM Applications: One internal software solution that can really take advantage of a good marketing solution is your Customer Relationship Manager. If you configure your CRM well, you can use it to follow up on questions, reach out to prospects in different sections of your sales cycle and close more business opportunities. And, when used correctly, this can be completely automated.
7. Conversion Optimization: When you collect data, you will be able to recognize different trends in producing new traffic and converting that traffic into leads and then customers. Optimizing this information is putting your data knowledge to good use. There are many good systems that can help you get the most from your conversion data. HubSpot is one good example.
8. Offline Marketing: Your online marketing and offline marketing don't need to be completely independent animals. A smart marketer will learn how to use their digital marketing systems to support and expand any traditional or offline marketing strategies.

I hope this information is of some use to you because I know how challenging it can be to use all the choices you have in the world of inbound or digital marketing. If you have anything to add or a question about the information above, feel welcome to add a comment below. I will address it personally. 

Virtual Support Systems has been supporting small businesses since 2001 and and are in a position to help most small business struggling to find the best solutions to meet their needs and their budget. Don't hesitate to connect.

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COMPLETE DIGITAL MARKETING VIDEO SERIES:

In a response to the many business owners and professionals struggling with search engine visibility, converting their incoming traffic and measuring all digital marketing activities with an accuracy, we are developing a detailed video series.

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Video Explanation:

Make sure you remember to subscribe on the top right side of this blog post.

Feel welcome to tweet this introduction video to others so they too will have this opportunity to learn digital marketing, step by step. Just use the social media connections at the top of this page.

To help things get started and further explain these goals, just view the short video below. You should get a good understanding of the benefits we will try to deliver.

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WHAT TO EXPECT:

You can expect each video to help you better understand the digital marketing process and how the many pieces fit together. Upcoming videos will detail components like:

• Design & Marketing
• Keyword Research
• Keyword Evaluation
• Keyword Value
• Keyword Competition
• Keyword Prominence
• Keyword Density
• On Page SEO
• Off Page SEO
• Backlinks or Inbound Links
• Content Development
• Content Optimization
• Blog Development
• Blogging Topics
• Blog Post Optimization
• Guest Blogging
• Email Marketing
• Landing Page Development
• Social Media Development
• Social Platform Selection
• Social Media Account Development
• Social Sharing
• Video Marketing
• Video Optimization
• Calls To Action Strategy
• Lead Generation
• Lead Nurturing
• Analytics Overview
• Traffic Analytics
• Traffic Sources
• Conversion Rates
• Page Performance
• Evaluation Competition
• Blog Analytics
• Social Media Analytics
• Email Analytics
• Landing Page Analytics
• Lead Scoring
• Content Management Systems
• Customer Relationship Management
• Much, Much More

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Here are some examples of how we use video to educate our audience about both general and specific marketing strategies:

• Using Video To Help Attract Qualified Prospects.
• Using Data To Your Advantage.
• How SEO Has Changed Over The Past 5 Years.

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 Please contribute any ideas, feedback or input that might help this audience by using the comment section below.

Demystifying SEO

The content below is from an article published on Mosaic.com in March 2016.

Below is the answer to a question asked more and more by both business owners and marketing executives all over the country. This answer is simply an explanation of how the use of the acronym SEO has changed, not the process of web page optimization. First a short video that helps explain the SEO, Internet marketing relationship:

The take away should be: SEO is still the process of configuring any web page to match the ranking criteria set forth by Google & the other primary search engines so that web page achieves the top ranking on the SERP (search engine results page) as it's related to a specific keyword or keyphrase. So, if the process hasn't changed, what has? As you will see in the answer below, the changes may be seen the most in the simple understanding that 10 years ago, the term SEO meant Internet marketing. This is no longer the case because this term doesn't include so many of the additional online marketing components like blog development, social media strategy, lead generation and lead nurturing strategies, not to mention the process of quality analytics.

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Question: Demystifying SEO - "I understand the basics of SEO; finding long tail keywords with low competition that give you a chance to rank your content. But what comes next? I have found several resources on SEO but the concept is still a mystery to me."

Answer: Hi XXXXXXX - I wish I had more time to "demystify" SEO here in this forum today but let me at least leave you with this one important question I believe is important to ask yourself.

Is in fact "SEO" your objective or is successful marketing your objective? It's a question that must be asked simply because technology and website marketing strategies have changed so much. Many organizations like your sometimes use the acronym "SEO" but what they are really asking about is successful marketing. It's important for you to be able to answer this question because the advice, suggestions and recommendations you are searching for here on Mosaic will be very different depending on how you answer this base line question.

I personally hold certifications from UCLA in digital marketing and new media as well as inbound marketing credentials from HubSpot. If I knew you were specifically asking about SEO, I would provide one set of answers. If, on the flip side you came back to me and said, no, I really meant marketing online, I would offer another set of solutions.

For example: If I answered your question in the context of SEO, my initial suggestion would be this - Once you uncovered and were comfortable with the results of the keyword analysis strategy you used in your question, you would then need to continue to expand this "SEO" strategy by completing the "On-Page SEO" component next. Meaning, you would tie 1 to 2 keywords to each page (as well as your new content strategy) and inset those keywords to every web page property that is appropriate. This would include title tags, description tags, image tags, URLs, and so on.

If, on the other hand your question was really about successful marketing, I would change the conversation to include how your SEO, Blog, Social Media, Lead Generation, Lead Nurturing & Analytics strategy fit together to build a solid & comprehensive online marketing plan.

So, part of demystifying SEO is understanding it's definition and then it's role. SEO (in my experience) now refers more to the actual, physical web page configurations that act as Google criteria and help you secure a better search engine ranking result in relation to a specific keyword or keyphrase. However, I want to stress that SEO (the way I am defining it here) is only a part of your online marketing strategy and maybe not the most important part.

With all of this said, I will leave you with this. Even if you successfully "SEO" every page on your web site, I would suggest that the blogging and social media elements might be more important to your long term success because these are the "living & breathing" components of your marketing plan. Yes, SEO is important but on it's own, it may not hold much value at all, ESPECIALLY if you operate in a very competitive arena. When you take a step back from your marketing plan and consider those areas that may be most important, I will tell you that the answer is a no brainer to me and that is "customer experience".

When all is said and done, your SEO plan, your blog plan, your social media plan and so on must all be developed with the end goal of producing a better customer experience. Google can now measure the customer experience and if you offer one that is better than your competition, you will see things happen that are no doubt, some of the thinking behind your question today.

I hope this helps and please excuse any typos as I try to get as much thinking as I could in with the limited time I had today. Good luck with everything!

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VIDEO VS. COPY:

As a human, we are drawn towards entertainment. And, for better or worse, we are drawn towards moving pictures more than static copy or text.

It's just a reality. People are more likely to stop and offer attention for a video, significantly more than they would a paragraph of text. As a business owner, website owner, marketer or advertiser, using video to promote your product or service will bring you more visitor engagement than straight copy or even an image.

Here are some examples of how we use Video blog posts here at Virtual Support Systems:

• Comparing Web Traffic To Real, City Traffic.
• How Analytics Can Prove ROI.
• How Online Authority May Be Your Biggest Goal.

If you would like to see a sample online marketing proposal in video format, click "more".

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EXAMPLE OF VIDEO PROMOTION:

A visual perspective of how a video results in more engagement than standard copy or text..

 

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YOUR OPTIONS:

Many businesses steer away from video because of the cost and drain on time. Others don't use video simply because they get stuck before they even get started. Some how it's too difficult and maybe they don't think they are capable of undertaking a video marketing strategy.

Virtual Support Systems has a solution for these challenges and you might be surprised how easy it really is. It's so easy because we will do all of the heavy lifting for you. Give us a topic and maybe some content then we will produce a video to your liking. And, we will do it at such an affordable cost, you will have the ability to develop a library.

All it takes is a short discussion or email and we will answer any and all questions. From there, we will hit the ground running and produce your first video.

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INITIAL THOUGHTS:

Promoting content is such an important part of competing for space online. Internet real estate is secured by those (big or small) that can market their content most effectively.

Ok, that makes sense but how do you do it? There are many variables. But there are many businesses that have very different products services and most relevant, different competition.

Before we plow into all these variables and details a content marketer should know, I want to make you aware of a video that I created to do the same thing but using a shorter and easier method.

To get your own copy of this video, just click the "CTA" below. Oh yeah, a CTA or call to action is one of these marketing components we will discuss.

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CONTENT MARKETING VARIABLES:

Now we can get into some of these variables in more detail. Before we do, it's important to remind you of what you're trying to do from a higher level.

You have created a valuable piece of content that was developed using your expertise. This content could and should help a lot of people and/or businesses. In order for those thoughts to reach fruition, you must get this content in the path of your target audience.

This is important because you DON'T need to get your content in front of "everybody". Maybe you feel that would be better but it's not a reasonable goal in the world of inbound marketing. You goal is to recognize and isolate the market or markets that would most benefit from your content. Then apply the strategies we talk about below to better compete for that audience and the attention of that audience.

Once this is accomplished, your goal will be to convert as much of this audience from purely visitors into contacts. I will get into this in detail in another blog post but also try to recognize that your entire audience can be broken into 3 categories.

Your goal will be to make it as easy as possible for this audience to filter into the category that fits them best and will keep them connected, for as long as appropriate.

The 3 different conversion categories are:

1. Top Of The Funnel Contacts
2. Middle Of The Funnel Contacts
3. Bottom Of The Funnel Contacts

I am referring to the traditional sales funnel your business experiences from initial contact all the way to customer. Again, stay tuned to this blog so we can cover these categories in more detail. They are that important.

Now, lets cover some of the more important components of content marketing:

1. The Content

Let's first be clear on what we're talking about. What content? Where is this content coming from? Don't I already have content? Who creates my content?

All reasonable questions. For our sake, the content I am referring to is typically a significantly detailed item and is usually designed to educate, not sell. For example:

• An eBook: This is a great piece of content. Normally significant in length and detail, covering one primary subject.
• A White Paper: This is becoming an increasingly popular term and configuration of content. This is also created to educate and is similar in look and feel to an eBook but most likely shorter.
• Video: Sure, video is content. It's just in a different format and layout than you might have originally thought. The purpose of video content is the same as the 2 items above. Like the video I am offering you right here, it can be created using any theme, any length but probably has more entertainment value (than a blog post or eBook) along with the educational element.
• Blog Post: Like this blog post, you can create your content in the form of a new blog post. Create a post that is as entertaining as possible but with a main purpose of teaching the reader about something they are researching.

There are many other forms of content and you should do the appropriate research to make sure you're familiar with all of your choices.

The last thing I want to explain about content is that it needs to be created with a certain amount of frequency. Generally, the more competition you have (especially for a targeted keyword), the more frequently you should be created and posting new content. Never forget that the major search engines put a lot of value on a website that creates content on a frequent basis. The opposite would be a website that is dormant. That's a no-no.

2. The Landing Page

Once you have your new eBook, white paper, video or web page complete and ready to hand over to your target audience, you'll need a landing page.

Technically, a landing page is any web page that includes a "form". I will take this definition a step further and describe it as a page used to connect with your audience.

You will not want to simply post your new content on a web page for all to see immediately. After all, your content has value. Maybe you won't want to charge dollars to see your content but you will want a commitment in the form of them providing a name and email address. This is the "opt-in" contact that is your initial objective.

For example, I am giving you a free video that explains everything I'm talking about here but in a much more entertaining delivery method. In exchange for that, I am asking for your name and email address so I can notify you in the future when I have new information on this subject. You, like your audience, can "opt-out" at any time.

The landing page is also the tool you will use that determines which level of the funnel your target audience actually belongs to. For example, the video I provide here is targeted to people in the research phase of the sales cycle or "Top Of The Funnel" individuals. On the flip side, think of a "free consultation" landing page and form. This is focused on the "Bottom Of The Funnel" audience or those people who are closer to making a decision.

3. The CTA

The CTA or call to action is a very important part of the content marketing puzzle. It is where you encourage your audience to take the appropriate next step. The CTA can be an image like I used above in the opening or just a line of text that is linked to another page. Without an effective CTA, the process can come to a screeching stop. I can't tell you how many web pages, blogs, social media posts and even landing pages that were missing a call to action. The statistics alone will convince you of the difference in campaigns when using or neglecting to use the proper call to action.

4. The Blog Post

Just as I am doing here, you can also develop a new blog post to help promote your new piece of content. I have a new video that I think will be very helpful to those researching the subject of content marketing. So, why shouldn't I write about this topic for both the benefit of the people researching content marketing AND the primary search engines like Google and Yahoo that are evaluating my own website for ranking position. Because search engines do evaluate every website to determine search engine position, a new blog post will help them realize your website is not dormant.

5. The Thank You Page

To continue this process, think about what happens at every stage. You have your great content, you have your landing page and blog post. After a potential contact completes the form on your landing page and hits that "submit" button, what happens next?

Typically, you want them to be directed to a Thank You Page. You guessed it, this is where you have a chance to do 2 things. First thank them for the request and second, supply them with a new offer. Now I don't mean a new offer as in sell them something, I mean simply provide some additional information like providing a different piece of content.

The thank you page is used to both continue the entire content marketing process and to open the door for additional opportunity.

6. The Email Broadcast

Email marketing comes in many shapes and sizes. I don't have to tell you because you probably experience this every day.

The primary forms of email marketing are:

1. The Broadcast: This is simply sending email to your entire database in an effort to inform them that you have this new piece of content ready and available to them.
2. The Drip Email Strategy: These emails are harder to see, especially if they are done well. The idea here is to establish what we in the inbound marketing business call a workflow. These emails are very specific, personalized and sent after a specific trigger. The trigger can be a specified period of time or a reaction to a completed form.

7. Optimization

There are certainly other elements available to bolster the content marketing process and I will be writing about those as well in upcoming blog posts.

However, the final component I am covering today is known as optimization. Normally when you see this term it's referring to search engine optimization, also known as SEO. In this case, I don't want to limit the understanding of this term to search engines only.

When you successfully optimize ALL of the elements we covered in this post, you increase the chances for increasing visibility. You also increase the chances of people sharing that particular piece of the content marketing puzzle. So yes, you want to optimize the blog post, the landing page, the email, the content itself and any other resource you plan to use in this effort.

REMEMBER: Bookmark this page (or just subscribe using the single field form on the top right), download the free video I created for you to learn how these components connect and use the following materials to learn more or use as an example of content.

• Inbound Marketing White Paper
• Blogging For Business eBook
• Building Authority Video

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AN EFFECTIVE, COMPREHENSIVE SOLUTION: 

If you watch another video we posted focusing on the popular DIY approach to online marketing, you may start to feel overwhelmed. After continuing your research and making some determinations on the strategies that will best work for you, know that bringing in your own, highly trained and certified marketing team should be on the table for consideration. I know how surprised you might be when you learn the costs and the benefits of attacking this challenge using this partnership strategy.

Whatever direction you decide to go next, always feel welcomed to reconnect, ask for a no cost conversation or just ask a single question. That's what we do here. We are a "certified", online marketing agency that brings small business the marketing components they need to address the weaknesses and utilize the strengths that represent their current, marketing condition.

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 Should you care to share you own experiences or offer any input that will help others, please use the comment section below. You never know what kind of contacts you'll make and you may help someone take the next step towards success.

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THE DIY ONLINE MARKETING STRATEGY:

If you're in business, you understand that a marketing strategy is a must. However, what many business owners don't want to face is the fact that a marketing strategy requires funding, or a marketing budget.

This has become a very confusing issue over the past 5 years. As the Internet began to grow, many business owners found themselves caught in a trap that still exists today. That trap is the decision to employ a do it yourself strategy.

At the start, this actually made some sense. Website owners were curious with this new technology and were constantly told the playing field was now level. A level playing field allowed for an organization to apply an online marketing plan using a much smaller budget.

The bad news is that this perspective is no longer accurate and the truth is, the longer it takes to treat your website as a competitive marketing tool, the more your competition is passing you by. Why? Because the do it yourself approach is hurting much more than it's helping.

Here are some more example of the technology required to have a productive website:

• Closed Loop Marketing Spelled Out
• How To Achieve ROI Online
• The Process Of Optimizing Landing Pages

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CONSIDER WHAT "THE DO IT YOURSELF" METHOD CAN DO:

Studies have been completed to show the statistical differences and expectations when attempting a do it yourself online marketing strategy compared to partnering with an actual, certified expert on the subject.

The simple fact is that there is just too much exploding technology for an upper or middle level executive to take on themselves. There is no point, and certainly no results in taking this skill set on individually. I'm sure you can imagine the time saved by hiring an expert.

I tell business owners to keep on doing what they do best and partner with a team that can apply their digital marketing better than they can. After all, what will happen if you stop doing what brought you your success?

Here are some of the main reasons why a DIY Internet marketing strategy will hurt more than help:

1. Reason #1: Unproductive shift of focus.

Like I mentioned above. If you now need to be concerned with the skills needed to apply SEO to your website, where do you think that time will be coming from? Your focus should remain on your area of expertise. You can see what the data says in this video.

2. Reason #2: Proper education required

Is the proper skill set in place? If not, you will have to spend the time and effort needed to learn how the major search engines decide to rank your site on page one. You will have to understand this process for each and every keyword you deem important. And, what keywords are important? You can't guess on these keywords. You need real time data to help you make the right decisions. If your keyword analysis and development process isn't accurate, everything you build on top of this process will not hold up. This is only one in over a hundred different technologies and skills absolutely required for digital marketing success.

3. Reason #3 Productivity suffers

I'm sure this also makes sense to you when you consider how effective a certified professional can be compared to someone that needs to learn many of these skills. In fact, there is real time data that shows the effect experienced in new traffic when an experienced search engine optimization professional configures a web page compared to someone new. Use the preceding link to take a look.

4. Reason #4 The marketing strategy is incomplete

Building a comprehensive marketing strategy takes reasonable time, effort, knowledge and an appropriate budget. That's right, budget. Many business executives or owners think they will save money by "pressing the magic buttons" themselves. This isn't accurate for many reasons:

• Spinning wheels always costs money.
• Any sponsored advertising requires dollars.
• Do popular directory listings make sense (Yelp, Yahoo, ect.)?
• Is social media advertising a good option?

There are so many monetary concerns connected to a developing website, it can actually come back to kill a business. How is that possible? Just use the wrong image in your blog or on social media and a copyright attorney with bad intentions will cost you in a big way.

5. Reason #5 Development & momentum

Something I see often, or should I say hear often are the words... "I'm finished". When it comes to a website, there is no such thing as finished. The development of any website is watched closely by the powers that be like Google, Yahoo, Bing, Twitter & Facebook. If you don't have a strategy to consistently develop your website using:

• A blog post twice a week
• A video post when possible
• Twitter posts up to 10 times a day
• Facebook posts daily
• LinkedIn posts daily
• Landing pages created frequently
• Constant SEO adjustments

your website will be seen as dormant. A dormant website holds low value in the eyes of the major search engines. On the other hand, fresh content development leads to a chain reaction that will benefit a website in so many different ways.

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TRANSLATION:

The best and most effective method to building a successful online marketing strategy and plan is to find and partner with a certified online marketing agency. An agency with all of the tools, resources and knowledge that are hard to come by. Resources that are no longer a luxury, they are a requirement. 

If you have competition, you need the ammunition that builds visibility, reliability and most important, authority. Watch this video to really understand what authority means to a website. 

When you stop to think about everything that is (or should be) involved with a powerful website development strategy, you will start to see the payoff to working with a certified online marketing expert.

What do you think and what is your experience when considering a team to help your company jump this obstacle? 

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