Inbound Marketing Blog

SEO-Search Engine Optimization-What Can It Do For You?

Let's talk about the basics. You have a website. You have a product or a service you want people to know about, right? SEO or Search Engine Optimization is a term you have heard, but you are not quite sure why it is important to you.

SEO means that your website is designed (and we'll explain that part in a minute) so that what every major search engine people use (Google, Yahoo, Bing for example) to find who has a service or product like you have, they will see your website near the top or at the top of the list presented to them on the search engine results page (SERP) of their search. Got it?

Effective SEO (and this is the objective we talked about in the preceding paragraph) include a choice of keywords used in the text paragraphs in your website and the placement of those words on the page, both visible and hidden inside meta tags. Simply put, your goal is to be sure 3 fundamental elements are in sync on each and every web page that is considered valuable:

1. A Relevant, Targeted & Reasonable Keyword
2. The Basic Backend Coding:
   a. title tag
   b. description tag
   c. header tags (H1, H2, H3)
   d. image or ALT tags
   e. keyword meta tags (although may be obsolete)
   f. robot txt.
3. Content

SEO is the entire process of making your website "search engine friendly."

Search engines use different criteria for ranking pages (up to 500 different pieces), and those criteria are changed once in awhile to keep web marketers on their toes as well as from obtaining a permanent higher ranking without applying the needed work. To use SEO effectively to help you slowly and steadily reach your goals, you need a team or company such as ours who have a specialty configuring important pages to be search engine friendly & are up-to-date on the constant changes in algorithms.

The best way to start is to call us for a free SEO consultation! We can help answer all your questions and get you closer to achieving the ranking you need to best promote your website and its services!

To make this decision a bit easier, understand that we are a certified inbound marketing partner of one of the fastest growing online marketing applications in the world... HubSpot!

For a no cost evaluation and consultation, simply use the link below to read additional information about who we are, our approach and methodology.

Web Page Optimization: What you need to be sure of when making any web page search engine friendly.

When a search engine user enters a keyword in the search box, all search engines run through an evaluation process in nano seconds and if your pages do not meet certain criteria, they will pass you by just as fast.

The process of making a web page search engine friendly can include a lot of detail but there are basic elements that will help you get some initial momentum and help you compete, especiallay for the "lower hanging fruit" or what is also known as "long-tail keywords".

If you are a subscriber to this blog, you may have a better sense of the inbound marketing concept, formula and active components, so now we can now focus on the area of web page optimization. The idea here is to configure any given web page to be as search engine friendly as possible or to be sure the work you paid an SEO professional meets these basic requirements.

For an easy download of this information, use this link:

Each search engine uses a different set of algorithms to evaluate a web page and produce search results based on a keyword or key-phrase entered by a search engine user. Even though Google, Yahoo, MSN and the other search engines evaluate differently, they are close enough so it’s possible (at this level) to develop one set of guidelines for all. As part of a more sophisticated strategy, you will ultimately develop these formulas to match each search engine and keyword with more concentration.

Below is a table we developed for you to use as your web page optimization checklist. These are the basic components that need attention when competing for both, targeted or more general keywords. There are two assumptions we need to make before you begin applying these principles:

1. A detailed keyword analysis and selection has been executed.
2. We are targeting 1 to 3 keywords per page.
3. You are able to make these updates to your web page through an HTML editor or your CMS (content management system). Ex. Wordpress, Contribute, Dreamweaver, Front Page.
   

Remember that these are the main elements of a well-optimized page and have been outlined for the user who isn’t ready to hire an inbound marketing or SEO consultant. As the process evolves, there are other components that require attention and will ultimately benefit your efforts. Here is a partial list:

For a complete inbound marketing analysis of your current website, use this link:

Internet Marketing/Inbound Marketing Is Growing At Record Pace

Are you finding it difficult to keep pace and keep current with Inbound marketing? It used to be a simple as executing a solid search engine optimization plan (SEO). Internet marketing has changed tremendously since those days. I know because I am in the business.

As recently as one year ago, my clients would generate leads and substantial other activity as a result of a carefully constructed search engine optimization program combined with some supportive content development.

Inbound or Internet marketing has expanded and in order to be successful, must include other components. Blog development and social media development are now critical elements of a complete Internet marketing plan.

Many organizations are having a difficult time understanding the need to refocus some (or most) of their marketing efforts in this newer direction. The transition and evolution from traditional or outbound marketing to inbound marketing can be confusing to many. Businesses understand the old marketing methods even if they admit they have become less effective. 

We are at an important crossroads for many businesses even if they don't notice. They must get involved in their marketing more than was demanded in the past.

An Overview:

• Outbound marketing is also considered "interruption" marketing.
• Outbound marketing is 40 year old technology.
  
• Outbound marketing is using a hammer to deliver your message.
• Inbound marketing is using a magnet to attract those sincerely interested in your message.
• Inbound marketing produces more quality leads at a lower cost per lead.

What should be included in your inbound marketing strategy?

1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
2. Blog development - regular blog posts
3. Social Media Strategies
4. Strong & accurate analytics or measurement

Developing and administering a strong Internet marketing plan takes the same effort and patience as developing a comprehensive traditional marketing plan. In most cases the budget won't have to be as extensive but the time commitment and ability to partner with highly skilled professionals is similar. Remember that in spite of what you read or what may appear in your inbox (or spam filter), a good inbound marketing strategy takes time, effort and a budget. There is no quick fix. Show me a keyword on page one of google and I will show you an organization that applied effort and had patience.

Internet marketing, at it's most basic level is about:

1. Lead Generation
2. Lead Tracking
3. Lead Nurturing
4. Lead Conversion
   

For a free inbound marketing white paper, click on this image:

Inbound marketing can consist of a simple SEO project or a more complete picture using SEO, blog & social media development with the appropriate analytics.

When analyzing and evaluating the Internet marketing needs of any business, it's important to understand that one size does not fit all. Each business will have different objectives, different budgets and therefore demand different and flexible solutions.

It is also important for businesses to realize that as Internet marketing or inbound marketing become more of a primary marketing mechanism, its important to apply the appropriate attention, budget and changes required to generate the return on investment that is, in most cases, the main objective. Understand that inbound marketing is now more efficient, more effective and more measurable than the way marketing has been implemented over the past 40 years (outbound marketing).

With this in mind, one of the decisions you will need to consider is the choice between PPC (sponsored ads) or a natural or organic search engine strategy. Although both can be beneficial, they do serve different objectives and need careful consideration before launch. Below are some basics that need to be understood in order to make an educated decision.

Any business and Internet marketing plan can benefit from both PPC or SEO so...

1. Where do you start?
   
2. Is it a sponsored ad campaign or organic search engine optimization?
   
3. Both are important so what where should I start or would be the right mix?
4. How do I determine what my budget should be?
   
5. How much should I spend on PPC and how much on SEO?
   
6. Which one has the higher rate of success?
   
7. Which one is easy to manage?
   

Many of these questions are asked by business owners while developing their online marketing strategies or working with an Internet marketing expert on consulting firm.



One of the first steps should be a basic understand of the differences between the two. Here is a simple explanation:

The standard industry term is PPC, which means "par per click". You pay search engines or any other publisher for the clicks you get on your advertisement links. Another way to explain this; the traffic you are getting is Paid Traffic through the creation and placement of your advertisement. The alternative is SEO or search engine optimization. SEO is where you work on your web pages to improve its natural rankings in the major Search engines for the selected (important) keywords. If done correctly the result is free traffic for your website. This doesn't mean the process of organic optimization is free. If you have the skills and time, it will be free but you may need to pay a specialists to perform these activities.

These are some Pros and Cons of both PPC and Organic SEO as part of an overall inbound marketing plan.

If you have a newer site and need some faster exposure, PPC Campaigns can give you these quick results. You can launch your projects within hours and start getting search engine (or Facebook & LinkedIn) placement and traffic on your website over night. Pay per click programs are easy to monitor and lets you do specific testing and experimenting. This method will provide you with a detailed analysis of important metrics like:

1. How many times your ad had been displayed
2. How many people clicked on them
3. Which ad got maximum clicks
4. What is the conversion rate

Sponsored ad campaigns are also easy to control. You can control the placement of your listings and location where you want your ad to show, and stop your project anytime you want.

 PPC campaigns are also very effective to test the impact of changes in site architecture on conversion rate.

 PPC campaigns are great if you are going to promote some seasonal items and when it is not feasible to wait for improvement in organic rankings.



Cons - PPC campaigns, in most cases don’t have long term value. Your listings will disappear from search engines and other networks if you stop spending money. Usually a larger budget is needed to run an effective PPC campaign. If your niche is highly competitive and you are competing against big brands, this is even more true. In my opinion, the biggest reason to be careful when utilizing a sponsored ad campaign is because PPC ads get only 10% of click throughs when compared to  organic search rankings. 



Search Engine Optimization 

Pros - Natural Search results get 90% of the activity on a search engine results page. This means you can get much more traffic if you can get top positions in organic results. 

You don’t have to pay for extra traffic you get due to improvement of your website rankings in organic search results.

 You can stop your SEO (search engine optimization) and link building campaigns for few months once your rankings become stable in Search results and can enjoy free traffic.

 Proper SEO and Link Building will help you to increase the overall authority of your website.



Cons - SEO and Link Building is a time consuming process. It usually takes 6-8 months or even more to achieve the top results in organic rankings depending on the quality of your website and competition in your niche.

 No control on the Rankings of website and no guarantee of results because organic results are very unpredictable.





As you have now seen the pros and cons of both marketing strategies, the selection of the SEO or PPC depends on the purpose of your inbound marketing campaign. If you are looking for quick exposure for your new business then PPC campaign is your best option but if you are looking for long term solution then focus on your SEO and link building campaigns. Business owners need to maintain a proper balance between their SEO and PPC activities. While, money spent on SEO should be considered as long term investment for your business, PPC campaigns should be used only to fill out the gaps which cannot be achieved with SEO like running ads on content networks, for doing research of proper keywords or to test the new design of website.

Linking Strategy Basics: Search Engine Optimization

Many businesses assume that the more links to your site, the higher your ranking in search engines such as Google, Yahoo & Bing. But it's not that simple. Google, as well as the other major search engines factors in the "value" of the links to your site using a considerable complex formula. Google uses these two factors, and more that they will never let see or understand:

1. Google considers the quality of the site on which the link to your site originates by examining the links pointing to that web site. If Google considers the originating site to be a "hub," then the sites that this hub-site links to can get a boost in significant popularity and "authority. A common sense example would be using a link from the Yahoo Directory or even HubSpot.com. A link from HubSpot has much more value than say, a link from your kid’s site at Geocities. This may seem like a no brainer but I see many developers making huge efforts to grab as many links as possible without stopping and considering the power of each.
   
2. Aside from a major directory like Yahoo, Google can also consider how many outbound links a hub has. The more outbound links a given site has, the lower the value each link provides to that site. Their worth is diluted. In theory you’d get the most value if the link to your site were the only link from a site that is considered a hub. There are several flaws to this logic, but that’s for another inbound marketing blog article.

Some believe that linking to certain other sites improves your own site’s popularity. But if you think it through, this makes no sense. People can link to whatever they want, which would defeat the purpose of what Google is trying to do. In fact, many search engine optimization and inbound marketing professionals will tell you that as we move through 2010, even a recipricol link holds minimum value. This is another common sense development as you should be able to see that Google and other serach engines are placing more value on a "vote" for a given site when that site isn't forced to vote in the other direction. It has more credibility.

Rule of thumb: At least as a "common sense" element of your link building strategies, try to attract your inbound links by way of great content. Not only will you get higher quality links but your efforts will be rewarded in so many other ways as well.

 VSS Twitter Follow: SEMSEO1

 
A great way to look at the amount of links you have already attracted to your web site, as well as other important metrics, just ask us to run a free Website Grader Report:

• Content evaluation
• Blog grade
• Twitter grade
• Number of pages indexed by Google
• Number of links pointing to your web site
• Readability level
• Meta tag condition
• Moz rank
• Conversion elements

How To Get Found Online: Search Engines Presence

As I normally state in these Inbound Marketing blog posts, the information below was created for businesses & professionals looking for inbound marketing strategies. Inbound marketing professionals should already be familiar with this information but I do encourage marketing professionals to share this blog post with their readers.

There are generally two forms of search engine results:

1.    Sponsored or paid results
2.    Organic or natural results.

Sponsored Results:  Paid search engine results (sponsored results) are those listings that require a fee for the search engines to list their link for specific, selected keywords or keyphrases. The most widely used form of paid listing is Pay Per Click (PPC). This is where you pay each time someone clicks on the link in your advertisement on the search engine results page (SERP). The price increases with the level of competition of the selected keyword.

Organic Results: Natural or organic search results are gathered by search engines’ web crawlers and ranked according to relevance to search terms. This relevance is calculated by criteria such as:
•    Extent of keyword match
•    Keyword prominence
•    Keyword frequency
•    Keyword relevance
•    Number of links into that website or web page

Ranking in the organic search results is better because not only is it FREE, but research shows that people click on the organic results 75% to 84% of the time and paid results only garnish 16% to 25% of the attention. Part of the reason for this is that consumers are intelligent enough to understand that money alone can get a web site to the top of a page through these sponsored ad purchases but organic results are dictated by the direct relevance as determined by Google or the other major search engines. This gives organic search results and those web sites that achieve these results much more credibility.

How Do The Major Search Engines Decide Page 1 Rankings?
Google and the other major search engines rank websites in search engine results pages according to relevance to the search terms. This relevance is calculated by looking at both on-page factors such as the content on your site and off-page factors in the form of inbound links to your website. Off-page factors (number of links to a given web page or web site) are the biggest influences in your website’s ranking in search engine results. With these factors as the primary influence, any web site with inbound marketing as a priority, needs to learn how to do some or all of the following:

1: Research & Develop Master Keyword Inventory    
•    Search Volume – Given two different keyword phrases, optimize for the one with the larger number of searches.
•    Relevance – Choose keywords that your target market is using to describe and search for your products and services.
•    Difficulty or Competition – Consider your chances for ranking on the first page of Google for that keyword phrase. Look at the sites ranked in those first 10 slots, their authority and relevance to search terms, and gage if you will be able to overtake them to secure a spot on that first page.

2: On-Page Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
•    Place keywords in the page title, URL, headings, and page text.
•    Optimize your page description for maximum click-through-rate when your site ranks in Google searches.
•    Place keywords in other “invisible” places on your web site, including meta-keyword tags and alt-text on images.

3: Off-Page Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
•    Build more inbound links from other sites into yours. Each link serves as a recommendation or a reference.
•    Build more links within context, i.e. those with valuable keywords in the link anchor text (the text that is hyperlinked to your site). Link anchor text provides context for the search engines to understand what your site is about.
•    Build more links from trusted websites. Just as references from well-respected friends and experts offer more value, so do links from trusted and well- respected websites.
•    Link-building tips:    
      o    Submit your website to directories like the Yahoo! Directory and Business.com
      o    Communicate with others in your industry through blogs and other social media    
      o    Create compelling tools (such as an interesting calculator) and content (via a blog, for example)

4: Measure, Evaluate, Analyze  & Modify
•    Track number of inbound links, keyword rank over time and compared to competition.
•    Measure real business results: number of visitors, leads, and customers from SEO.

Below is an example of search engine ranking results produced for my company. This is some of the data I use to help understand my inbound marketing productivity.

Inbound Marketing Successes & Experiences Shared

Today's blog features a graphic design firm in Norwood MA and is an interesting Inbound marketing participant. My assessment is that this firm absolutely understands the movement from outbound marketing to inbound marketing and understands this from first hand experience. Like many business Peartree is and has been studying and experimenting with various internet marketing options. They have used SEO, sponsored advertising, blogging, social media and traditional marketing methods. Peartree graphic design's inbound marketing strategy, like many of us in the business world, has evolved over the past couple of years. They used to do "this and that" but learned that maybe they really need to "try this and that" instead. For the record, this is exactly why I created this inbound marketing blog series. It seems to me that with companies like Peartree willing to share these experiences, all readers can avoid mistakes that have been made by others. We don't all need to recreate the wheel.

I believe this graphic design firm is close to isolating a system that meets it's needs and budget. The important thing to learn from this case is their desire and efforts to learn and listen. Even more importantly, this company has shown to be willing to take risks and apply inbound marketing elements in an effort to grow.

Featured Business: PearTree USA Graphic Design

Business Name: Peartree USA
Business Web Site: www.peartreeusa.com
Business Location: Norwood, MA
Marketing Decision Maker: Kevin Poirier
Business Description: Graphic Design, Logo Design, Brochure Design Services

What are your current marketing activities?: Yellow pages, email marketing, Google Adwords & now business.com. We used direct mail in the past with some return success.

What is your primary marketing method?: Email marketing

What changes are needed (if any) in your marketing methods?: A more aggressive strategy with alternative methods and execution, analysis is front burner for us to understand what we need to focus on first.

Do you know what Inbound Marketing is?: Yes - Driving people to contact me and  our web site.

What percentage of your marketing budget is applied to Outbound marketing? 30%

How are you measuring ROI?: We use tracking codes for all of our promotional activity so either direct mail, email marketing or web site coupons, we track any activity through these codes.

Have you ever executed a keyword development strategy?: Yes, we hired an SEO company about a year ago and that was part of the first steps.

How are you measuring your web site's traffic?: Google analytics

How are you measuring your web site's conversions?: We use a contact form for site conversions while we ask all inbound callers how they got our name.

What search engine strategy has been employed?: We started with a Google Adwords campaign and other than securing one good client, we haven't seen any impressive results. Last year we hired an SEO company to optimize our site with limited results. We are now trying business.com with the idea that we will receive more qualified traffic.

Are you using a blog? If so, how often are you posting a new article?: Yes, 2 a month but I know I need to do more posts. I have a hard time creating subject matter and don't really understand why a business will take any time to read random information about graphic design. I do understand that in theory, its an important tool and I will continue to develop my blog.

Who creates each blog article?: I do

Does your business have a Linked In account?: Yes - Kevin Poirier

Does your business have a Twitter account?: Yes - PeartreeUSA

Does your business have a Facebook account?: Yes

How would you define your lead generation system?: No specific software being used but we are researching options.

How would you define your lead tracking system?: Tracking (promo code) through inbound phone call records and contact form.

How would you define your lead nurturing systems?: I don't believe a newsletter would make sense for some of the same reasons I have trouble grasping the blog value. I do think I need to discover new methods of interaction.

Have you considered developing an Inbound Marketing Plan, if so, what are your challenges?: Yes - Driving qualified businesses to my site

On a scale of 1-10, how important is developing a focused inbound marketing?: 8

How soon do you plan on developing a better inbound marketing plan?: This has started as explained earlier.

What would be your first step in creating a better inbound marketing plan?: We are in the middle of investigating more complete Internet marketing solutions. Our biggest concern with some solutions is the costs to start the process. Some of the solutions we looked at involved migrating our site at a significant cost so we were then locked in to using a specific CMS. I don't like that idea.

Stay tuned for "Part 5" by subscribing to this inbound marketing blog.

Inbound Marketing Questions & Answers (Part 3)

This inbound marketing blog article is part 3 in a blog series I have created to help my subscribers, as well as all other interested readers, understand how others are using various inbound marketing elements.

Each inbound marketing blog posts features a different business and includes interview question and answers. In this specific inbound marketing blog article I have answered the interview questions myself. The thought was that I needed a point of reference for those readers with limited inbound marketing experience. This blog post can be used as a guide to certain inbound marketing standards that I believe should be established.

In my next blog, I will continue to highlight and provide interview results from other businesses that were kind enough to take the time to answer these questions. I think they should all help us in learning more about how to create the appropriate inbound marketing campaign. I welcome all comments, good or bad.

To become a featured business and share your inbound marketing experience: Let Us Interview Your Business.

Featured Business: Virtual Support Systems

Business Name: Virtual Support Systems
Business Web Site: www.virtualsupportsystems.com
Business Location: Sarasota, FL
Marketing Decision Maker: Daniel Shlifer
Business Description: Inbound Marketing Consulting, Search Engine Optimization, Blog Development, Social Media Development Through Software & Service Application

What are your current marketing activities?: Web site development & optimization, blog development, social media out reach, lead generation, lead tracking and lead nurturing using specific inbound marketing software.

What is your primary marketing method?: Inbound marketing or Internet marketing

What changes are needed (if any) in your marketing methods?: More aggressive or active social media involvement. Further development of all current inbound marketing activities will help generate more traffic and gain more traction on the search engines and blog subscribers. I also need to further develop my lead conversion strategies through closer traffic analysis. By better analysis, I will be better able to modify all my target marketing activities to achieve high conversion and close ratios.

Do you know what Inbound Marketing is, if so, please define in your own words?: Yes - I am in the inbound marketing business as an inbound marketing consultant. Inbound marketing is the process of creating a compelling offer, getting found, promoting the offer, analyzing the results and making the appropriate modifications.

What percentage of your marketing budget is applied to Outbound marketing vs. Inbound marketing? In 2009 it was 80% of all our marketing budget. It is now 100% as we terminated all outbound marketing activities.

What inbound marketing components are you currently utilizing?: Web site development and optimization, blog post creation, Twitter, Facebook and Linked In status updates, email marketing, lead generation, lead tracking and lead nurturing using comprehensive inbound marketing software.

How are you currently measuring ROI?: I am using an Inbound Marketing software application to generate, track, nurture all leads and ROI. This application monitors traffic, conversion of that traffic, blog subscriptions, social media activity and more.

Have you ever executed a keyword development strategy for your web site?: Yes, as part of my new inbound marketing application.

How are you measuring your web site's traffic?: Yes, Same answer as above coupled with reporting software from Web Position.

How are you measuring your web site's conversions?: Yes, my web site uses landing pages as part of creating compelling offers and converting traffic to leads so I am able to separate all landing pages and all offers and analyze leads generated from these pages as well as the blog and social media activity.

What search engine strategy has been employed?: We have created every web page with a specific keyword and message targeted. This also applies to each blog post and social media message.

Are you using a blog? If so, how often are you posting a new article?: Yes - 3 blog posts per week minimum.

Who creates each blog article?: Me

Does your business have a Linked In account?: Yes - http://www.linkedin.com/in/vssseo

Does your business have a Twitter account?: Yes - @SEMSEO1

Does your business have a YouTube account?: Yes - inbound marketing condition video

Does your business have a Facebook account?: Yes

How would you define your lead generation system?: I use lead generation software.

How would you define your lead tracking system?: I use lead tracking software.

How would you define your lead nurturing systems?: I use internal autoresponders and Mail Chimp email marketing software

Have you considered developing an Inbound Marketing Plan, if so, what are your challenges?: Yes, I am using a comprehensive inbound marketing solution and I would say my current challenges includes securing better search engine rankings, blog subscribers and a better conversion rate.

On a scale of 1-10, how important is developing a focused inbound marketing program?: 11

How soon do you plan on developing a better inbound marketing plan?: Started a complete inbound marketing program in January 2010. This was developed from an already existing search engine optimization applied over the past 2 years.

What would be your first step in creating a better inbound marketing plan?: Better social media strategies.

What is Inbound Marketing?

I understand the answer to this question may be obvious to most readers because most readers of this blog are in the Inbound Marketing Industry. However, for the purpose of educating all others who may be exposed to my blog, I offer the following explanations:

Inbound Marketing vs. Outbound Marketing

Definition of Inbound Marketing (wikipedia):
Inbound marketing is a style of marketing that focuses on getting found by customers. This sense is related to relationship marketing and Seth Godin's idea of permission marketing. David Meerman Scott recommends that marketers "earn their way in" (via publishing helpful information on a blog etc.) in contrast to outbound marketing where they used to have to "buy, beg, or bug their way in" (via paid advertisements, issuing press releases in the hope they get picked up by the trade press, or paying commissioned sales people, respectively). Next best action marketing can also be applied.

Definition Of Outbound Marketing (wikipedia):
Traditional marketing (outbound marketing) is where companies focus on finding customers by advertising. This sense is related to intrusion marketing and Godin's term interruption marketing. Traditional marketing (outbound marketing) is where companies focus on finding customers by advertising. This sense is related to intrusion marketing and Godin's term interruption marketing.

Further descriptions and examples of both Inbound Marketing and Outbound Marketing:

Inbound Marketing Examples:

1. Web pages: design and development of message by use of web pagesor web sites.
2. Landing page: similar to above but with a more targeted message.
3. Key phrase development: this is an important foundation for the above SEO process.
   
4. SEO or search engine optimization: The process of making web pages more search friendly.
5. Social media usage: delivery of marketing messages via Facebook, Linked In, Twitter, You Tube, Digg, Delicious, etc.
6. Blog Posting: Uploading or posting of market related information.
7. Link development: this is a very important process of attracting and securing inbound links from web pages, blogs, tweets & status updates of social media accounts of other individuals or business organizations.
8. Internal lead generation: some form of internal systems (usually a lead generation or lead tracking software application) used to generate leads from existing web page traffic.
9. Internal lead tracking: lead tracking software solution that allows for understanding all statistics produced from traffic conversion.
10. Lead nurturing: the process of continued communication or nurturing of converted leads.

1. Direct mail
2. Telemarketing
3. Radios advertising
4. TV advertising
5. Print advertising
6. Billboard advertising

1. Higher ROI: In fact, search engine marketing is now the #1 return on investment when compared to all other marketing mediums.
2. Inbound marketing is much more budget friendly: A small business is much more able to afford a comprehensive inbound marketing strategy.
3. We have become more capable as consumers to "block" the outbound marketing message:

• Remote control
• Caller ID
• DVR
• satellite radio

Targeted Website Traffic (con't)

This blog post is a continuation from our post of yesterday (March 4th, 2010). so please start there if you haven't read part 1...

So, we took the time to talk and I explained to him these fantastic changes from a 40 year concentration on Outbound Marketing to the newer, more effective Inbound Marketing solution. We continued our discussion about the magnitude of this shift from interrupting people and businesses with your message to making sure the message is available when his prospects are in need and actively searching. I also explained all the different ways they are searching and how people can be "talking" about him, his company and his products. He obviously new something about SEO but really didn't realize the other elements of Inbound Marketing such as:

• Accurate keyword analysis
• How to created targeted website traffic
• How important active blog development can really be
• The impact of his message through social media channels
• Lead generation
• Lead tracking
• Lead nurturing
• ROI analysis and evaluations
• Mostly how powerful content development makes the biggest difference

We basically came to the conclusion that he need to do much more and the answers we arrived at 8 months earlier don't apply in the same way as they do today. I was able to teach Kevin that he needed to be much more comprehensive. I told him that this doesn't mean he has to spend gobs more money. He just needed to understand the philosophy and methods needed to reach his target markets have changed and this means, he has to change. The fact is that all business owners and professionals need to make these same changes. They need to be involved in the creation of the content needed to meet the needs of their "potential" targeted website traffic.

What my client taught me? Kevin taught me that it is the client's knowledge and experience that needs to be exploited and will best determine the most fruitful target market both sort term and long term. This may seem like common sense to most but I see it overlooked a little too much when developing targeted website traffic, Inbound Marketing and even more so with a specific search engine optimization plans. Kevin brought up the question of shifting focus from the national market to targeting his local markets more for a number of reasons. One was that a few of his new clients that did find him from his SEO project were local. From there, Kevin then thought about this further and came to the conclusion that perhaps his targeted website traffic would be more prone to hire local design companies.

No matter if Kevin is right or wrong, the point should be considered by all companies getting involved with the new Inbound marketing and that point is to be very clear about your target markets segmentation. The more a business can segment the different target markets that would be interested in those products or services, the better (and more quickly) the Inbound marketing project can gain traction and accelerate the pace of the website's out reach. Lower hanging fruit can be identified, further defined and targeted with the appropriate message(s) using the appropriate technologies.

There is no doubt in my mind that the result from this elementary conversation will be huge. Why?

1. Targeting the local market will remove 90% of Internet competition.
2. The more targeted keywords will gain search engine positions faster.
3. His local prospects will find him easier & faster.
4. His message will be more focused in this target market (effective).

Conclusion: Carefully examine all your market segments and with the help of your Inbound Marketing Consultant either before you launch your comprehensive Internet marketing plan or before you continue your plan. Some times the basics can be overlooked an in this case, the client had the best solution for his marketing challenges.