Search, Social and Lead Marketing for Business Blog

Search. Social. Mobile - How these Work Together to Create an Extraordinary Online Presence

The Internet reinvents itself year after year. But unlike designer fashions that are here today and gone tomorrow, the elements of digital marketing continue to stack up. Businesses need to continuously invest in the latest technologies and methodologies to stay relevant online. In fact, businesses that stand out use all the digital marketing elements to leverage their synergies. We will discuss three of the main elements in digital marketing:

• Search. This is still one of the most cost effective means for B2B businesses to create brand awareness and generate sales leads. Studies show that 91% of buyers go to suppliers’ websites before calling.
• Social. Powerful social platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter have created a space for customers to have discussions about products and services. Savvy businesses use these platforms to establish dialogs with their customers and to establish trusting relationships.
• Mobile. With the rise and adoption of smart phones and other mobile devices, the power of the Internet has left homes and offices and has followed customers into the world.

 

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Ever just wish you could get quick, clear, simple answers to some of the not-so-simple principles and methods of marketing a business? If so, we want to tell you about a fantastic new tool you can access anytime to educate yourself on these principles and methods. It's called Learn with Google, and while it's still in beta as of this writing, it already looks like an exciting and incredibly helpful learning opportunity.

Learn with Google consists of a series of short videos presented in simple, down-to-earth terms to help business owners at all levels of experience or knowledge. You can browse dozens of titles, including such basic yet essential topics as "Why does being online matter?" You can pick up valuable instruction on everything from how to choose keywords to what all those fancy AdWords terms mean. (Not surprisingly, the site includes several video modules on how to make more effective use of AdWords or optimize your presence on Google -- and  what business couldn't benefit from that kind of know-how?)  

Let's say you were interested in exactly what goes into developing an online marketing plan. Learn with Google's got you covered. Simply click on "Building your online marketing plan" and in less than 4 minutes you'll receive an excellent introduction to the concepts of setting marketing goals, choosing the most promising online channels for reaching your target market, and making your online presence more attractive to prospective customers.

Learn with Google is like having a marketing library at your fingertips, so take advantage of it by clicking your way to enlightenment. And when you discover that fabulous technique, technology or strategy you'd love to implement in your own marketing, contact us and we'll either help you make it happen or suggest something even more effective for your specific needs!

Website Metrics: The Least You Need to Know

You can learn a lot from your website -- especially when it comes to lead generation and nurturing. How did your visitors find you? What pages did they look at? What worked for you, and what didn’t? Paying attention to these metrics, with the help of web analytics tools, can reveal exactly what you need to do to strengthen your company’s attractiveness on the Web. Here are the numbers that we feel matter most:

1.  Number of your return visitors and new visitors from your targeted area. Your “target” might be a vertical, a demographic, or if you’re a local business, a city. Modern geo-targeting techniques even allow Google to return results based on a smartphone’s precise geographic location.

2.  Number of visitors referred by search engines. Which search engines, for starters? Google is still the 800-pound gorilla here, so if you only focus on getting one search engine’s attention, the choice is pretty simple.

3.  Keyword(s) that drew your visitors to your site. While any traffic is good traffic, watch for patterns that can betray weaknesses in your keyword distribution. Say, for instance, that everyone referred to your website searched your company name to get there. Obviously you’re not turning up on keyword searches related to your industry, so it might be time to install more of those industry keywords into your SEO.

4. Pages visited. Which web pages did your visitors land on first? How long did they stay there? Most importantly, did they spend time on the pages you really wanted them spend time on -- the pages you feel are most important to driving sales and converting prospects into customers?

Keep a close eye on these critical metrics and you’ll find that analyzing your web traffic isn’t so hard after all -- especially if it means more sales!

Last post I mentioned some of the factors Google uses to determine how high in the listing a business will appear when someone searches for a local business. We mentioned some on-site things you can use to make sure you appear towards the top of the list.

Now I'll mention some off-site ways you can influence your company's Google rank - a local search marketing campaign using Google Map.

- Claim your listing on Google Map – use Google’s local business center to claim the listing.

- Complete the business listing information – make sure you are listed under the correct category and be consistent with the company name, address, etc.

- Claim your listing through similar services such as Yahoo and Bing.


- Upload (and constantly update) information about your business and set up coupons and other promotions.

- Include photos and videos in your descriptions - Google has begun testing some enhanced features that will display your photo/video thumbnail on the map as well as next to your listing. This will help your company stand out.

- Submit your company’s information to directories that are associated with local businesses (Info USA, Yahoo Business Directory, DMOZ, etc.) since they are aggregator.

On your site, you can make some additions to your HTML code and content that will also drive up your ranking in Google:

• On your website make sure your domain/web page URL include locations that you target.
•  Make sure your web page title tag and description tag include the locations (i.e. cities, areas, etc.) that you target.
• Make sure your website has dedicated pages that display the company name, address, and maps of the company’s location. Also the map should link to your Google local map (on the local business results) page.
•  Get links from authority sites; relevant vertical authority sites are the best.
• Mine your competitors’ links and see if you can establish the same links.

It’s a time consuming, but surely rewarding, process. In addition to other search traffic, Google local maps will drive many qualified local leads to your website. With strong customer reviews and ratings, you should get a much higher conversion rate as well.