Inbound Marketing For Australian SMBs

In recent months Google has introduced changes to their algorithm to penalize sites trying to “trick” the search engines, and reward the sites who are focused on the customer experience and publish quality sites.

Ive published many blog articles on choosing keywords so I won’t go over that again, at the end of this article you’ll find links to those articles.  So lets assume you have your list of keywords, you even know where and how to use your keywords, but you’re struggling with the implementation. How do you make it happen?

The number one request I get as an inbound marketing consultant is to help companies rank higher in search results to drive more traffic to their site. So the question begs; “how do we do this the right way?” Thankfully Google is committed to returning search results that are highly relevant to searchers’ requests. They do this by updating their search algorithm, the way they rank web pages and return results to the searcher, to penalize sites that use tactics that cheat the system, known as ‘black hat’, ‘keyword stuffing’ and ‘webspam’. 
"The key takeaway is that Google is changing it’s algorithm to reward quality sites – so stay focused on publishing quality content."

While your end goal for might be sales, the secret to success for lead generation with social media is to know where it fits into the buy cycle for your business. My view is that it's at the beginning, and should be utilized to build reach, awareness, rapport, trust and authority. So here are my 8 social media tips for small business owners and marketers:

This article has been written for small business owners and marketers who want to understand enough about SEO to get results but not to qualify for a Masters in SEO. Use this article as your quick guide to finding the right keywords and knowing what to do with them.

 

If you are in charge of marketing and generating leads and customers for your business then understanding content marketing, if you want to be successful, is important. "But why?" I hear you ask.

The term “leads” in the title means “qualified leads” – read this article to learn how to attract qualified leads into your marketing funnel with an effective blog.

In my recent articles on blogging I write about how to use your blog platform to educate your audience. It may seem like you’re giving a lot of expertise and knowledge away to your competition but he truth is the benefit far outweighs the risk and here’s why.

Firstly, by sharing valuable content your audience is interested in and will share, helps to keep you top of mind, establishes you as an authority, builds credibility, educates prospects on your product and gives people a reason to share your product.

Secondly, if you focus on pushing out valuable content your audience will come to enjoy your articles, look forward to reading them – building rapport and trust. Once you have rapport and trust with your prospects they are more likely to convert to a lead and customer.

So now you have...
Awareness, expertise, credibility and trust.

The next step is lead generation!

To increase leads, make sure you have an offer on the side of your blog, just like I have the ebook and coaching series offers on this blog.  Personally, I hate being “sold to” or “pushed” and what I love about this approach to lead generation is that the education has been done on your prospects’ time and on their terms – without a pushy sales process to scare them away.

The art of lead generation and nurturing is to continue this added value as they move their way through the lead – buy process. Always giving the lead an opportunity to convert into a customer when they are ready.

A lead generation offer is an offer of information that the prospects want, in return for their contact information. What contact information you ask for needs to reflect the value of your free offer. Eg: A detailed research report is more valuable than a 2-page how to guide, so for the report you could ask for more than just the email, company name and contact name. You could ask for phone, company size or type or any other information that is valuable to you.

I’ve included links below for blogging and lead generation.

If you have any questions at all please use the comment section below. Happy blogging and lead generating.

Check out these blogging and lead generation resources:

9 Tips To Increase Leads From Your Landing Pages
Improve Lead Generation:  How To Understand Your Prospects Needs
Blogging Made Simple: Learn How To Write About What You Know

This article is a follow on from last week’s post 11 Marketing Strategies For Which Small Business Should Use Blogs. Assuming you’ve had the chance to read that article, I thought I’d share how to use video in your blogs and communication.

It’s great to mix up the format of your blogs with video, written word and images. As well as the style – entertaining, funny, educational and informative. Using different formats like video and presentations can help communicate an important message that the written word, alone can’t. Like bringing personality and life to your company and products. Here’s a few ideas on how to use video to keep your blogs interesting and valuable.

Blogging is a communication tool that provides small business marketers with the unique opportunity to achieve a range of marketing strategies and tactics that were once left up to professionals, or only those with deep pockets. The internet and social media have leveled the marketing playing field and small businesses should take advantage of this opportunity.

What is your biggest obstacle with Facebook Marketing? Is it not knowing where to start, not convinced it will work for your business, or you don't have the time to test something new?

Do you receive too many emails a day? I bet there are some you look forward to getting, some you open and read, and others you scan or just delete without opening.