For B2Cs, the weekly or bi-weekly email newsletter is a natural forum for seasonal specials, coupons and other buy-me-now messaging. But the B2B purchase cycle is slower; more deliberate. The hard sell won’t work here; instead, this audience craves information – preferably the kind they won’t see anywhere else.

The best email newsletters start with a firm understanding of the target audience; after all, these folks have taken the trouble to subscribe, so they’re expecting something of value in return.

When the design serves the message (not the other way around), the result is a killer email newsletter that minimizes opt-outs, maximizes sharing and helps cement good inbound relationships.
And now, on to 9 email newsletters that I love because they’re …

Mouthwatering!

The California Walnuts monthly email newsletter gets right to the point visually, with the nuts starring in a variety of linkable recipes. But the newsletter doesn’t forget that people are behind these desserts; a hero banner announces the winners of a baking contest. This sends the message that the email newsletter has an engaged, active audience; confirming a sense of community among the readers.

We also get a look at the organization’s resident expert, a pastry chef; great for building credibility. And notice – no sales pitch. This newsletter knows that its audience is already into walnuts.

Teasing!

Like a magazine cover, the Limes Farm monthly doesn’t “give it away” on the homepage; instead, you must click through to read about the goings-on at this rural English farm that happens to offer a staggering array of fresh products. The calm green color palette is attention-getting, as is the reverse white grass graphic that separates the top banner from the text. The email newsletter is also daring in putting the unsubscribe front-and-center, but my guess is that more readers are apt to forward the newsletter to a friend.

Dark and (not so) dramatic!

Black is the new black – at least for Glasshouse, which updates our conception of bright ‘n’ cheery with black margins and black clouds, not to mention that  smiling Cyclops guy who serves as your greeter. The intro text acknowledges that the email newsletter has been missing of late but has been “saving up the good stuff.” The links that follow are a bit “we”-centric, but impart value to a B2B audience who might find benefits from the digital updates and technologies that Glasshouse delivers.

Retro!

An e-newsletter that looks like an old-fashioned envelope? Webfit uses airmail graphics to communicate its international capabilities. From there, chunked-out information makes technical details more palatable, though you could argue that the page is light on call-to-action.

Simple!

Not every email newsletter needs to be a Technicolor, Cinemascope, Dolby Digital production. Sometimes simple works best, as is shown with this two-color layout from designer and brand consultant Charlie Pratt. The messaging serves as much as a resume and sales pitch as a traditional newsletter, but Pratt provides enough variety so that his readers will find something they like.

Clean, simple photography highlights this BudnitzBicycles email newsletter.

Timely!

Valentine’s Day and chocolate: a match made in B2C heaven. See’s Candies knows that there’s a significant portion of the population for whom “procrastination” is more than just a vocabulary builder. The candymaker’s just-in-time Valentine’s Day message, with its overnight shipping offer, is ideal for people who cannot, or will not, get out to the physical store. And for those who do want even faster chocolate, the retailer includes a helpful link to its brick-and-mortar locations.

Techy!

If your audience already has the chops to understand more than just the basics, you can impress with a newsletter that demonstrates your expertise. The Diana camera line is a favorite of collectors, and this newsletter’s “dress up” doll theme ties well what may well be called an obsessional interest, with the cute little doll accessories standing in for actual photo equipment for sale.

Personal!

You probably never heard of Elizabeth Davis, but if you were seeking a Dublin-based graphic designer and came upon her B2B personal newsletter, you’d likely be charmed by her warmth and wit, with messaging delivered in a voice that engages. For example, Elizabeth advises people that this is not a regular newsletter, but a one-off posting. “I very much hope you haven’t minded me sending it to your way,” she says in the fine print, “but if you have and would like to be absolutely sure never to hear from me again please click here to unsubscribe.” Nice job, Elizabeth!

Need help with your newsletter design? Take a look at our sample emails and contact us!

When you look at a few of the eureka moments realized by five organizations, you begin to realize not just the power of the message, but the importance of keeping the lines of communication open between you and your online audience.

What Elements Contribute to a Great Inbound Marketing Campaign?

1. Knowing Where to Find your Audience.

The 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns marked the ascendance of online influence on campaign message – both in their content and delivery. Recognizing that young, media-savvy voters spent lots of time online, Barack Obama’s campaign team set a benchmark with its strategic use of social media to drive voter interest and networking.

The Obama camp was entrenched in Facebook as far back as 2008, and by the president’s run for re-election had a firm foundation of “reaching out to all corners of social media to recruit and energize followers,” as ProspectMX noted. During the 2012 run, the Obama campaign provided nearly four times as much content as Mitt Romney’s did, and was active on nearly twice as many platforms as the Republican candidate.

2. Addressing a Concern.

Drill it into your synapses and tattoo it on your forehead: inbound content serves the audience, not the company. No better example of putting audience first lies with the Rodon Group, a high-volume manufacturer of small plastic parts and molds. Rodon saw its market increasingly outsourced to China, as customers made the hasty conclusion going overseas would save money.

So Rodon addressed the concern with a “Cheaper Than China” campaign that was topped off by an eBook, “Top 10 Critical Reasons to Bring Your Plastic Injection Molding Back to the U.S.” Though brief at just five pages, the book laid out a case for U.S. manufacturing producing more affordable and of higher quality plastic molds than overseas vendors do.

As the new face of American manufacturing, Rodon Group earned a November 2012 visit from President Obama, who reiterated Rodon’s position: “I want to reward manufacturers like this one and small businesses that create jobs here in the United States, not overseas.” “This wasn’t a campaign that The Rodon Group spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on,” notes HubSpot. “All they did was embrace inbound marketing by creating a content-based campaign that addressed customer concerns.”

3. Recruiting Brand Ambassadors.

If someone offered you free use of a new car for six months, you’d probably have some nice things to say about it, right? Just ask the thousands who applied to be “digital influencers” of the Ford Fiesta. In 2009, Ford kicked off this campaign online.

The 100 regular folks chosen as Fiesta drivers, says Adweek, “were responsible to complete monthly ‘challenges’ and expected to regularly post about the car on blogs, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc.” When the dust cleared, more than 6,000 people pre-ordered the Fiesta. Ford also could claim 50,000 pieces of content, more than 6 million YouTube views and 40 million Twitter impressions.

Ford announced a follow-up for 2013, with the brand ambassadors extending their reach beyond social media and actually influencing integrated ad campaigns on behalf of the Fiesta.

4. Taking a Stand.

No matter where you stand on the issue of gay rights, you cannot easily forget one of the iconic Facebook images of 2012: The Oreo cookie with rainbow-stacked filling. In a statement, Oreo tied the cookie to the company’s 100^th anniversary. “In recognition of Pride Month,” a Kraft Foods rep is quoted in Mashable, “Oreo created an ad depicting the Rainbow flag with different colors of Oreo crème. We are excited to illustrate what is making history today in a fun and playful way. You can follow Oreo on Facebook to see the daily ads.” And people did follow Oreo, with its Facebook page in one day netting 143,000 likes and 18,000 comments representing all opinions on the subject.

5. Paying for It … Occasionally.

Zappos already enjoys a customer-focused reputation based on its generous policies of free shipping and money-back guarantee for customers interested in returning or exchanging merchandise. So all they really need to do is remind their customers that the perks exist. “Zappos encourages consumers to tweet, Facebook, or pin about their recent purchases,” notes Business Insider.

But organic inbound is just part of the Zappos picture. The company also publishes sponsored posts – the equivalent of paid ads – a tactic that one company director calls “a necessary evil.” But evil or not, the combination of social outreach and sponsored posts worked – as Zappos proved with 400,000 Facebook “likes.”

So as you may have surmised, Google takes this “credibility” thing seriously. They have to, given the massive activity their browser sees every moment of every day. At the same time, Google has a vested interest in making its Google+ a more serious rival for Facebook.

Author, Author!

One of the more recent developments on that front is Google Authorship – a way to link your content to your Google+ profile, which clarifies your identity as the author and, not incidentally, provides another means for people to find you online using everyday SEO keywords.

It takes some optimization of your Google+ profile, of course, including a nice headshot and your name prominently displayed, but the efforts can pay off with Google Authorship. When someone enters your keywords into the browser, your content title tag includes that headshot and even a byline hyperlinked back to Google+, where your new fans may now connect with you.

People are starting to dip their toes into Authorship pool, and they’re reporting that the water’s just fine, thank you. A recent PBS article notes that “a number of blogs have seen traffic increase from 15 percent to 50 percent.”  

When blogger Cyrus Shepard of SEOmoz optimized his Google+ for Authorship in 2012, he noticed a “definite improvement” in his blog’s open rates … but only after Shepard obsessed over getting just the right headshot and fretted over “Google’s often confusing markup instructions.”

Is Authorship for You?

The answer is yes – if you want a tactic to help increase engagement with visitors and drive click-throughs. That may sound like a no-brainer (who wouldn’t want that?), but you must also enter into Google Authorship with some consideration how it ties into your entire online presence.

McKay Allen, in an article reposted on CustomerThink, speaks of the Authorship conundrum. “Google wants to establish Author Rank  for every person producing content on the web,” he says. “Makes sense. The only problem is that Google has their fingers in everything. Your Gmail address is married to your YouTube account, and they are both married to your Google+.”

If your work email is associated with Google+, you’ll log in only with that email address. And if you change jobs? Hence, the conundrum: you can transfer your Google+ account to your new email address, but your Authorship will not transfer.

Getting to “Yes”

Still, if you’re fairly established in all your Google activity, from Google+ to Gmail, you could find that Authorship enhances your profile. After all, as the PBS article points out, “within search results, information tied to verified online profiles will be ranked higher than content without such verification, which will result in most users naturally clicking on the top (verified) results. The true cost of remaining anonymous, then, might be irrelevance.”

Setting it Up

It may take a number of clicks, drags and drops to activate Google Authorship, but it’s all based on your existing data.

1. First, you need a Google+ account and a “profile photo with a recognizable headshot” (google’s language). If you use your company logo or something else for your photo, Google won’t OK it.  If you have a gmail account then you already have a Google+ account that you can access when you logged into Gmail:

2. Next you’ll need published content, like a blog, that identifies you as the author via a byline (like “by Asa Shatkin“). Your Byline name has to exactly match your Google+ profile name.

3. You’ll need an email address (like John@Doughmail.com) on the same domain as your current content. If you don’t have an email address on your domain – you can add it to the “work” section of your Google+ profile. You will also need a public link to the domain of the email address in the contributor section of your Google+ profile. If you are logged into Google+, this page will add both links for you quickly.

How long does it take to show up in Google Authorship?

Seems it can take anywhere from 3 weeks to 4 months. You can Test your Authorship by conducting a search on Google. You should see your smiling mug and byline shown right alongside the title tag.

And where does Google Authorship draw the line? At “publishership.” As of May 2013,Google announced “no plans” to allow companies to display their logo on search result pages the way individual authors do.  (If you want to see what a company logo might look like once Google opens that gate, Search Engine Land provides a mockup.)

Can’t find your google authorship image online? Check out a great article by Oleksiy Synelnychenko on “Why has my google authorship image disappeared“.

Here’s a Nice Take on the Technical Details from Google:

Don’t worry, we’re here to help fine-tune your email campaign.

Here are six common, and uncommon, mistakes made in email marketing today:

1) You don’t edit your emails

Your emails need editing. Poor grammar, spelling mistakes, blocks of text and broken links all hurt your company’s image. A single misspelled word can make your brand reek of amateurism or, worse, make it sound like a scam.

Best practice:

Never press “send” without editing your copy. Check and double-check each text element in your email every time. Get an extra pair of eyes to look your copy over to make sure everything’s perfect. This editing includes checking fonts, scannability and making sure any links in your email land on the correct page.

2) You sound like a spammer

If your subject line is in all caps offering a “GREAT DEAL — GIVING OUR PRODUCT AWAY FOR PRACTICALLY FREE!!!!” you’re going to have a bad time. In fact, your copy will likely end up in the spam bin.

Your entire copy, from the “unsubscribe” button to the “from” line, should be presented in a professional manner, or you’ll come off as spammy and intrusive.

Best Practices:

• Understate, rather than overstate, your content. The overuse of capitalization triggers a lot of spam filters and reeks of desperate amateurism.
• Always, always, check your “from” line and your subject line. Your “from” line (which contains the email address sending the copy) should bear the name of your business because your readers can, and will, check who is sending them email. If it’s unfamiliar, it’ll likely be blocked and reported as spam.
• Your subject line, too, should be short and to the point. Use “Three backpacks every college student will need” or “Two ways to legitimately boost your Twitter followers” over “We’ve got great deals for you!” Let your customers know what the email is about before they open it so you don’t waste their time, and you entice your most interested customers.

3) You don’t keep a publishing calendar

Let’s say you’re busy working and a customer or partner hurriedly tells you of a holiday you’ve never heard of. You write it down, and then promptly forget it. Weeks later you see the holiday made headlines in your local newspapers and you smack your head knowing you just missed a massive opportunity to gain loyal customers. This could’ve been prevented with a publishing calendar.

Good practice:

• Keep a publishing calendar for your emails. It’ll reduce stress and help your copy to shine.
• Publishing calendars help newsrooms keep important dates, from local anniversaries to events which change year to year, in mind. It’s an incredibly helpful tool to polish important articles for their audience ahead of time, and it’s a great way to keep ahead of the competition.
• Make your own publishing calendar to stay abreast of dates which are important to your clientele. Keep in mind this can, and should, include date important to various demographics as well. If you know some of your subscribers are just now graduating high-school, then craft an email for the soon-to-be college freshmen for the fall.

4) You send emails to “blast” customers

The old days of “blasting” out an email to reach a lot of customers at once are, thankfully, dying. Mass emails end up alienating customers more often than not. It doesn’t make them feel like they’re in a relationship, but rather that they’re on a list where you’re simply trying to SELL! SELL! SELL! them something they don’t want. News readers don’t read articles they’re not interested in, and customers don’t read copy that doesn’t concern them.

Best practice:

• Build a relationship. Yes, it’s harder, but building a relationship with your customer is worth it. Don’t send emails to them just for the sake of reminding them that you’re there. Send emails catered to their demographic, and give them offers you genuinely believe they’ll be interested in.
• Don’t send a married couple a “sick of Valentine’s day?” email, and don’t send a single person a “don’t forget chocolates!” copy. It’s a great way of getting customers to unsubscribe from your emails.

5) You buy email lists

Do you want instant access to 30,000 permission-based emails which you can “blast” for business for only a nominal fee? No, you don’t, because it’s bad practice, can be considered spam and may be illegal. Sending unsolicited emails breeds contempt for your brand, and can mark you as a desperate spammer.

Best practice:

• Give your customers the opportunity to sign up for newsletters and deals on your website or with an in-house sign-up sheet. This helps to build good-will, a good brand name, and a client base which is actively interested in business with you.

6) You don’t test your emails

You don’t test your emails because you think all emails appear the same regardless of which email program they appear in. You’re wrong. Sending an email which isn’t tested across different email platforms and computer systems can make your email appear strange and off for those customers who don’t have the same set-up as you. Which is all of them.

Best Practices:

• Test and make sure your emails appear correctly across a variety of email services like Gmail, Yahoo!, Hotmail, and Outlook. Don’t assume everyone uses just Gmail and Outlook.
• Test to make sure no odd symbols pop up and that your images, if you have any, appear correctly.
• Testing can also help to fine-tune your copy. For example, you can check if your links go to the correct landing page and if your call to action above the fold (everything immediately visible without scrolling).

Don’t have the resources to test out your emails? Wrong. You do. Ask friends, family, and coworkers to take a quick look at your copy and provide feedback. Enlist your computer-literate friends, too. Different people use different computers and email platforms and, often, can provide better testing and feedback than you can on your own. Ask them if appears strange or out-of-place and adjust accordingly.

So … how much does a website cost? We’ve been building websites since the mid-90′s, so we know a little about the factors that influence the price of a website; core functionality, number of pages, the platform and (development) language it is built in, how flexible it is, whether it is responsive (mobile phone/tablet friendly). Let’s review some of the big costs to see how they contribute to the bottom line.

Website Cost #1: Copywriting, SEO, Total Number of Website Pages

I’m a firm believer in creating content (copywriting) and building the website around that content. I also believe that great content should extend from a map with great, keyword focused research. Make sure the company creating your website provides these services. Ask what tools they use for keyword research, make sure you review the focus keywords, titles and descriptions created for each page on your site. Creating a website site without SEO won’t get your business noticed online.

Website Cost #2: Logo Design, Custom Website Design, Photography

A logo is important, but many businesses can start with a wordmark. Coke does it, Google does it – so can you. If price is an issue, I recommend you use a wordmark and spend your time and energy on great content and design for your site. Most businesses spend too much time on aesthetics and not enough on the core. For small businesses, logos are typically priced from $50 to $4,000. 

Design is another big factor that influences price. The design and organization of your businesses’ website is a reflection the business itself. If your website design is poor, your potential clients may ask: does this business owner feel this lackluster site is acceptable? Does this business hold itself and it’s work to high standards? Does this website reflect the values of the business?

Your photography speaks of you and your brand.

Bespoke (personalised or tailored) websites cost more, but I believe they are worth the price. There are some also high-quality designs (themes) available that can be customized – and this may be a great option for personal sites businesses with small budgets. Templates can start at $20, but customization may cost hundreds on top of that. If customization of a template is extensive, a bespoke site is the best way to go.

Photography is a website necessity, and your designer’s knowledge and experience selecting good imagery is important. Hiring a photographer may also be a great move when building a site. Photos of your business location, office, employees, products, etc , are important, keep in mind that photo retouching may also be needed to make your photos look their best. Stock photos range from $10 to $400 a piece. I think you can find good stock photos in the $30 to $60 range, but finding the right photos can be time-consuming. A photo shoot can range from $300 to $3,500.

Website Cost #3: Content Management System, Contact Forms, Landing Pages (and a Blog)

Is the website built on a content management system that allows your business to easily update and create content in house? Can landing pages and offers be easily added? I firmly believe that for service-based businesses, WordPress is the unbeatable content management system. There are others (Drupal, Joomla, Expresssion Engine …) but you can read more about why WordPress is so great (and see some real-world examples) here. Oh, did I mention WordPress is FREE?

You need the ability to easily update your website’s contact page – and add other landing pages with forms to your site. Make sure your website allows you to easily do this – and you are trained to do it yourself.

Although the software is free, developing a custom site in WordPress takes time. Your website’s appearance and functionality must be customized to suit your goals. This development time range from 12 to hundreds of hours. Most of my clients’ development falls in a range from  $2,000 to $5,000.

Website Cost #4: Analytics & Tracking

Google Analytics is the best tracking tool for businesses just coming online. Linking a Google Analytics account to a (also free) Google Webmaster account will give you great SEO insight, keywords, impressions, position, clicks. Both tools are FREE.

And Finally …

Check our our website pricing page to answer the “how much does a website cost” question (at least here at Shebang). You’ll get a good sense of the cost of small-business-focused website packages. Contact us if you have questions or have specific needs for your business.

Really Cost Effective SEO

• HubSpot, the guru of inbound marketing, markets an SEO tool as part of their “All-In-One Marketing Software.” If you manage the software yourself (and create content yourself) the $200/month Basic software package, you get access to their fantastic keyword tool to help you determine rankings for current and potential keywords.The tool also makes keyword recommendations, shows you conversion opportunities, and shows you how competitors rank for your keyword targets. HubSpot’s keyword tool is perfect for marketers who understand the importance of  keyword research but don’t have time for a steep learning curve. (I’m a HubSpot Certified Partner, so I admit I love the tool and I’m a bit biased.)
  
  
• SEOmoz, a leading name in SEO software, offers three service tiers. You can try out their PRO SEO tool free for 30 days. After that, $99 per month gets you tracking for five campaigns, 300 keywords, and 10,000 “crawls” of your pages weekly to identify keyword errors. Upgrades include the PRO Plus ($199/month), which ups the tracking numbers considerably.  If you have a large website and $499/month on hand, SEOmoz’s PRO Elite tracks an impressive 30 campaigns and 3,500 keywords. SEOmoz is a robust tool – and that comes with a greater learning curve.
  

  HubSpot’s Keyword Tool

Sort of Cost Effective SEO

• Trellian’s Keyword Discovery tool also offers a free trial, and the $69 monthly subscription to its Standard package gets you (among other functions) 1,500 searches per day, 100 keyword density checks, checks for spelling errors, and access to two dozen filters.At $49 per month for its Bronze package (though you can go past Gold and up to Platinum if your pockets are deep enough), SEO Results tracks just one keyword, but that service includes deep research and consulting. This company positions itself as an outsourcing service, taking the heat off your webmaster.

We’re Talking Free SEO

There’s cost effective … and then there’s flat-out free. Many SEO providers offer a free trial or Basic version of their software in hopes that you’ll want a paid upgrade later. Others have very serviceable tiers available at no charge.

• Everyone’s heard of Google Analytics, a pioneering tool in website analytics. If you link a Google webmaster account to your Google Analytics account, you get enough information on searches, queries and clicks to do some serious SEO research. If you’re into pie charts, AdWords and visitor trending, this resource will not disappoint. Be wary, however, of information overload.
• SEOBook Toolbar is a Firefox extension that comes with a free SEO Book account. This toolbar evaluates competing websites, pulling in marketing data points to get what SEOBook calls “a holistic view” of the competitive landscape. I haven’t tried it – but it is well reviewed.
• Though also free, the colorful SEOquake extension for Chrome and Firefox (in beta for Opera and Safari) is not exactly geared to the beginner. As CNet noted, “the icons and numbers will be unintelligible to the uninformed user, but users skilled in SEO techniques will immediately appreciate the wealth of detail this add-on provides.”

The SEOToolbar in Action

Is There Such a Thing as Too Cheap?

Yes, according to Jordan Kasteler of Search Engine Land. A less-than-stellar SEO provider “could be practicing outdated tactics that can get your site dinged for over-optimization. And if they can’t (or don’t know how) to measure their progress, you’ll have no idea if your SEO budget is actually doing anything for your site.”

So when you are choosing an SEO provider, look beyond the bottom line to determine if the service will truly deliver the ROI you’re expecting, in the form of better SERP, more visits and, ultimately, better leads and customers. If there is a tool we haven’t reviewed that you love – please let us know: what’s working for you?

Asa Shatkin presenting “Inbound Marketing & WordPress” at Fort Lauderdale WordPress Meetup held at Nova Southeastern University on Thursday, March 7, 2013.

Thanks to the Fort Lauderdale WordPress Meetup for the opportunity to present “Inbound Marketing & WordPress” at Nova Southeastern University. The audience asked some tough questions and was eager to learn about inbound.

This presentation focused on using WordPress for inbound marketing and highlights two case studies (drstonedds.com and shebangdesign.com) and important inbound milestones. Slides and video are below.

Some of the highly conceptual designs described below may not be a good idea for your business-oriented site … but what a collection of thought-starters!

Artistic Approaches

1. okadatakashi.com

The Tokyo-based multimedia illustrator Takashi Okada uses a minimum of words; he lets the images speak for themselves. Check out the stunning motion graphics in his interactive portfolio and his bold web design.

2. nelsoncash.com

Remember that scene in “The Wizard of Oz” when Dorothy steps out of her black-and-white Kansas house into the Technicolor Oz? The team at Nelson Cash apparently does. This UX and branding strategy site gives us a homepage showing images of its client work. As you hover over each image, it pops from monochrome into color. It’s a simple, but amazingly engaging, concept.

3. photoseed.com

The 2012 Webby Award winner for art went to Photo Seed. This site, with its scroll-less homepage, literally shines a light on great works of fine-art photography. Dozens of thumbnail images sit side by side waiting for your click, where you’ll go to details about each rare photo. This homepage also boasts one of the coolest “refresh” functions you’ll ever see.

Stunning statements

4. detroitventurepartners.com

Designer Ben Hunt (who is also the author of one of my top 5 web marketing books) picked his 100 best-designed websites for 2012. Space doesn’t permit me to spotlight them all, but I’m particularly drawn to this Detroit Venture Partners homepage. Its black-and-white photographic background pays homage to the embattled city’s glory days, while bright colors for the navigation boxes encourages you to think of the future.

5. newsmap.jp

There’s news sites, and then there’s Newsmap. If you open this homepage and don’t see something to attract your attention, you’re just not trying hard enough. Tons of headlines get the color-block treatment in color-coded news categories; scroll over each and you’ll get a pop-up thumbnail of the story. You can also get stacks of stories from around the world, courtesy of a top-nav banner.

Juicy Javascript

6. lena-sanz.com

Looking at the sophistication of this Lena Sanz homepage, with its smoothly overlapping images, you’d swear it was a Flash-built site – but it’s created in JavaScript. This interactive programming language has evolved into a platform-friendly alternative to Flash, and has become into a resource for creative expression in its own right.

7. au.skullcandy.com

Javascript is also put to good use at Skullcandy, an audio accessories company (think headphones and earbuds) that goes for an aggressive, youthful vibe with its black background and vivid color insets. Because sound is integral to this business, a hard-driving audio track auto-loads – not for every taste, but an appropriate complement to the design in this context.

Just plain out there

8. goosebumpspickles.com

Think you have to be in a cutting-edge industry like music or fashion to justify visually stunning websites? Be prepared to eat those words … with relish. Goosebumps – a pickle company, of all things – got a Jury Special Mention in the India Digital Awards competition. Product “hero” shots have never looked so compelling as these intensely colorful close-ups of pickles in all their glory.

9. pitch.csspiffle.com

The scroll-o-matic CSS Piffle site throws a lot at you –  line drawings, screen grabs, half-faded background images – but somehow makes it all work in its mission to inform you about its wide selection of CSS templates, icons, fonts and other developer tools. The impression is of a creative team’s brainstorm of ideas that are assembled, categorized and optimized, all in the name of a better user experience.

10. thekennedys.nl

Then there’s The Kennedys – seemingly destined to make you gasp “ZOMG!” or even “WTF?” with its crazy, retro-inspired mélange of neon-looking blinkers to guide you to brief, spare subpages. This site has attitude to spare – it doesn’t define itself in traditional terms. Instead, if you want to know what The Kennedys is about, it’s up to you to figure it out that it’s a mentoring program for young creatives to join the staff of an Amsterdam ad agency.

And though it may be tempting to leverage the skills already at work in your company, that computer expert down the hall is not necessarily your next marketing maven. No matter what magic he spins on your site, a web designer or developer is no more an inbound marketing consultant than an accountant is.

And beyond the skill set is the simple matter of time. Done right, inbound can unearth new audiences and convert the best visitors into qualified leads. But that process takes time – for research, blogging, follow-up and the many other small but necessary tasks.

So the time has come …to hire an inbound marketing consultant.

Naturally, you wouldn’t write a check to just anyone who hangs out an “Inbound Expert” shingle. You want to find someone who has the chops to deliver some ROI.

What qualities should you expect?

Credibility

Want to test the expertise of your would-be consultant in five seconds or less? Just say “HubSpot.” If the response is a blank stare, be wary. At the very least, your inbound marketing consultant should be a graduate of HubSpot’s Inbound Marketing University and confirmed as an Inbound Marketing Certified Professional – the current industry standard for this discipline. Ideally, your candidate has examples of real-world experience building digital business as well!

Connections

Inbound is all about building relationships, so your consultant should have an active network of colleagues, peers and followers, online and off, that you may leverage into your own marketing campaigns. Ask to see her social media pages and note what and whom she’s following (and who is following her). Memberships in marketing associations certainly are a plus, as are academic connections.

Collaboration

A certified inbound marketing consultant should know more than you about his chosen specialty – but that shouldn’t make him a know-it-all. A “my way or the highway” approach may just not work. Instead, your consultant is an extension of your workforce, and should be comfortable working collaboratively with team members who may not share his online background, but who do know your customers best.

What services should you expect?

SEO

Getting a good SERP (search engine results page) is the goal of any SEO strategy, and the outcome depends a lot on getting the right keywords into your website and other online content. Your inbound marketing consultant’s skill at Google Analytics or other SEO tool will go a long way in helping your content jump to the top of the results page, where it belongs. And that research extends beyond your website – your consultant should be able to report what keywords your competitors are using, too.

Content Creation

Few of us have the time to write daily blogs, draft customer-facing email, shoot videos, design infographics or edit whitepapers – so your inbound marketing consultant should have the resources to get you the content that matters to your target audience. Ask your prospective consultant about his or her background in creating content for your industry.

Social Media

Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are de rigueur among marketers, but they’re not the only social networks out there. Your consultant knows what social networks to employ, what content belongs there, and how to assess response and reaction.

CTA and Landing Page Optimization

The call-to-action and the landing page play vital roles in converting visitors to leads. An ineffective CTA won’t get clicks. A too-complicated landing page won’t hold attention. Your inbound marketing consultant should be able to conduct A/B testing to determine what CTAs and landing page content works best for your site.

Lead Management

Once the visitor has committed some contact information to your site, your consultant steps in to help you qualify that lead. Each lead is studied for behavior– how these visitors found your site, for example, or how long they linger on particular pages. The “hottest” leads are then identified and nurtured via offers of more exclusive or premium content tied to their needs. Those leads who continue through the nurturing funnel are then passed to your sales force for personal contact.

Analysis and Reporting

Your consultant has put in a lot of work – is it paying off? Expect consistent analysis and reporting on ROI, including website visits, lead-to-customer conversion rates, benchmarks of KPI, and the performance of your content.

Ten of the most popular and effective marketing blogs include names both new and familiar.

Marketing Blogs that Cover the Big Picture

1. Inbound

Make your first stop at the first name in inbound marketing: HubSpot. This site’s marketing blog covers the gamut of categories – from site design to lead generation, landing page strategy and tons more. And because HubSpot is so well known, the blogs attract plenty of comments, which may provide you with extra insight from people going through the same challenges that you are.

2. Social Media Marketing

Sherpa chose its effective online marketing blogs for 2012, naming individual blogs according to marketing categories. Their choice for social media marketing: Blue Focus Marketing. Whether you’re looking for tips on tweets or recommendation on optimization, these blogs attract C-level guest bloggers who explain their topics in easy-to-understand terms.

3. Trends

The familiar Mashable blog is a huge repository of news and trends from Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and the other giants of social media. Where else, for instance, would you learn that Puppy Bowl was among the 20 most social TV shows of its week? Or that Facebook is all a-twitter (so to speak) over the anti-loneliness Ramen bowl? Blogs like these can give you great insight into what kind of content gets liked, shared and commented upon.

4. B2B

If you can look past its long-scrolling, narrow column of content, Webbiquity offers plenty to enjoy. This B2B blog “focuses mainly on online tactics and front-end website traffic and lead generation (rather than, say, lead nurturing),” as the site’s president, Tom Pick, told Marketing Sherpa. “So it’s most valuable for tips on areas like SEO, SEM, social media marketing, content strategy, blogging and media relations – tactics that are used to expand a company’s Web presence, attract relevant visitors to a website and then convert them into leads.”

5. SEO

The name SEOmoz is synonymous with the search engine optimization community, so it stands to reason that its daily blog is full of actionable advice, such as using links and content to reach business goals and making the most of local search. And did you know there were 96 ways to gain SEO “wins” that contribute to your brand strength?

Blogs that cover the particulars

5. PPC

Pay-per-click (PPC) marketing takes a special kind of strategy to realize ROI. Many industry blogs focus attention on SEO, but generally overlook PPC. But now you can visit PPC Hero blog to find content that addresses this information gap. Checklists, display tactics and A/B testing are all covered from the PPC point-of-view in this informative blog.

6. Design

Beyond its targeted messaging and remarkable content, good design is a make-or-break aspect of your website. Gnome Flash is a fun design blog where you’ll find examples of some of the coolest looks on the web. A place to get idea-starters on everything from fonts to photos, courtesy of today’s Picassos of the pixel.

7. Ecommerce

The Invesp site has a Blog Rank that … well, ranks blogs. And for e-commerce blogs, Invesp crowned Get Elastic as its highest ranker. With such a wide-open subject to cover, Get Elastic gets particularly detailed on trending and tactical topics. Recent posts included an interesting look at the rise of brick-and-mortar “pop-up shops”  based on e-commerce sites like Etsy; and advice on how to handle negative reviews.

8. Public Relations

Never underestimate the power of a good press release – even in a crowded web environment, a newsworthy story will attract attention. But are you doing right by your PR? No less a source than PR Web lists several “essential” blogs, headed by PR Squared. This blog works with Shift Communications to provide text and video to address questions like “Can public relations affect SEO?” And pieces like “50 most overused press release words” make the subject more fun.

9.Email

Everyone uses email for online marketing, so a good email marketing blog is worth your time to visit regularly. One of the best, says Marketing Sherpa, is the tip-packed blog from AWeber Communications. This blog created for small-business needs can teach you to sell without “selling,” create moods with color, and repurpose content like a pro.

10. Technology/Art/Culture

The Verge is a fun, hip blog that covers the intersection of technology, science, art, and culture. It offers a range of  reporting and feature stories, breaking news coverage, product information, and community content. Check out their “90 Seconds on the Verge” video (found on their home page) to get a sense of their content.

Have a blog to add to the list? Let us know!