Web Marketing Strategies by a Web Marketing Consultant

The Novice Guide to Google Analytics

Justin McGill — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:30:13 +0000

This is a guest blog post by William Eve. If you are interested in writing a guest post for this blog, contact me.

Google Analytics is an internet website analytics program that keeps you up to date on how your website is performing with regards its marketing and traffic effectiveness. It is a powerful tool that is quite flexible and has very easy to use features. With Google Analytics you will be able to target your ads more precisely and build your marketing skills. This will result in you getting a better conversion rate on your website. The beauty of Google Analytics is that it is free and arguably the most effective reporting tool available.

In order to take you through how Google Analytics works it is best if we start right at the very beginning. This obviously is the actual logging in process. Once inside you will immediately see a list of all your web sites or blogs. This is because Google Analytics tracks all the sites you manage within your particular account. From here you simply click on ‘view reports’ for whichever site you are interested in, and you are taken straight to the dashboard.

Dashboard

Once you’ve brought up the dashboard you’ll notice images of all the various reports the dashboard contains. These will be such things as visitors, content, traffic sources, map overlay and more. You can customise these if you wish. Near the top you’ll notice a section labelled ‘Site Usage.’ Inside this section you’ll come across the following:

Percentage of new visits. It is here where the percentage of new visits you get on your site are compared to all the visitors you’ve received. In this way you’ll find out how many visits are repeat customers and how many are new.
Average time on site. This tells you the average amount of time visitors stay on your site.
Bounce rate. The bounce rate gives a percentage of visitors to your site who left as quickly as they arrived, hence the term ‘bounce.’ This could indicate your site seemed too complicated for them to navigate successfully so they left. It could also mean they visited by mistake. If it remains high you will need to do something about it.
Page visits. Simply the average number of visits to each page on your site.
Page views. Similar to page visits but this one will give you the actual number of visitors who actually viewed each page.
Visits. The total number of visitors your site attracted at any given time.

Google’s default setting will display the activity your site has enjoyed over the last month. You change this setting to suit yourself or to compare one period against that of another. This can be carried out by clicking on the ‘date range’ at the top right corner and making alterations to the ‘comparison’ drop down from ‘site’ to ‘date range.’ You will then be able to alter the dates to whatever you are seeking information on.

Reports

There are many reports you can glean information from, however for beginners there are five you should take particular notice of on a regular basis, these are:

Top content. This tells you the pages on your site that are most visited. It will give you an idea on why most of your visitors are attracted to your site. Pages that are rarely visited can therefore be deleted and pages that are regularly visited can be built up.
Keywords. An important feature that tells you what keywords were effective in getting traffic to your site. This is the way you will find which keywords are powerful and which are not. The report will actually give you detailed information on the effectiveness of each keyword you use. It also tells you how long your visitor stayed on the site, how many pages they looked at while they were there and if they converted their visit or not by purchasing something from you, completing a subscription, or interacting with you in some other way.
Referring sites. You will find this report under Traffic Sources. It tells where your visitors were before they came to your site.
Traffic sources overview. Where the referring sites report told you where your visitors had been before visiting your site, this report will tell you which search engine they used to find you, did they use your URL, or did they use a key phrase or key word. In this way this particular report lets you know exactly where your traffic is coming from.
Visitors’ overview. This is the overview that brings it all together. It tells you how much traffic you received, how many pages were looked at, how long visitors stayed on each page and, of course, your bounce rate. It will even tell you the size of the monitors your visitors are using and whether they are on broadband or dial-up.

In the left hand column on every report you’ll find an ‘About this Report’. When you open this link you get detailed information about the report itself.

This article was written by William from lifeinsurancefinder.com.au. Fisit Life Insurance Finder to compare life insurance.

Be sure and subscribe for the latest web marketing strategies and updates!

Justin McGill is a web marketing professional and runs a successful Small Business SEO Firm. He is the founder and CEO of SEORCHERS (read: [surch-ers]) - a local web marketing firm specializing in organic search engine optimization (SEO) with a focus on converting visitors into clients. He is available for SEO Consulting and now you can connect with him on Google+!.

Measuring Your Online Marketing Strategy with the Right SEO Metrics and Tools As we discussed in Part One of this series, measuring...
Google Instant Review: Breakthrough or Breakdown? Google’s latest search engine gadget has created major problems for...
Measuring Your Online Marketing Strategy with Social Media Metrics and Tools Having discussed the metrics and tools best suited to understanding...

Tips for Multilingual Keyword Research

Justin McGill — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:00:19 +0000

This is a guest post by Christian Arno. Interested in contributing to the IDWM Blog? Contact me today!

The World Wide Web has undoubtedly opened a host of opportunities for businesses and organizations of all sizes. The truly global, all-encompassing nature of the Internet has made it easier than ever to reach across linguistic and cultural divides and to target new markets that may once have been out of reach. In theory, no one with an Internet connection is ever more than a mouse-click away from your products, services, blog or personal site. In practice, of course, there’s far more to it than simply setting up your own little corner of cyberspace and waiting for the traffic to arrive. Your content should be both accessible and appealing but people must be able to find it in the first place. This is where SEO and keyword research comes in.

Give keywords the attention they deserve

SEO, or search engine optimization, is the process of increasing your website’s visibility or ranking in search engine results. There are many different aspects to SEO but the effective use of keywords remains one of the most important. Put simply, keywords are the words or terms that people type into a search engine to look for relevant websites and pages and all search engines take keywords into account when determining your site’s or page’s ranking in its search results.

Don’t rely on automatic translation

Automatic translation programs such as Google Translate and Yahoo! Babel Fish can be handy but, even if you use them to translate or partially translate your content, you should never rely solely on machine translation for your keywords. Alternative terms, colloquialisms, abbreviations and other variations may all give better results. A literal French translation of the term ‘bullet train’, for example, would yield a nonsense phrase. In France, where the high-speed train was developed, a more common term is the acronym TGV (‘Train à Grande Vitesse’ or, literally, ‘high speed train’). In neighbouring Belgium, meanwhile, high speed trains are often referred to as the ‘Thalys,’ referring to the name of the major operator running said trains between Paris and Brussels.
Without a little local knowledge you might never be aware of such regional variations and they certainly wouldn’t emerge from automatic translations. Working with native speaking translators will help you identify the most suitable keyword options.

Build on what you already have

This doesn’t mean you have to throw away the meticulous research you’ve already conducted to find your optimum English language keywords. Translate your English terms and brainstorm foreign language alternatives before running them through an analytical tool. Some words, including proper nouns such as brand names and certain technical terms, may well be the same in English as the language of your target market. Some ‘straight’ dictionary or machine translations may also cross over but your English language keywords should serve as a jumping off point rather than any sort of definitive list.

Test keywords thoroughly

Once you’ve brainstormed your potential foreign language keywords, you’ll want to test them out. Tools such as Google AdWords let you see how popular a particular search term is. It will also provide alternative suggestions and give you an idea of the level of competition you’re facing for each particular keyword.

Go beyond Google

It’s also worth remembering that, while Google is the single most widely used search engine worldwide, other search engines have a greater market share within certain markets. In China, for example, Baidu is the most commonly used search engine while Yandex is the biggest player in Russia. Most major search engines have their own analytical tools and it may be worth concentrating your efforts on these alternatives to Google for localized sites within their spheres of influence. Crucially, different search engines prefer different levels of keyword density. Where Google prefers a density of 2-3%, Yahoo! Japan, the most popular search engine in Japan, prefers a far higher concentration of 7-8%.

Keep up to date

Thorough initial research is essential but the Internet is in a constant state of flux and keyword trends can rapidly change. What works well today may not be quite so effective tomorrow so you should check your keywords’ effectiveness at regular intervals. Check the terms your rivals are using and check your own logs and stats in conjunction with tools such as Google Analytics to see which keywords have already been successful in bringing people your way. Freshness of content also has a bearing on rankings and keyword-rich blogs and news posts can be a great way of keeping your site at the top of the pile.

Your multilingual keyword research is not a one-off task. It’s an ongoing process but the benefits can be worth all the effort if they lead to you reaching a whole new audience.

About the author:
Christian Arno is the founder of Lingo24, one of the world’s leading providers of translation services and website localization across Europe, Asia and the Americas. Launched in 2001, Lingo24 has worked its way to becoming the web’s favorite translation company, working with more than four thousand translators and clients in over sixty countries. Follow Christian (@l24ca) and Lingo24 (@Lingo24) on Twitter.

SEO Basics for Affiliate Marketers This day and age, having a website just isn’t enough....
Effective SEO Tactics for Your B2B Marketing Strategy Business-to-business marketing requires a greater level of attention to detail...
Top 7 Copywriting Tips Search Engines are always on the lookout for original content....

5 Online Communities to Help With Visibility in Your Job Search

Justin McGill — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 17:59:11 +0000

This is a guest post by Richard Sandlar. Interested in writing a guest post for the IDWM blog? Contact me today.

In today’s job market, it’s now become critical to actively participate in online communities in order to network, share ideas and advertise your products. In addition, building your online communities is essential to get ahead and it will help you become more visible. Active social media presence has become crucial for any business professional who wants to be visible to others in their business community. Through such online communities, you can get your dream job because they greatly serve as a hunting ground for recruiters looking for qualified candidates. To become more visible in exclusive social networking sites, here are listed 7 online communities that you can join in order to help with your job search.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is today’s top professional online community that can proficiently list your resume, skills, help you apply for jobs, as well as network virtually and connect with key people in your field. Joining LinkedIn professional groups in your field will help you go the extra mile and brand yourself as an expert.

Facebook

Facebook is a social media site exclusively used for fun and chatting but it is a tool that plays a great role in your job search. It is advised for all professionals to create your own professional Facebook page in your job search so that you can reach out to companies you want to work for as your professional alias.

Twitter

Twitter is an online social networking service that builds a network of contacts, helps you to take part in discussions, and make you visible in a community of industry professionals. It is indeed a valuable way to engage with people, and send traffic to your blog by sharing your content. In addition, your twitter profile can come up high in Google searches as; Google prominently displays the results from social networking sites in its search pages. So, twitter updates can make you more visible in Google searches.

Tumblr

Tumblr is today’s best microblogging platform that comes out top in page views and attention on blog sites. So you can brand yourself as a professional expert by simply creating a Tumblr blog in an area of your interest. Share your blog content consistently, so that you will soon appear in Google social search results.

StumbleUpon

Stumbleupon is another excellent resource that recommends articles to its users based on their interests. You can stumble upon various informative articles related to job searching and career building. Moreover, StumbleUpon can also serve as an educational tool and can use as a bookmarking site that help you keep all your favorite sites stored in one place.

All in all, joining these online social networking sites is the best way to advertise your skills and help you with visibility in the job search so that recruiters can easily find you.

Author Byline:

Richard Sandlar is a webmaster, editor and writer of specialized online education based blog which offers comprehensive reviews of accredited online degrees, accredited online colleges and universities.

How to Prevent Problems in Web Development Process from Happening This is a guest post by Noel Addison Agnote of...
Incorporating Social Media into Email Marketing Email marketing has long been a staple of the online...
Developing a Basic Social Media Strategy Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn—these are names that have become buzzwords not...

6 WordPress Plugins to Make Your Blog Google+ Friendly

Justin McGill — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 16:54:43 +0000

This is a guest post by Ron Davis a freelance blogger.

Having caught up with Twitter and facebook to get unique visitors in November, the social network Google plus is now a must for bloggers. A recent study from seomoz proves that Google plus is influencing search rankings and it will be the ranking factor of 2012.

So having a blog with Google plus friendly is most important to get high SEO advantage. To make your blog Google + friendly I suggest some interesting plugins to associate your WordPress blog with Google plus.

1. Google Plus Widget

It’s an easy to use plugin which allows you to add Google plus profile badge with photo and Google plus button in sidebar. It makes easier for user to add you in Google plus their Google plus circles.

2. Google+ Plus WordPress Widget

Display your latest status updates and activities from your Google plus account to your wordpress sidebar. It allows your readers to know what you are doing in Google plus.

3. Google Cards

A simple plugin that will add your Google plus profile widget in sidebar displaying photo and no of followers you have in Google plus. It uses caching to store your Google plus profile data to eliminate checking Google+ on every page load.

4. Wp Plus One – Advanced

It adds an advanced Google plus one button to your blog post which allows readers to plus one our article they read. This plugin has variety of options such as button position, visibility, count style, +1 redirect, +1 button JavaScript and you can also make your own custom G+ one button.

5. WP PlusOne this

Variant of Wp plus one, this plugin also familiar with many blogger. It’s just another plugin which adds Google plus one to every post and page.

6. Scriptrr Google Profile + widget

Plus scriptrr, is a online tool that will generate widget scripts to display Google plus profile in sidebar. Now they made it as a readymade plugin to make easier for you’re to add it in your blog.

——————————————————————————————————————————-

Author bio - This is a guest post by Ron Davis. He is a freelance blogger and a passionate social media marketer, who is currently working on the site – Gravity forms discount code.

How to Automatically Post Twitter Updates to Your Blog I have been asked a couple of times how I...
Small Business Online Marketing on a Budget This is a guest post by Steve Pronger, a Business...
How to Prevent Problems in Web Development Process from Happening This is a guest post by Noel Addison Agnote of...

How to Prevent Problems in Web Development Process from Happening

Justin McGill — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 16:33:58 +0000

This is a guest post by Noel Addison Agnote of NDIC.

Web development industry has been around for decades. And all these years, many client-web designer relationships are ruined because both parties failed to meet the expectations of one another. Sometimes the web development team who are responsible to accomplish the job could not grasp what their client wants for the project. Most often, the business owners would come up with impossible requirements and demands that the assigned development team cannot render without making the website look ridiculous and appear like it has been created unprofessionally.

If you wish to have a good online presence through a website, your first step to take is find the most qualified and trusted web development company to create your website. Whether you are dealing with a professional web designer or a freelancers having misunderstanding and problems with the team you hired is inevitable. These problems often lead to frustration, waste of money and time on both parties involved.

One of the major problems that most businesses come across is that they don’t exactly know how much building a website for their business would cost. Unfortunately, there is no standard rate that web development companies can follow when it comes to pricing every project. Certainly, there are so many things to consider in determining the price of a website like the platform that will be utilized, whether a custom drawing would be required, and the timeframe for the project that the client has set.

To prevent this problem from happening, make sure that you make the web development company that you hired understand just how much you are willing to pay for the creation of the website for your business. And since most business owners are not really aware of the price for the website that they want, it would be best that they start asking for the price or quote of the project. You can ask people that you know who have already built a website for their business or you can post your question on forums that are related to web design. You can also contact web development companies online and ask for quotations.

Know all the things that will be involved in the project and how much it would cost. Expect that the more pages you want for your website, the higher the cost would be. Moreover, better anticipate for higher charge if you desire for a more knotty and complex website design.

Web development is not just about design and how it was built. It also includes security matters. Just if you are not aware yet, let me inform you that the Web is populated by troublemakers who simply love destroying the web and the websites residing in it. These people are not doing it for money they just feel that devastating the web is a fun activity to do and consider it as a plain game or exercise. Hence, you have to ensure that your website is secured. Also, have the web design company conduct a regular back up process. So that even if your server gets hacked, you can effortlessly bring your site back and running again in no time since you restored all the necessary files backed up.

Also listen to what the web development has to say, remember that they are the ones who knows more about the technicalities of web development process. Let them educate you about how the project will be done. Furthermore, the company might need your participation in the process of building the website, be cooperative. Constantly ask for the opinion of other webmasters whatever the web development team is proposing. There are companies, thought they are legitimate, who only wants to get money from their clients and would offer for a website redesigning even if it is not actually needed.

Noel Addison Agnote is a writing enthusiast and an online marketer. He is a part of NDIC, Santa Barbara’s premiere web design and web marketing firm. Visit NDIC to learn how to establish a good online presence for your business.

Choosing Between Web Developers Choosing a web design company can be a difficult decision....
Web Design – Do It Yourself or Hire Someone? So your business needs a web page, and you think...
Affordable New Web Builder Program Launched Today, my company launched ExpandYourWebPresence.com. It is a web builder...

Small Business Online Marketing on a Budget

Justin McGill — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 20:36:02 +0000

This is a guest post by Steve Pronger, a Business Analyst for SEO Works.

Make your marketing dollars stretch further with these seven free small business online marketing strategies.

Small business online marketing is one of the most cost-effective ways to promote a burgeoning company, build their brand image and boost sales. For a business that doesn’t have a bricks and mortar site, a website may be their main sales funnel and source of sales supplemented perhaps with telephone or email sales. So without further ado, here are five free ways you can improve your bottom line on a budget.

Search Engine Optimisation

When you run a Pay-Per-Click campaign, you are paying every time someone clicks through to your website but indexing your website on search engines is free. Hiring an SEO company should be seen as an asset to your business not a cost but if you feel you cannot afford to hire an online marketing consultant when you first launch your business, you can read marketing blogs, watch seminars and educate yourself on the SEO process.

Google Places Optimisation

Google Places is a free small business online marketing product ideal for companies that do not have a web presence. With the launch of Place Search late last year, Place Pages started to blend with organic listings in search results. Pages can be optimised by adding business details, hours of operation, a keyword-rich description, and so on. You can also add images and videos to your page, upload seasonal menus and sales brochures.

Social media networking

Social media marketing is another economical way to promote your business without a huge initial outlay. Creating accounts on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, is free and it’s an excellent source of pre-qualified leads for your website. The premise behind social networking is to value and give advice rather than openly promote your business. It’s best to get a dedicated person to monitor and update your accounts daily.

Off – page profile (link building and citations)

An essential component of Search Engine Optimisation is maintaining your off-page profile. When you have back links from quality and relevant websites to your site or you citations on quality and relevant websites, this is seen as a validation or ‘vote’ by Search Engines and can boost your ranking significantly. Put half an hour minimum aside per day to work on your citation or link building activities to reap the rewards of a higher ranking.

Online reputation marketing

Every small to medium business irrespective of what industry you are working in to be aware of what their clients and customers are saying about them in the virtual world. This is critical for companies in the tourism industry such as hotels, restaurants and bars. A small business should put together an ORM strategy together so there is a written company line and policy on how to respond to negative and positive reviews.

Website design

You may not be able to afford a new website design but you can make small changes to your website such as uploading high-quality images of your products and services. The saying that ‘an image says a thousand words’ applies well to small business online marketing. Look at elements such as your copywriting to see if it is current and relevant, test your call to actions and landing pages, add testimonials (see below) and so on.

Testimonials and reviews

People like to buy from businesses they think are credible and trustworthy and one of the ways you can earn trust is by adding testimonials and reviews to your website. It is best to have a dedicated landing page and add this to the navigation with a search-friendly URL. Testimonials are a very effective online marketing tool for small businesses – remember to get authorisation to use them on your site and campaigns.

A small to medium company may not have a lot of money to compete with the big boys and larger competitors in the offline world but the internet makes it a more level playing ground. By setting aside time and resources and thinking outside the box when it comes to small business online marketing campaigns, you can outrank, outperform and outwit your business rivals without making a huge dent in the advertising budget.

Steve Pronger is a Business Analyst for SEO Works, a leading Australian Search Engine Optimisation company.

Selling Products? Use Product Reviews to Increase Conversions! Favorable product reviews are very important in order to have...
What Does it Take to Work in Online Marketing? This is a guest post from Sachin of Web Profits....
6 WordPress Plugins to Make Your Blog Google+ Friendly This is a guest post by Ron Davis a freelance...

Maximize the Impact of Two-Sided Business Card Design

Justin McGill — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 16:54:10 +0000

This is a guest post by Maitreyee Sinha of WebGuru India.

Business cards represent an effective and yet, ignored marketing tool. With the right type of business cards, you can highlight features of your services in brief and create a positive impression on minds of potential customers.

Some people think that a card that includes information on both the sides is more beneficial. Others, however, believe that excessive information can irritate potential clients and create the impression that you are trying too hard. We highlight the respective advantages and disadvantages of two-sided business card design. Thereafter, we will discuss how you can create a powerful two-sided business card.

Advantages of two-sided business cards

Two-sided business cards allow designers to incorporate more information. Including your contact information on front part of the card can create a messy look. Breaking down the information, on the other hand, creates a neat look.
Two-sided business card allows you to add a unique touch to the card. For example, you can print an interesting quote or calendar of events on back of the card. This will enhance value of your card.
With two-sided business cards, you can further strengthen your brand. For example, you can incorporate logo and graphic design that highlight goals of your company in back part of the card. This in turn, will encourage people to remember your brand.

Disadvantages of two-sided business cards

Some people possess the habit of scribbling notes on business cards, after receiving them. They may have trouble, while using two-sided business card. The reason is that these cards do not have any extra white space, and therefore, one cannot use them for writing notes.
Many businesspersons these days use card scanners for picking out crucial information. Certain models do not scan back of the cards. This means that if you print vital information on back section of the card, it may not be of any use.
Two-sided business cards involve higher expenses. Furthermore, it involves greater efforts because you need to prepare content for both parts of the card.
Two-sided business card is associated with the problem of ink smearing. Certain inks have the tendency to smear on neighboring paper sheets. Now, to prevent this, you need to use varnish (a protective film or finish) on back section of the card. Preparing a two-sided business card, therefore, involves more time. You also need to pay more for varnishing the card.

Two-sided business cards come with respective advantages and disadvantages. To reduce the disadvantages and heighten the advantages, you need to prepare two-sided business cards in the right way. We offer some valuable tips.

Place vital information, such as your name, company name, and address, contact information only on front section of the card. If you place crucial information on the back section, people may not turn over the card and view it. Additionally, card scanners (as stated earlier) may not scan back part of the card, leaving out critical information.
Use back part of the card to incorporate taglines, interesting quotes, or even a brief testimonial about your company. You can even incorporate a short description of your services.
You can also print beautiful graphic designs on back section of the card. They add a stylish touch and leave a memorable impression as well.

Opt for these tips to strengthen the effect of your business card.

Author Bio: WebGuru India is a website design company based in India, offering high-quality and cost-effective website design and website development solutions to people worldwide. The company has authored several articles on brochure design, logo design, flash design, SEO services etc, providing updated information on technological developments and advancements.

Small Business Online Marketing on a Budget This is a guest post by Steve Pronger, a Business...
What Impact Does Great Web Design and Coding Have on SEO? This is a guest blog post from Wes Towers, a...
Web Design – Do It Yourself or Hire Someone? So your business needs a web page, and you think...

5 Website Blunders That Scare Potential Customers Away

Justin McGill — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 13:38:41 +0000

This is a guest post by Noel Addison Agnote of NDIC.

Creepy Self-Promotion

You know the climactic part of every movie where the prey is chased by the criminal or monster everywhere they go. The victim attempts to hide everywhere to escape from the villain but the monster would always appear right on their face. Most businesses care so much about branding, want to be noticed and leave a great impression on the web. Well, there is nothing wrong about branding. In fact, it is an essential factor in building solid foundation for an effective marketing strategy. However, when you overexert your branding efforts you give a bad impression to your visitors and made them feel that everything is just about you, you, you and you. And nothing scares your visitors most when you bombard them with things which basically represent you. So limit your advertisements or any direct self-promotion. Instead, reach out to your audience by educating and giving them information related to your niche. Reaching out to your audience is different from haunting them.

Despicable Web Navigation

People hate waiting. Poor website navigation could discourage potential clients. Website is a great representation of your business and it is expected to instantly send the message to your target audience as they land to your page. A good website should have a good and consistent navigation. It is essential in building an accessible and usable website.

Loathsome Content Layout

Content and layout is very important in a website. It is the primary reason why users visit your page and come back. Your content layout has to be simple so it will be easier for you to modify things once you wish to do some changes in your site. It is also recommended that you use readable and legible fonts so people can effortlessly read your content. Furthermore, it is necessary that you choose the right color for you website. Your choice of color must give your visitors a good impression and aid your website in relaying the information to your visitors.

Outrageous use of images and animations

Anything that is too much is not good. Too much images and animations in your websites could be annoying for your visitors. Yes, using images gives additional appeal to your website and grab the attention of more visitors conversely it could create distraction to your readers. Moreover, animation and flash are great to capture attention yet it affects usability of the website. It slows down the loading time of a website and scares away potential clients.

Dreadful Music on Website

Music is soothing and good but not for your website. Background music makes your website look unprofessional and lessens the credibility of your business. Also, not everyone have the same taste in music. Maybe the music that you have added in your website pleases you but it might abhor other people. If you think the music is really needed for your website, for example you are owning a music, personal or band web site make sure that your visitors have the option to pause or stop it from playing.

How to Prevent Problems in Web Development Process from Happening This is a guest post by Noel Addison Agnote of...
Things to Avoid When Developing Your Website As a web development firm, we are often approached by...
Build Relationship, Trust and Brand through Social Media This is a guest blog post written by Noel Addison...

3 Tools to Help You Generate B2B Leads

Justin McGill — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 15:37:14 +0000

One consistent challenge that B2B companies face is lead generation. There are numerous ways to generate leads for your business. You can generate new business from direct mail, email, cold calling, SEO, social media, networking, referrals, and a host of other methods. Those are all methods that have entire book collections dedicated to them. What I want to discuss are some tools that are online for B2B companies to leverage in order to generate more leads and sales.

The following tools will help you generate call lists, email lists, and direct mail lists:

Jigsaw
Jigsaw is a directory of business contacts. These contacts are entered and updated by actual users of the system. By uploading contacts, you receive credits to attain other contact information. You can also choose to purchase these credits outright. The nice thing about this method is that you can actually target which individual companies you want to pursue, then decide which employee level you are wanting to reach. You can gather contact details for their IT department, marketing department, CEO, etc.
Website: www.jigsaw.com

infoUSA
infoUSA works well because you can go after accounts with just emails. You then get to target industries, company size, location, etc. Emails are sent through their system, and you can log in to track open rates, click through rates, etc. The only problem with this data is you do not own it, and you do not actually get to see any of the contact information.
Website: www.infousa.com

SalesFuze
This is now a service that my company, SEORCHERS, offers. This was a solution we used in-house to generate leads for our SEO business. We decided to offer this to other B2B professionals as well as local marketing agencies. You simply sign up, submit your targeted industries and locations, and you’re done. You will receive an email back with a csv file that can be imported into any CRM. You get companies, phone numbers, emails, and more.
Website: www.salesfuze.com

What are some other tools you use to generate leads? Have you tried any of these? What are your thoughts?

Lead Generation Tool for SEOs and Local Marketers I am happy to announce that today, we have rolled...
Why Your Business Needs a Social Media Strategy Social media has become the new bandwagon for businesses hoping...
Measuring Your Online Marketing Strategy: Part One Recently, I have been on a landing page generation machine....

Is Great Content Always Enough?

Justin McGill — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 15:13:24 +0000

This is a guest post by Maria Rainier, a freelance writer. Contact me if you are interested in writing a guest post.

I’m going to beat a dead horse for just a little while. You have all heard or read the web marketing mantra: Content is king. While the phrase now sounds tired and clichéd, I still believe in this mantra. Lately thought, I’ve been reading a lot of criticisms to this saying, but let me assure you that, without great content, you have nothing to leverage as a web marketer.

Is Your Content Really that Great?

I know that this is a bit of a snarky question to ask, but as a content producer and marketer, you must ask yourself this constantly. You should also ask this question to other people as well and not just your own fans. Seek out criticism; trust me, it is really easy to find on the internet (though it can be hard to find good criticism).

Simply defining great content can cause a big headache. Even if the majority of your audience considers your content to be great, does that make it great? Not by any universal scale, whatsoever. In my mind, great content on the internet encompasses at least one of these principles:

Credibility – Your content must not only be accurate but appear accurate. The best way to do this is to actually have experience in what you’re writing about. And make sure you understand what you’re saying because if you are just copying some jargon from Wikipedia, your readers will not understand nor trust you.
Effort – You can tell when someone spends a lot of time on a product. So can your readers. When you present highly polished, extremely well-executed content, not only does it create a better experience for your audience, it gains their respect.
Usefulness – Some of the best content provides tips and information that the audience can take with them and use themselves. When you provide actionable knowledge to people, they will remember where they found it.
Uniqueness – Sometimes you come across something so interesting and so special, you just have to share it with others. Perhaps it is a unique idea turned into an article or a remarkable image. The best content has a unique quality to it that adds to its remarkableness. It adds excitement to both those who see it and create it.

Are You Marketing Your Content Effectively?

If your content has at least one or more elements of the bulleted list above, then odds are there is a problem in how you are marketing your content. While I wish I could say great content always stands up on its own no matter what, this is simply not true. Even the best artists have to have some network of ties and connections in order for their work to be seen. The most important factors to consider when marketing your content are the following:

Be diligent in reaching out with your content. This is the time to really sell yourself and your work. One tweet is simply not enough. Email, IM, or even call friends and peers. Try not only to get them to view your content but share it as well. You should be excited to share your work, and if you aren’t that excited, perhaps it isn’t that great of content (see above list).
Publish your content at optimal times. This really varies depending on your audience, so finding the optimal time to publish can be a bit challenging. But definitely use your logic to think at what times they might be online and checking social media and experiment with a variety of educated guesses. For a working crowd, just before lunch time might be perfect if people check their social media during lunch.
Publish your content somewhere else. This can be an extremely tough decision because you’ve worked very hard at creating content that represents you and your site. Why post it on someone else’s site? Because, particularly for new and upcoming sites, your audience hasn’t yet found your site yet. It would be a much better move to publish some of your gems on high-profile competitors, and then watch as the traffic comes streaming back to you.

Author Bio:

Maria Rainier is a freelance writer and blog junkie. She is currently a resident blogger at First in Education where she writes about education, online colleges, online degrees etc. In her spare time, she enjoys square-foot gardening, swimming, and avoiding her laptop.

If Content is King, What are Links? You’ve all heard the statement, “Content is king,” and I...
Build Relationship, Trust and Brand through Social Media This is a guest blog post written by Noel Addison...
Incorporating Social Media into Email Marketing Email marketing has long been a staple of the online...