Showing posts with label content is king. Show all posts
Showing posts with label content is king. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Want B2B Leads? Pay Close Attention to Google Search and Content.

A recent study by Mathew Sweezey, Marketing Evangelist for Pardot, reinforces the key role of search engine marketing for lead generation. In his paper "The State of Demand Generation 2013", the results of a user survey clearly list the main effective ingredients needed to enjoy successful B2B lead generation:

1. Obtain Search Engine Marketing Success, especially Google Search Engine Success.

2. Employ Short Content on Webpages and White Papers.... Concise, Precise, and Relevant.

In summary, B2B Buyers use Google Search, and like Relevant and Short Content on Webpages and White Papers. Worth Repeating: "B2B Buyers use Google Search and like Relevant and Short Content."

The same study indicated that an impressive "72% of product research for a future business purchase begins on Google." Nearly 3 out of 4 B2B leads start on Google.

72% of B2B Leads Begin on Google Search, per Mathew Sweezey, Pardot.
No amount of creative branding content or social media chatter will mitigate this fact. If you're not focused on winning with search engine marketing, you're at risk of missing nearly 3 out of 4 potential leads!

From my own experience, this simple formula of efficient content and effective SEO has produced over 10 years of outstanding organic search engine marketing lead generation success for B2B niche markets. I've focused on what our potential customers need and are looking for, in order to provide solutions to their problems.

Like a good consultative selling sales pitch, my webpages provide features which bring benefits to meet the prospective customer's needs. This customer-centric approach works for Google SERPs as well, based upon the superior search ranking results I commonly enjoy.

To optimize your lead generation success, craft webpage content to be efficient and relevant, focused, and concise. Content should be as short as reasonably possible, to best provide key information easily to a hectic, busy, potential client. Quickly give them the facts they need in order to be educated and motivated to contact you as a quality business lead.

Potential clients will not waste their valuable time attempting to sift through wordy webpages or white papers full of flowery, self-important, lightweight "content". They want straight facts and answers, and they want them now.

Include and use appropriate technical terms, acronyms, and jargon, because that specialized vocabulary is a key component in the business language of the targeted niche clientele. It is also good practice to spell these abbreviations out at least once on the page, as appropriate, both for visitor comprehension and search engine optimization. Make content simple and relevant for the potential client.

B2B lead generation content is usually designed to reach and influence lucrative and small market niches, not a mass audiences. You want that "1%" of the global potential audience, so talk directly to them. Don't worry about the other "99%" who will not give you any business under any circumstances.

Avoid creating excessive content. Don't 'tell a story' and yammer on telling the world how wonderful and great your company is. Potential clients can see right through this self-centered hype and quickly move on to a competitor who is more focused on the client.

In short, for superior B2B lead generation, focus on search engine marketing combined with concise and precise webpages, white papers, and other content. Include a clear call-to-action. These best practices are true big B2B lead generation winners.

A special thanks is given to Ayaz Nanji, with MarketingProfs, for his post which alerted me to Mathew Sweezey's paper. Ayaz gives an excellent overview of the Pardot report at: B2B Buyers Prefer Short Content; Rely Heavily on Google Searches.

B-to-B Web Marketing Should Help Sales People Sell.

FEED Your Website. FEED IT.

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

New Survey Says Leads Are Primary Goal for Content Marketers

"Leads Take Hold as the Primary Goal of Content Marketing" - 

From the Second Annual IMN Content Marketing Survey - Executive Report

The results of this just released survey indicate there is a notable shift in content-marketing types to focus more on lead generation. Lead generation was described as the most important goal of content marketing by 44%, compared to 16% last year.

From my perspective, this trend is a most healthy development. Anyone who is successful in generating quality leads by search engine marketing, for example, is deeply engaged in a form of content marketing. Search engines rank webpages by the relevancy of the content to the intention of the person running the search.

Get the content right on your webpages and quality leads will pour in.

Get the content wrong and your webpage will be a failure for lead generation... lonely, unproductive, and unnoticed by your potential customers.
Source: Marketing Charts
http://www.marketingcharts.com/wp/interactive/content-marketing-efforts-are-becoming-more-focused-on-lead-gen-35554/attachment/imn-content-marketing-program-goals-2013-v-2012-aug2013/
Lead generation is one of the most important benefits marketing can contribute to an organization - - helping to feed the business with top-line revenue opportunities, ideally with attractive profit margins for the bottom-line.

As I've said here many times over the years: "Content is King".

Concise, precise, and relevant webpage content will help bring success with organic search engines and thus produce bonafide, high-value, leads.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Content is Still King - - Social Media Doesn't Change That.

Content is Still King - - A Classic Truth Worth Repeating.


Just like a whipped coffee latte, a foamy ice cold beer or a towering root beer float, to capture the maximum value in Social Media, one has to dig below the marketing 'froth' and 'fizz' to find the ultimate reward... Social Media Lead Generation.


Yesterday I attended a web marketing conference in Houston put on by the Online Marketing Institute. Social Media Marketing was emphasized, rightfully so, as the number of people using Social Media platforms explodes in the USA and the world. I came to learn more about applying social media tactics to my business.
But I also heard confirmation that what was true 3 years ago, 6 years ago, 9 years ago, is true today: Your Content Matters. Content is Still King. Without good Content on your websites and company blogs, all your Social Media tools and all your efforts will disappoint, or worse, backfire. Good Content that works for your business is needed before going 'crazy' with Facebook or Twitter.

And Blogs? They are, according to the experts I heard on Social Media yesterday, your most effective Social Media lead generation tool. Good old-fashioned, taken-for-granted, Blogs... your 'mini-websites'.

Social Media tactics will be very important to your success, but pay attention to your content... it is the foundation which will drive your success. Social Media should orbit your content like the planets around the sun.

I picked up great information at the OMI conference. The presenters were informative across all subjects. For me SEO and Usability were very useful. And there was considerable expertise on ideas and best practices for Facebook, Twitter, Blogs etc. Observations and predictions were made that Social Media will "change the world", "destroy traditional institutional hierarchies", and cause "marketing mayhem". Social media trends will accelerate as further adoption of mobile smart phone and 'tablet' technologies continues, and people under the age of 25 ("digital natives") move into the work force. I'm going to apply what we learned yesterday... to better exploit today's world and prepare for tomorrow's.
But I will remember this basic, classic, truth: Content is King. To which can be added: Company websites and blogs are the most important "Social Media" platform assets we have.

Regards; Erik Holladay

Learn more about Social Media, Web Marketing and applying it to your business:
Arnie Kuenn, President, Vertical Measures
Brad Kleinman, President, eMarketing Techniques
Thanh Nguyen, Senior Usability Engineer, BusinessOnline
Maria Pergolino, Director of Marketing, Marketo

Thursday, August 27, 2009

How does one Raise Search Engine Rankings? Another View

I wrote this in response to a very good question from someone in LinkedIn, on how to raise your search engine rankings:

Content is King. Precise, Concise and Relevant Content.

Write good content using keywords that your potential customer base is looking for. Monitor your results. Look at the pages that rank higher than your page and, while not copying them, employ similar strategies if they make sense for your product or service.

Support your webpages with focused Blogs that point to your desired webpages. Try and get your URLs listed in relevant industry or user websites. Use Google Adwords to help promote your pages. If your content is relevant and readable, and your tactics to raise your organic search rankings are honest and also relevant, then your chances of getting top rankings will increase significantly.

I have had great success in getting top organic search rankings against as many as 40 million other indexed pages... focused and relevant content does the main work. Content is King.

Sometimes less content, that is distilled to the relevant core, will have the best impact. I have more on this subject at: http://erikholladay.blogspot.com/2009/07/raise-organic-search-rankings-by.html