A Thank You Note to My Competitors (which I hope they never read)

Six Reasons to be Thankful to Your Competitors

Are you running over your 
competitors, or are they running
over you?

For success in B-to-B marketing and lead generation not only are your actions important, but what your competitors do.... or don't do.... or haven't a clue to do, make a big difference. That's why we should extend a tongue-in-cheek 'thank you' to some of our competitors. They can often make our job easier, without even knowing they are being so accommodating. We can divert 'their' quality business leads to ourselves with impunity.

However, to put this into perspective, we should never be complacent about our competition, for therein lies the road to defeat and ruin. A short list of reasons to be thankful, below, really serve as a list of dangers we all need to be aware of, for we are all capable of harming ourselves in this way.

Reasons to be Thankful to our Competition:

1. Poor Focus on Web-page Layout and Clutter:
Producing web-pages which surround and bury the core value content, the really important information a visitor is looking for, is a common practice and self-defeating. The "money content" is subdued, stifled, and trapped in a suffocating waffle of links, images, fluff and other content... the core content is diluted both for the reader and (happy days for us) search engines bots when they crawl their pages, resulting in lower organic search engine rankings.

2. Poor Web-Page Content:
Writing good concise, precise web-page content which targets a key product or service niche (or sub-niche, or sub-sub-niche) is an art and a science. We should thank competitors who launch web-pages with lousy content, especially if they are proud of the result. They just made our job a lot easier to whip them in search engine rankings. I could write a book about lousy web content on competitor webpages. In fact, many intelligent people have written books on how to improve web-page content for SEO. We should be thankful so many people appear not to have read them!

3. Poor Website Structure and Navigation:
A good webmaster is worth a lot, and should be cherished. A good webmaster who understands B-to-B and has a burning desire to rank high in organic search results is worth their weight in gold.... 24 karat investment grade. Having a mediocre or distracted webmaster can  harm a website's overall performance for lead generation. Having a mediocre or distracted webmaster plus poor content and navigation can be a disaster. There are so many things which can go right or go wrong depending upon the organization, resources, support and talent on offer.

4. Competitors behaving badly at Tradeshows and Conferences:
We should be thankful for competitors who suffer from self-defeating habits regarding trade-shows and conferences. Just a few of the event-wins (for us, not for them) are:
a. Not Being There (they skipped or overlooked a key industry event)
b. Being There but Missing in Action (Their booth is empty, delegates nowhere to be seen)
c. Being There, but Indifferent (They are deathly bored at their booth, glazed eyes, negative, non-engaging, don't mingle with attendees, reading, and are wall-flowers)
d. They brought the Wrong Message (They don't tailor their message to the event and market niche, and use a "one size fits all" approach, they brought the wrong people to the event)

5. Outsourcing Paid Search Campaigns:
Hiring an outsider to run Adwords and other paid search and content campaigns is another area for we should be very grateful to the competition. If the search targets are technical and niched, then tasked, informed and focused personnel inside the company will usually be far more nimble, proactive, knowledgeable and cost-effective and efficient than using an outside Ad Agency or consultant. Quality will be higher and wasted clicks and costs reduced by keeping this key marketing lead generation tool in-house. Another big competitive mistake we love is for them to run a one-size-fits-all ad across numerous market niches, with a landing page which is either not focused or requires the visitor make heroic efforts at navigating to a webpage which is relevant to them.
An ideal result for a competitor using Adwords, from our perspective, is for them to waste a lot of money on poorly managed campaigns and then decide it was all a mistake and completely shut the campaigns down... their new-found cost control is then applauded by their finance guys, while we, their competition, enjoy the happy competitive result of stealing their leads, paid-search marketing nirvana for us!

6. Competitors don't exploit Social Media:
If our competitors do not understand nor encourage Social Media marketing, then they aren't blogging, tweeting, posting, "liking" their company, letting others "like" and forward their web-pages, and otherwise promoting their brand, products and services to a huge potential audience. This is a big and inexpensive marketing opportunity for your company to exploit. Since your competition have left a large Social Media vacuum, fill that gap with your offerings. Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, Blogging and more are all opportunities to get in front of your prospective clients in a positive way. If you competitor hasn't figured that out, so much the better.

These "thank you" notes to the competition also serve as a warning to our own marketing and lead generation efforts. Objectivity, modesty, vigilance, and humility always serve us well. Overconfidence, pride, arrogance, ignorance, and hubris are marketing dangers to be avoided at all costs. A question we should frequently ask ourselves: "Are WE making our competitor's jobs easier?" If so, immediate remedial action is needed.

There are many other things for which we can be grateful to our competitors. We must make sure they don't have too many reasons to be grateful to us in return.

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

Connect with Erik Holladay on Linkedin.

Promoting a new online business on a limited budget.

Getting leads and promoting your business with a limited ad budget.

So you're launching a new small online business, and you have limited promotional funds. Promotion is vital to your new business, because it leads to lead generation which leads to customers which leads to revenue and profits.

The Gift which keeps on Giving:
Search Engine Success will Drive Growth 24/7/365.

My advice is fairly simple, and it doesn't cost a lot of money... if you do it right... just some quality thinking, actions and some of your time.

1. Get Found on Organic Search Engine Results:

This means you need to rank on Google and BING and other search engines. Your website and webpages must be SEO friendly and content must be focused and relevant to your target market. If your business is local, then make sure your content references location. Sign up with Google for free local listings. Get quality websites to link to you if possible and avoid black-hat tactics. Then monitor results and keep trying if your pages are not showing up on page one search results for search terms you want. Benchmark against webpages that rank higher than yours, and make an effort to understand what needs to be done to raise your own page ranking. Organic Search success takes time and persistence but can yield huge rewards for your business. 

Target local search results for maximum success, especially if your business is targeting a geographic area like a city, county, or neighborhood.  

Cost: FREE (not including initial website development and content management costs)

2. Take Advantage of Social Media:
Social Media is evolving and growing quickly, and is another powerful tool... if used wisely. Social Media takes time and effort to make an impact. Understand your target market and gear your efforts to get their attention. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and others offer free ways to establish your brand and service. You can also run ads. Focus on getting these social media sites linked with your main website and blogs. Add social 'share' and 'follow' buttons on your web and blog pages. Then promote the sites and gain friends, contacts, follwers, etc. Patience is important with Social Media as progress can be slow and even random, but when you hit critical mass it will directly benefit your business. Go easy on propaganda and overt promotion or you'll lose your audience. You're enticing visitors to visit your business website, the sell should be professional and low-key.

Cost: Mostly Free

3. Blogs:
They are mini-websites and they are free, and they are powerful. They can easily rocket to high rankings in organic search if the topic and niche is focused. Create niche blogs that feed to your main website and each other. Each blog should be unique on the topics and subjects they cover... and ideally done in a professional  and neutral manner - - content should attract readers, and don't subject them to 'advertorials'. Cross-Link your main website to this 'solar system' of blogs which orbit your main site. 

Cost: FREE

4. Paid Search Ads:

OK, this is not free, but it can be very effective and cheap! Open up Google Adwords and BING paid search accounts. Focus on your key search terms and try them out in very focused campaigns and ad-groups. You can limit your daily spend, you have total control of your costs. You can limit the campaigns to specific locations - - geographical areas, even cities, and languages, time-zones, etc. Paid search can cost you just a dollar a day if you  want. But results are immediate and help fill gaps in your organic search results. Display ads on 3rd party websites broaden your ad reach by a large amount.... and your added costs can be just pennies a click. With Google, you will also get FREE access to Google Analytics, which when loaded on your main website can provide you great visitor tracking, search term research, understanding and insight into your website.

Cost: You Decide


5. Email:
Use of email to qualified and targeted individuals, when done professionally, can produce another stream of leads and business. To avoid spamming issues, it is important to follow best practices, including clear opt-in and opt-out options. Segment your email lists so that you can better tailor your emails. Always include links back to your website and/or blogs. Clean up your email lists on a regular basis. Use a professional 3rd party email provider to send out the emails, such as Constant Contact, to help look professional, avoid being banned as spam by IT managers at your targeted companies. Review your email campaign stats to improve openings and click-throughs. Produce, or have produced for you, professional looking emails and newsletters in .html format which can survive various email server filters and format compatibility issues. Avoid spam-like behavior at all costs.
Cost: Variable


These five tactics; organic search, social media, blogs, paid search, and email, can bring very lucrative results to even the smallest online business with the smallest marketing and promotional budget. If used together in one cohesive strategy, the positive impact on your business can dramatic.


Regards; Erik Holladay

How to Promote Your Website. Let Me Count the Ways...

Or How to Promote your Website in 10,000 Easy Steps:

Someone in LinkedIn Recently asked a very good, simple question, "What is the best way to promote my website?". As often happens, a simple question can have a virtual torrent of good answers. There are a huge number of effective ways to promote your website, using a variety of tactics- some free, some pay, some creative, some very basic.

But first, consider the strategy of your website, its purpose in life, and the resources available for web promotion. Here is an 80,000 ft. view... with more to come. How, when and where to promote your website will greatly depend upon your goals and situation. Questions to ask include:

1. What markets and what clientle are your real target market?

2. How can you reach them? What are your options?

3. Do you have a budget to help reach them? How big is your budget?

4. How do you prioritize, given a limited budget?

Today I will focus on FREE PROMOTIONAL TACTICS. Here are just a few strategic areas to consider using for gratis website promotion tools:

"FREE" PROMOTION:

Free is always a favorite option. But it demands constant work and requires time, creativity, inspiration, enthusiasm, dedication and solid work ethic.

1. Good Content and Product: Focus, be relevant to your target market. Give them value and update often so they want to come back. Without this basic feature you may take one step back for every step forward. Good website navigation and fast downloading are also very important. Be precise, concise and relevant. Don't forget your keywords and phrases, watch for typos, etc.

2. Search Engine Optimization: Needless to say, your website must be found and indexed by the Search Engines. Submitting your new website to the Search Engines is highly suggested. If you build a site that meets point one above, the indexing will come. This step is so important it cannot be over-emphasized.

3. Blogging: Want to get your site more exposure on the web? Create some focused and credible Blogs that all point to your Website. Each Blog should focus on a 'category-killer' topic. These are, need I remind you, free and easy to set up. Stay true to the topic. If your site is a B2B site, then don't stray off-topic. Add Blog comments to other people's blogs if relevant, and always include your website link.

4. Social Media and News Feeds: Web 2.0 tools are becoming more integrated into the business world mainstream. Set up Pages on Linked-In, FaceBook, etc. that all point back to your website... keep the content fresh and on topic. Set up a Twitter account and have a connection to your Twitter page on all your Blogs, Social Media Sites and your Website... get a following and send out Tweets as relevant. Set-up Newsfeeds.

5. Email Newsletters: We all despise spam, but if you send out a fairly regular newsletter that is short and links to your webpage, this is free promotion that is linked to relevant web content, always the best option. Set-up an email registration option on your site, include opt-out and cultivate a quality email contact list.

6. Get Your Website Cited, Linked and Quoted by Others: Encourage relevant Blogs, News Sites, Industry Sites, User Sites, and more to list your website address... and thank anyone out there who writes something in the web who positively mentions your business or site. Build your network and give that network content that motivates them to cite your website. This can include White Papers, real News, etc.

7. Press Releases and Free Media PR: Cultivate print media, trade journal and website contacts... you may benefit from an article written about your company, be sure to include your website address.There are a number of sites that now offer "Free" or very inexpensive opportunities for you to issue press releases. These press releases should always include your landing-page website link. These sites are not as effective as the big ones like BusinessWire, but they will help your cause. You'll know your PR is making a difference on the web when it generates a "Google News Alert". Sign up for Google's News Alert service and make sure you list the key terms you want to track... free service.

There are many Free tactics to promote your website, but since there really are 10,000 different ways to promote your site I cannot hope know or to list them all here! ; ) The next website promotion article will focus more on the for-pay tactics.... also very effective at promoting your site. There are great tactics to fit any budget.