Big Lead Generation using a Small Budget.

Lead Generation on a small budget can be a very effective way to feed your business with profitable top-line revenue.

If I had a small B-to-B business, aside from having good personal referrals and leads, having an effective web marketing program would be next big marketing action I would take.

If you want to have a business website or blog that will give you genuine revenue generating leads, here are proven some ideas that can help give you a big presence on the web and let your business grow.


Content: Define Your Business Goals

Prioritize the most profitable bits of your business for which you want to generate leads. Really define the service or product niche you provide, in order to improve your chances of lead gen success. Then work on those high value/high reward areas first. Use 'long-tail' tactics to create category killers for search. Webpage content should be concise, precise and with an obvious call-to-action. Use more pages to better niche your services, products or solutions.


Make it Easy to Contact Your Business:

Place your Business phone number and email on each webpage, and a link to a web-form if you have one. Make contacting your business easy.


Target Organic Search:

Make sure you have a cluster of coordinated webpages on your website describing those products or services. Create a combination of SEO friendly pages and then more in-depth pages to help sell the qualified visitor to contact you. Then test for organic search ranking after a few weeks, adjust and continue testing and revising until you are on the first page up high in search engine rankings.


Exploit Sensible Paid Search:

This can be very inexpensive if you micro-target and avoid broad search terms. Set you daily budget. Limit the geography and language options. Use long-tail and narrow search-terms to start, you can expand as you see what your real spend is. Use negative search terms to filter out unwanted clicks.


Create Professional Blogs:

Create a few relevant blogs that people will want to read and bring value. LINK those blogs to your website, and cross-link back to the Blogs. You will increase your visitor rate and hopefully your lead gen rate as well.

The Sum is greater than the parts when it comes to Search Engine Marketing. Add up all the steps above, and you will improve your opportunities for attracting great, quality business enquiries.

Want Good Web Leads? Then SEO Matters.

Life without SEO would be Tough for B-to-B Marketers.

SEO Central, Mountain View.

Life without Search Engine Optimization would make attracting quality business enquiries a whole lot tougher. SEO is such an effective weapon for web-marketing lead generation that it is a very top priority for me, exploiting organic, long-tail and paid search options with success.

Thanks to SEO, we’ve been able to generate thousands and thousands of B-to-B enquiries and bring in millions of dollars in high margin revenue... all from having a laser-sharp focus on SEO. SEO has helped transform our business almost beyond recognition compared to when I started managing web marketing in 2003. Without SEO, I’d be handicapped. I can’t image not using SEO as my top lead-gen tool. 

Yes, the page content must be relevant to the actual human visitor, and must have an effective call-to-action. But if one doesn't also apply SEO principles to webpages, those pages most likely will not make page one on search engine results.

Page one Search Engine Result Page (SERP) is where your B-to-B services and products need to be ranked. There is too much competition for the limited space available... publishing a webpage without applying search optimization is like opening a fancy new retail store and failing to put signs on the building. Potential customers will have a hard time finding you or the products you sell.

Of what use is a lowly ranking webpage for search engine lead generation? 
Not much use at all. 

A poorly ranked webpage becomes invisible and may as will not exist for organic search engine marketing.

A great looking webpage, if one measures by ROI and productivity, is not the one that gets design kudos, recognitions or awards from hordes of marketing and advertising 'creatives' meeting at annual conferences. No, a great looking webpage is one that ranks in the top five organic search listings in Google for a key search phrase. This is SEO Bliss. When combined with relevant content and an effective call-to-action, such a SEO'd webpage is a profitable B-toB lead-generation work of high art.

FEED Your Website. FEED IT.

Adwords Tune-up

Google Adwords is a powerful tool for search engine lead generation and branding, but it can be easy to waste money, clicks and therefore lead generation opportunities if it is not managed to run at optimal effectiveness, speed and efficiency.

This Adwords Check List comes from a B-to-B perspective, where we're going after niche-services leads and clients.

1. Google Ad Optimization:

a. Is your ad written in a way that best attracts the people you are wanting to capture.

b. Is the ad clear and concise, so you can better filter out the rest of the audience you don't want to attract.

c. Does the ad have an implied call-to-action (given the limited ad space).

d. Are you using enough Negative Keyword Terms to help filter out low quality clicks?

Learn more about the importance of negative keywords at:
http://erikholladay.blogspot.com/2009/06/negative-is-positive-with-google.html

2. Google Ad Position:

a. Being in the top position is not always a good thing - - those ads get more clicks but at a lower quality and higher price.

b. Placement at the 3 or 4 spots mean less visitors but higher visitor quality, and less cost.

3. Define what are the desired "Goals" for your Campaigns:

a. Total Clicks, Leads, Sales?

b. Click Rate (CTR) versus Conversion Rates?

For me, high conversion rates for lead generation are much more important than CTR.

Optimizing any paid search campaigns like Adwords is an ongoing process. Being successful with paid search is not unlike being an active stock trader. The search engine "search-term market" is never ending, and always dynamic and changing.

Victory goes to the methodical, alert, nimble and opportunistic. Victory can be defined in many ways, but the points above give an idea of the creativity, research and work required to make it happen.

Greg Statal has posted an excellent article entitled "What to do when Adwords doesn't get results" on his blog Digital Tonto. He goes into more detail with ideas one should consider in order to make an Adwords campaign more effective.

Best Regards; Erik Holladay

Freedom of Choice: Give Potential Customers Easy Options for Contacting your Company from your Website.

I have for some years allowed enquries to contact our divisional website through Telephone, Email and Contact Us Form. Adding a Chat option eventually will round things out. The primary goal for B-to-B marketing is make it very easy for a potential or returning customer to contact us! Let them chose the method, as long as we get the lead.

From my experience over the last 5 years, there is a clear pattern of contact preferences from enquiries:

The largest enquiry group uses and prefers the Telephone, and the quality of these leads is on average higher than the other options and often time-sensitive.

Next are Emails, this option is easy and convenient for people to use, and we can often capture complete contact details and attached project information along with the email. We receive very high value enquiries from Executives as emails, for example.

Last are Contact Us Form enquiries. This is not to say these forms are of little value, we also receive high quality leads this way. However, from my experience, using a Contact Us Form is the least popular way our B-to-B clients have wanted to contact us, if given the choice.

Yet, there are significant internal advantages with Contact Us Forms for CRM data capture, analytics, etc. And a Contact Form can be tweaked and optimized to encourage more people to use it.

But the Bottom line for us is the Telephone first, then Email, then Web Form in terms of enquiry options chosen by visitors.

Designing a webform long enough to capture the contact information Bus Dev and Marketing want, but short enough to encourage someone to fill the Contact Us form out and send, involves compromise, flexibility, experimentation and an open-mind.

A special thanks to Howard Sewell, President of Connect Direct, for posting the question
"Contact Us" Forms - Do They Work?" in LinkedIn... this question motivated me to share my experience with Contact Forms, Phone and Email.

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

BING still Bungling Duplicate Search Results

Bing has still not figured out how to completely filter 'similar results' from organic search. Unlike Google, which has the ability to filter out multiple results from the same company or content, BING appears to be unable to accomplish the same simple but vital filtering process.

What does this mean in real world terms?

The example I used to highlight this problem was the same for when BING first came out this Spring. I used a search for 'laboratory outsourcing'. The BING results are still showing a glaring weakness in BING's ability to filter out similar results. The first few organic results are quite good actually (especially since my webpages dominate at the top), but when you get past the 9th indexed link or so, things get very strange and repetitive, many of the pages are essentially of zero use for an individual looking for new information related to 'laboratory outsourcing'. Why? Because one company has identical or similar content present on different national domain websites. BING does not yet understand that these pages all belong to one company, or indeed that the content is similar or identical, so all these pages are listed, page after page after page after page.

I'll give BING some credit, the results are not as bad as 3 months ago... but they have more work to do. BING is very interesting, as a heavy user of Adwords campaigns I need to have a viable alternative to Google. I don't have one yet. And the new Google interface is rather 'interesting', to say the least. BING may be useful yet, if my B-to-B technical services clients start using it.

Adding a Single Keyword Turns a Webpage from Invisible to Dominant

Crafting a B-to-B webpage which controls the top organic websearch results in Google and other search engines takes time, thought and effort. The stakes are high. If your webpage does not show up on page one for organic search results, your page essentially does not exist to search engine users.

Sometimes a very simple head-slapping fix can turn a poorly ranking webpage into a world champion organic search-engine lead machine, beating the competition by ranking at or near the top.

A recurring example involves location-targeted webpages. The 'local' or 'regional' webpages were not ranking for key location-specific search terms the stakeholders want. When I reviewed the problem pages, it was apparent that actual name of that targeted location was not on the pages... not in the headlines, not in the text, not anywhere. So how could a search engine make the connection? It couldn't. By simply adding the place name to the pages in key spots, the problem was solved and the previously "invisible" webpages transformed into page one ranking pages on Google for organic search.

There are times when an easy common sense fix will solve a major SEO problem. It is easy to overlook a content issue or enhancement, no one is perfect. This is why having others look at our work is so important...

 Search Engine Marketing is Industrial Strength Lead Generation (Or Should Be). 

Raise Organic Search Rankings by Reducing Page Content

Reducing the content on a key web-page, if properly done, can rocket a newly slimmed-down page to new organic ranking heights for competitive and valuable Google search terms.

Having a poorly ranking web-page is an opportunity for improvement. First look at the total situation and purpose of the web-page.

1. What I am selling?

2. Who am I selling to?

3. Is my content Concise and Precise?

3a. Can I split up the content on this page into new pages?

3b. Can I reduce the remaining content on my original page?

Many web-pages suffer poor SEO due to long scrolling text, non-essential words and phrases. The same page could suffer from secondary and tertiary content that should stand alone as separate web-pages. The web-page is not focused enough for Google give a good ranking for the keyword(s) the page is trying to target. Too much content, too many subjects produces a page that is not focused, not precise, not concise and not as relevant as it could be.

The Relevancy and Ranking Fix is simple in theory:

1. Put the page on a words diet: streamline the content.

2. Follow good SEO copy-writing practice and don't 'pack' your keywords.

3.Take out surplus content not directly related to the page's mission.

4. Put any important newly removed content into a new, dedicated web-page(s) that is cross-linked with the original page.

When done, instead of having one long, scrolling web-page there may be one, two or three shorter, more concise web-pages that are relevant and related... offering greater content value to visitors and higher relevancy to Google.

This process takes some thought and work. But if done correctly, you'll see spectacular results.

I have web-pages that routinely rank 1, 2, 3, 4 against millions of other indexed Google pages for key search terms... because over the years I have streamlined content, split content and generally tried to make the pages precise and concise and cross-linked to other relevant web-pages.

I have also been happily surprised to see an unexpected web-page become a top-ranked page for a key competitive search-term. When that happens, I am flexible enough to often seize the opportunity and keep the page optimized for visitor relevancy and SEO. It's a gift from Google that can be taken complete advantage of.

Patience and success by trial and error are the norm. Google is the ultimate judge on organic page rankings.... we can only keep trying. Victory may take months to achieve, but the resulting high quality web enquiries produced make the effort worth it.

Managing Adwords Avoids Increasing PPC Cost

Many B2B Adwords managers suffer increasing costs of pay-per-click campaigns in order to "stay competitive". And every Adword veteran has treasured paid search-terms that were not only effective, but really cheap and cheerful a few years ago. Now, thanks to more competition for keywords on a global scale, these same search terms are becoming more and more expensive to run with high rankings.

But there are strategies which help avoid this PPC price trap...

During the last year, I didn't experience Adword PPC inflation, but rather PPC deflation.

My overall global campaign costs are reduced and campaign quality has increased:

1. Total Adword Spend down over 50%
2. Already low Cost per Conversion down over 50%
3. Cost per Click down over 25%

And by spending less and with more selectively I gained better quality:

1. An already high Conversion Rate jumped over 35% from the prior year.
2. With conservatively counted conversion rates of over 8%, 20% and higher.

To get these happy results, I focused on separating search-term wheat from the chaff, by going for more long-tail terms and exact and phrase match options which have relevance to my targeted customers, micro-managing time and location settings, using Adsense content ad filters heavily, and using google hegative search terms aggresively to help my campaigns stay focused on the markets I wanted, and where and when I wanted them. I was able to acheive this across campaigns, global geography and languages without using an outside consultant.

Simple Adword campaign changes can yield big results.

Ad Position:
Another great way to limit PPC costs is to focus on the number 3 or 4 or 5 ad positions. Why? 1 and 2 get more clicks, this is true, but they get many more casual clicks of lower quality. You pay more for less.

By being lower in rankings but high enough to get noticed you filter out casual clicks and attract more quality visitors from the core market you seek. You pay less for more.

Monitor Conversion Rates before Click-Through-Rates:
For B2B at least, getting conversions for the sales funnel is more useful for ROI than the initial clicks. Follow conversion rates closely. Click-through rates do offer guidance for potential keyword search term trimming, enhancement and improvement. But the Conversion Rate rules as a top priority for gauging your campaign quality, effectiveness and efficiency.

Trim, Filter and Block Search Term Options:
For example, if you were targeting "Engineering Services", which is very broad search term, back in 2003 it was cheap, but it's not now. The search term is hyper-competitive in Google Adwords. But instead of total surrender, or gritting your teeth and paying more and more in a never-ending price war spiral with your competition, get creative with long-tail search terms to help get around tough PPC situations like this.

Ask yourself; who are your real, paying, customers?

If your target is the Engineering Services for the Nuclear Cold Fusion Industry, for example, then you have options which will be cheaper to run and more effective. Try not using the high cost search term "Engineering Services", it is too broad and expensive. Try more focused search terms like "Cold Fusion Engineering" or "Cold Fusion Energy Engineering" or "Fusion Widget Engineering", etc. Google's Keyword Tool can help you discover related many terms as searched for in Google. Choose quality search terms over 'popular' ones. A search term may be very popular, but perhaps too broad and expensive to run an ad for. Going for long-tail search terms will usually be much less expensive than "Engineering Services".

Extremely important when using the Keyword tool is to also identify the -negative search terms you want listed. Using negative search terms reduces the chance your ad will show up for a search term that is not related to your product or service, thus helping avoid wasted clicks, which saves your campaign budget. For example, having a negative term set for "software" and "web" is a wise idea for any campaign going after "Cold Fusion Engineering" search terms! You don't want to be confused with a software company if your product is a service providing nuclear industry technical engineering expertise.

It is true that there will always be search terms that you absolutely want.... you along with 10 of your favorite cut-throat competitors. In those cases still try to find allied long-tail search terms and negative terms you can use...use the geography and time settings. These and other tactics will help you keep your PPC spend down.

In B2B marketing, there are thousands of technical and industry niche search terms which produce few clicks but yield high quality visitors and profits. It takes some time to research and implement these actions, but they will pay off in the end.

Twitter Infiltrates Business-to-Business Marketing

Twitter Trends Spotted for Business-to-Business. Sysomos issues June 2009 Report on Twitter Users and Habits across the world.

I looked at Twitter in the past as a purely social media gadget used by teenagers and young adults... not a serious marketing and promotional tool for grown-up B2B businesses. I opened a Twitter account in 2008 to research this new web product and measure any potential it had for B2B... slim pickings back then, and I stopped looking at my Twitter account.

But now, Twitter B2B users are starting to Tweet to real business and potential customers. Things are changing for Tweeter and B2B as marketers and others realize the growing Tweeter user population brings great potential value in spreading short, easy to digest messages, often linked to a key webpage. This very young trend should grow into the next decade.

This year I observed hundreds of attendees, for the first time, use Twitter at a large, major industry conference. They were being kept up-to-date on conference news and activities before, during and after the event with real-time 'Tweets'. That was my Eureka moment on Twitter... time to take it seriously and grow with the B2B trend now happening.

Look at some major businesses using Twitter to update customers, employees, potential customers and others: Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, three General Electric B2B divisions, Apple Computer, Google. The WSJ and FT Tweets actually serve as Headline News Feed Services.

And did I mention that Twitter (so far) is free to senders and receivers? For small business owners, this communication tool can be a great way to get your message out... the only cost is your short amount of time needed to send out a Tweet.

The young may an overwhelming majority of Tweeters now, but they will grow older, mature and become tax paying citizens with real jobs making real business decisions... time is on Twitters side.

Marcus Aurelius, one of the 'good' Roman Emperors, said "Observe constantly that all things take place by change." When it comes to web marketing and technologies, this wisdom is timeless.

Here is an excellent and detailed global Twitter-user demographics and habits report prepared by Sysomos Inc researchers Alex Cheng, Mark Evans and Harshdeep Singh, called "An In-Depth Look Inside the Twitter World" . If you are remotely interested in learning more about Twitter, take a look!

You can follow my periodic blogs on Twitter, where I have a small but growing group of 'followers': https://twitter.com/ErikHolladay . I only started to seriously use Twitter in the last few months, it was that one B2B conference (attendance 50,000) which was the catalyst for me to see change was coming!

Twitter is only going to be as good as a company makes it. I attended another massive industry conference recently... they too set-up a twitter account but never used it during the conference... missing an audience of over 70,000 attendees. They even announced that they're focused on 'reaching out to the public' with a Social Media campaign... but someone forgot to "Tweet". Twitter will be a hit and miss learning curve scenario for everyone in B2B.