Today buyers turn to search, social media and the Blogosphere to research products and services. Inbound marketing is all about creating the valuable content that buyers need to move them through their buying journey and making that content easy to find. If buyers can’t find great content, reviews and recommendations about your brand, it simply won’t be in the mix of solutions that are considered. Viable businesses know how important it is for buyers to be able to find their content at all stages of the sales cycle, but especially in the early research phase.
According to a marketing data report that was released this month (Optify), leads from inbound sources convert to opportunities at over twice the rate than outbound leads. This makes sense given that inbound leads found your brand as they were actively looking for a solution, as opposed to you finding them at a random point in the buying process.
Outbound marketing includes paid content promotion, online advertising and offline marketing. (Publications)
People are increasingly using search engines to help them find the products or services they are looking for. When a user submits a query to Google, they are not searching the web, instead,they are searching Google’s cache of the web.
The important thing to understand is that Google is looking out for the consumer:Google’s number one goal is to deliver the most relevant search results for anyquery. At the most basic level, Google determines how relevant a page is to a givenquery based on a combination of on page usability, speed and content relevancy.Most sites on the web are focused on the basics, but how can you stand out?
Consider this: Google uses algorithms to index websites across cyberspace. Think of these algorithms as spiders that crawl through the web. (Step 1)The consumer begins a search on a product (Step 2) and uses a query algorithm(Step 3) to match what you’re asking for to the most relevant results (Step 4).
Your customers start their quest to “find you” by typing in keywords or keyphrases into Google, Yahoo, or Bing. Therefore, identifying and organizing customer-centric keywords is the foundation of effective SEO. Your best keywords match your unique value proposition with high volume keywords used by your customers. Think volume plus value as you chart out your keywords.
STEP 2: On-Page SEO
In case you're wondering, the 'page title' is just a fancy name for the title at the very top of your browser. Look right up at the top of the page: it says something like "Page Title - Jimdo". You can change this to whatever your heart desires. By default, it's set to <YourUserName>'s JimdoPage. But never fear! It's easy to change it to "My Business | Home" or whatever else you want it to be. Editing the Page TitleTo update your Page Title, login to your site and go to Settings > Search Engines > Page Title. If we look at our example at the top of this page, we want to enter "Jimdo" as the Page Title. That's the name of the company and the website at the same time, so that's what we'll make our Page Title. The second box allows you to give a special name to the main page (or homepage) of your website. For all other pages except the homepage, this title will match the name of the page you enter into the navigation. The thing to keep in mind is that the title displayed on the top of your browser is in reverse: first the home title, then the general Page Title.
The most important things to keep in mind when optimizing your page are pages titles, page descriptions, and keywords. You can edit all of these for the page you're working on by clicking the magnifying glass icon in the SiteAdmin panel.Page TitleThe title of your page should include the most relevant keyword through which you'd like to be found. The page title is displayed at the top of the browser window, and when someone bookmarks your page.Examples of Page Titles:The Chicago car dealer: "New and Used Cars in Chicago"Freelance designer in Atlanta: "Graphic Design and Logo Creation by Nate McNulty"A San Francisco bike shop: "Affordable Bikes in Cole Valley" Page DescriptionJimdoPro users can insert a short description (also called a meta description) for each page here. This gives Google (and other search engines) additional information about your page, which makes it more likely to show up in searches. An excerpt of the description may also appear in the search results.Our recommendation: The description should be concise and to the point, but still written in complete sentences. Don't make it longer than 150 characters! You can and should also include keywords here that are relevant to this page and your site. KeywordsWe've already talked about how you should be using a keyword list - a list of words and phrases that are relevant for your site - while doing SEO. Take your list and sort out your top keywords. Maybe some of them are more relevant for certain pages. Put the most important ones in here, separating each phrase with commas.Our recommendation: Don't overdo it. Use 10 highly specific keywords per page.
Alt text (also called the 'alt attribute') is alternative text for images. Alternative text shows up when an image cannot be displayed, but it's also important for users with impaired vision or who are using screen readers. Alternative text also has an important role in SEO: when someone searches for an image, the alternative text is used as a search keyword. When adding a photo element, make sure that you include alternative text, as seen in the screenshot.
Keyword DensityWhen you're writing for your website and want to make sure your "copy" is good for search engines, you should try for 3-5% of it to be keywords through which you want to be found. So pull out your handy keyword list and check to make sure you're using them as often as you should be.
Register Your Website with GoogleFirst, let Google know you have a new website. It's free to do, and takes just a minute to submit your URL: http://www.google.com/addurl/Why submit your URL? The webcrawler robots will find your site more quickly. If you don't submit your site, it can take weeks until you turn up in Google's index.Get Your Website Verified with GoogleStep 1: Go to https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/, sign in, or create a new account. Then, click on "Add a site", and enter the URL of your JimdoPage. Step 2: Click on the option "Add a meta tag to your site's home page." It may appear as the recommended method or as an alternate method. Now all you have to do is copy the meta tag from Google webmaster tools, which may look something like this: <meta name="google-site-verification" content="asdf543563234_w234234dkljad" /> Copy the meta tag to your clipboard (highlight it and press CTRL + C on a PC, CMD + C on a Mac). Step 3: Log into your JimdoPage, go to the Settings menu, then click on Edit Head. Paste the meta tag from Google into the Head section, save everything, and you're done!
Web DirectoriesSubmitting your site to various web directory listings can be helpful in increasing its popularity and the number of links you find. The largest and most well-known web directory is http://www.dmoz.org/ though there are others.It's free to list your site in most web directories, but others might ask for (or require) a backlink, which is a link that you place on your site pointing back to the directory. Only do this if you really like the business and want to help promote it to your customers.
LinksOne important search engine ranking criteria is the number and type of incoming links. While the exact formula is unknown, basically the more sites that link to your website, the better or more influential your site is. Each link serves as a recommendation or a reference to tell the search engines that your site is a quality site.Build more links within context, i.e. those with valuable keywords in the link anchor text (the text that is hyperlinked to your site). Link anchor text provides context for the search engines to understand what your site is about.Build more links from trusted websites. Just as references from well-respected friends and experts offer more value, so do links from trusted and well-respected websites.Link-building tips:Submit your website to directories like the Yahoo! • Directory and Business.comCommunicate with others in your industry through • blogs and other social mediaCreate compelling tools (such as an interesting calculator) and content (via a blog, for example)The larger and more well-known (or well-respected) the site is that links to you, the better! One of Google's many metrics for a website is its PageRank and while not the be-all and end-all of linking, it plays an important role.The number of links to your site should continually grow, but it's not good if you suddenly get tons of links, and then no more after that.One more thing: stay away from buying links!Please don't go down that road. When the search engines discover you've been buying links, you'll lose all your hard-won ranking!
Social BookmarkingSocial bookmarking services let their users save and share their favorite web pages online. Beyond this, the users can comment on the bookmarked pages and tag them.Our recommendation:Sign up and start using some of these sites. Bookmark or submit links to your site when you think it's appropriate (as well as others you come across that you like), but don't overdo it!
Post blog articles regularly. Blogging is Inbound MarketingBlogging helps with SEOBlogging helps with social news and networking sitesBlogging is permission centricThe conversation has already started… it’s time that you’re aware of it and develop a strategy for engaging in it and using it for marketing blog articles regularly and share to social media and social bookmarking sites. STEP 1: ReadSearch for other blogs in your industry using Technorati.com or BlogSearch.Google.com.Read and subscribe to blogs via RSS (Really Simple Syndication) or email – RSS allows users to subscribe anonymously and consume content however they want.STEP 2: CommentContribute to the conversation via a comment.Increase the value of the article – share an example, add a point, add a useful link, disagree, ask a question.Why?Engage in the communityGet noticed by other bloggers and blog readersGet links back to your blog
Social Media is Inbound MarketingSocial media helps with SEOSocial media promotes your blog Social media is permission centricThe conversation has already started… it’s time that you’re aware of it and develop a strategy for engaging in it and using it for marketingGuidelines for EngagementMeet people and start conversations, become a real member of the community – don’t join to just advertise your products.Add value to the community – answer questions and help others.Ask questions – trust others’ advice
Don’t underestimate the value of tracking your marketing progress. It will provide you with important information about what works, what doesn’t and what’s missing. Track number of inbound links, keyword rank over time and compare to competition.Measure real business results: number of visitors, leads, and customers from SEO.
Website Grader (www.websitegrader.com) – Useful tool for measuring the marketing effectiveness of your website, get a free custom report in seconds with advice for your websiteSign up for regular updates and watch your progress.
