The internet has created a whole new way of growing your business. In the “old” days your marketing plan consisted of reaching out to your potential customers. TV, radio, newspapers, direct mail and cold calling all were required to put your message in front of any potential buyer. Some of these still work, but they are very expensive and they addressed a limited audience.
Today, however, there is Inbound Marketing, a whole new approach that has been created. Rather than you reaching out to find customers, the net has made it possible for people to find you. Think of it, thousands of people are out there searching for the exact thing that you are selling. They go to Google or Bing and ask how to find your product or service. Your job is to make it easy for them to find you.
The first step is to optimize your website for search. Your objective is to appear high on the list of responses when certain words are used in a search. That involves finding those key words that both describe what you are selling and frequently appear in actual searches run every day on the web. Make a list of words that you think describe what you do, and then check each of them against real search results. All of this is called “Search Engine Optimisation” (SEO).
Once you have that list, scatter the keywords throughout your website. Make certain that they fit into the content in a common sense sort of way. The use of the terms must meet the search engine requirements but must also make sense to the user.
Keep in mind that there are several things that the search engines look for. The web page titles, graphic titles, meta-data tags, your domain name and actual copy all are places where search engines check.
Once you have attracted an inbound prospect, it is critical that your website is easy to use, subtly leads the user to a purchase and does not create any confusion in the user’s actions.
There are a number of key elements that will make your website a more effective producer of new business. Simple navigation, obvious “next steps” and a call to action are all steps that will help you inbound marketing effective. Don’t ask for information that is too personal until the user is already into the sales process. User can get scared off if the sequence isn’t what they expect.
A critical element in your entire inbound marketing strategy is to keep you content fresh. You will rank higher on search engine results when you consistently update your web site with new content. Add new pages, change around the copy and graphics in existing sites. Web pages that go stale are downgraded in the search process.
Like any other human endeavor, a specialist can help make your inbound marketing more effective. While inbound marketing is going to cost you less than the more traditional marketing efforts, a well-designed approach will work better and create a much wider reach. Your local marketing efforts may reach into the local community – your inbound marketing program will reach people anywhere in the Ireland, UK, even into the Continent and elsewhere. And this world wide appeal costs no more than a program designed to reach just into your neighborhood. It is a massive economy of scale. Here at Soma Marketing we are ready to help you out. Let us bring our experience and talents to bear on producing more customers for your business today.
