Search Engine Optimization: Top 10 Harsh Realities

August 12, 2010 by · 2 Comments

Sadly, there are a number of shady practitioners out there who will attempt to take your good money by promising virtually impossible-to-achieve results from search engine optimization (SEO).  Worse, they would lead you to believe that their magical methods will succeed with virtually no effort on your part, as a B2B client firm.

Folks, I’ve been at this for roughly a decade now, in both B2C and B2B environments and on both client and agency sides …which I think qualifies me to tell you “it ain’t necessarily so”;  and in fact, it necessarily ain’t so.  The fact is that while SEO can surely bring substantial benefit to your B2B’s online marketing program, its capabilities are not unlimited; and the process will require significant effort on your part (although some of that may be outsource-able).

Based on that extensive experience, then, here are my top 10 SEO “harsh realities”: [Read more...]

Filed Under: B2B Web Strategy, Lead Generation, Search Engine Marketing ·

Want leads for less? …use inbound marketing.

April 13, 2010 by · Leave a Comment

We’ve blogged before about inbound marketing – “pull” marketing tactics such as search, blog and social media – being the wave of the future in terms of how your B2B’s prospects want to work with you.

We’ve also been pretty sure it’s also less expensive… but now there’s proof, according to [Read more...]

Filed Under: B2B Web Strategy, Lead Generation ·

Nine mistakes to avoid in writing online B2B lead-generation copy

February 23, 2010 by · 3 Comments

Ambal Balakrishnan has done us a great service by collecting the thoughts of several experts on the subject above, then posting the collection in ClickInsights.  His experts:  Michael Stelzner, Stephanie Tilton, Cindy King, Michele Linn, Jonathan Kranz.  We’ve picked out a “top nine” here;  for the rest – plus more depth – just click on over:

  • Failing to incent the prospect to read on.  Within seconds, you need to grab [Read more...]

Filed Under: B2B Web Strategy, Lead Generation ·

Thinking about email for B2B lead generation? …think twice.

February 9, 2010 by · Leave a Comment

We sing the praises of email, and many of our B2B clients use it pretty religiously, too …primarily for nurturing prospects in the pipeline.  But what about email for lead generation?  On the surface, it sounds great:  its cost is so much lower than postal mail, and the results can be known much more quickly.

But hold on a minute, cautions David Ariss in a guest post for B2BMarketingSmarts.  David’s firm (Ariss Marketing Group) recently ran a campaign for a large B2B publisher, sending the same survey and choice of offers via both email (n=30,000) and postal mail (n=100,000).  Both utilized primarily the client’s in-house list, augmented by highly targeted outside lists.  The results may astound you… [Read more...]

Filed Under: B2B Web Strategy, email, Lead Generation ·

Your B2B’s blog can help generate leads… here’s how

November 16, 2009 by · Leave a Comment

We’ve been proponents of blogging for B2Bs for …well, certainly ever since we started this one back in ’06.  We may have mostly emphasized its benefits of improving search-engine rankings, brand-building and demonstrating thought leadership;  but your blog can certainly be a lead-generation tool as well.

Now along come two posts reminding us of that truth, and providing some hints for amping up your blog for leadgen.  For Kipp Bodnar over on Social Media B2B, it’s largely a matter of using all that often-wasted sidebar space;  he suggests… [Read more...]

Filed Under: B2B Web Strategy, Blogs, Blogging, Lead Generation ·

Done right, your B2B website offers can drive high response rates

October 8, 2009 by ·

What makes a compelling offer?  The best answer to that emerges from testing, of course.  But B2Bs typically are dealing with relatively low traffic volumes, so testing can take what feels like forever while your business stays in the doldrums.  So some practical shortcuts to get you in the zone are in order.

Here are our top two, and they’re pretty straight-up…
Don’t use your offer to try to sell anything.
Do use it to educate your prospect.

Bear in mind that most prospects who hit your site are typically… [Read more...]

Filed Under: B2B Web Strategy, Conversion Metrics, Engagement, Lead Generation ·

How can B2B marketers use content effectively for demand generation?

September 14, 2009 by ·

Just wanted to alert you to alert you to this excellent post while it’s still fresh.  As part of the ClickInsights Expert Interview Series, Ambal Balakrishnan posed our title question (above) to 6 industry experts.  Clearly we don’t have space to reprise it all here;  but we’ll provide a sampling of the takeaways from some of his experts’ responses, by way of motivation to click on over for the rest (and btw, it’s well worth the click just for the list of “Recommended Resources” that Ambal also includes in the piece)…

Rebel Brown:  (…is that a terrific name, or what?!)  Tell stories;  don’t overwhelm your prospects with facts, feeds-&-speeds and chest-thumping.  “The key to great content-driven demand generation is to… [Read more...]

Filed Under: B2B Web Strategy, Lead Generation ·
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