Recently an article came out on wolf-howl.com regarding the use of outbound links on your website. The articles author, Greg Niland, makes several assertions as to why outbound linking might benefit your website:

1. It encourages others to link back to you
   1. The author talks about linking reciprocity and how it benefits your website as a whole.
2. It improves user experience
   1.  Explains that once the user uses your site to find other valuable web content it makes them more likely to return
3. Why else do search engine patents talk about it?
   1. Search engine patents outline rewarding sites for creating and maintaining outbound links.  Why wouldn’t it be a part of the search engine ranking algorithm then?
4. Little risk, big reward
   1. At this point, why not? Niland describes that adding one link away from your webpage that is already flourishing with links back to your own website only represents a small percentage of the total ‘link juice’.

We’re not afraid to say that we learn something new every day about this Search Engine Optimization, and we hope you find this information valuable. This was definitely an article that challenges conventional wisdom about outbound links. Here is a link to the original article:

http://www.wolf-howl.com/seo/outbound-linking-rankings/

Outbound Links & SEO is a post from: Lead Generation Strategies: No Longer A One-Hit Wonder!

• Nine out of ten B2B marketers are using some form of content marketing.
• The top content marketing tactics (by usage) are articles (79% of respondents), social media other than blogs (74%), blogs (65%), e-Newsletters (63%), and case studies (58%).
• Comparing 2011 to 2010, the use of blogs and videos both increased by 27% and the use of white papers grew by 19%.
• Companies are spending about 26% of their marketing budgets on content marketing efforts, and 60% of respondents said they will increase spending on content marketing in 2012.

Although more time and money is being allocated toward content marketing and management there is still a long way to go before most business professionals fully understand the true potential of proper content management. For example, only 39% of survey respondents identified lead management and lead nurturing as a primary content marketing goal. This could mean that marketers are focusing on brand more often.  Being on the pulse of lead generation activity for our clients Mercury pays particular attention to identifying where the prospect is at in the buying cycle.  Consistent lift in conversion rates result in catching buyers in early research phases of an intended purchase.  We’ve identified many different steps in the prospect lifecycle. Different, compelling content needs to be generated for each stage to nurture your sales leads and convert them into clients. Mercury Leads increases your opportunities by bringing you qualified sales leads through our developed content management strategies.

B2B Content Marketing: 2012 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends Released! is a post from: Lead Generation Strategies: No Longer A One-Hit Wonder!

Q – B2B Magazine: With regards to SEO, briefly why would a B2B marketer be interested in optimizing their web site to bring in organic traffic? What do you say to companies that say, “Yeah, but we don’t sell stuff online, so it sounds like a lot of expense for not much gain.”

Mercury Leads Plvan: Over 93% of B2B buyers go online as much as 6 months prior to the actual acquisition of a product or service.  With this in mind, B2B marketers must admit that the website is the marquee for their business and SEO plays a pivotal role in your future.  This is even more important for B2B companies with long sales cycles and high ticket products or services, as the lead nurturing part of the equation becomes even more critical to overall marketing and sales success.  Search Engine Optimization is only part of the equation however, like a good direct response ad or direct mail package website marketers must focus on the WIFM” equation or what’s in it for me with their prospects?  If your prospective buyer comes to your website, after all of your hard work to push your rankings to the top, you’d better be able to convert them.  The core tenets of good Direct Marketing have a lot of crossover to search engine marketing with a less patient audience.  Statistically it’s been proven that website marketers have 8 seconds and 2.3 clicks to garner a conversion.  You need to be razor-sharp in your content creation while adhering to the complicated algorithms developed by today’s search engine requirements.

Q – B2B Magazine: What are some of the methods you recommend to gain rankings and own keywords?

Mercury Leads Plvan: First of all, extensive keyword research and competitive research should be conducted to make absolute certain that you are optimizing for the correct (keyword(s) phrases) you endeavor to be ranked and found by.  Secondly, adhering to the most current algorithm is critical.  This is a complex set of criteria which must be followed to the letter in order to gain search prominence.  As a way to “own keywords” and the associated phrases, marketers must view the SEO process as an ongoing investment in their future.  For high ticket sales, and undiscovered customers or segments, this investment is easily paid for.  Increasingly, fresh and informative content in the form of the blogging, landing or response pages, articles, white papers, virtual events, online PR, and pushing through the right social media outlets will serve to keep your content fresh and relevant in the eyes of the search engines, and this keeps you at the top.

Q – B2B Magazine: How should a company “think” of SEO, if it’s not used to operating like a web publisher?

Mercury Leads Plvan: Our experience has proven that all B2B companies have much to gain from good SEO, and that SEO should be viewed from more than just a customer acquisition perspective.  Future investors, strategic alliances, channel partners, international expansion, even acquiring key personnel are examples of other groups that can would be positively affected by great SEO.

Q – B2B Magazine: What kind of metrics do you recommend companies use when tracking SEO efforts?

Mercury Leads Plvan: At the base level, tracking unique visitors, page views, popular keywords, length of visit, and repeat visitors statistics can all be tracked easily with publicly available free tools.  Google Analytics as for example.  Many hosting facilities will offer an abundance of web metrics so factor this in your evaluation.   There are literally thousands of low cost tools that can leverage your knowledge about how successful your SEO is.  More importantly, our experience has shown that studying “the company you keep” and how you rank against competitors is equally important.  Again there are many tools available allowing you to track how you perform against these competing companies.  As the saying goes “offense wins games, defense wins championships”, by knowing what (keyword(s) phrases) your competition is using in both paid and unpaid search you can tilt the scale in your favor.

Q – B2B Magazine: Once a marketer successfully attracts a visitor to its website, what kinds of issues should they be thinking about vis a vis that person’s behavior? With all the options out there—email newsletters, blogs, content assets, opt-in promotional campaigns, contact forms, requests for calls—what kinds of questions should a company ask itself to maximize its Web traffic?

Mercury Leads Plvan: Two words are important here, “lead nurturing“!  As most of us know, today’s B2B marketers need to look beyond the “one-hit wonder”.  The C-Suite is particularly guilty of this as they are tied directly to company performance and are acutely aware of this.  Your goal, particularly in the event of a complex sales process is to gain share, and to keep top of mind with your prospect.  This is only done through multiple touch points with the prospect.  Too often, marketers place lengthy forms on their website, like anybody has time (see 8 seconds and 2.3 clicks above) to dedicate to this process. An alternative approach is to collect small bites of information and then formulate acquisition strategies which include many impressions over time nurturing the prospect.

Q – B2B Magazine: Ultimately, what is the most successful measure of an SEO effort?

Mercury Leads Plvan: For most companies, it comes down to sales but this shouldn’t be the only measure.  Referencing, my answers above however, the purpose of SEO can vary by stakeholder all of which can positively affect your organization by being at the top of search.  So why wouldn’t you prioritize SEO/SEM. You have everything to gain.

Contributing Journalist:

Jon VanZile – Freelance Writer B2B Magazine

jvzile@aol.com

Phone: (954) 788-4775

Fax: (954) 943-7092

My Website

Editing for Authors

LinkedIn Profile

My About.com Website

Mercury Leads Principal Interviewed by B2B Magazine is a post from: Lead Generation Strategies: No Longer A One-Hit Wonder!

There are two main components to any undertaking, marketing related or not, that determine if the endeavor will be successful: Research and Testing.  All too often we see b2b lead generation campaigns falter because someone jumped the gun or failed to refine their processes until they were running at optimal efficiency. Today, I’m going to talk about the importance of marketing testing and how you can immediately improve your marketing campaigns through simple tests.

Sales lead generation is one of the more interesting sub-industries simply because things are constantly changing. New ideas, processes and technology make b2b lead generation an evolving science. It is because things are changing that, we as sales lead generation professionals, must constantly test our work to make sure we are getting the best possible gains from our efforts. Marketing testing is a great concept but is wasted if you don’t have tangible methods of testing.

Marketing testing protocol contains 6 major parts: the question, testing variables, metrics, validation, results and interpretation. You should establish a plan for these six components before any actual marketing test takes place. The question, pertains to what you hope to answer i.e. what conversion beckon will produce a better click through rate? Ask yourself what you are hoping to achieve to come up with a primary or secondary market research question.

In the testing variables phase you want to clearly describe what you are specifically going to test. Make sure to include what will become your variables as well as establish a control sample. For example if you are testing a new landing page to see which design works better, you need to establish various options to test. Option one could be a large table with details on the offer. Option 2 could be a small table with less detail. Option 3 could contain no table and only an offer and a form to fill out. The key is to test each one against one another and establish a clear winner.

The third marketing testing protocol is metrics. Metrics are considered the, “what” phase in a marketing test. You need to determine specifically what you are going to measure in your sales lead generation tests. This could be a number of different things from click through rate, conversion rate, number of times a whitepaper has been downloaded or the number of clicks on a flash piece to an a special offer. It really is up to you what you are going to test and what type of b2b lead generation strategy you are using.

The fourth testing phase is called validation. In the validation phase you are going to determine various factors regarding the actual marketing test itself. Such factors include the sample size needed to perform an accurate test, the time frame required to gather a sizeable test sample, the length of the test itself and any outside influences that might be a factor during a sales lead generation test. Some outside factors to take note of are selection effect (a biased sample), using skewed analytics software (using analytics software which interferes with the code of a website thus making the webpage display incorrectly) and the timing effect (running a b2b lead generation test during peak months or slow months or running a test on a weekend vs. a weekday.)

The fifth phase in marketing testing is the results phase. The results phase is fairly straightforward, it is important to keep accurate data throughout the duration of the test. The last phase of testing is interpretation. It is during the interpretation phase of a test where the most insight can be gained; not only for the specific marketing test but also for future tests. Notes and comments should be filed away so that you can learn from your experiment and build upon it at a later time.

One of the important aspects to keep in mind regarding testing in sales lead generation is to never stop testing. A common mistake b2b lead generation professionals make is to test once and then run with the results. Once you run a marketing test and achieve optimal results you should take your best results and see if you can top them. Many times if you run a marketing test three or four different times you will see better results than you previously thought you would. With some practice in testing you will start to see better results with your marketing campaigns.

To Your Success,

Michael Cordova

The Importance of Testing is a post from: Lead Generation Strategies: No Longer A One-Hit Wonder!

“Men of few words are the best men.” Those words are as true today as they were when Shakespeare wrote them. This less is more approach also applies to search engine strategies. The old methodology of keyword seo stuffing simply doesn’t work with today’s search engines, however less isn’t necessarily better either; as an internet marketer you need to develop cohesive and relevant keyword marketing strategies that work with today’s ever changing search algorithms.

As internet marketing strategy professionals we are constantly bombarded with various keyword marketing strategies. In this post I have decided to focus on 15 keyword seo strategies that will get results if employed properly.

1.    Remember Last Minute Keywords – Keywords that focus on timing such as such as next day delivery or last minute valentines day flowers are often underutilized and have low competition. Of course you need to be able to change content readily to accomplish this type of traffic generation
2.    Focus on Brand Specific Keyword Optimization – Depending on your product, using brand-specific keywords might be a more viable option to receive qualified traffic even if you’re using your competitors brand, ride along traffic is not spoken about much but often practiced.
3.    Attract Qualified Customers – If you are in a specialized vertical industry such as organic foods; make sure not to entirely focus your internet marketing strategy on generalized food products. The same thing would apply if your company is a consulting firm specializing in remote IT Support. Focus your keyword optimization strategy on remote IT or SaaS delivery type keywords more so than IT keywords.
4.    Use Keywords in the Anchor Text Links – Keywords in backlinks are more relevant than the meta tag because the link will generally point to a highly significant page.
5.    Create a Keyword SEO List Before Writing – It is far easier to research and write keywords into the copy than to write the copy and try to fit in the keywords. Keyword marketing shouldn’t be a challenge!
6.    Spread Your Keywords Around – Take the time to put high ranking keywords into your page titles, URL’s, logos/pictures, anchor text links and value propositions.
7.    Use Bold, Italics and Underline During Keyword Optimization – The use of bold, italics and to a lesser extent underline can increase the importance of your keywords. Search engines see bold and italic words as being more important and relevant to the copy.
8.    Take Advantage of Singular and Plural Words – Typically the singular use of a word will have more searches per month than the plural of a word. However, numerous internet marketing strategy studies have shown that more than 5 times the number of buyers actually use the plural vs. the singular case. Those doing research typically use the singular use of a word. It is good idea to have both uses of a keyword in your web pages.
9.    Boost Pages With Internal Links – If a certain webpage in your website needs a boost simply link it using internal links. Relevant, keyword rich internal links can boost organic rankings for that page over time.
10.    Get a Second Listing on Google – For many low ranking keywords you can get a second Google listing indented below the first. Typically, all you need to do is write an article or FAQ page then link it to the main page.
11.    Sprinkle Long Tail Question Keywords Into Your Content – Many people ask questions in search engines. Simply add a few who, what, where, when, why or how questions pertaining to your products. For example how long does aspirin last would be a unique keyword if you manufactured aspirin or wrote a blog about the positive affects of aspirin.
12.    List Your Part or Model Number – Technical buyers as well as average consumers will look for a specific model or product. If the model number has hyphens or periods write it multiple ways i.e. 73-AE90 could also be written 73AE90.
13.    Keep Up With Trends – Sites like Yahoo Buzz, Google Trends, eBay Pulse and Trendwatching.com will actually allow you to see what keyword marketing trends are popular right now. Google News also allows you to subscribe to a news feed based upon keywords you choose.
14.    Check Out The Competition – Take a look at the number one ranked competitor on Google and what keyword marketing strategy they are using. To view a websites keyword seo strategy simply go to VIEW in the main toolbar in internet explorer, then select SOURCE. It will bring up the source code of the competitor. Look for the term META KEYWORDS for the list of keywords the site is using.
15.    Use Keyword SEO Tools – There are many keyword tools out there; Wordtracker and Google Keywords are two of the top keyword seo tools. You can also buy various software packages that list data on keywords.

There are thousands of different keyword optimization strategies out there but with some diligence and implementation, each of these recommendations can help you gain traction with your search engine marketing. The industry changes almost daily; an internet marketing strategy that worked a year ago might not work today because search engines are constantly changing their algorithms. If you are truly serious about keyword optimization and ultimately growing a business, take the time to learn the little nuances and never stop reading what’s new.

Good Selling,

Paul J. Plvan
Mercury Leads, Inc.

15 Keyword Marketing Strategies That Get Results is a post from: Lead Generation Strategies: No Longer A One-Hit Wonder!

One of Bob Dylan’s most famously quoted lyrics is, “For the times they are a-changin’” Never has that been more prevalent than in the world of internet marketing. Just a few years ago getting number one rankings on Google was relatively easy. We as internet marketing specialists can only look back at those times and think of the good old days of “low hanging fruit”. When Google started in 1998 the company indexed 26 million pages of content, by 2000 that number had reached 1 billion pages of content. As of 2008 there were well over 1 Trillion pages of indexed content on Google! That’s a lot of information to keep track of; more importantly a lot more competition for those marketing online.

With all of these additional pages, Google as well as other search engines, are constantly updating their algorithms to make searches more relevant and targeted to the user. Social search outlets as well as  semantic web software (improvements in the working relationship between computer and man) are some of the new trends with search engines and search marketing companies alike.

THE ERA OF SMART SEARCH ENGINES

Microsoft recently unveiled the new search engine Bing which works as a “decision search engine”. New features of Bing include video and image preview within the search results, local information that is personalized in the organic rankings (traffic, business listings, maps, reviews etc…) and instant answers. For example, current information will be displayed first in the organic listings for sports scores, finance, airline flight status’, celebrity news, new products/services and many other search terms. Bing, in essence, is making search results based more upon geotracking, recent search history, account/profile settings and currently published articles. Believe it or not Google keeps track a lot of what you search for. Other search engines like Yahoo, as well as industry specific vertical search engines are quickly adopting these new methods of indexing.  Internet marketing just got more complicated!

So what does this revolution in search engine indexing mean for businesses looking to get number one rankings? It means that a website can no longer solely focus on proper keyword text optimization. The term ‘Digital Asset Optimization’ has been thrown around some in the past years as a term to describe the practice of taking all of a company’s digital assets and promoting them through relevant marketing channels in addition to developing appropriate keyword and linking strategies. Digital Assets refers to various types of interactive media (video, image, audio, blog, podcast, ebook, webinar, RSS feed, news/pr, product/service, social media and networking sites). As of a few years ago only a few innovative search engine marketing firms adopted the use of Digital Asset Optimization, but in today’s economy more and more search marketing firms are jumping on board to stay ahead of the curve.

BROADENING SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION STRATEGIES

According to a Marketing Experiments Inc. estimate, in the future 90% of B2B buying communication will be through video. Tools are already on the market for consumers to create professional looking videos with ease. Today’s consumer wants to be entertained while quickly absorbing information to make smarter purchase decisions. It is up to us as SEO and SEM marketers to incorporate search engine optimization strategy into interactive media. The same rules do not apply to interactive media as they do with traditional SEO or SEM. A common rule of thumb in search marketing is to create and publish a lot of content. Creating a lot of quality rich content will not only gain a prospects trust but also look first-rate in the eyes of search engine spiders. Marketing online is not simply about creating content but building an online presence that extends to hundreds or thousands places on the web. Your content should be considered a brand extension of your company.

No matter what trends may come and go one thing will always remain constant: Content is King. The internet is no longer a digital storefront for an organization but rather a venue for a company to engage and interact with its customers. SEO Marketers need to be aware of the challenges of creating, branding, promoting and optimizing new forms of rich interactive content for their clients. For those search engine marketing agencies willing to take SEO and SEM to the next level the long-term rewards will be numerous.

Yours in Selling,

Paul J. Plvan
Principal
http://www.mercuryleads.com

The Future of Search Engine Optimization is a post from: Lead Generation Strategies: No Longer A One-Hit Wonder!

As you already know, you can manage the keywords in your Adwords account by “keyword match type”.  I won’t go into the details here, but to read more about the Broad, Phrase, and Exact match types, you can read my previous post on the subject.

Often, using broad match keywords in your Adwords account can lead to irrelevant and wasteful clicks to your landing page.  If you’re in a particularly competitive market or a niche with expensive keyword bids, it can negatively affect your quality scores and waste your budget.

I’ll use an example to illustrate the point.   Let’s say that you are advertising for a company that builds Stamped Concrete Patios.  You find that a good prospect for you is someone who is looking for “Patio” on the internet, so you add the keyword “Patio” to your Adwords account using Broad Match and Phrase Match keyword types.  Now, if a prospect searches “Concrete Patio” they will see your ad.

The problem is, if the prospect searches for “Patio Furniture” they will also see your ad.  If they click on the ad, you’ll waste your budget paying for the click.  Even if they don’t click on your ad, you’ll have a lower Click-Through Rate (CTR) than you should.  You may be surprised at how much money you are wasting in this manner.

So, how do you find out if you have a problem?  Once you know there’s a problem, how do you solve it?  The answer lies in Negative Keywords.  Using Negative Keywords in your Adwords account, you can screen out any searches that contain specific words or phrases.  As a result, any search containing those words or phrases will NOT trigger your ad.

In the example above if you had the keyword “furniture” in your campaign as a negative keyword, then your ad would not be shown to someone searching on “Patio Furniture”.

Using a well-thought-out list of negative keywords can save you significant money, increase your CTR, and increase your quality score.  Think about the types of words that you don’t want to trigger your ads and add them in as Negative Keywords.  For many advertisers, simply adding Negative Keywords like “Free” or “Used” or “Cheap” can eliminate a lot of irrelevant clicks.

Steve Ulman

Mercury Leads, Inc.

http://www.mercuryleads.com

Negative Keywords Can Save Your Adwords Campaign is a post from: Lead Generation Strategies: No Longer A One-Hit Wonder!

When it comes to Pay-Per-Click advertising, there are three types of Keyword Match Types that you can use to tailor your keyword bids.  Understanding the details of these three match types can mean the difference between a profitable ad campaign and a waste of time & money.  The three match types are “Broad”, “Phrase”, and “Exact”.  What is each match type, and how can you use each to your advantage?

1. Broad Match Type – For broad keyword matching, the search engines make assumptions about the intent of the searcher. Let’s say you are bidding on the keyword “buy furniture” using broad match.  Your ad could be triggered by a search for “bedroom furniture”, “furniture repair”, or “furniture store” for example.  However, a search for “Dining Room Table” or “Free Sofa” could also trigger your ad because the search engines know that these terms are related to the term furniture.  In summary, Broad Match Keywords can be costly and ineffective if they aren’t closely monitored and managed. When you add keywords into your Google account, they are automatically classified as Broad Match unless you specify otherwise.
2. Phrase Match Type – For phrase matching, the terms being searched must contain your keywords to trigger your ads. As a result, far fewer assumptions are made by the search engines and the clicks you receive are usually more relevant.  Using the “buy furniture” example above, phrase matching would trigger your ad if the term “where to buy furniture” or “buy furniture repair business” were searched.  Your keywords must appear in the search, but additional words can be placed before or after your phrase.  Phrase Match keywords generate fewer impressions, but in general, produce more relevant results.  When you add keywords into your Google account enclosed by “quotes” they are classified as Phrase Match.
3. Exact Match Type – Exact match is the most precise method for bidding on keywords.  With exact matching, the phrase being searched must match your keyword phrase precisely and cannot contain any additional keywords before or after your phrase.  For the “buy furniture” example, your ads would only be triggered if that exact term were searched upon.  Exact match generates far fewer impressions but the results are almost perfectly matched to your intent.  When you add keywords into your Google account enclosed by [brackets] they are classified as Exact Match.

As you can see, keyword research involves much more than just generating lists of keyword phrases and running your ads.  Careful consideration of the mindset of your target audience can help you determine the Keyword Match Type that best fits your goals.

In my next post, I’ll talk about Negative Keywords and how you can use them to further customize your campaigns.

Steve Ulman

Mercury Leads, Inc.

Keyword Match Types Can Determine Pay-Per-Click Success is a post from: Lead Generation Strategies: No Longer A One-Hit Wonder!