Solid Stratagems

Marketing

Growth, Inbound Marketing, Marketing

The Ultimate 9 Step Inbound Marketing Strategy

Inbound Marketing Strategy

The Ultimate Inbound Marketing Strategy is built around the nine-part Inbound Marketing Funnel or Pipeline. Companies that optimize all 9 segments will have growing pains! Companies that completely fail on any single segment of the pipeline will find inbound sales come to a stop. This strategy allows brands that work in local markets to add anywhere from hundreds of thousands to multi-millions in internet sales. Let’s start by taking a look at the funnel.

The Inbound Marketing Funnel

Inbound Marketing Funnel

The funnel is simply a visual graphic that tells a familiar but very important story. The story has nine simple chapters. We’ll dig a little deeper but first, let’s review the story.

Chapter 1) Once upon a time there was a place.

Chapter 2) In the place there were people looking for just the perfect thing.

Chapter 3) The people decided to go to a mysterious world wide web to search for the perfect thing.

Chapter 4) The search yielded A LOT of potential results. So the people just looked at the top results.

Chapter 5) The people opened the most intriguing result with a click.

Chapter 6) They REALLY liked what they saw. They knew it would come at a cost. To their surprise it had a price tag.

Chapter 7) The people looked at the price tag. The price tag made the people happy. They could buy the perfect thing in small, medium or large. Each size had a simple price. They only needed to pay for what they would use.

Chapter 8) Many of the people decided they wanted to buy the perfect thing. They asked how they could order the perfect thing. They were happy to find that there wasn’t any long forms or long contracts. In less than a minute the people had their very own perfect thing.

Chapter 9) The people loved the perfect thing. They loved it so much they bought more and more. In fact, they loved it so much they told everyone about the perfect thing. Now everyone enjoyed the perfect thing. And they lived happily ever after.

It’s a happy story. Unfortunately, a lot of brands don’t have a story like this. BUT, they can! They just need to be committed to continually working on each of the nine parts. Now let’s take a closer look at those parts.

#1) Location(s)

Choosing the right market can have a huge impact on growth and marketing returns. Companies in the pre-startup stage, expansion stage or companies considering relocation should take advantage of location research and analysis. The following data should be considered:

  • Total Search Volume
  • Search Value
  • Total Search Value
  • Competition Quantity
  • Competition Strength

#2) Campaigns (Products/Services)

We define campaigns as products or services that are being proactively marketed to a target audience. Thorough market and keyword research help companies optimize and prioritize existing campaigns (products/services) and identify opportunities for new campaigns (products/services). The following data should be considered (same as locations):

  • Total Search Volume
  • Search Value
  • Total Search Value
  • Competition Quantity
  • Competition Strength

#3 Presence

All types of digital media should be optimized for higher rankings, including:

  • Websites, webpages and blog posts.
  • Local Search Profiles (e.g. Google Map Results)
  • Review Sites (e.g. Yelp)
  • Social Media (e.g. Facebook)

#4) Rankings (Ranking Power)

Higher search engine rankings are extremely helpful and allow companies to reap the low-hanging fruit. To outrank the competition beat them on three things (content is still king; ) See how this works »

  • Consistence
  • Quality
  • Time

#5) Click Through Rate Optimization (CTRO)

Some search engine results get skipped right over, others can be almost irresistible. Increasing your web pages’ click through rates is one of the quickest ways to increase traffic. Improve the following to increase your CTR:

  • Titles
  • Descriptions
  • URL’s
  • Reviews
  • Percentage of Search Engine Results Page (SERP) owned.
  • Rankings (this is HUGE!!)

#6) Landing Page Optimization (LPO)

Through data we’ve learned that the first impression searchers get when they land on your page is very difficult to change. This can either be a really good thing or really bad. The landing page is the best opportunity to make a good impression, build value and generate interest. The goal here isn’t “Let’s be average”. The goal is “Let’s be the obvious choice”. There is a lot that goes into becoming “The Authority” or “The Obvious Choice”. Some of the big ones include:

  • Site Speed
  • Site Responsiveness
  • Design
  • Testimonials
  • Awards and Recognitions
  • LESS IS MORE!!
  • DO NOT MAKE ME THINK!!

#7) Pricing Page Optimization (PPO)

Pricing pages are great pages to A/B test and provide lots of opportunities to communicate value, transparency, and flexibility. Every industry is different but the most optimized pricing pages are:

  • Transparent
  • Well Defined
  • Simple
  • Flexible (Think Packages)
  • LESS IS MORE!!
  • DON’T MAKE ME THINK!!

#8) Sign Up Optimization (SUO)

It’s depressing how many potential buyers choose they want to make a purchase but don’t complete the sign-up process. When you’re done optimizing the sign-up process, there won’t be a process. Write the following on a stone tablet (it’s not gonna change; )

  • Remind them that signing up is quick, easy, and risk-free.
  • LESS IS MORE!!
  • DON’T MAKE ME THINK!!

#9) Total Customer Value (TCV)

Nothing is more important than winning loyal customers and raving fans, NOTHING!! Do this and you will GROW. Don’t, you will plateau. A few tips:

  • Be and remain committed to being the very best in the business.
  • Take advantage of the fact that mistakes are one of the best opportunities to win loyal customers.
  • Take advantage of the fact that successes are one of the best opportunities to get good reviews.
  • Make it easy for your loyal customers to become loyal fans (social media strategy).
  • Email marketing to win back old customers and up-sell existing customers.

Bonus #10) Profit Margins (PM)

Improving profit margins won’t increase internet sales (so it doesn’t really belong in the funnel). BUT! it’s worth noting that if you optimized steps 1 -9 you will have MUCH GREATER internet sales. And, greater sales almost always results in better profit margins. This is an unintended benefit of optimizing the inbound sales funnel. And what will you use your extra profits for? Inbound Marketing of course ; )

Inbound Marketing, Local Business Results, Local Inbound Marketing, Marketing, SEO

What You Need To Know About SEO Before You Start A Local Business

START-UP SEO

I’ve seen it too many times. People start awesome local businesses, but with business names or domains that are not optimized for success. At least not for search engine success. Local searches can add anywhere from up to a million to much more in annual revenue for a local business. So if you’re serious about attracting a lot of local search traffic – this is what you need to get right before you even open your doors.

Quick Note: At a future date I may go more into why each of these tips are crucial. For now, this post is intended to focus more on the suggestions and not dive deeply into the explanations (some of which are common sense and others go deeper down the optimization rabbit hole).

#1 Your “Primary” Business Category Matters (this will be your bread and butter)

When you set up your Google business profile, Google will ask you to select a “primary” business category. This “primary” category is important because the category you choose will be the category Google considers you a local authority in. Here’s what you should know about your primary category before you choose it.

  • It will be your bread and butter.
  • It’s what you want to rank highest in search engines for.
  • It should be what you do better than anybody else.
  • It should be what you’ve perfected (or at least are committed to perfecting).
  • It’s what will get people talking about you.
  • It’s what will get people in the door.

2,395 Categories to Choose From

As of today, Google has 2,395 separate categories for local businesses. If Google has created a category for your type of business, there’s a good chance people search for it. On the other hand, if Google hasn’t created a category for your type of business, you’re probably not starting a business that gets a lot of local search traffic.

Want to take a look at your business category options? Check out the local business category list.

Got it?

Let’s move on.

#2 How to Discover Your Million Dollar Word/Phrase

After you’ve identified your “bread and butter”, it’s time to identify your million dollar word or phrase. This is the word or phrase that people use most often when searching online for a business like yours.

How do you discover such a phrase?

Google Trends.

For example, if you’re starting a “Pest Control Service” (this is Google’s category for pest control companies), you might use Google Trends to compare “pest control”, “exterminator”, “exterminators” and “exterminating”.

Here’s what Google Trends tells us about those four phrases:

The graph is clear. Searches for “Pest Control” outpace all others by a long shot. The two-word phrase “pest control” is the million dollar phrase.

Discover your million dollar phrase with Google Trends.

#3 What Makes An Optimized Business Name

Choosing an optimized business name can have several benefits. Here’s what you need to keep in mind.

Include Your Million Dollar Word/Phrase

Including your million dollar word or phrase in your business name will have lasting search engine and conversion rate benefits. Let’s go back to the pest control example. The name “Orkin Pest Control” will over time be of greater benefit than “Orkin Exterminators”, “Orkin Exterminating” or just plain old “Orkin”.

Optimize The Length

An optimized business name is short, but not too short. More specifically, your name should be between 5 and 15 characters (not including spaces). You’ll learn more about why when you choose your domain name and your handle/vanity URLs (for social profiles).

Make it Easy To Remember and Spell

Don’t make it a name that’s hard to remember or hard to spell. Your direct website traffic and returning website visitors (not to mention referrals) will both be greater if you have a memorable name that’s easy to spell.

Availablity

There is a good chance the business name you want isn’t available. Not only does your business name need to be available but the appropriate domain name and vanity URLs (for social profiles) need to be available too.

You can check if your idea for a business name has an available matching .com domain and social handles/vanity URLs at NameChecker.com

#4 What Makes An Optimized Domain Name

Choose an optimized domain the first time. You’ll be happy you did. Here’s what you need to know about your domain.

It Should Match Your Business Name

By default, this means it will include your million dollar word/phrase, be between 5 and 15 characters (not including the .com), be easy to spell, easy to remember and available.

You’ve Got To Stick With The .com

You’ve got to get yourself a domain name that has an available .com. This means many of the business names you’ve thought up won’t be available (or at least not for $12). The .com will have search engine and conversion benefits.

Make Sure Your Canonical URL is a www. (please do this from the start)

Most websites use the www. For example, the two giants are www.Google.com and www.Facebook.com. But many business owners don’t realize they’ve chosen a non-www. URL as their canonical url. For example, twitter uses twitter.com not www.twitter.com as their canonical URL.

For those who want to go more technical visit my post on www vs. non-www URLs.

#5 The URLs You Use For Your Social Profiles Matter

Good branding means you keep the same handle/permalink/vanity URLs across all of your social profiles. If you use your optimized business name as your social handle/permalink/vanity URL you’ll be happy you did. Your keyword rich business name will result in a lot of relevant links and anchor text.

#6 How to Choose An Optimized Business Address

Choosing an optimized address is very important. You can read my full post about how to choose a business location search engines will love. Here are the criteria for an optimized business location.

  • Within the principal city
  • Right in the sweet spot (visit the post for more on this)
  • A place you can stay
  • An address that is listed on Google Maps
  • The “correct” address structure

#7 Your Phone Number Matters

Your phone number matters! Believe or not Google has actually created profiles for local businesses based only upon a business landline being installed for the business at a particular address. In other words, they’re aware of the business name, address and phone number just based on info the phone company provides. Here’s what you want to do to optimize your phone number.

  • Get a local area code, not a 1-800 number.
  • Stick with a business (not residential) phone line / service provider.
  • If possible, choose a landline (VOIP is not a landline).
  • Be sure your phone company uses your exact address (with the proper structure) on their records.
  • Be sure the phone company lists your exact address (using the proper structure) in their business directory.

Not all phone service providers will meet the above criteria. Usually, in each city, there are only one or maybe two companies that provide business landlines and directory listings. Stick with them.

Quick Tip: You can always use additional VOIP lines for tracking and analytics purposes, but the line that’s listed on your Google profile and other local directories should meet the above requirements.

#8 Permalinks Matter (you gotta get these right the first time)

A permalink is the part of the URL that comes after the domain name. For example, the URL www.Google.com/business has ‘business’ as a permalink. Each URL you create on your business website will gain authority (aka ranking power) over time. When you change the URL you lose the ranking power you’ve earned.

If you have to do this you can create a 301 redirect and pass most of the authority to the new URL, but it is hands down better and less of a headache to get them right the first time!