Inbound Marketing in a Post Mayan Apocalyptic World

Mayan Doomsday Calendar

I never noticed until now that the face in the Mayan calendar is sticking his tongue out at us. How appropriate!

Well, thankfully, we are all still here!  There may have been some hoping that the Mayan’s were right, but for all of us that were left behind, we must continue to press forward along the journey we call Inbound Marketing.

The fruits of the journey are great. Attracting visitors, generating leads, closing sales – it’s all there for the taking.  The prize is ready for those willing to step up and carry the banner.  We dodged the end of civilization as we know it, after all – our entire future lies ahead of us!  Let’s view this as a second chance to do things the right way and as we enter into this new cosmic cycle of life, turning the gigantic carved stone page of the mayan calendar to a new.. well.. gigantic carved stone page and get started on the right foot!

We would like to challenge our inbound marketing enthusiasts and readers with the following three goals.

First Challenge: Create More Content.  Content is the fuel which drives interested readers and potential clients to your website.  Don’t write lazy, shot in the dark, content (no comments about this mayan apocalypse post please) – no, write strategic content, written to answer the most common questions your clients have.  Write content that is optimized to attract potential clients using the most frequent search phrases in your market.  Above all, write content that begs to be clicked on, read, and shared with the world.  Your website stats will thank you for it.  Inbound Marketing relies on a steady stream of quality, well written, well researched content in order to reach full potential.

Second Challenge:  Capture More Data.  User data that is.  Once you attract visitors, make sure you have calls to actions, landing pages and premium content that is so fantastic that readers will be flocking to leave their contact information in order to download this wonderful information.  Attracting visitors is only a part of the overall inbound marketing strategy.  Offering visitors a reason to dig deeper is the key to moving them further down the funnel.

Third Challenge:  Market to your Subscribers.  Once you have collected contact information from your visitors, use it!  By filling out a form, a visitor is giving you permission to speak to them. Use this, but use it wisely.  Segment your list and make sure any emails going out to contacts is relevant to their interests.  Know where your visitor is in their decision making process and speak to them accordingly.  A “thanks for signing up” email shouldn’t be a heavy sales message.  Gradually work your way up to an offer through a series of informative communication, leading the reader further along towards a purchase in the future.

If you aren’t sure what Inbound Marketing is, exactly, check out our FREE eBook. It’s full of information that will get you up to speed in no time, and it’s absolutely free. You can’t beat that!

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Be patient with these tactics.  It’s like building a snowman – you start with a small snow ball and you have to patiently roll it along as it builds in size.  You can’t hurry the process or you won’t like the outcome.  The same is true with inbound marketing.  The more you write, the bigger the snowball.  The bigger the snowball, the more traffic you get.  More traffic means more leads, which in turn mean more customers.  Trust us, it’s worth it to take your time and do it right, and you can’t wait for the right time to start.  The right time to start was yesterday – but if you haven’t already, the next best time to start is RIGHT NOW.

 

50 Blog Post Ideas for Small Business in 10 Minutes or Less

You’ve run out of blog post ideas for small business. You have 10 minutes to spare before your next meeting.   You can do this.  Trust me.

This is wide-open, fast and furious, seat-of-your-pants brainstorming.  Just write down or type out blog post titles.  No jotting down or even thinking about actual content outlines.  No keyword research.  You’ll do that later.  You may scrap half of them later, but those 25 keepers will keep your content fresh for a good long while. (more…)

Promote Your Clients with Your Giveaways

Colin and Carly Johnson Keller Williams Johnson City TN

Colin and Carly Johnson of Keller Williams Realty with a free Cootie Brown’s Key Lime Pie! Colin’s rapid response to our monthly email newsletter tied with David Tomita, so they both got pies. See below.

We are always looking for ways to give out free stuff.  Everybody likes free stuff. It’s fun to give and it’s fun to get.

And if you can promote your own products or services with the free door prize, that’s all the better.

“We Can’t Give Away Our Stuff!”

But some businesses (like ours) struggle at times because the goods or services they offer are more valuable, less tangible, and more time-intensive than are feasible in most “door prize” situations.

(more…)

5 Proven Blogging Ideas to Kickstart your Content

It’s a lot of pressure to come up with blogging ideas at a pace necessary to generate traffic.  We’re taking a moment here to throw out a few ideas to get your creative juices going.

5 Blogging Ideas to Increase Marketing ROI

Photo courtesy of PhotoSteve101

1. Tap Into What Makes You Unique?  

Build of your company’s USP.  When seeking targeted traffic, it’s crucial to tap into those juicy, detailed keyphrases that are ripe for the picking.  For instance, niche industrial companies should write about their specific niche.  Users are searching for information on those very topics, so (more…)