One of the biggest challenges for anyone considering tackling internet marketing today has always been the difficulty of gathering information, executing a strategy and understanding what works best and what is failing.

Six years ago, two young men just out of MIT understood your pain and created a solution that would allow small and medium businesses, a single consolidated software package to accomplish that lead generation and lead management.

Since it’s inception, their company, HubSpot has become the marketing platform of choice for over 7,000 businesses and that software has generated over 35 Million leads for them.

On September 1st of this year, HubSpot is releasing the most upgraded and integrated platform ever for inbound marketers of small and medium businesses.

An Intelligent Platform That Puts The Marketers in Control

The evolution of the HubSpot software (now referred to as HubSpot 3) is the result of the rebuilding and weaving together many of the single modules that were used previously.

Some of the existing modules are still current such as the blogging software, CMS, SEO tools and the Marketing Analytics.

What’s new or rebuilt in HubSpot 3:

1. Contacts Database: Contacts is an ever-evolving information portal on a company’s audience (Prospects, Leads and Customers).
2. Email: The email system is closely integrated with the contacts database, workflows social media, dynamic content and a company’s CRM system. It enables greater personalization and deliverability than ever before.

3. Workflows: Workflows leverage the enormous amount of data in the Contacts database and a series of rules set by the marketer to create dynamically evolving segments and automate marketing actions. More than email automation, workflow enables marketers to trigger campaigns, change contact profile properties, score leads, send notifications, and sync to a CRM system based on when a lead has met a set of conditions.

   

4. Landing Pages: Landing pages have been rebuilt to be closely integrated with the Contacts database, CRM systems, email, dynamic components, and social media. Using the new landing pages marketers can build, implement, and measure a full multichannel campaign in one place. A/B Testing is built in (at the enterprise level) and the new landing page templates have responsive design to optimize for different devices and browsers. Because of Smart Forms and Smart CTAs, HubSpot’s landing pages are also among the most adaptive on the market.

   

5. Smart Fields: Smart forms adapt and minimize over time. As a company gathers contact information about a given lead, the forms remove fields that have been satisfied in past submissions, making for a better user experience. Smart CTAs: Built off the Contacts database, HubSpot 3 enables you to show images and CTAs that adapt to reflect the interests and stored qualities of the person viewing them.
6. Smart Lists: Smart lists are continually evolving contact lists based on a set of criteria. Each time an individual meets the rules of a smart list, they are added. You can have an unlimited number of Smart Lists that are segmented based on the value of a contact property, being a member of a static list, or having ever filled out a specific form.
7. Social Media: With a new integration directly into Contacts, HubSpot Social Media now enables you to view a lead’s social activity and create dynamic segments based on your most engaged social media followers. In addition to that functionality, called “Social Contacts,” HubSpot social media now has an in-app view of all your Twitter and Facebook interactions and enables you to respond, follow or other.

   

8. Mobile App: Available for free in the apple store, HubSpot has added a mobile application to enable marketers to keep tabs on their lead generation and customer conversions on the go. The mobile app includes a view of Sources, Marketing Grader and Contacts.
9. Salesforce.com Integration: HubSpot 3 brings you an even stronger Salesforce.com connector than ever.
10. App & Service Marketplace: First launched in 2011, the marketplace has now grown to include more than XX providers and XX add-ons to HubSpot. The marketplace aims to ensure that HubSpot users will be able to customize their HubSpot and never run out of functionality for their platform.
11. Overall UX improvements: In addition to rebuilding portions of the product and launching new tools, HubSpot has made significant investment in the overall user experience within the platform. From the marketing analytics reports to the set-up process, it is a completely new and guided experience for users.

    (Source: HubSpot)

As an Inbound Marketing Agency and a HubSpot Partner, Go Time Marketing is very excited about this latest integrated release. Wondering what this means for your business? We would love to show you how inbound marketing can improve all of your marketing efforts. Just click below to get a free marketing evaluation for your business.

If you’re blogging to increase your site traffic, you’re probably seeing an increase in traffic.

But increasing your site traffic is really just the beginning.

The next question is: Is that traffic converting to more leads?

If it’s not, read on to see what you may be doing wrong.

The Offer Comes First

Any inbound marketing campaign needs to start with an offer. Not a blog post, a tweet or an email.

It’s all starts with your offer.

What Do You Mean By Offer?

In the Inbound Marketing world, an offer is normally embodied in a downloadable piece of premium content that is offered in exchange for a name and an email address.

Examples of offers are:

• The Essential Step by Step Guide to Internet Marketing
• Inbound Marketing Research to Fuel Your Marketing Plan
• 7 Site Redesign Tips for B2B Lead Generation

So getting someone to fill out a form to produce a lead is what an offer is all about. Will that “lead” buy from you today? Probably not. But that’s OK because you’re just getting started.

Now that you’ve created a valuable piece of premium content that people want, you can use all of your great inbound marketing tools at your disposal to move that lead to a real customer. 

What Comes After Your Offer?

After you’ve defined your offer, all your subsequent marketing activities should flow from your offer. All blog posts, all email nurturing campaigns, all social media posts should be based on and support the offer.

Each of these inbound marketing elements all have a role in the campaign.

• Calls to Action (CTA) – Buttons and graphics that stand out on your page and direct people to do something is what CTAs are all about. Download Now is a classic example.
• Landing Pages (LP) – Landing Pages are where your offer lives…after they’ve given up their Name and Email Address
• Lead Nurturing & Email – Once they’ve given up their email address, you put them on an informative and occasional email nurturing campaign. You want to educate and nurture them over time. Share, Don’t Shill
• Blogs: Blog posts, done well, bring in top of the funnel traffic. Hopefully in great numbers. But it may also continue to act as a nurturing tool as people subscribe and read your blog. Over time they may become customers.
• Social: Social networks are a great tool to get the word out around your blogs posts and offers. That’s it. It’s just a tool.
• Analyze: What campaigns are working? You’ll find out with analytics and reporting. Don’t neglect this important final step.

Conclusion

The conclusion of this post is straightforward. All inbound marketing campaigns should start with an offer. But that’s just the beginning and it’s the right place to start.

And like your inbound marketing program, we’re just getting started as well. Subscribe to our blog above to get more future posts on such great topics like:

• What’s the Lead Conversion Path?
• What metrics should I Use to Measure an Inbound Marketing Campaign?
• What are Calls to Action and how do they fit into the mix?
• Should I have more than one campaign?

If you’ve been following the great debate on what Google looks for when ranking your content on the front page of their Search Engine Result Pages (SERP) then you’ve heard the same mantra over and over…

Produce quality content and you will rise to the top of the search results. Produce weak, mediocre content and you will sink into the muck and mire of Page 10 obscurity. 

Obviously, there are many factors that contribute to your site’s pages ranking:

• Site history
• Domain authority
• Proper on-page SEO
• Keyword placement / density
• Inbound links
• Much more…

And throughout the last decade, people have been trying to manipulate these factors to gain an edge on the popular search engine’s rankings.  Those days are coming to an end.Google Panda and Penguin Have Changed the Game

Google’s stated mission in life is to “organize the world’s information”.

Tough job.

One of their biggest technical challenges has been fighting people’s attempts to manipulate rankings in the algorithmically-driven search results page (SERP).

But over the last 18 months, Google made two game-changing additions to their fabled algorithm. One was called Panda and the other Penguin.

SEO MOZ Video on Google Panda

SEO MOZ Video on Google Penguin

As these excellent SEOMoz videos make clear, it is now much more difficult to manipulate  Google SERP rankings.

And it has now become accepted wisdom in the SEO community, that creating quality content that gets shared on social is the only true, long term way of getting ranked on Google.

In other words, you now have to create content for people, not search engines. What a concept!

23 Content Quality Factors Revealed

In a Google Webmaster Central blog post last year, Google Fellow, Amit Singhal explained what Google looks for in order to give your content a quality ranking.

While Google isn’t going to give up their algorithm secrets (more on that below), Singhal advises and intimates that if you’ll ask yourself these questions about your site and your content, you will understand what signals Google looks for in determining quality.

1. Would you trust the information presented in this article?
2. Is this article written by an expert or enthusiast who knows the topic well, or is it more shallow in nature?
3. Does the site have duplicate, overlapping, or redundant articles on the same or similar topics with slightly different keyword variations?
4. Would you be comfortable giving your credit card information to this site?
5. Does this article have spelling, stylistic, or factual errors?
6. Are the topics driven by genuine interests of readers of the site, or does the site generate content by attempting to guess what might rank well in search engines?
7. Does the article provide original content or information, original reporting, original research, or original analysis?
8. Does the page provide substantial value when compared to other pages in search results?
9. How much quality control is done on content?
10. Does the article describe both sides of a story?
11. Is the site a recognized authority on its topic?
12. Is the content mass-produced by or outsourced to a large number of creators, or spread across a large network of sites, so that individual pages or sites don’t get as much attention or care?
13. Was the article edited well, or does it appear sloppy or hastily produced?
14. For a health related query, would you trust information from this site?
15. Would you recognize this site as an authoritative source when mentioned by name?
16. Does this article provide a complete or comprehensive description of the topic?
17. Does this article contain insightful analysis or interesting information that is beyond obvious?
18. Is this the sort of page you’d want to bookmark, share with a friend, or recommend?
19. Does this article have an excessive amount of ads that distract from or interfere with the main content?
20. Would you expect to see this article in a printed magazine, encyclopedia or book?
21. Are the articles short, unsubstantial, or otherwise lacking in helpful specifics?
22. Are the pages produced with great care and attention to detail vs. less attention to detail?
23. Would users complain when they see pages from this site?

You’ve seen them. You look for a second and when your brain doesn’t recognize them, your eyes just continue to on.

However, that is about to change.

Why? you ask. With one click from a cell phone camera and you, the creator of the code can send someone straight to your company website’s well crafted landing page, or to your LinkedIn page, or to YouTube for a video. How about a new email or SMS text message. Even a phone call. Easy to make, easy to use. They can save you thousands and earn you more.

QR stands for Quick Response. It’s a bar code that is read by QR readers installed on cell phones with cameras.

If you are not using them in your business marketing and customer service strategy, you better start. The ease of use coupled by the proliferation of smartphones destines this technology to grow at an unprecedented pace.

Why will QR codes will catch on very quickly? Here are four good reasons.

Ubiquitous – Smart phones have proliferated to the point that they’re everywhere you like. When you go to a business meeting or conference, how many people will  have one lying on the table?

Free – Smart phones require a downloaded application to read the QR Code- but there are a plethora of free apps and likewise free programs online to make the codes. The QR code can be encoded with text, a web address, a vcard (Outlook contact business card), a SMS text message, a phone number or other data. Once read, the smart phone responds by going via wireless to the hyperlink destination. Or creates a text message, gets a phone the number ready to call. Creates an email.

Benefits the audience – My wife love it! It’s an easy way for her to get instant gratification. I have to tell you that my wife is not addicted to her computer as I am. She would tend to NOT run and type in a URL or go out of her way to respond online to an ad or offer. However, now that she has an iPhone, she swears by the QR gods that made her life easier. She can get further information and instructions and coupons and more. When we were driving around looking at houses for sale in our neighborhood recently, she lamented that there were not QR codes on the signs so she could snap and go rather than find the flier bin empty.

Really, the uses are endless. A contest. A special code. A pre-formatted email or sms message. Details about a purchase about to be made. Facts about a house for sale. A how-to install video. Ingredients. Background information. I would love to find them on the sticker of the new car I am interested in so if I am there after hours, I can either get more information or request an appointment for a test drive.

Benefits to business – When coupled with an appropriate landing page, a well defined call to action and a mechanism for tracking, your company can experience lowered costs, improved customer service, marketing and sales opportunities.

If you have a creative idea on how to use a QR code, please leave your comments. In a future blog, I will be explaining how I have helped a comedian, a bood author and a musician use this fantastic, technological innovation to help improve their business and to engage their fans and customers further.

If you would like to discuss how a QR Code campaign might benefit your business, please contact us and let’s discuss.

I use their Gmail, Google Calendar, Document sharing, Adwords, YouTube, Feedburner and Google +. I am excited about the work they are doing with the self driving car (I want to be able to work while commuting without getting a ticket for distracted driving).

But the question I am asking now is… Do I want Google in front of me during all of my working hours?

In an online story in the “Bits” section of the New York Times, Google talked about their Project Glass, a up to this point secret project that hopes to produce wearable computing.

Though the glasses are not yet haute couture and they are just being tested, you may come across a random Google employee walking around wearing a pair of the wrap-around glasses that are a little more understated than Geordi Laforge’s ocular appliance from Star Trek. Google is also developing a pair of contact lenses that include pixels embedded into the display.

In this video that Google recently released, you can see how Google envisions you in the near future “mind melding” your day with today’s very commonplace Google apps.

A young man begins his day in his New York City apartment, gazing out the window and getting the time, date and weather on his “heads up” display. He then goes about his day, asking for and getting directions, chatting with his friends, taking pictures, checking in at a local eatery and sharing a beautiful sunset, overlooking the city in a video call with his girlfriend while playing her a tune on his ukelele. Take a moment to watch it. It is actually very intriguing!

So, what do you think? Do you want Google to be “wired” into your brain? Please share any comments for or against. Also, if you have any additional ideas for Google, let them know!

Inbound marketing is a marketing methodology that is statistically proven to drive more traffic and convert more leads, but also entails doing many different things… all fairly well… all at the same time.

Where to Begin Your Inbound Marketing Training

HubSpot

If you like it full force and you like it free, then HubSpot dominates Inbound Marketing training with free webinars, blogs and content. The only investment that you need to make is in time and focus to learn. HubSpot’s superb training will teach you about the art and science of:

• Search Engine Optimization
• Blogging and Social Media
• Lead Generation
• Lead Management
• Email and marketing automation
• Marketing Analytics

Inbound Marketing University

Also if you are a real achiever and want to become a “Certified Inbound Marketing Professional”, then Hubspot has it’s own Inbound Marketing University complete with tests. (Start cramming now!)

HubSpot services range from a basic 200.00 monthly to 5000.00 monthly.

SeoMoz

SeoMoz primarily deals in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) software that can benefit any website a great deal in ranking highly on various (and we mean Google) search engines. The service is offered free for the first thirty days at the “pro” level. This software will help your company with:

• Crawl Diagnostics
• On Page SEO
• Link Analysis
• Traffic Data

This software isn’t cheap and is mainly for businesses that utilize SEO services to there fullest. Prices range from 99.00 a month to 499.00 for the Elite Pro offering.  However, their SEO blog is not only extensive, but packed full of helpful hints and advice for the DIY’er.

Marketo

Like getting leads? Yeah, we know, dumb question. Marketo caters to the lead nurturing and web analytic crowd. They are a software platform that caters to B2B. The services they offer include:

• Consulting
• Lead Management
• Sales Insight
• Revenue Cycle Analytics
• Data Base Management
• Social Media Integration

Marketo has two pricing plans. The “pro” pricing plan covers marketing automation and lead management at around $2000.00 a month. The “enterprise” tier starts at about $3,600.00 a month and adds to the professional plan, added security, the ability to add additional users for a lower price, and a sandbox environment for users. Again, a little pricey, but their marketing blogs are fantastic!

So, whether you are a “do-it-yourself’er” or you would like to talk to one of our Go Time Marketing Account Managers about either partnering out some of the tasks or letting us “do-it-for-you” services, just give us a call (800) 693-4339, drop us a line (Sales@GoTimeMarketing.com), fill out our form (to the right–>) or “chat us up” with our widget. One way or another, we are at your service.

More so, if your website has a means for visitors to subscribe or inquire further on your products, you probably have a significant number of potential customers ready and waiting for you.  But how do you convert this list of emails into customers?  And what if you need to get more leads from your website?

List building and email marketing are two important strategies that should be included in your internet marketing plan.

Here are some tips on list building to get more leads:

•         Create a Facebook “fan page” where people can “like” the page and then opt-in to receive more information.
•         Join forums that focus on your products and services – or that pose problems where your product or service is the solution.
•         Participate in industry or trade blogs by providing articles about industry issues and how your product can resolve the challenges.

Here are some tips for email marketing:

•         Aspire to send emails often, but not too often.  Depending on your product or service once a week can be plenty.  In some cases, once a day is a better choice.  While you do not want to overwhelm your subscribers with emails, you should strike a balance so that your business comes to mind when the time is right.
•         Avoid repetition in your emails.  Coming up with new ideas can be challenging, and you can cycle through particularly successful emails every few months.  But otherwise, your content needs to be fresh and eye-catching.
•         Always have a call to action – make offers, send coupons, have contests, encourage referrals, or simply challenge the reader to click to your website for more information or to order.

The effort to get more leads can be daunting, and managing those leads and building a long lasting customer relationship can be equally challenging.  Many businesses choose to work with a firm who can specialize in internet marketing and customer relationship building.  Before giving up on your website visitors and subscribers, consider working with an expert who can help you assemble a plan to turn them into your customers!

Many web designers show off their skills with flashy design elements. Home pages, product pages, beautiful logos and images… all important, but none of which helps you make money or help you get more leads.

Knowing that all customers aren’t created equal, you need to make sure where they land is specific to what they’re searching for.  You can achieve this by using targeted keywords that direct potential customers to a landing page optimized for that specific keyword or phrase.Ex. You have a website selling books.  A potential customer enters “Mastering the art of French Cooking by Julia Child” into the search engine and clicks search.  Your landing page is optimized for that term so when the results are shown to that potential customer they see your page title indicating you sell that specific book.  They click the link which leads them to a landing page that allows them to purchase the book and find similar books they might enjoy.  You just sold your first book or possibly two with the upsell opportunity you provided.

Whether you’re selling books or offering a free white paper to obtain an email address, there needs to be a strong and clear call to action, a little more information about the specific product or service you’re offering and a way for those leads to convert (i.e. form).

You can increase the effectiveness of your landing pages by including these 6 key factors:

• Eye-catching headline
• Your offer
• Benefits of your product or service
• Lead capture form
• Clean layout
• Image or video

Incorporating these components will help you get more leads, more sales and increase your return on investment.

The following methods are the foundation for a successful inbound marketing campaign:

1. A strong social media presence. Actively updating social media profiles for your small business, like a Twitter account, and regularly engaging customers in conversation can act like a magnet when it come online marketing. Think of your social media accounts as a virtual form of customer service – people are more willing to recommend a product if the company behind the brand answers questions and keeps its customers updated on important news.
2. Proper on page SEO. While on page optimization is largely behind the scenes of your website, it plays a significant role in drawing customers to your small business. This includes filling out relevant META tags for every post, and ensuring that the picture tags contain local search terms that you want to rank for when customers search for images.
3. A solid base of quality content.  A website that posts new content on a regular basis is more likely to rank well in the SERPS, which means that you will have a greater chance of being seen by customers that are searching for your product, money in hand. You can effectively cast a large net just by having a solid base of content, and if you update your website with fresh, engaging content your customers will do the work for you by discussing it in their own social circles.

If you want a high conversion rate, then the best way to attract sales is by letting your customers come to you. While traditional outbound marketing still works, billboards, commercial ads and radio broadcasts are becoming easier to tune out, which means you’ll be wasting money on an ad campaign that doesn’t net the results it used to – work smarter and let your customers find you through inbound marketing.

Want to discuss your marketing efforts in more detail? Contact Go Time Marketing and ask them a question.. any question. They love to help!

While we can’t talk expertly about the first two, we can tell you that whenever you put up a picture on your website or blog, Google has absolutely no idea what the picture is. You have to tell the search engine about the picture. That is where “alt tags” come into play.

Go to your website and right click on a photo, then choose the “Get Info” option. Now, close your eyes and imagine you are unable to see pictures and can only read text. Does your picture have a name like 38u39e7.jpg? How about img036.gif?  It doesn’t tell you what the picture is showing, only a random mix of numbers and letters.  Even if your image has a name such as “backyardbbq.jpg”, it doesn’t tell the search engine the context in which it is placed.

Search engines were designed to scan the web for text and index it. There is currently no way for search engines to look at a picture and determine how it is relevant to the rest of the page (Google has this insatiable need to know relevancy and authority).

Alt tags are inserted into the HTML or coding of your website.  They will look something like this -

<img src=”images/38u39e7.jpg” />.

To a search engine they only see what’s displayed which is a little line of code, which folder you image is placed and the image name.

Here’s an example of what the code will look like with the addition of an alt tag.

<img src=”images/38u39e7.jpg” alt=”ipod accessories – headphones, headsets, cables docks, cases and power accessories” />

Can you see how this could be beneficial not only to search engines but also to your SEO?  By placing this simple line of text you tell the search engine what the picture is and the keywords that correspond to the image itself.

Help your search engines out.  Set up your Alt Tags to read: “Big Red Nike Sneakers” (if that is the keyword you’re optimizing your page for), or even “Handsome owner of Go Time Marketing” just to keep it relevant.

These days, search engines are so specialized that they no longer find quality content on the internet and show it atop search results. They now define what it means to be “quality content” and force webmasters to play by the rules or their website will never be found.

So how do you play by their rules?

Here is a list of many of the components of a complete internet marketing strategy. Just remember that it will take time and a commitment to have a profitable website.

Get Found

• Professional, optimized website design – All content on your site is visible to search engines. You need to understand metadata, Alt tags and a host of other techniques.
• Write compelling content that ranks – Your content has to appeal to humans and “bots.” This means keyword density and research are crucial.
• Find and engage your audience – Understand who you want, where they are and what they like.
• Attract organic, high-quality traffic – Not all traffic is created equal. You want potential customers.
• Social Media Management – Social networks are incredible but it’s easy to blend in. You have to set yourself apart.

Convert

• Understand in-bound marketing – Make your content easy for others to find and share.
• Craft a compelling call to action – Even the best-looking sites need a good sales pitch.
• Turn visitors to leads – Grab their attention before they “bounce.”
• Turn leads to sells – Outshine your competitors.
• Email marketing – And get your customers to come back again.

Analyze

• Web Analytics – This is an on-going process because search engines change monthly.
• Observe what works and what doesn’t – Understand your traffic reports, links, backlinks and referrals.
• Design a winning strategy – Take everything you’ve learned and form a plan of action.
• Establish your ROI quickly – A quick ROI will give you flexibility to grow and evolve. The internet moves fast; so should you.

In all seriousness, there is no such thing as being half-pregnant and there should be no such thing as a half-commitment to internet marketing. If you want your website to get quality traffic and to convert those visitors into customers, you have to do an outstanding job of planning your marketing strategy and you absolutely have to stick to it.

Go Time Marketing can help you get started, recognize and fix mistakes or even handle the entire effort for you so that you can concentrate on running your business. Contact Us for a free evaluation and let us help you.

“You really suck at golf.” That was what my golf coach told me after my 8th weekly lesson.

“But I have been practicing my grip just like you showed me last week. I hit more balls than the entire Senior Open,” was my whiney reply.

“Your grip is the best I have ever seen,” he replied, tongue in cheek. “But your stance is wrong, your knees aren’t bent properly, your hips don’t swivel, your elbows stick out, your backswing is erratic, your wrists aren’t breaking and you quit your swing right after striking the ball and you lift your head immediately to see how far your ball went.”

He was right. I did suck at golf and now I know why. There are over 20 things that you have to do, and do them all correctly, each and every time to make a perfect golf swing.

If we take the golf analogy a little farther:

Great web design = Great golf clubs
Killer web tools = Good shoes and golf carts
Weekly blogging = Hitting buckets and buckets of balls
Golf Swing = SEO, Social Media, Promotions
Having a great game = Getting qualified leads from your efforts

So, applying this concept to mastering the promoting of your business, whether it is a B2B or B2C requires training with a methodology that you can practice over and over.

By using the HubSpot methodology of GETTING FOUND–CONVERT–ANALYZE it becomes a simple task that only requires consistency and practice to become a “scratch golfer”  and a successful Inbound Marketer of your business or brand.

Download Your Free “Get Found Online” Guide to take your first Inbound Marketing lesson.

If you have dipped your toes in and have tried inbound internet marketing, I am sure you are asking yourself, “How much you should be spending and how long you have to wait to start seeing results?”

Whether you have seen some limited success or have paid the ultimate “ignorance tax” that we all pay at one time or another, let’s take a look at some of the requirements that can lead you down a successful path.

Let’s answer the “How Long?” question first and talk about what it takes to shorten the process: 



It takes time. The best way to succeed with your Inbound Marketing program is to make a commitment to it and stick with it and follow through on each of the marketing steps we discussed earlier.

If you or your management is not committed or taking an active role and at least a small degree of participation, the results will not be there.

It’s worth it. Inbound Marketing has shown the lowest cost per lead and also establishes your brand awareness over time. If you don’t have the time or the bandwidth you’ll need to hire a qualified business development or marketing person to manage your marketing program and represent your company in blogging, social networks and all other forms of online marketing. Note: Even if you hire an inbound marketing agency to provide the needed services, you should work closely with the agency to monitor results.

Taking the long view– Inbound Marketing is about enhancing your online presence over time. People trust brands and companies that demonstrate a long term process of providing consistent and helpful information. This takes time and requires a steadfastness that borders on faith in the beginning.

Excellent content – by blogging, (building loyalty) and supplying e-books, whitepapers, webinars and other information (creating lead conversions), you are laying the ground work towards loyalty. Just make sure you’re publishing relevant, helpful posts as often as possible. We recommend 3 to 4 posts per week.

Constant contact –don’t forget to reach out to your customers with newsletters, webinars, updates and events to keep them engaged and loyal.

Act Global – Think Local – have you looked at all forms of local marketing? If you overlooked local search and directories, Geo social, community participation then you can’t expect to gain your market share. Remember, successful marketing takes time + activity.

Where should you spend your money?



You can hire yourself a Marketing Director – They can run somewhere in the $75K to $150K annual salary based on experience, location and responsibilities.

Get yourself an in-house, inbound marketing team – Hire between 2 to 5 individuals with experience in marketing, blogging, SEO, graphic design, social media marketing, content marketing, lead generation, analytics. But you know, that could run anywhere from $70K $150K as well, even if it is your niece/nephew/summer intern.

Hire an Inbound Marketing agency – providing the same skills as an in-house marketing team often starting as low as $24K per year without all of the downside of supporting new employees.

The fact is that Marketing done properly is expensive, but it produces results in a methodical manner It takes about one year after beginning your marketing operations to realize a positive ROI.

How committed you are and how much of a priority you make it are crucial elements for SMB and startup companies because you tend to be financially challenged and/or focused exclusively on building operations.

Without the full scope of either an in-house marketing team or an inbound marketing agency you are more likely to grow your sales slowly and incrementally over a longer period of time. This can cause you to doubt the effectiveness of marketing and abandon it altogether.

Our advice is to do it right, do it consistently, and use a professional. Have focus on your goals and faith in your plans.

Make sure Inbound Marketing has a bonafide and established role in your business

• According to HubSpot Marketing, companies that blog have 55% more visitors to their websites than companies that don’t.

• Business To Consumer Companies (B2C) that blog generate 88% more leads per month than those who do not.

• Business To Business (B2B) Companies that blog generate 67% more leads per month than those who do not.

Inbound Marketing is the newest business strategy which puts the customer in control and gives them the power to decide how they will receive their marketing materials. The way it works is simple:

• Marketing content like blogs posts or videos are created and uploaded to your website.

• That messages is then Search Engine Optimized (SEO) which gives your content a higher ranking in search engines like Google and Yahoo.

• The message generated can then be spread through social media like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

The numbers do not lie.

• Inbound marketing is more cost-effective than traditional outbound marketing. This is because your clients will spread your message themselves via social media, which is more effective than putting up a billboard or placing ads and hoping someone notices. In addition, you can target your audience better than using traditional advertising routes.

• Inbound marketing has been used in successful presidential and political campaigns and will put you ahead of your competitors. It helps you work smarter, not harder and puts your business ahead of your competitors.

Generating new leads and growing your customer base has never been easier. Qualified agencies like Go Time Marketing would love to show you how this cost-effective and measurably proven resource can get you more leads, more customers, and more business. Give them a call or just ask a question on their website. They would love to hear from you!

Inbound marketing can bring your target market directly to your Website, if applied properly. This marketing approach raises your site’s SEO rankings. The higher your ranking, the higher your site appears in search engine results. Here are three methods to get more leads to your site using inbound marketing.

Content

Content marketing is an excellent way to get more leads to your site. Informative, relevant content attracts visitors that are already interested in your product or service. Providing important information helps them understand why your company is the best to provide what they are looking for.

Continuously providing new, relevant content also raises your SEO ranking. Google uses a technique that extracts actual word meanings in web pages, ensuring that Web searchers are directed to Web content related to their keyword searches. New, unique content gets higher rankings with Google and other search engines.

Blogs

Blogs are a great resource for providing informative content to your online visitors. As it becomes more popular, your blog’s search engine rankings will continue to rise. This ensures that you will get more leads because more visitors will frequent your site for informational purposes.

For the best results, your blog content should be different from the content on your Website and any of your other online presence sources. Adding links from each blog, back to different pages of your Website for reference, and vice versa, helps to create backlinks to your site and your blog, raising your search engine rankings substantially.

Social Media

Social Media is one of the most popular inbound marketing tools available. They allow users to search for “friends” and “followers” based on keywords. Creating a social media network related to your marketing niche ensures that your network is interested in what you can provide for them. This provides a way for you to get more leads for your product or service.

Your social media posts, “Likes” and “Retweets” “Subscribes,” and “Google + Circles and +1’s” allow you to share pertinent content online with your network. They also allow you to build a loyal fan base that will take part in sharing your content with their own network, as well.

Niche Inbound Marketing

Niche Inbound Marketing uses online techniques that are directed towards site visitors that are already interested in your product or service. Raising your SEO rankings helps to bring these visitors to your site, making it easier for you to get more leads to your Website.

Would you like to ask us questions about marketing your business to attract customers looking for your products or services? Just ask your question below. We will respond within 1-2 business days.

If you are wondering how Red Stiletto Heels can turn into Bunny Slippers, here’s how:

A one-in-a-million web surfer is surfing the net and sees your advertisement for Pretty Red “Come Dance With Me” Shoes and they immediately decide they WANT (not need) a pair for themselves.

Your now, Prospective Customer winds up on your homepage where you offer literally hundreds of different shoe choices. Your prospect clicks around, becomes distracted, and before they know it, suddenly they’re looking at bunny slippers for Uncle Steven for Christmas.

But that triggers their memory that Shoe Warehouse is running a sale on bunny slippers, so then they’re off to explore that website.  Hold on a sec – what just happened?

Well, it’s what actually happens every day – no – make that every hour. You invest lots of time, money and effort on your homepage, so that’s where you’re hoping everyone will start, and then of course, wind up buying from YOU. Right?  Not so.

In reality, if someone clicked on the ad and was sent to the “Come Dance With Me” landing page, their decision would have been narrowed down to size, color, price, and whether they were ready to purchase.

Then you’d have converted them to more than just a lead or Prospective Customer – at that point, they’re a bonafide customer.

Even if they weren’t quite ready to purchase, they can sign up for email specials, using your “Contact Us” application, maybe send you a specific question, and ultimately become a future customer, or an advocate for your page/brand. Maybe they simply need a little “nurturing” until they’re ready to buy. Then you can send them an email notification when Uncle Steven’s bunny slippers go on sale – and just in time for Christmas, too! Clever you!

Landing pages for various items are invaluable, integral components of your website’s success, and should never be underestimated. Put landing pages with multiple “customer info capturing” applications to work for you, and it’s almost a given your profits will rise. Don’t be a catalyst to propel those web surfers elsewhere, ever again. Landing pages could well be the best “work horses” your website utilizes to help you get more leads.

This is just one example which with a little tweaking, could make a huge difference in your business success and help you get more leads and sales.

Let’s talk about your business and how to “fine-tune” your offers and landing pages to increase lead generation and ultimately, more sales.

Most business–to–business have used direct mail in some form or another, with some being more successful than others.

The one commonality today, is that direct marketing as we’ve known it in the past is becoming less and less effective.

With the advent of relatively inexpensive e-mail campaigns, a whole new paradigm has been created as to the etiquette required to pique interest without ending up in the spam can.

Let’s take a quick look at a few helpful hints that will enable you to create a successful email marketing plan to maximize your leads.

FIRST, HAVE A PLAN

You have to have a plan when you e-mail your customers and prospects in the first place.

What is it that you’re trying to achieve? Better yet, ask yourself why would your prospects want to hear from you and what useful information can you provide to the recipients of your campaign?

WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING ACT?

Remember to ask yourself, what device is your customer using to read your e-mails? Are they at home watching on their widescreen High Def computer monitor? Or are they reading it from their iPhone or Android phone? It could be anything in between.

So you have to ask yourself before you begin; what format works the best? Should I put a lot of graphics in the e-mail? Shall I include a short video? What’s the benefit of a large file attachment?

It is also very importatnt to make sure that you sample your e-mail template in all of these potential environments.

DRINKING FROM A FIRE HYDRANT

Rome wasn’t built in a day, so what makes you think you can educate your customers in two or three e-mails? Create a monthly content calendar for the next 12 months and establish the goals for each week prior to distribution. Your timeline and steps will vary depending on your industry, type of content and calendar.

Just remember, that too much information can be as bad as none at all.

WADDA  YOU WANT?

Try to offer a choice of topics. If you’re publishing about a distinct type of content let your prospects have a choice of what type of information to get. It’s better than losing them entirely, which can happen if they feel inundated with irreverent content.

The best way to do that is to segment your content into distinct newsletters for topical sending. Give them a choice of subject matter when they sign up to your list through your landing pages.

FINDING YOUR FREQUENCY SWEET SPOT

How often should you send information to your prospects? Who knows? Your prospects do. Let them tell you how often they would like to hear from you–bimonthly, monthly, quarterly or semiannually.

Remember the point about drinking from a fire hydrant. You don’t want to communicate too infrequently, but if you send too much, too often your subscribers will feel overloaded with your e-mails and may unsubscribe or, worse, report you as a spammer!

SIMPLIFY YOUR UNSUBSCRIBE PROCESS

“if you love someone, set them free. If they come back, they are yours forever.” This applies to your unsubscribes as well. If they want to go, make it easy with an unsubscribe link within your e-mail.

Not only is this a requirement of Can–Spam, but it shows that you respect their time and preferences. And out of respect, don’t ask customers to retype your e-mail address or to sign up for an account just to unsubscribe. Such barriers will only frustrate them and could lead to complaints or angry reviews.

NURTURE YOUR PROSPECTS–THEY  WILL  LOVE YOU

Like in any relationship, there is no perfect fit. However by taking care of your prospect and making every move with them in mind, you can nurture a relationship that will benefit you both. Be it merely friendship or an intense love affair, it will be built on respect.

For more information on the three principles of Inbound Internet Marketing: GET FOUND–CONVERT–ANALYZE please subscribe to this blog, join one of our very informative webinars, or just contact us directly.

Whether you are a late night fan of Jay Leno or a raving member of Conan O’Brien’s Team Coco, you can immediately distinguish the difference between the two by their use of social media.

When Conan O’Brien was interviewed by talkshow host Piers Morgan at The Cable Show 2012 in Boston the following facts came to light:

With 5.6 Million Twitter followers compared to Leno’s 376,000, there is no comparison. Next, take a look at their respective Facebook pages. Conan rocks with 1.86 Million “Likes” to Leno’s measly 429,000. So why is there such a difference?

“He’s busy. He’s got the largest privately owned car collection in the world,” O’Brien smirked. “So, he doesn’t have time for social media.”

During the interview O’Brien was insistent that in 1993 when he began his late-night talkshow career he was a computer Luddite. “The networks felt that it was all about how many viewers you had watching your television show.  When I was at NBC, we had a late-night page but it was the same website page a dry cleaner would have.”

When O’Brien was asked about how he got into social media he responded:

“I was standing with a foot in traditional broadcast and one in this “brave new world” and I felt I had to make a jump to one or the other. My team and myself had to figure out what it is about this new world we are in and how we could exploit it.”

When asked of his strategy O’Brien replied, “I never pretended to know a thing about this. We just knew that we had a following of young Internet savvy fans and we were aggressive about reaching out to them.”

It’s All About Content

Whether he’s blogging, tweeting, posting in Facebook, checking in on Foursquare, posting videos to YouTube, creating a live webcast, posting pictures on Flickr or writing a blog on Tumblr, Conan goes where his fans are.

“At the time this all started happening [Conan's post Tonight Show Tour], I was forced to embrace this world and the first thing I learned was… It’s all about content!”

Morgan asked O’Brien whether it upset him that his material can be found in various formats across the Internet to which he replied, “no, not at all.” When Will Ferrell unveiled on Conan’s television show the date of the new Anchorman 2 movie, (and play the flute), O’Brien’s staff chopped that performance up into bit sized pieces and knew exactly how to “get it out there so that’s its everywhere.”

“When I started, we were taught to not give anything away for free. You teased people so that they would watch.”

What O’Brien and team have found out to be true is that it is a different world out there today. You can show them exactly what Will Ferrell did and mass distribute it so there is no surprise. But what happens is that it created a wave of viewers for their 11:00 show. It created conversations on the web and created a curiosity for people to want to watch. Some watched it on TV, some on their DVR a few days later and some are experiencing it in little pieces like from the Huffington Post and other blogs.

So here’s what you can learn from Conan:

• It’s all about content
• Go where your fans (customers) are
• Post your content EVERYWHERE
• There is no “right way” in the new world
• That was then… and this is now
• Posing with a monkey is good press!

To fully experience the richness of the Conan’s insights, take the 20 minutes and watch this interview. Even though Piers Morgan is a bit of a bore.. don’t you think?

What makes SEO so powerful? Research of search engine giant Google (80% of the market) shows that people’s eyes tend to follow a “Z” path on a landing page; landing on the first page of an Internet search is critical, and on every page there is a “Golden Triangle”; which captures over 90% of prospective customers’ attention. A recent Cornell University study showed that the first two listings on a Google landing page captured over 53% of user attention, but if you are the top listing, the number of people clicking over to your website is four times greater. After the second listing the results drop sharply- numbers three and four capture almost 23.5% of eye attention, with numbers five through eleven splitting up the rest.

Fall out of that Golden Triangle, or worse, off of the first page, and it is unlikely that your message is getting noticed. Get more leads by placing your website at the top left hand corner of that “Z”,  and you will drive sales with ease!

Consider this: people that initiate an Internet search have pre-qualified themselves with their interest in your product or service- they are coming to you already actively looking to make a purchase. Placing your company’s website in prime position guarantees that you will get more leads.

 This is the easiest way to take the frustration out of lead generation: let your website get more leads for your business, freeing your sales people to close the deal with customers who have found you by demonstrating interest in your product or service.

 Cold calling, mailers, commercials and other forms of outbound marketing are losing efficacy due to customers having so many methods of blocking them out, i.e., caller id, spam filters, even the wastebasket. Don’t let your message get lost in the maelstrom of today’s media blitz- use SEO to position your company where you are sure to get noticed by your customers. If you don’t, your competitors will.

B

There are many misconceptions floating around about what works with business blogging and what doesn’t. These myths lead to lots of frustration for business owners trying to find success with internet or inbound marketing.

It’s easy to become overwhelmed.  Don’t let yourself get frustrated by these silly lies. There are smart ways to organize and manage your internet marketing strategy that can lead to success with smart working and time. I know, because I’ve used them, and they’ve worked for me.

Lie #1-Overnight Success-Not in the Real World People think that they’ll create one great sensation and be an overnight online success. This just isn’t how things work in the blogging world. It will take several months of consistent strong internet marketing through large social media outlets like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other niche sites before you will develop a solid internet following. It takes time and diligence.

Lie #2-Long Blogs Are Good-Nope! Long Can be Boring Some writers think they need novels on their sites to have success with their followers. Keep in mind, the average reader loses interest after about 300 to 500 words. Also, don’t let your writing style turn into a lecture. This is another opportunity for your readers to take a snooze and leave your site. Keep things upbeat, conversational, and to the point.

Lie #3-Repetition Blogging-No! Repetition Equals Bad News Some bloggers think if they repeat the same things over and over in their blogging that this will keep their audience coming back for more. This isn’t true. Your audience will return when you continue to provide them with awesome content that’s trendy, appropriate, and what they like. Let’s not forget humor. People don’t want to read something that’s going to bore them or make them feel sad. They want to read content that will:

• Inspire them
• Educate them
• Make them laugh
• Make them feel good
• Benefit them in some way

Lie #4-You Must be Genius to Have Success. No. You Need to Learn and Work Smart.

You don’t have to be an internet marketing genius or Pulitzer prize winning blogger to create decent content. To be successful at blogging, you need to:

• Believe in yourself
• Have a plan and follow it
• Learn from mistakes
• Track your progress
• Try new things

If regular writing isn’t your thing, try a professional content writing business like Go Time Marketing to create content for you.

Providing potential customers with relevant, informative content on a frequent basis is a key to establishing rapport and trust with prospective clients as it relates to inbound marketing.

Minimizing many of the common mistakes people make when authoring a blog will translate to more and better customer leads in the future.

7 Deadly Mistakes of Blogging

Here the 7 most common mistakes a business can make with their blog:

• Blog Frequency: Do not fall into the trap of not blogging enough. Effective inbound marketing requires frequent and consistent blog updates. Updating your blog with a new entry between two and four times a week is optimal.

•  Content Matters: Ensure your blog entries are relevant to your business as well as helpful to customers. Providing meaningful content will cause potential customers to take notice as well as funnel more potential customers to your blog through search engines.

•  No Copying: Unique content is ranked much higher as it relates to search engine results. Copying other’s content is not only unethical but also less effective.

•  Blog Length: Entries to your blog which are excessive in length can often cause the reader to lose interest. Keep your blogs focused and concise to improve its reading experience.

•  Call To Action: A blog without a purpose is essentially just words on a screen. A proper call to action will energize and motivate the reader to make changes and take action.

• Key Words: Key word recommendations serve an excellent purpose; they help your blog be discovered by customers looking for information on a specific topic. An overly keyword saturated blog will be ranked lower than a blog with the proper amount. Conversely, a blog without enough of the keywords might not receive the proper association at all with the search results.

•  Persistence Pays Off: Throwing in the towel too soon is a serious blogging mistake. Establishing readers and moving up search engine rankings does not happen overnight. Continuing to consistently and frequently write meaningful, quality content will gain recognition; it is not a matter of if, only a matter of when.

Closely following these important steps will yield many benefits to your blogging activities. GoTime Marketing can help guide you through this process further, feel free to ask any questions.

You’ve heard the recent hype about the importance of social media and want to tap into this latest marketing trend.  The costs seem relatively low and, according to experts, the benefits appear to be endless.  Yet, your efforts at social media marketing have fallen flat.  What are you doing wrong?

First, the fact that you’ve taken the initial step of making a foray into social media marketing is admirable.  You’ve already mounted the hurdle that many businesses have completely overlooked. You might have even downloaded Tweetdeck, HootSuite or a number of other helpful clients for free or purchased more sophisticated apps to help you.

Second, don’t be intimated by the prospect of reaching out to consumers and businesses through this medium.  It’s not as daunting or complex as you may believe. In our next blog, we will review how to tend to your social media campaign in 10-30 minutes a day.

In order to meet that time goal and to reap the rewards you are seeking, you should develop a social media marketing plan that will help you steer, monitor and measure the results of your inbound marketing efforts.  One of the keys to success when marketing via social media is the use of popular keywords that will lead consumers to your web site via search engines.  Following are five tips that can assist you as you develop your plan of action.

Five Tips for A Winning Social Media Strategy

1. Be consistent.  Consistently post your social messages via Facebook, Twitter and your blog.  Many people make the mistake of being fired up in the beginning with their marketing efforts, and then abandoning them after only a few weeks.  Keep at it and you’ll see the results.  Being consistent is the key.
2. Be relevant.  Post items that are relevant to your customers, such as new product releases, new services added, quotes from satisfied customers, product tips or items on sale.  You can also tie your posts with current cultural, political and newsworthy events. The keywords used should reflect the relevance of your product or service to the consumer.
3. Be confident.  Spotlight satisfied customers and post testimonials, including customer photos.  Be sure to request permission from your customers first.  People like to see their names in lights, and the customer endorsements will add to your company’s credibility.
4. Be synergized.  To increase efficiency and so that your marketing message will have a multiplier effect, all aspects of your social media campaign should work in tandem with one another.  The most lengthy message (your blog post) should be the foundation for the other outlets that allow for only brief communication.
5. Be proactive.   Don’t hesitate to seek the services of an social media marketing expert in order to perfect your marketing plan.  Go Time Marketing can give your social media program that extra push to propel your company to the next level.  We help you increase sales by getting your business found on the Internet and ultimately convert those all important leads to actual customers.