Inbound Marketing and Social Media:

A Recipe for Success Online

Inbound marketing is successful when you view it in terms of a combination of permission marketing and search driven marketing. In other words, you want to be where your potential clients are….when your potential clients are searching for your services. If you are not, you will be ineffective and your inbound marketing strategy will fail.

Central  Hub: You must view your website in terms of a central hub. The idea is to drive as much traffic as possible to your hub by creating excitement, authority, and, above all, interesting content.

Video: We are in the video generation most online advertising and inbound marketing is driven by video. That is where the lion’s share of your clients will come from. An effective video campaign will send your business soaring, a lackluster video campaign will kill it!

Blogging for Business: Blogging is crucial! In fact, the static website of just a few pages is on its way out…if not dead already! The website that is primarily image-based, particularly when it comes to text, is worthless. You will derive ZERO SEO value from images alone. When a website full of images is crawled, it shows up as blank. A balance of text, images, and video is essential. Blogging also develops interest in your business and provides a line of communication between you and your clients that is invaluable. Blogging is essential for any business trying to grow and relate to their target market long term.

Viral Video and the Rest of the Online Guru Hocus Pocus: Forget about viral! Yes, that’s right…forget about it! If you intentionally set out to create a viral video or make some other sort of online media go viral, it will almost certainly fail! Focus on quality content that will interest your target market and get shared.

Note: I have videos and articles on websites around the world and very few, if any, would be considered viral. But they all get shared and it all translates into backlinks, subscribers, social media connections, clients, and friends.

Yes, friends!

Redirects: Redirects can be useful but if you are hoping to derive any SEO value from a super domain name that you are only using as a redirect to your not-so-great url, you are wasting your time, money…and a quality domain name too boot!

Articles: Articles accomplish several things at once. Articles establish you as an authority in your niche, they deliver backlinks to your main hub (although this is changing), and they drive traffic to your main hub. Even with the new shifts in Google’s algorithm, article marketing is still a crucial component of a solid inbound marketing strategy.

John Jones: Who is your target market? What does he look like? What are his interests? How does he dress? You must be able to SEE John Jones in order to relate to him…or Jane Jones for that matter!

Social Media: Social media is also essential! All of the components of an effective inbound marketing strategy must work together, in concert, if you are going to succeed. This is not an optional strategy, it is imperative if you want to compete in today’s market. Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook (both personal and a fan/business page), YouTube, Dailymotion, Break, Viddler, Foursquare, and others are the key to social media success. Ping.fm is the best way to reach most of the core social media sites in one blast, Hellotxt is another, and XeeSM.com is the third. If you integrate these social media hubs into your overall strategy it will make your job much easier.

Warning: Do not use social media as a vehicle to spam your followers or you will kill any suucess you may have otherwise achieved! Additionally, if you spam, all you will have following you are fellow spammers…and they will eventually unfollow you as well!

Additional Blogs: Google’s Blogger, Squidoo, HubPages, and others are also useful and can be tied directly into your social media hubs for constant updating! These should be included, as they are virtually effortless to maintain and they do end up on page one!

Keyword Research: Most keywords are insignificant. Many businesses beginning to explore inbound marketing focus on keywords that drive ZERO traffic to your website. The key is to know not only what terms are searched for, something Google does well, it is crucial that you know which keywords get the most CLICKS! Click through rate is crucial.

Google Analytics: Metrics are also key! You must know who is visiting your website and where they are coming from if you are to develop and intelligent and effective, long term inbound marketing strategy.

Testing: A/B testing is probably the simplest and most effective, at least when starting out. Long term strategies can be added from there.

Consistency: An inbound marketing strategy must be applied daily if it to work! Social media can be time intensive at first. The longer you do it, the easier it will become. Blogging must be done at least 3 times per week for best results. A video blog with adequate text to introduce and provide a synopsis of the video can make all the difference in terms of SEO value.

SEO: SEO or search engine optimization is a long term strategy! Yes, there are certain tweaks and some people believe Google provides a bit of a nod to new entities on the web…but that is debatable. Google is King Kong on the Internet right now and they are changing their algorithms constantly. The best strategy is one that is keyword rich and delivers superior content.

Video, Article, and Social Media Delivery Software and Memberships: There are several delivery systems in the form of membership sites and software that can be used to make you job easier. It is crucial to use these systems in order to reduce the amount of time you must spend on tedious projects…or get your employees in on it and have them do it. In the long run, your labor costs will kill you. It is best to use the membership sites available to you. We will review many of these as we progress.

Video Creation: There are several video sharing and video creation sites online. Animoto is simple and effective for creating short, interesting videos. Vimeo, Viddler, YouTube, Dailymotion, and several other video sharing sites will allow you to add your own logo and message for a fee. It is well worth it long term. While placing YouTube videos on your blog and website may be cost effective short term, long term you want to create your own identity without relying on YouTube. I have integrated my Flip MinoHD videos through Camtasia to Screencast. Others use Amazon’s video platform and still others Brightcove. Whatever the platform, make sure you learn all the ins and outs, so it remains trouble-free and cost effective!

In the next article I will discuss several sites I recommend you set up profiles on and how to do it for next to nothing and with little effort. Your profile should be keyword rich and your image a professional and/or easily identifiable one. In addition to Google’s Keyword Tool, I sincerely feel that Market Samurai is the class online at this time. Check it out for free & then upgrade if you like it!

I love it!

Discussion: We will discuss any questions or comments you may have and raise here. I hope this helps you as you begin, at once, to create your new and Ultimate Internet Image…or help others to get there!

I look forward to sharing ideas and/or working with you and believe we can position you to do great things in your niche as a brick and mortar business, an online business, or as an Internet, inbound marketing consultancy!

John Zajaros (Jack)
The Ultimate Internet Image
Lakewood, Ohio 44107
440-821-7018 (cell)
johnzajaros@gmail.com

Note: Just assume links are affiliate links and that way there can be no misunderstandings!

Building an Inbound Marketing Consultancy

If A is for Attitude then B is for Backbone!

In The Inbound Marketing Week in Review: What are the A, B, Cs of Inbound Marketing we spoke of the “A” letter resources, concepts, and ideas, those adding to our knowledge-base as we strive to build an inbound marketing consulting firm and serve our clients.

Naturally, many of the terms discussed can be applied to Internet marketing, online business across a variety of niches, MLM, and, of course, “offline” businesses, particularly as they seek to make the transition from outbound to inbound marketing and build an Internet image or online presence.

NOTE: We will continue to refine the list as we work toward September 1, 2010. Anyone who is a subscriber to the UII Newsletter and email list on or before August 31st will receive a free copy of the completed ebook on August 31, 2010. So subscribe today!

So, here are the B resources, concepts, and ideas, in part. Please leave your comments and ideas below. Have we left anything out? Can you add something to our list? Please feel free to offer your feedback and, if appropriate, we will attempt to include it in the final draft.

B – Backbone: Internet consulting, online business consulting, or inbound marketing consulting, whatever you choose to call it, is not only about knowing the Internet, it’s about being able to understand and relate to the “real world,” the offline business world…and sales.

Having a backbone is a must!

By that I mean, you must be able to take rejection. And, you must be able to say no yourself when it is necessary. Meaning, you must be wise enough to walk away from a sale and a big check when you know a prospective client is the wrong fit for you and your consulting business. That takes backbone, particularly when you are first starting out.

Additionally, asking for the kind of fees you will require, and deserve, will take backbone…at least until you have some experience and feel confident in your abilities. Interestingly, once you understand that you are, in fact, able to deliver a service few others can, that you are indeed an expert, it will no longer take backbone to ask for your fee. Your knowledge and service will convert either a nonexistent Internet image or one that is all but nonexistent into The Ultimate Internet Image. And there aren’t a lot of people or businesses that can do that.

While it is true that the more knowledgeable you become and the more experience you gain, the stronger your backbone will become, you must demand it of yourself from the get-go or you will be swamped with the wrong clients paying you far too little for your services…and you will be miserable.

Make sure you learn to say no and walk away from the wrong situation.

And, whether you listen to Malcolm Gladwell or Perry Marshall or Lee Milteer, they are all telling you one thing:

“Listen to you gut!”

And I would add:

“Use your backbone!”

B – Blogging for business is a necessity. I’ve heard some of the experts, even experts who blog themselves, call blogging for business “lame.”

Or, more accurately, they call business blogs lame.

Perhaps many are?

However, if you set up your inbound marketing clients’ blogs properly and fill them with quality content on a continuous basis, it will pay huge dividends in terms of interest, traffic, and sales for your clients.

Blogging is one of the most effective traffic and relationship building tools available online today. I would argue that the distinction between a website and a full-function blog will disappear in time, perhaps entirely within the next five years.

All you have to do is look through the Studiopress blog themes available or look at what some businesses have done with Thesis themes to understand that I am on the money here.

For inbound marketing purposes?

The blog is a better vehicle for traffic generation than a static website, particularly when starting out, for a myriad of reasons.

If a static page is required?

Many premium blog themes will accommodate you and your client. All-in-all, the blog is the way to go and the amount of traffic and page rank you can gain for your inbound marketing clients in a relatively short period of time makes this one a no-brainer. At the very least, if your client is set on their static website, as is? Integrate a blog immediately and link the two sites or integrate a blog into the exiting website. The boost in traffic and page rank will be significant and will convince your client to go along with other inbound marketing strategies as time goes on.

In today’s online world, if your client isn’t blogging, they might as well be rowing across the Atlantic with one arm.

They will never get where they are going without all the resources available to them…and that includes a professional looking blog!

B – Blogosphere is a term implying that all blogs are made up of a single universe, the blogosphere, and that they are all connected in one community. The blogosphere also refers to various interrelated blogs and their connections. It is an interesting concept and there seems to be at least some validity to it.

One example of the power of this phenomenon is when a video, article, or blog post goes “viral,” spreading across the Internet rapidly, seeming to take on a life of its own.

Interestingly, Jon Hoover recently mentioned how blogs and the blogging community were once like a small town and now the same community is more akin to a major city. I would argue the same is true of the blogosphere. What was once a relatively small and unique, interactive community has spilled over its boundaries and the new manifestation has very little in common with what once was.

The blogosphere of today is a universe apart from the blogosphere of a decade ago.

B – Brand Awareness is a reflection of how many consumers are aware of a particular brand. One of the most important purposes of an inbound marketing campaign is to enhance brand awareness, to increase the overall, positive response to a client’s product or constellation of products. Ultimately, brand awareness is measured using brand recall, brand recognition, top of mind awareness, and other metrics beyond the scope of this post.

However, on a related topic, it is important to realize that many of the sales that are currently being attributed to social media may be more a consequence or at least a reflection of brand awareness.

Two companies, one with brand recognition and one without, will have very different results given the very same social media marketing campaign. We will explore this relationship in greater detail as we go but it goes without saying that brand awareness is central to online success and inbound marketing is crucial for brand building and brand recognition…or whatever you want to call it.

B – Backlinks are also known as incoming links, inbound links, inward links, and inlinks. Backlinks are incoming links to a web page or website and are one of the most important factors in determining a website’s ranking. Backlinks are also a reflection of who is paying attention to a certain website or page within a certain website. Building incoming links can be one of the most challenging tasks for an inbound marketing firm because they take time and the creation of quality content…and a little bit of luck.

As important as the backlinks, perhaps more important, are the quality of the incoming links.

In other words, where the link is coming from is more important than the link itself. A link from a less than reputable site can have an adverse impact on ranking.

Links for sake of more links is gnerally a bad strategy.

B – Benefits: Sell the benefits.

Or, as an old mentor of mine used to say, and I have said time and time again to the people I mentor, coach, and train:

“Sell the sizzle, not the steak!”

If you are selling air conditioners in August?

Sell the feeling you get when you first walk into an air conditioned house after cutting the grass on a 90 degree day. Do not focus on the digital controls or the ease of operation.

Help your inbound marketing client picture a full dining room from 4:30pm until 7pm. Let your client hear the phone ringing off the hook for pizzas at a typically slow period of the day because of an email blast. Get them to see the new car, the kids in college, and all the rest of the benefits of your inbound marketing expertise.

Don’t tell your inbound marketing prospects about autoresponders, email marketing, and social media profiles…they could care less!

Sell them the sizzle and then they (and you) will have steak!

B – Blogger (blogspot) is Google’s free blogging platform and, while many feel it is not worth the time or the effort, nothing could be further from the truth. Yes, I have heard people say it doesn’t pay to utilize this platform. Significantly, Google allows anyone, and that includes inbound marketing firms, to build an unlimited number of blogs for an unlimited number of purposes. If you are not using this resource, you are missing out on a valuable inbound marketing tool. Do not simply build mirror sites but build blogs with content and then encourage others to link to them and through these blogs back to your clients’ primary site. Imagine one hub connected to another and another, all of them interconnected and pointing links and driving traffic back to your central hub. And, you can do it all for next to nothing!

B – Business Networking is a marketing method that has been around a lot longer than the Internet. Networks of like-minded business people come together to seek and share opportunities and ideas with one another.

There are several well-known online business networking sites, to include:

• ecademy
• LinkedIn
• Plaxo
• Xing
• Biznik
• XeeSM
• And a myriad of others (you can see how many by clicking all of the above links!)

Inbound marketing firms not only use these networking sites to build their consulting businesses but to build up their clients’ businesses as well.

Social media has transformed business networking.

Some of the most responsive social media sites online are business networking sites like ecademy and LinkedIn.

These sites and others should be an integral part of your inbound marketing strategy…not only your’s but your clients’ as well.

B – Brick and Mortar Businesses, what I often refer to as traditional brick and mortar businesses, are the primary focus of many inbound marketing consultancies because many brick and mortar businesses are having a difficult time making the transition from outbound marketing to inbound marketing. Many brick and mortar businesses have been sold a bill of goods and have been convinced that all they have to do it put up and website, maybe spend a bunch of money on SEO, and the rest will take care of itself.

The “If you build it, they will come!” days are over.

Interestingly, some marketers refer to brick and mortar businesses as “offline” businesses…but that is less than accurate, particularly in 2010.

Brick and mortar businesses are generally considered to be businesses with a physical address in the “real world” and not just an address in the virtual or online world…as “online” or Internet businesses do. When most people think of brick and mortar businesses they think of some sort of retail establishment or a service-oriented business, like a plumbing contractor or an HVAC contractor, any sort of a business with a physical address doing business face-to-face with customers, clients, or patients.

The Ultimate Internet Image serves brick and mortar businesses, assisting them in the transition from outbound advertising to an inbound marketing. UII creates an inbound marketing strategy tailored to the needs of their “offline” clients and appropriate for the individual client’s competitive business environment. It is crucial to understand both the Internet and the “offline” world if we, as inbound marketing consultants, are to properly serve our clients.

It takes empathy, understanding, knowledge, and experience to develop an inbound marketing strategy that works for our brick and mortar business clients!

Next, we will jump to the Cs of inbound marketing. Please add your thoughts and ideas below. I would love to hear from you and it will add immensely to the final product, an inbound marketing guide we can all share in.

Thank you and please comment below!

John Zajaros
The Ultimate Internet Image
Lakewood, Ohio 44107
216-712-7004
Skype: johnzajaros1

Blogging for Business: Web 2.0 and Relationship Marketing

Blogging and offline businesses are becoming more in sync, and with good reason. Statistics show that blogging for business, offline and online, is an effective marketing strategy. Blogs can be added to an existing company website, or exist on their own.

Blogs Versus Websites

A blog actually is a website; it is set up in a different manner. Blog is short for the word weblog. As you post entries on your blog, they are displayed in reverse order. The last piece you wrote is the first thing you see upon entering the blog. It is much easier to get a blog up and running than a website. A website template cannot be functional until all the pages are complete. The frequent updating on blogs also leads to higher search results than a website that just sits there and is rarely updated.

Web 2.0

Web 2.0 is a phrase that was first used in 1999 by Darcy DiNucci. She wrote, “The first glimmerings of Web 2.0 are beginning to appear and we are just starting to see how that embryo might develop.” Today we think of Web 2.0 as referencing the ability to interact with others on the internet. Blogging is the perfect example of Web 2.0; readers are encouraged to comment on the blogger’s perspective. The blogger can react in kind.

Blogging and Relationship Marketing

Relationship marketing refers to marketing that is created by direct response campaigns. The focus is on pleasing and retaining the customer, instead of just looking for sales. The rise of inbound marketing and blogging is the next step for relationship marketing. Blogging and relationship marketing are intrinsically linked.

The goals of relationship marketing include using technology to keep current customers, as well as to attract new ones. Another goal of this type of marketing is to do all of this while cutting costs. Blogging for business definitely fits in this mold. Blogs are an effective way to attract searchers to your website and possibly turn them into customers.

Benefits of Blogging for Business

Blogging improves your website. Google sees frequent updates and eventually awards you a higher ranking on searches via search engine results pages or SERPs. Blogs also provide visibility for you and your business. This is especially useful for offline businesses to establish an online presence. Do recent news events tie in to your business? React to them in your blog.

A company can establish communication with customers through a blog. Comments on the blog can lead to future customers, as well as provide feedback on performance. Use keywords in the blog to improve search results for your business. By keeping your blog from being too sales-oriented, you can gain other valuable links from other bloggers and websites.

A recent poll by Hubspot of their customers found that in the businesses that blogged:

• Fifty-five percent had more visits to their web page
• Ninety-seven percent had more inbound links
• Four hundred thirty-four percent had more indexed pages

These numbers are difficult to refute. More visits to a website leads to more sales. Increased links and indexed pages means that your business will turn up more often during Google searches and lead more consumers to you.

Online and offline businesses should realize the benefits of blogging. It is a simple and affordable way to increase your sales and bottom line. Make your blog interesting and informative, have fun with it and your readings will respond. Business blogs are an excellent way to build new relationships and to maintain existing ones! Do not miss this opportunity to connect with your target audience, it will pay dividends for years to come.

Contact UII today for a free, in depth inbound marketing consultation!

John Zajaros

The Ultimate Internet Image
Lakewood, Ohio 44107
216-712-7004
440-821-7018
johnz@ultimateinternetimage.com