The Initial Inbound Marketing Consultation:

Discussing Inbound Marketing Strategies, AdWords,

Social Media, SEO Factors, and a Secret Ingredient

Whenever I meet with a prospective inbound marketing client for the first time the conversation invariably settles upon what the most effective marketing strategies, those required to build a significant Internet presence, what we at UII refer to as The Ultimate Internet image.

The most common advertising and inbound marketing related questions I am asked in the initial consultation have to do with getting to Google’s page one as soon as possible, and staying there.

AdWords: Many prospective clients invariably ask about paid advertising and, in particular, Google AdWords (PPC or pay-per-click) as a means of getting to page one quickly. My response is always the same:

“It depends on what your goals are, short term and long term, how deep your pockets are, and how thick your skin is.”

That is not always a popular answer…but it’s the truth!

There is no faster way to get to page one and stay there, guaranteed, than to pay for it. However, if a prospective client isn’t familiar with PPC advertising, the risks as well as the rewards, it is generally not a great place to start an inbound marketing consulting relationship. That being said, I do work with clients with sizable AdWords budgets from day one and they’ve done quite well.

However, you must have clearly defined parameters going in and there has to be a degree of comfort and confidence that usually takes time to build with a new inbound marketing consulting client.

OK! Back to organic inbound marketing strategies!

Social Media: Once we dispose of the AdWords question, the next question that comes up has to do with social media.

Social media is everywhere!

Social media is on Primetime TV with various NCIS characters checking their Facebook pages while solving crimes and being “friended” by employers and fellow employees. When I say social media is everywhere, I mean it’s everywhere! It is rare for the nightly news to run without some mention of Facebook or Twitter or YouTube. The problem is, many prospective inbound marketing clients have seen and heard the hype, they have been exposed to the sales pitch, but they understand very little about how it works or what it takes to pull off a successful social media management campaign.

Notice I didn’t say social media marketing campaign?

That’s because, if you have read any of my previous posts you already know this, social media marketing is an oxymoron. Why? Because, in every instance, attempting to market anything overtly via social media is not only ineffective…it is indeed moronic.

I probably lost a couple of readers with that statement…but so be it!

Advising a client to market anything other than a solid Internet image, an online presence via social media is playing Russian roulette with your client’s brand. Social media marketing puts your client at risk for Terms of Service (TOS) violations and having your client’s brand name permanently banned from the social media platform in question.

It is an unnecessary risk and it is a disservice to your client.

Enough said!

Finally, after we have gotten through paid advertising and social media, we get around to talking about websites, which we will cover in great detail in an upcoming blog post, and then to the best ways to get to Google’s page one organically.

The best ways to get to page one of any of the search engine results pages or SERPs, and stay there, are:

• SEO: I am talking about a well designed program from the bottom up and that sometimes means dismantling the existing Internet image and starting over from square one with the proper foundation and the right architecture. This is a radical approach but if your client is nowhere to be found on the SERPs for the keywords necessary and their PR (page rank) is 0/10, what do you have to lose? Better to start fresh and do it right. If you do so, Google, Yahoo, and Bing will reward you, at least in the short term, and certainly long enough to get the ball rolling in the right direction.
• Links: There are a number of different kinds of links and we will discuss them all in depth later. For now, all your new inbound marketing client needs to know is that links are the way the Internet confers authority on your site, on your Internet image. Links are the Internet’s way of saying: “This webiste offers something of value, it has something to offer!” Links from the right kind of sites, related sites with an equal or higher PR than your own, will enhance your Internet image and your authority online.
• Pages: Pages alone are not enough. However, pages are generally a reflection of the time and attention paid to the site by the webmaster, owner of the business, inbound marketing consultancy, or whoever is responsible for its upkeep. After all, if a website is getting enough attention to build pages on a consistent basis, chances are also very good that the type of content offered on those pages is good. Usually…not always…but usually. Interestingly, if your site has a lot of pages the new ones will get indexed quickly. There are a number of advantages to developing a big site filled with quality content as quickly as possible and then continuing to build over time.
• Content: Some say Video is King and others say Content is King. The fact is, both are so incredibly important you simply cannot have an effective inbound marketing campaign without both. Content affects your message and, without the proper message conveyed in just the right way, your blog posts, articles, descriptions, and so on will not be read. If your video does not offer quality content, it will not be watched. Video without great content is useless. Articles without quality content are useless. Blog posts without quality content are useless. Meta descriptions without….Well, you get the picture. Additionally, the more content you add, the more often you add it, and the more related pages it builds, the higher your ranking is going to be.
• Longevity: Longevity is one of those things you just can’t push. The time your website has been around is pretty much set in stone. That being said, you can tweak it a bit. Interestingly, many webmasters and inbound marketing consultants fail to take advantage of these small adjustments that, cumulatively, make a big difference. One of the best things you can do in this regard is to purchase your domain name for at least two and, optimally, five years…up front. Domain age is a crucial factor and it has been noted by many SEO authorities that investing in your domain reflects well on your site and the search engines reward you for the investment. There are other factors and we will discuss them in our next post.
• There are reportedly as many as 200 different SEO factors that affect your overall ranking. That’s right, 200! Some of the others include:
  • Keyword in the URL
  • Keyword in the Domain name
  • Keyword in the title tag – close to the beginning (10 to 60 characters)
  • Keywords in Description – It is said Google no longer relies on it but they do in fact still use it on occasion
  • Keyword in the keyword meta tag – be careful with this one of you can be penalized for getting it wrong (see link in resources below)
  • Keyword density in the body text – Careful! 5-20% of all keywords in total but watch for % threshold
  • Keyword density for individual keywords – 1% to 6 %
  • Keywords in Heading tags – H1, H2 & H3
  • And so on! Like I said…200!

There are many more issues covered during the initial inbound marketing consultation, particularly as we begin the process of building an inbound marketing strategy designed to get our client to page one.

The SERP page one ranking for the various keyword phrases determined to be of greatest significance for lead, appointment, and traffic generation, and ultimately converting the leads to sales,  is crucial to our new client’s success.

Every factor must be addressed, all 200 SEO factors as well as the additional inbound marketing components mentioned above and others we have yet to discuss.

Ultimately, your inbound marketing client’s success is based on how well you communicate what you will be doing and how your new client can help. Significantly, there is one final component that is necessary, one characteristic that can make your job easy and your inbound marketing strategy a success.

Without it, your inbound marketing strategy will certainly fail!

And that secret ingredient is:

Patience!

All of the above will come together if patience is part of the overall marketing strategy. With the addition of quality video and articles (which we will discuss next), along with an ongoing blogging strategy, your inbound marketing strategy will surely succeed. However, if your client is not willing to invest the one ingredient that must come from them, you should part friends before you begin.

Without patience in the mix, there is no amount of money that will be worth the aggravation of attempting to deal with an impatient client.

Key Point: If you explain things clearly up front and do not make promises you have absolutely no control over, you will have a great relationship and your new inbound marketing client will allow you the time and the flexibility you need to deliver amazing results.

However, if you make outlandish claims in order to make a quick sale, it will come back to bite you (you know where) every time.

Ultimately, and I am certain this goes without saying for the vast majority of inbound marketing consultants out there: be honest; be realistic; and, do your homework. If you do those three things, you will have a client long term and you will be able to deliver results that will make you look like a super hero; and, you will make your client a lot of money!

How great is that?

Next we will cover video marketing and distribution followed by article marketing and distribution. Then, we will discuss various website options and why I do everything but stand on my head to get new clients off the idea of a static website on into something far more effective. Then, we will cover linking and how to get more sites to link to you.

An aside: Don’t always believe what Alexa tells you about links, or traffic for that matter. Use Google Analytics and Quantcast, as well as one or two others that we will discuss in the coming weeks, for a more accurate picture. Google and Yahoo also seem to keep better track of links and reflect a more accurate number of indexed pages. We will discuss how to use all of these measures, and more, very soon.

If you have questions, contact me anytime. Please leave comments or feedback…I would love to hear from you!

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

Resources:

Check out Vaughn’s Summaries for all 200 SEO Factors

Google Analytics

Quantcast

Alexa

Inbound Marketing A through Z: Beginning a Marketing Consultancy Part II

In yesterday’s article I discussed my inbound marketing consultancy, The Ultimate Internet Image, and also discussed the Offline Gold Rush, the race to inbound marketing consulting riches and those individuals exploiting this trend with hype and irresponsible claims:

“Step right up and make $5,000 to $10,000 per month with your eyes closed! Oh yeah, while standing on your head…Yeah, that’s the ticket!”

I think I mentioned something about prime oceanfront property in Arizona while I was at it?

And PT Barnum?

Well, once again:

”Step right up!”

Additionally, I discussed the awareness, empathy, and experience required to effectively advise and assist traditional offline businesses. The aforementioned awareness is an absolute necessity whether you are working with brick and mortar businesses (retail), professional practices, service-oriented businesses, and/or specialty shops.

Hopefully, I put the seriousness of the commitment we all make when we take on a new client in perspective? The relationship you have with an inbound marketing client, with any client, should indeed be viewed as a marriage!

Finally, the online and offline worlds were discussed as they relate to an overall marketing strategy, a marketing strategy that includes both inbound marketing and targeted, quantifiable outbound marketing under a single umbrella, and umbrella I refer to as a synergy of the two, hybrid marketing.

In this article I will discuss how The Ultimate Internet Image prepares for a comprehensive, inbound marketing consultation and competitive analysis. Interestingly, at The Ultimate Internet Image we focus first on an inbound marketing consultation, helping the prospective client understand new media marketing, and then, once the client is on board, work towards integrating the best outbound techniques into a hybrid marketing model tailored to the precise needs of the client.

In many instances, preparation for a marketing consultation and competitive analysis begins long before we receive the call from a business or professional practice (another kind of business) for an appointment. The preparation begins with targeting an audience, a target market we feel will be receptive to our message.

Significantly, the same methods we use to acquire clients, a hyrid approach to marketing, are often used to acquire clients for our clients. If it works for us, it will generally work for our clients, with a few variations and tweaks of course. So, we are aware of how many of the businesses and practices operate, at least generally, before we ever receive the call.

Once the call is made or email sent, an appointment is set. The initial marketing consultation is usually set a few days out. Interestingly, I grew up in the school that advocated the opposite, striking while the iron is hot, “porcupines in heat” and all of that (I will explain later).

However, we have found that a little extra time accomplishes a number of things:

• It eliminates the tire kickers. Remember, this is a long term relationship and we only want clients who take a long and broad view. If someone is in that big of a hurry to meet, while we will certainly do all in our power to accommodate them, warning bells begin to sound. Slow and easy wins the inbound marketing race, not pressure and hype, from either end.
• It allows for qualified appointments, appointments that allow the prospective client to do a little poking around. If they do, they invariably find out that we are the real deal and can do what we say we will do.
• It allows us to do all the research we need to do in order to understand their business inside and out.
• It allows us to crawl inside the niche and understand who the players are and how we are going to attack them. Yes, attack!
• It allows us to put all the data we collect into a binder so when we present our findings to our new client. As a result, they know we are serious and we do our homework. We do NOT use a canned presentation or “pitch book!” Every clients is unique, if we do our homework without a commitment and without being paid, how much more will we do for them once we are on board?
• It allows us to get beyond credentials, references, and business cards and on to how we can serve them as a marketing expert.
• It eliminates money as the deciding factor in almost every instance…or at least moves it way down on the list of objections and obstacles.
• It allows us to answer most objections before they ever come up!

Once we do our homework, homework that includes a myriad of factors, we meet with the prospective client. The inbound marketing consultation and competitive analysis, as stated in Part I, takes between and hour and a half and two hours on average and is the first of at least two meetings.

UII never closes on the first visit, there is too much in stake on both sides of the table.

In the inbound marketing consultation and competitive analysis we discuss the following:

• How the owner got into business or profession they are in, including where they went to school and where they live now.
• Did they grow up in the area?
• How long have they been in business?
• What is the biggest challenge they are currently facing?
• What is the issue they are currently and consistently grappling with that concerns them most?
• What have they tried to do about it?
• What marketing strategies are they currently employing?
  • Are they online?
  • Do they have a website?
  • Do they understand SEO?
  • Do they use social media?
  • Who writes their copy?
  • Are they using PPC (pay-per-click)?
  • What is their monthly ad spend?
  • Are they tracking the results?
  • If so, what are the metrics?
  • Do they use video?
  • If they use video, how?
  • Who produces their video for them?
  • Do they use audio?
  • Do they have a blog?
  • Do they have an online shopping cart?
  • How big is their email list?
  • Do they have an email list?
  • How often do they contact their clients, past and present?
  • Do they have an active referral system?
  • Do they know how they rank with Alexa?
  • How do they rank with Quantcast?
  • Do they use analytics?
  • Do they show up and page one of the various search engines?
  • For what keyword phrases?

And so on!

Interestingly, by the time we meet with a prospective client, by the time the questions above and many more like it are asked, we already know the answers.

The Ultimate Internet Image does a comprehensive analysis of not only the prospective client’s business or practice, their Internet Image, their online presence and effectiveness, we also do a complete analysis of the top ten competitors in the niche.

Significantly, with the tools at our disposal, we are almost always right on the money.

Pun intended!

Using the resources we either own or have memberships to, we will know what a prospective client’s PR is (Google’s Page Rank), how they rank with Alexa and Quantcast, what keywords they are paying for and how much they are spending per click, per day, and per month.

UII will also know what keywords a competitor is buying and which ones overlap with the ones our prospective client is focusing on. The Ultimate Internet Image will also know which keywords are competed for organically and how vulnerable the prospective client and their competitors are to being bumped down and/or off of page one.

We also have a complete list of the keywords and their frequency, every keyword phrase used, on the client’s site. All the data is assessed and quantified. We then do the same for each of the competitors.

Links and Longevity

Links and longevity are two of the most important factors in achieving a page one ranking for the various keywords of interest on the various search engine results pages (SERPS). The number of pages a website has will have a profound impact on its rank, provided the pages, as well as the website as a whole, are put together properly and have the proper focus (i.e., keywords, keyword density, overall construction, etc.).

Significantly, UII will also know how many pages our prospective client’s site has indexed with the various search engines. The Ultimate Internet Image will also know how many pages each of the competitors’ sites have. In other words, every page indexed with Google, Yahoo, and Bing will be accounted for and compared. We will also know how many incoming links each site has and where they originate.

This is, of course, the tip of the iceberg. However, it provides a window into just how complete an analysis is required if you are to understand a prospective client and their competitive niche.

This takes more than a $97 e-course or a $997 e-course, it takes everything mentioned in Part I, and above:

• Awareness
• Empathy
• Experience
• Preparation
• And so much more!

Ultimately, the decision of whether to create an inbound marketing consultancy is your’s. However, whether you are considering the creation of a comprehensive hybrid marketing firm or one that is more specialized, a consultancy dealing solely with inbound marketing, social media management, video marketing, or one of the many other niches within marketing, you must become a student of your craft, a student of not only one aspect of marketing but of the businesses you intend to serve.

Success in inbound marketing, in any aspect of marketing, is a Herculean task and one not to be taken lightly.

The Siren’s Call?

The $5,000 to $10,000 per month?

It is do-able!

However, you must over-deliver and you must become a student of marketing. Forget about The 4 Hour Workweek and that business about working 2-3 hours a day. If you are going to serve your clients to the best of your ability, you will have to put in the time…and the money!

As stated in Part I, when you take on a client you are taking on a trust, you are entering a long-term business relationship not unlike a marriage. So, once again, become a student of your business, inbound marketing, social media, whatever; and, their business. If you do so, you will serve your clients well and have a good shot of making it long-term; and, you will make a lot more than the amount advertised by the Internet marketing “gurus” attempting to cash in on the latest Gold Rush, the Offline Business Gold Rush.

Finally, Michael Gerber stated, in The E Myth Revisted, that 80% of all businesses fail in the first 5 years. He goes on to note that 80% of the remainging 20% fail in the second 5 years.

A sobering statistic!

You have the opportunity to help others make it through the transtitional periods, including the marketing shift currently underway; and, in the process become not only a lasting business in your own right but earn life-long clients, as well.

In Part III of Inbound Marketing A through Z: Beginning a Marketing Consultancy we will address many of the strategies we use at The Ultimate Internet Image to take clients from a 0 PR, often stuck there for years, and absent from page one of the various SERPS, and create for them a powerful and lasting online presence…The Ultimate Internet Image.

Contact us anytime for a comprehensive inbound marketing consultation and competitive analysis.

John Zajaros
The Ultimate Internet Image
Lakewood, Ohio 44107
216-712-7004 (bus)
440-821-7018 (cell)