What is Outbound Marketing?

Outbound marketing is when marketers push their product, service or information as far out into the public as possible hoping that others will find them when the need arises. It is generating leads that will turn into sales by using methods such as door to door flyers, radio or tv ads, trade shows, seminars, internal cold calling, telemarketing etc.

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What is Inbound Marketing?

Inbound Marketing is when you help yourself get found by those who are already looking for your product, service or information. This type of marketing is not pushing yourself as far into everywhere as possible, but rather building up your own presence so when people are looking in your industry – you are there! In order to do this, you will want to build yourself up and create a presence for you in places where others will be searching, such as your website on search engines, social media sites, blogosphere etc.

Why not Outbound Marketing?

Outbound marketing is not only expensive but is less effective. Now that technology is drawing people to easier ways of searching, outbound methods such as print advertising and cold calling are not giving the desired results. Each day an average person is interrupted 2000 times with outbound marketing techniques. So we have found new ways to weed out these annoyances, or just throw those printed flyers in the trash. Because of things such as caller id, or spam filtering, outbound techniques are less effective and cost much more!

Why Inbound Marketing?

When using Outbound Marketing techniques, most of the time you are selling the idea of what you are offering. Once you convince your audience that they need your product/service – they now only have the idea, and may run with this by getting quotes from other competitors etc. Whereas when you use Inbound Marketing techniques, you are making sure you are coming up exactly where your potential customers are looking for you. They have already determined they need your product/service now you just have to show that they need YOU!

Three Keys to Inbound Marketing

1. Content – You want to provide reliable content to your potential customers, attracting them to you over your competition.
2. Search Engine Optimization – This is the best way to give yourself the boast to be found in search engines by your potential customers. Make sure you are coming up in search engines on top when your industry keywords are searched.
3. Social Media – Spread your content out over social media networks and get people discussing your industry. If you are starting the conversation, then it is pretty likely that the conversation will end with you as the solution.

Do not have your website designer write your website content, as they are not the professionals in your industry. If needed, you can provide them with your keywords and main content and ask them to review it and modify it, but a website designer should not write content from scratch for any business website that they do not have experience with. You know your niche – write what you know!

Content on your website should be applicable to your industry and what you are suggesting to provide. Make sure you do not include content that does not have to do with the business or service you are offering. When people are directed to your site, they want to get what they came for. This mistake can sometimes be made when you try to do link exchanging with other websites that have nothing to do with your niche. Creating a new page called Links or Other Resources is looked down upon and should only be done if the links included are relevant to the sites viewers.

When users first enter your website, they should find exactly what they are looking for. The home page should include text and pictures that say to the user, “This is what you are looking for.” You have less than 30 seconds before they glance at your site and hit the back button because they think you do not offer what they are looking for. Be sure to include good navigation in your main menu bar. If someone wants to contact the owner of the site, they should immediately see contact information in the header/footer or see the button directing them to the Contact page.

Include keywords that search engines will pick up and tell potential users exactly what your page is about. This is great for Search Engine Optimization. The headings and the first couple sentences on the home page are essential. Be sure to include precise keywords and locations that you offer your products/services (if applicable).

Bold your keywords and include keywords in your headings as much as possible. This helps emphasize the keywords for search engines and helps them to supply the best search results for users.

Write for users not for search engines. Not only will keyword stuffing turn away potential clients/customers, but most high end search engines will pick up that you are keyword stuffing and black list you from even showing up in their searches.

Be smart when writing your content the first time. As search engines scan your page they should know exactly what you are providing their users. And don’t forget that they love new content. Update your website on a regular basis. Give your viewers a reason to return to your website, and by doing this you are telling the search engines that your website is always up to date and providing relevant information.

The first step to finding new clients online is to have a website. But secondly you want potential customers to find you online. This is all determined by how high you are ranking in Search Engines, such as Google, when potential customers are searching for your industry keywords. You do not have to be a website developer in order to do your own SEO. In fact, here are a few simple tips.

Domain Name – It is best to include the most popular and searched keywords within your domain name itself. This URL should be your main domain although, feel free to add forwarders for marketing purposes.  Remember not to make your main domain makes sense and is not spamming. Search Engines may see it as keyword stuffing if you have too long of a domain. Keep it simple.

Meta Tags – These are not actually required for SEO purposes although can be very beneficial. When your page is scanned by search engines, they see your HTML and written text. Meta tags help verify the keywords and topics you are best suited to show up under.

Flash or HTML – Flash is mainly used to draw or grab attention when someone enters your site. Although it does the job great, you do not want to complete your entire site in flash. Search engines cannot scan the pages fully. A great solution for this is to just add a flash banner to the top of your site. HTML is easiest for the search engines to scan and read properly.

Site Age – Reliability is a key for SEO with search engines like Google. They want to know how long your business has been in business or been providing information. The only way for them to really take this into consideration is to take a look at how long you have owned your domain name or how long your hosting has been established.

Links – Search Engines look at the internet like a school yard. The more people that like you, the more popular you are considered. And the more popular the people who like you are – the higher you rise in the popularity chart. So when other websites link to your site, search engines see this as credibility to your site. So the more credible the site linking to you is, the better off it is for your site.

Directories –Another way to get links to your site is to submit into directories. It is best to get directories that are locally or within your servicing area, and make sure these directories are not link farms. The more links you get back the better – but be careful because if you get a link from a directory that is spamming or not credible, this can hinder your site and even ban it from the best search engines like Google or Yahoo.

Forums – A great way to get links to your site is by sharing your expertise and opinions. Take a look around for some forums that allow you to add a signature with your link. Find those forums with people asking about what you specialize in. Spread the knowledge!

Content – You’ve probably heard the saying “Content is King” – well it is true- especially when it comes to search engine optimization.  You want to make sure that your website includes many keywords that your potential customers will be using to search for you and your competitors. Simple things like including these in your headings and including your service area throughout your site. Make sure that the 1-2 paragraphs found on your home page are not keyword stuffed but make sense. Write for your audience – not for the search engines.