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Search Engine Optimization for Lead Generation

Search engine optimization is the most cost effective way to drive sales generating traffic to your website.

Search engine optimization is a part of the Demand Generation phase of the marketing optimization process, and is one of the most important components of attracting attention to your business.

There is a plethora of information about how to create an organic search engine marketing plan, but let’s save you the time of trying to find it, and boil it down to a few steps:

Search Engine Optimization in Four Steps

SEO falls into the Demand Generation portion of the marketing optimization process because it is primarily used as a way to get the attention of a person who has a desire for your produces or services for the very first time.

  • Website Audit
  • Keyword Analysis
  • Content Development
  • Content Promotion

Website Audit

While every step in the process is crucial, many people skip this step. Skipping this step will invariable lead to wasted time and decreased efficiency. If you at least know all the assets that you posses you will be able to use them instead of creating them from scratch. Content duplication is the most common side-effect of a not having completed a satisfactory website audit. Knowing that the content is already there, and ready for promotion, is a huge time-saver, and will help you avoid penalties for having duplicate content.

Keyword Analysis

Take a look at the search phrases that your target market is using to try to find a solution to the needs that you provide solutions to. Go beyond just one and two-word phrases, and get into longer phrases that as a questions. For instance, we have optimized this site for a phrase ‘what is marketing optimization’; not just ‘marketing optimization’, and not ‘definition marketing optimization’. Try to think of the questions your market are typing into the search engine (verbatim) and write content to answer those specific questions.

Content Development

When you are writing content, make a point to give the visitor what they are looking for. Put the visitor first. Don’t make search engine optimization your primary focus, but instead try to answer the question that the searcher wants answered, and in doing so you will be 90% of the way there. The final 10% is the easy, SEO 101, stuff:

  • Add the keyword into the title
  • Use the keyword in the first paragraph
  • Put the keyword into a header tag

 

Content Promotion and Link Building

This is, without a doubt, the single most important piece of the search engine optimization challenge. Promoting your content. Most people think of this as just building links, but that’s just a piece of what you can do to promote your content.

Resource Page Link Building

It’s a simple, but challenging, process of reaching out to webmasters that have a Resources page on their website and asking them if they’d be willing to put a link to your content on their page.

Most of the time this is a free placement, especially if your content provides real value. If you find resource pages on relevant sites, you’re sure to build links to your content. 

It’s definitely recommended that you find a partner to help you with the resource link building process.

Format Specific Directories

If you are building infographics, then submit them to the infographic repositories. If you are making powerpoint presentations, submit them to the forums and communities that are specific to that format. This is a great way to get links, and clicks, because they as you get into formats that are more uncommonly produced you will find that there is less competition and greater rewards for listing.

Build Social Signals

Utilize your community (you do have a social community built, don’t you) to give you feedback on your content and browse through and consume it themselves. They will naturally create social signals that will help your rankings and give your business more credibility.

Paid Advertising

Yes, it is ironic to consider using paid advertising to boost your organic content marketing efforts, but it simply works. There are lots of places to purchase targeted traffic that will love your content (assuming you have written quality content). Consider it ‘renting’ exposure. If your content is great, once you have exposed enough people to it they will start sharing it around virally. This sharing builds links, builds credibility, and hopefully you will convert some of this traffic directly.