Hello and Happy Tuesday!
This week in Internet marketing, we've gathered some of the best and most helpful articles from across the web. This week we're looking at the difference between outbound and inbound lead generation, as well as the anatomy of a perfectly optimized page, and boosting conversion by optimizing your contact page. We're also looking at the steps for developing a content marketing strategy, and the benefits of remarketing for PPC campaigns.
Outbound vs. Inbound Lead Generation: Know the Difference
Outbound and inbound marketing are two different strategies that share the same goals—to generate leads and grow your business. Outbound lead generation requires marketers to reach out to potential leads through direct email or phone calls. Inbound lead generation, on the other hand, depends on SEO strategy, search engine results, and content marketing. Both strategies have benefits and drawbacks, for example, outbound marketing is considered more old school and doesn't utilize digital tools and widespread social outreach, but it's a great approach for any company looking to add that personal touch. Inbound marketing requires expertise and training, but tends to save businesses money in the long-run.
On-Page SEO: Anatomy of a Perfectly Optimized Page (2016 Update)
From title tags to URLs to site speed, there's a lot to keep in mind when optimizing a page. This infographic depicts the nuts and bolts that are needed for strong on-page SEO. For example, your keyword for the page should be as close as possible to the beginning of the title tag and should appear again in the first 100 words of the copy. Also, try adding modifiers to your title, like "best" or "guide", to increase your rankings for long-tail keywords. Keep URLs short and clear by avoiding a long string of random numbers and letters. Outbound and internal links should appear throughout the page. Optimize your images by including keywords in your image alt text. Implement this series of straightforward tips to start attracting more visitors to your site.
How to Optimize your Contact Page for Better Conversions
Optimizing your Contact page is such an effective and easy way to boost leads and nurture customer relationships. To improve your contact page, ensure you list your business's full name, address, email and phone number—this is a simple way of reassuring your visitors and Google that your business is legitimate and trustworthy. Add a click-to-call button simply by pasting a code into the back end of the site. Also, provide a live chat option with set hours for contacting a customer service rep from your company. And don't hesitate to use social media as a means of having leads contact you.
8 Steps to Create a Successful Content Marketing Program
According to a recent report, only 70 percent of marketers use a planned content marketing strategy, and more than half of marketers are not even clear what a marketing strategy should look like. For a better content marketing strategy, start by defining clear objectives, KPIs and target audience. Understand your audience as well as your competitors because this knowledge can help you to then prioritize social media channels and campaigns. Identify your customer's pain points in order to plan content that can help lead them through the sales funnel. You can use a variety of categories, formats and themes to help make your content compelling to various visitors, and plan it all out with a calendar and social media strategy. The final step of any marketing strategy is to test, evaluate your KPIs, and adjust your plan accordingly.
Are remarketing lists for search ads (RLSA) the future of PPC?
Pay per Click advertising can get fairly expensive, depending on the vertical and industry you're in. But it can be a particularly tough pill to swallow when the cost per click goes up but the conversion rate stays the same. But if you can target your campaign to visitors who have already been to your site by building a remarketing list for search ads (RLSA), you'll notice the CPC drops significantly while the click-through-rate is far higher. The only real draw back of RLSA is that the pool of people you're targeting is then actually much smaller, so the number of conversions may not actually increase.
Check out these additional articles for more Internet marketing news!
Here’s How to Visually Map a Content Strategy
How to Get Google Reviews the Easy Way
5 Big SEO Lies Google Wants you to Believe
