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We all know it’s not always easy being an inbound marketer – especially a good inbound marketer. The things we do to optimize our landing pages, create killer content, keep track of all our analytics – they take time! Therefore, to be both a successful inbound marketer, we must be able to use our time efficiently to drive the best results in the fastest way possible.
The good news is, even when you don’t have a lot of time on your hands, there are lots of little things you can do to dramatically improve your marketing. Here are 7 things you can do in 60 seconds or less to drive more traffic to your site, convert visitors into leads at a higher rate, and increase your ROI:
7 Ways to Improve Your Inbound Marketing in 60 Seconds or Less
1. Respond to a comment, post, or tweet. A big part of inbound marketing is engaging with your fans, followers, and customers, especially through social media. Take a minute to reply to a tweet or a post on your Facebook page, even if just to say, “Thanks for the feedback!” or “Glad you liked our ebook!” Following up with your fans will show them that you value their comments and will help keep them engaged with your business, making them more likely to convert into leads.
2. Add a call-to-action (CTA). Creating CTAs for your offers is one of the most important components of effective lead generation. You should include a call-to-action in every blog post, email message, as well as some other, less obvious places. Find a page on which you want to improve conversion and take a minute to include a CTA. It can be as simple as adding a link to the end of your blog post that says, “Check out our webinar to learn more about [this topic]!” You can work on making more enticing CTAs later, but take the 60 seconds to add one in right now so you can start driving more leads right away. Have more time for better lead gen? Follow these tips.
3. Include a link to another piece of content. Internal linking is when you direct your page visitors to other parts of your site. This is important because it helps your readers find more of your content that they might enjoy and find useful. Find a blog post that you want to optimize and look for a few keywords within the text that you could use to link to relevant content. For example, if you have an ebook about Facebook marketing, take that sentence with the words “Facebook marketing” in it and use the anchor text to create a link to the landing page for your ebook! (Did you catch how we did that?) Just make sure that the page you’re linking to and the keyword anchor text you’re using for the link match.
4. Share your content. If you’re not using social media to share your content, well, you’re just crazy. Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are some of the most effective marketing tools out there, and sharing your content only takes a minute! Write a quick post on your Facebook page to promote your latest ebook, or tweet a link to register for your upcoming webinar. It’s simple, easy, super fast – and best of all – effective.
5. Bold or italicize the important text on your landing page. This is another quick way to improve your visitors’ experience when they view your pages. As a rule of thumb, effective landing pages should pass the “blink test” – meaning that readers can understand your offer and the value of your offer in less than 5 seconds. To help facilitate this, take a few seconds of your time and draw attention to the most important information on your landing page with the use of bolded and/or italicized text. This will help visitors grasp the main idea faster and reduce the likelihood that they’ll leave your page without filling out your lead-capture form.
6. Reword your blog post title. The title is a blog post's most effective tool for generating initial traffic to the post. It’s the first thing that viewers see, and if it’s not captivating, they won’t even bother clicking through to read your article. Take a minute to go back to one of your blog posts with a boring title, and make it more engaging! Some good title strategies include: using numbers (“5 Easy Ways to…”), starting with “How To,” using relevant keywords (“7 Steps to Better Lead Generation”), including benefits to the reader (“Drive More Leads By…”), and being unique (“12 AWESOME Ways to…”). Ask yourself, “If I saw just this headline, would I click to read more?” If you wouldn’t, your blog subscribers probably wouldn’t either.
7. Change your “Submit” button text. The final feature of your landing page forms is the button the visitor must click to complete the form and send you their information. The default text for this button is usually “Submit,” but studies show that landing pages with buttons labeled “Submit” actually generate lower conversion rates than those that use other wording, such as “Click Here” and “Go.” Compared to “Submit,” these buttons feel much less committal and imply a lower investment of time and effort. You could also make your buttons engaging and relevant to your offer, with something like “Reserve Your Webinar Seat Today!” or “Get Your Free Ebook Now!” Take a few seconds to think about your choice of text – a better button means better conversion.
So there you have it – 7 simple ways to improve your inbound marketing in only 60 seconds. Can you think of other strategies to put a minute to good marketing use?
