COMMENTS
I agree with everything in this article, but I have a problem with one thing. The non-profit organization I work with as a consultant is unfamiliar with inbound marketing and is looking for immediate results (i.e., increased donations). While my efforts are resulting in increased website traffic, this doesn't translate to an immediate increase in donations. So they're unhappy. Any suggestions on what to tell them?
Hi Steve, thanks for the comment. I would look into ways to convert the blog traffic to donations. What are your calls to action? Can you add more? Or add new ones? This is something we've been experimenting with a lot on the Inbound Marketing Blog over the past few months, and we've been able to steadily increase our conversion rate. Since traffic to the blog has grown a lot, that means we're converting a lot more people.
Also, you might send them this Seth Godin post:
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/01/what-to-do-when.html.
Hey Rick,
What do you mean in your comment by "calls to action?" Can you give some examples.
Thanks!
I think when looking for answers, go to people that have already found them. No matter who you were rooting for in the 2008 Presidential Election, the Obama Campaign took fundraising to another level with the inbound marketing and SEO. I have been reading about the campaign strategy myself just to get some ideas. Doesn't hurt to try it, you will be amazed at you will read. I just google "Obama fundraising internet"
-b
Broadband Evolved
Kelly, Calls to action are buttons or links that "call" out for an action.
On this page, the call to action is the section under the heading "Webinar: Twitter for Marketing and PR".
Steve, great job increasing the traffic to the organization's website. I'm sure they are happy to see that more people are seeing their message. However, like any other organization, they want to see measurable results. You cannot fault them for that.
In my opinion, if you have increased the web traffic and you have not seen an increase in conversions (donations), then you have only done half of the job. To me this result means that general web traffic was not the principle driver of donations. To increase donations you will need to make adjustments to the website that drive conversions.
I am out of time for now, but I will comment later with links to articles about this.
I totally agree that blogging and social media, which make up the main foundations of inbound marketing, can't be done in isolation. Instead these companies need to focus on expanding their exposure so that customers will easily be able to find them online.
Rick,
Great advice. I agree with everything you say (pretty risky on my part)
I'd like to share my personal experience. HubSpot built and hosts my website. We launced about 3 weeks ago.
There were two areas you guys/women kept emphasizing; the importance of blogging, and social media. Boy, were you right.
Following your advice, I've increased my Tweeter followers by 40% in the last 3 weeks. Tweeter helps me introduce myself to people, and communicate my business message. I love learning from many valuable tweets from the people I follow.
Blogging has been amazing for generating visitors to our website. Never understood how important and valuable a tool it can be. But, as you say, updating content with fresh valuable information is important.
I find from 33 years of law and business experience that balance is important. Can't put all your marketing eggs in one basket. The right mix of on line and off line marketing leads to success. Neither will get your company across the finish line alone.
Thanks
Thanks for your article. These are some very helpful tips. Marketing is a huge responsibly to have because every company needs it and it is always changing. Thanks for encouraging companies to fool around with different techniques. Truth is, we have a good idea of things that will work, but its all just trail and error and hope for success.
very interesting article very useful and helpful
Good article. But I have a question.
When we use URL shorteners like TinyURL or bit.ly, does "Google juice" accrue to the ultimate destination -- our web site or blog? Or is that SEO benefit lost when using URL shorteners?
Hmmm.... maybe this seems like a foolish statement, but isn't most of this stuff common sense? Maybe that's just me. I am a college age student, and I have grown up with a lot of this stuff. I was on Facebook before it opened to everyone, and before the apps became overly popular. But maybe that's just me. It is very good advice, but I think that I knew many of these things ahead of time.
The problem with some of the internet things though is the fact that "the tubes" are becoming clogged with a lot of advertising. The first groups involved in a technology tend to be the most profitable. That is not always the case, but I have seen it in many cases. Everyone else starts riding the coat tails of other companies, and tries to reap the same benefits. My recommendation is to try to get a jump on technology. either create you're own latest and greatest thing, or find something not so mainstream and jump on it in a hurry. It is risky, but it can pay off in the long run.
I agree with you on everything but keyword density. Keyword placement is a greater SEO factor than the actual number of times your keywords are used. Beyond title tags and link anchor text, the actual density on a page has little effect on rankings. Google has placed inbound keyword anchor text as the primary ranking factor for key phrases.