5 Online Marketing Golf Shots You Need for a Par

5 Inbound Marketing Golf Shots You Need For a Par

The Drive
You’re teeing off on the first hole that’s a long par five with water directly in front of you and sand traps bordering the fairways.  It’s one of the most difficult shots in golf. You haven’t taken a swing yet and you’re not quite sure how you should play the shot. Are you going to create yourself a high quality playable second shot or in the water or sand trap with a low quality second shot?

The same question applies to inbound marketing. Should you go for long-tail keywords that give you higher quality traffic or for keywords that are single words that usually send a lot of lower quality traffic? Definitely, go for the high quality traffic. Research and build out hundreds of long-tail keywords related to your business that will produce a lot of relevant, high-quality traffic to your website.

Create blog posts that are compelling, controversial, and unique. Use your long-tail keywords in the blog title, URL and content .  Make sure you’re creating content on a weekly basis so you can rank for your most relevant and important long-tail keywords.  Each blog article is an asset for your business that will continue to pay you back overtime.

The Long Second Shot
You took a controlled slow swing and now you’re within striking distance of reaching the green. You must optimize your next shot so you’ll make a birdie or a par. Do you try to reach the green if it’s just slightly out of reach or lay-up and hope your short game will come through. Bet on your short game and play it safe.

The same is true for optimizing your content. Make sure your blog articles are optimized for search engine optimization best practices. If you follow SEO best practices you’ll start ranking on searches related to your blog article topic and people will start linking to your content.  Just like your short game in golf, those links are you’re shot for success.

The Short Third Shot
So now you’re within 100 yards of the hole and in striking distance to make par. You better take a controlled well thought-out shot to promote your chance of making a birdie. Make sure you select the right club so you reach the green and have a makeable birdie or two-putt for par.

The same holds true when promoting your content through social media to ensure you reach the right audience. You need to l isten to relevant conversations and find industry groups so you know where you should promote you’re compelling content. You need to continuously be growing your reach through social media so you get more visitors, leads and customers.

The Birdie Putt
You hit a terrific third shot, reached the green and are in striking distance to convert a makeable birdie putt. Now, you must execute your putt with accuracy and the right speed. Study the green and align the putt to the path of the green and you’ll make an easy birdie.

Same applies to once a visitor lands on your site. They should be guided through a conversion path that includes a call-to-action with an offer, a landing page, and a form that converts them to a lead.

The Par Putt
So you either made or missed the birdie putt, not to worry. Regardless of the outcome you must analyze what your next option is. Preparing for the next hole or making the short putt for par.

Same holds true for inbound marketing. You must continuously analyze what’s working and what’s not. For inbound marketing you need to measure your keywords, calls-to-action, and landing pages are converting to leads and customers. If you do this, you’ll continue to see better results overtime, just like practice makes perfect in your short game.

Was this helpful? Do you have any other similarities between golf and inbound marketing?

Photo credit: Steve and Emma