Online marketing has really blossomed into something of a behemoth over the past few years. Recognized as perhaps the most cost effective marketing channel on the planet with the greatest reach, everyone wants to jump into the pool. The real problem is many who do so don’t give their online marketing efforts enough thought. Instead, they see the latest fashionable outlet, put a stake in the ground, and wait for customers to beat down the door.

As part of our Back to Basics Friday series, here’s a look at how you might sharpen your online marketing focus to rise to greater heights. Consider it a stepping stone intended only to stimulate thought.

4 Ways to Sharpen Your Online Marketing

What if running one mile could give you the health benefits of running 10? Without the pain, time or hard work? Sadly, you can’t do this with running, but you can achieve similar results with your marketing content.

When you write a useful, insightful marketing piece like a newsletter or a blog post, give it the exposure it deserves. Put all of your marketing tools to work to showcase your content. Here’s how, step-by-step:

1. Write one smart, savvy newsletter. Send it to your subscribers. Good start, but don’t stop here. Many people do, and these people spend a lot more effort for fewer eyes.
2. Blog it. Now, take an excerpt from the newsletter and publish it on your blog. Link to the newsletter to “read more,” and include a link where blog readers can sign up to receive your newsletter, too.
3. Share it. Tweet an interesting idea from the newsletter on Twitter; share it on Facebook and LinkedIn. You can set up automatic updates, but we recommend highlighting a particularly compelling segment.
4. Give it voice and video. Record your newsletter as an audio file for your podcast stream, and then as a video to promote on YouTube or Vimeo. What starts with written words can turn into verbal ones.
5. Expand your outlets. Use the newsletter as a guest post on another high-traffic blog or as an article for a magazine. For these outlets, the content likely won’t be the same as your newsletter, but you can use the original idea as a foundation.
6. Link back to your website. Now that you have these effective marketing tools floating around in cyberspace, promote them on your website. Link to your latest newsletter, your social media profiles, blogs, videos and podcasts. Display your guest posts, and link to the articles you’ve written. This way, a new prospect has ready access to all your methods of communication. You might have a complete library of compelling content, but if it’s scattered and people can’t find it, it’s being under-utilized.

Do you want your words to reach 100 or 1,000? Just because we put something “out there” doesn’t mean everyone sees it. Our audience only sees tidbits, snippets and certain channels. That’s why re-purposing our content isn’t being lazy, it’s being smart. It simply reinforces our message and makes the benefits go further.

Do you have any favorite tips on getting more mileage from your content? Please start by sharing with us here. (And if you need help developing that content, let’s talk.)

You’ve made the effort of writing a guest post, placing an ad, or adding your promotion to a partner’s site. Then you link this useful marketing piece – to your home page.

Uh-oh.

Your prospect is now lost. The conversation you were having has stopped midstream. They land, splat, in the middle of your generic home page. Forced to navigate for themselves, they say:

I don’t know where to go. I don’t have time to search around. I clicked to find out about this specific service, but now I can’t find it!

Instead of sending prospects to your home page, use landing pages. Landing pages let you hold your prospects’ hands, taking them from point A to a coherent Point B on your website. Oh, and they can statistically more than double your conversion rates.

Four keys to an effective landing page:

1. Be specific. Whenever we write, we want to speak as specifically as we can—to whatever audience we’re speaking to. Right? The more targeted your page, the better. Tie the landing page into whatever ad, article, guest post or promotion they were just reading. Only the people coming from this specific guest post, article or ad will find this landing page, so speak directly to them.
2. Continue the conversation. When you’re appearing as a guest blogger and people click through to your site, this will be their introduction to you. Go ahead and acknowledge that. Landing pages help you continue the conversation and make new ones. Give your audience further insight into what you’ve already delivered. Offer value. Think: What further benefits can you provide them? How can you engage them?
3. Ask for the next step. Now that you’ve got them on your landing page, offer something more. Ask them to subscribe to your newsletter, read your blog, or download your white paper. Offer something relevant—and get them to sign up. This will capture their information and enable you to follow up. (Remember: Your offer has to be good, or your new visitor is history.)
4. Test, track and tweak. With a landing page, you can accurately track visitors and conversions. You will know exactly how many people are clicking, and who is converting into a lead. Best of all, you can try different approaches and different offers to see what gets the best results. A landing page is not set in stone. Instead, it’s a jumping point for improvement.

A good landing page targets a specific person, continues the conversation, and has an interesting offer to capture information. Don’t make the mistake of bringing a specialized audience to a generic home page. Tailoring and paying attention to your landing pages will boost your marketing results.

Do you have any landing page success stories to share? Or home page horror stories? Either way, we’d love to hear them.

We all know the type: He’s the one at the cocktail party or networking breakfast you can’t escape fast enough.

Why?

Because he’s going on and on about nothing that you care about.

Recently, a friend introduced me to a web developer, usually one of my favorite new contact categories. He heard what we do at Market It Write – and proceeded to educate me on search engine optimization.

I (politely) interrupted him and told him that, yes, I understood what he was saying. We partner with many web development firms to create sites that combine relevant content with social media tools to achieve high organic search engine rankings.

Next, he tried to explain how descriptive file names and page titles can also boost your site rankings.

Before he got too far into his lecture, I spilled my drink and dashed to the ladies room.

Not really. I was, however, sorely tempted.

Where did he go wrong?

To start, this prospective partner didn’t consider his audience before launching into his pitch. He has identified what sets him apart from other web designers and relentlessly steers networking conversations in his direction.

• He did not acknowledge the fact that I was educated in his area of expertise – essentially insulting my intelligence. (Hint: Not a good way to impress a prospective client.)
• He did not consider my needs and how his services could help fulfill those needs.
• In fact, he didn’t bother finding out much about me before starting his spiel.

This example sounds pretty silly and obvious, but many websites commit the same sins.

• Focus on the business or organization
• A generic message intended for all visitors
• Lackluster organization and content, showing little regard for audience needs

The fix?

If you’re still operating a simple brochure site that lists name, rank and serial number (About Us, Products/Services, Contact Us), you probably need to start from scratch. Largely because the technology has evolved so quickly that sophisticated web solutions are available for all budgets.

To avoid making the same mistakes, ask yourself the following questions:

• Who are my target audiences?
• Why are they coming to my site?
• How can I make their lives better?

Answer these questions, and watch your online marketing ROI increase. If you need some help, we’re only a phone call or email away.

Have you ever found yourself in a similar situation? How did you respond? (For the truly brave, have you ever found yourself on the wrong end of this situation? How did you recover?)

Social Media Success Summit 2010 came to a close yesterday, May 25, 2010.

The final day pulled plenty of information from previous sessions into a capstone of sorts. While only the last session was intended to do that, the first session of the day on blogging also included a number of tie-ins to demonstrate how different aspects of social media can work together with a blog to create a powerful social media presence.

The two sessions featured on Day 7 of the Summit were:

1. Making Your Blog a Social Media Destination
2. Easily Integrating Social Media Into Your Marketing Mix

Watch for my entire Summit wrap-up post here on Friday. For now, here are my takeaways from Day 7.

Session 1: Making Your Blog a Social Media Destination

Presenter: Denise Wakeman

A quick overview of the power of blogs began the discussion.

The theme of the discussion was integrating your social media efforts by using a blog as your “home base” to serve your audience, and other social media outlets like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube as “outposts” or “embassies” to bring the audience to you blog.

Interesting Stats

eMarketer.com estimates that 31 million people worldwide now write on blogs and 104 million are reading blogs.

When asked what benefits they receive from their blogs, bloggers surveyed in Technorati’s 2009 State of the Blogosphere (discussed insocial media into your marketing mix?

Do you remember “The Gong Show”?

Brave contestants would go on stage and display their talents (or lack thereof) in front of three judges. If the contestants made a mistake, or just didn’t impress… GONG. Game over.

The world of online business has a gong equivalent. It’s called your bounce rate, and it tracks how often prospects click away without bothering to learn more.

When prospects click away, it means your time is up. It means you won’t get any more chances to win them over with your products or services.

Keep these tips in mind to avoid gong-worthy online writing mistakes, and keep your prospects on your site:

1. Nobody likes Bossy Betty. When you were little, I bet you didn’t want to play with the kid who bossed you around. Adults don’t either. Your prospects need to make up their own minds. Share what you can do for them – by showing, not telling. Suggest; don’t demand.
2. Empty promises = empty bank accounts. Online promises, guarantees, or over-confidences can come off cheap. Be careful of making empty promises. The Internet is full of them, and your prospect is wary.
3. Keep it human. Do you ever talk to those automated people on customer service hotlines? The ones who never understand your answer? Wouldn’t you rather talk to a real person? Me, too. The same goes for your Web presence. A warm, welcoming, powerful voice attracts prospects. Be personal. Show your human side.
4. Don’t assume. Your prospects are smart, but they don’t know everything. Especially when it comes to the intricacies of your product, your industry, or what you can offer them. Share this information in a way that makes people comfortable. Incorrectly assuming what people know leaves prospects confused – and you without customers.
5. They’re not third graders. Unless your prospects are, in fact, eight years old, then you shouldn’t treat them like third graders. It’s tough to find a comfortable balance between providing information, in a manner that works, and speaking to your audience like they are adults. Know your audience, know what they know, and know what they need more about. The goal is to make information accessible without condescending to visitors.
6. Watch for silly errors. A silly mistake in your content can make you seem silly to your reader. Professionalism means checking it twice, three times, or more. An extra set of eyes can make a big difference. By finding mistakes before they do, you help your audience focus on your message instead of your blips.

As many of “The Gong Show” contestants might have benefited from vocal coaching or dance lessons, your business can benefit from expert help, too.

If you’re too close, it can be hard to see things objectively. Market It Write can help you create powerful content (and avoid gong-worthy mistakes). Get in touch today.

Please don’t misunderstand my title. I’m in favor of customizing the audience’s online marketing experience. Just ask any of our clients. We always recommend ways to tailor content to the specific needs and interests of their target market.

What we don’t advocate, however, is insulting the audience‘s intelligence in the process.

Like millions of other people around the world, I waste several hours a week on Facebook. This online community typically does a great job of using my personal preferences to show me ads that interest me.

Do I want to know about the upcoming fiction workshop in New York with Robert McKee? You bet. Would I like to join a new group for caramel lovers? Why not?

But am I really going to click on an ad because females in New Jersey of a specific age are eligible for a $500 gift card at the local discount chain? No way.

And it’s not because of a bias against discount chains. A similar ad from my favorite clothing retailer evokes an equally negative response.

Using my personal information to grab my attention when it has no relevance to your offer is a cheap ploy. It makes me wonder, do you really think I’m that dumb?

Maybe it works, and that’s why I keep seeing half a dozen of these ads every time I log on for my Farmville fix.

We recommend a different approach to customizing content: one that respects the audience and offers real value.

When people think of keyword research, they usually think of search marketing – either organic search engine optimization (SEO) or pay per click (PPC) search advertising. However, keyword research also plays a vital role in a content marketing program.

Content marketing involves providing the information your targeted prospects crave – usually for free. By providing expertise, you build trust over time. When your prospects reach the point where they are ready to do business, they come to you and not to your competitors. Content marketing is all about pulling your prospects in and building trust.

It stands to reason that your prospects need to find the content you provide. One effective way to help  prospects find your content is through an organic SEO campaign. But content marketing isn’t just about driving traffic to your website. It’s about drawing highly targeted prospects to your content and then delivering the information they seek. And professional keyword research can help you do just that.

Keywords, Your Prospects and Your Content

Developing an understanding of your ideal prospects means you need to know everything you can about them, including, but not limited to, which keyword phrases they use when conducting a search. Armed with this information, you’ll have a better understanding of the types of problems they face and hope to solve.

In a content marketing program, you’re not just looking for keywords with the most volume and least competition (or lowest cost-per-click rate for paid advertising) as you might in a search marketing program.

While that information is useful, you also need to know which specific keyword phrases coincide with the information assets you can provide now or develop in the near future. Once you identify those keyword phrases and integrate them into your program, you will attract the right prospects. Even better, once they arrive, they will better relate to – and value – your message because it “speaks their language.”

Keywords, Locations and Trends

If you operate within one or more specific regional areas, data developed from keyword research needs to be refined further to discover the exact phrases and variations that prospects in your geographic area(s) of operation are most likely to use. Professional keyword research can provide you with that information. In some cases, down to the city level.

Another aspect of keyword research considers trends.

Because content marketing programs take time to pay off, include related keyword phrases trending upward in popularity – even though those phrases may be less popular at the moment than an alternate phrase that’s in decline.

This strategy helps assure that, while developing your content assets, you will continue to attract prospects and extend the longevity of your content marketing efforts.

The Keyword Research Process – And Its Value

The keyword research process is one of discovery. It’s a filtering, drill-down approach, much like an inverted pyramid that progresses from the obvious to the “Aha! I hadn’t considered that, but it makes perfect sense.”

Professional keyword research offers high value returns for any type of online marketing campaign. In fact, the results can often suggest new product lines or service offerings.

In content marketing, keyword research can help uncover problems for which your prospects are desperately seeking solutions: problems you may not have considered. Addressing those problems and offering solutions then becomes the basis for developing your content. Your content takes on a sharper focus, provides greater value (or, at the very least, the perception of providing greater value), builds a stronger degree of trust over time and, as a result, improves the overall effectiveness of your program and its return on investment.

Do you use keyword research to drive your online marketing strategy? If so, what results have you seen?