Blogging as the Killer SEO Tool for Businesses?

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My team and I have been conducting some SEO campaigns for ourselves and a few clients recently and I’ve come to the conclusion that many of the “traditional” off-page SEO techniques (reciprocal linking / directory submissions / article marketing / online PR) are , if not dead, on their death-bed.

Definition: “Off-page SEO” refers to the profile of link from other sites to your website – specifically, how many sites link to you, how important those sites are, and what the links say.

Google in particular places a great deal of importance on “authority links” when ranking websites. “Authority links” are links from sites that Google considers to be important. Problem is, very few proactive link-building activities lend themselves to generating high value authority links [PageRank 4+].

So…enter blogging.

Blogging is one way that businesses can attract “legitimate” incoming links and build a PR5 or 6 website. Building a PR6+ website via other means is very difficult because most “regular” lead gen sites just don’t contain enough “link-bait” content to encourage other websites to link to them.

Why natural SEO?

While high natural SEO rankings are not a prerequisite for success, high rankings for targeted terms can make a huge difference.

This website ranks very well on Google Australia for targeted terms such as “marketing consultants”, “marketing consultant”, “internet marketing consultants” and others.

These results drive more than enough traffic to keep our lead pipeline full at all times. If our natural rankings happen to drop in future, we can turn on other pre-tested traffic generation methods (e.g. Google Adwords) to make up any shortfall…but at a cost.

Google Adwords Not the Killer App It Once Was

Even 3 or 4 years ago, Google Adwords was an absolute no-brainer traffic generation method. Now it’s still good, but average cost per click has probably risen by 400% and there are many more competitors in the market. This trend is bound to continue – we may even see a period of “hyper-bid inflation” in which everyone loses money advertising in a given niche (this is already the case in some markets, but it may become the rule rather than the exception).

So…what then? You either have to pay tonnes to generate traffic via Adwords or have a range of alternative lead generation methods to drive incoming leads. Websites that currently rely on PPC traffic alone are waiting to have the rug pulled out from underneath them.

Where appropriate, I encourage business owners to go after high rankings on search engines as another traffic generation pillar, and one of the most straightforward methods of doing that is via blogging. Sure, blogging involves work and the ROI can take a while to kick in, but once you’re up and running the ongoing benefits are well worth it – and you can bask in the glory of your PR5+ site.
Will Swayne
Reformed Blogger

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Upgrade to WordPress 2+ Goes Without A Hitch

Last Sunday I found myself with a bit of free time and decided to upgrade this blog to Wordpress 2+. I know, I know – WP 2 has been available for months and months, but I’m still getting the hang of the technical side of blogging, as you may have noticed from my very minimalist efforts so far

The upgrade process was faster and simpler than I thought – I just followed the step-by-step instructions. Once the database and files have been updated, all you do is click a button and the upgrade script does the rest.
I also installed an anti-comment spam plugin called Spam Karma 2, which appears to be working very well so far.

I also have a blog redesign in the wings, which will be up and running within a coupla weeks.

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The Size of Your Paycheck Starts With The Quality of Your Leads

One phrase that I often hear from prospective lead generation consulting clients is,

“I don’t want to generate a heap of rubbish leads – they need to be of high quality”.

I couldn’t agree more. That’s because the quality of your clients and the size of your paycheck begins at the lead generation level. The way you prepare prospects to contact you via your ads, your website, your free or fee-based information products, your company logo and “look and feel” – all influence how quickly and effectively you can make sales.

In my own business and when working with clients, I don’t just want to generate “qualified” leads but highly qualified, ready-to-buy leads. There’s a distinct difference. Highly-qualified, ready-to-buy leads are:

• Easier and faster to close
• Less price-focused and more value-focused
• More motivated to succeed
• Tend to understand what you do and why your different – don’t require a lot of time to educate

So, recognizing that what you do at the lead gen level influences what happens further down your sales pipeline, here are five strategies for increasing the quality of your leads:

1) Target the right prospects

Many businesspeople and marketers are unwilling to laser-focus on the specific prospect group that they can help most. For example, if a mechanic is an expert at restoring old BMWs, instead of concentrating on that market he sometimes makes the mistake of trying to appeal to all car owners.

Targeting via psychographic profile can also be very effective – a psychographic factor describes consumers on the basis of some psychological trait, characteristic or lifestyle. I favour using pyschographics in preference to demographic (age and gender) targeting alone.

How do you target a particular group? Start with your headlines. e.g.

“Does Not Having Enough Money to Retire On Keep You Up at Night?”

A headline like the one above (for, say, a financial planner) would tend to bring motivated prospects into the marketing funnel.

2) Pre-Educate

Especially if your products / services are higher priced, intangible, complex or in a highly competitive industry, it’s critical that you educate prospects about your offering and value.

There are many ways to do this including downloadable Special Reports; White Papers; Questionnaires, Surveys and Audits; Seminars and Events.

You can also monetize the education process by charging for materials. This not only generates a revenue streams but also forces motivated prospects to “self-select”. Self-selection is a critical component of the most successful lead generation programs.

3) Pre-Qualify

Self-selection is one form of pre-qualification. Others include describing whom your product or service is for.

e.g. “Our no-deposit first home loans may be perfect for you if you have been in steady employment for at least 2 years and have a income of $60K+ per annum.”

Phrases like these reduce unqualified buyers from your sales funnel.

4) Pre-Sell

This one goes without saying. If your ads, sales letters or other materials are compelling enough, you can actually make 95% of the sale before the prospect even speaks to you. All you have to do is answer 1 or 2 questions and then finalise the paperwork. A pre-sold lead is the ultimate outcome of a successful lead generation program.

If you have to arm-wrestle every prospect into buying from you, the chances are you’re not doing enough pre-selling at the lead gen level.

5) Future Pace

Future Pacing is “showing” the prospect what their life will be like in the future once they have your solution. It’s a technique that can be used in print as well as in a sales setting, and makes the benefits you offer much more immediate.

Future pacing backed up by testimonials and case studies are even better. “Social proof” elements such as these are an integral part of many successful lead generation efforts.

What to do now

How well is your lead generation process working? Your “gut feel” should give you the answer. Is converting every lead into a sale a battle? Or do you often find yourself twiddling your thumbs waiting for leads to come in (hint: they won’t just materialise – you have to do something)? Although this post deals more with lead quality than lead quantity, by implementing some of the concepts above you should see a significant improvement in results.

Leave a comment to share your thoughts about generating qualified leads.

Will Swayne
Internet Lead Generation Guy

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Podcast: How to Write Direct Response Website Copy Without Appearing “Tacky”

In my first “Internet Lead Generation Podcast”, I join forces with Charles Cuninghame from Text Centric to answer the question:

How do I write direct response website copy without appearing “tacky”?

In Australia at least, many businesspeople and marketers associate “direct response copy” with infomercials and “sales letter” websites with all the usual accoutrements [red headlines, yellow highlighter etc.]

But direct response copy doesn’t have to be like that – you need to adapt your style of copywriting to your target audience in order to increase response, because ultimately you want as many people as possible to take action.

Without further ado, here’s where you can download the podcast [approx 33 mins]:

[MP3] How to write DR copy without appearing “tacky”

Right click and “save as…”

Note: In the podcast, Charles mentions a free resource that is available on his website – a new e-book called “Your Website Sucks: 9 Value-Destroying Mistakes Most Websites Make….and How to Avoid Them.”

If you own a website, you need to read this book. Get it here.

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How to Get Your Book Published

Publishing a book can be a fantastic way to establish yourself as a “thought leader” in your industry and expand your reach. A successful book can be a suburb lead generator for consultants, speakers, professionals (to name a few).

Two Australian accountants, Tony Melvin and Ed Chan, have recently launched a book called “How to Legally Minimise Your Tax”. It has not only hit the bestseller lists in Australia, but has also provided them with a raft of back-end sales opportunities. Some of their back end offerings include more advanced DVD-based products in addition to the professional services that they provide. All in all, a job well done!

So how do you get your book published?

I too have had a book project in the wings for some time but the whole business of getting a book published is rather daunting and for one reason or another I’m at the same stage with this as I was 6 months ago.

Recently I regained some momentum with this project when Charles Cuninghame from Text-Centric Copywriting introduced me to Pam Brewster from Brolga Publishing, who very kindly gave me some pointers on how to go from an idea to actually seeing your book in bookshops.

Here’s a summary of Pam’s recommendations…

Broadly speaking, there are three options: going through a publisher, self-publishing via traditional bookshops or self-publishing on the Internet. Let’s look at each one in turn…

Option 1: Going through a publisher

The key advantage of going through a publisher is that the publisher meets your costs and distributes the book on your behalf.

1. The first step is to approach a publisher (preferably one who publishes books in a similar genre to yours). An easy way to find appropriate publishers is to simply go to a bookshop and look at who’s publishing books in your chosen genre.
2. The next step is to submit a brief synopsis, Table of Contents, author profile and 1 or 2 sample chapters to “sell” the manuscript. If the publisher likes what they ready, they’ll contact you to request the full manuscript.
3. If a publisher agrees to publish your book, they will meet the cost of production and distribution. First-time authors typically receive a royalty payment of 10% of RRP and royalties are paid 6-monthly.
4. If you go through a publisher, one of the prices you may have to pay is letting go of some editorial control.

Option 2: Self-publishing

If you can’t find a publisher to take on your project (or you’re the maverick-type who just likes to make their own rules!) self-publishing is another option.

1. First step is to find a distributor – the distribution cost is typically 60% to 70% of RRP. The remaining 30% to 40% has to cover all of your costs including printing. If you’re lucky there will even be a bit left over as profit!
2. The word on the street is that distributors normally aren’t terribly thrilled to work with first-time authors. The reason is that newbies often have unrealistic expectations and are more trouble than they’re worth to deal with.

Option 3: Self-publishing via the Internet

The other option is to self publish and distribute over the internet – either in e-book format or in printed format. The advantage of this include the relative ease of publishing and the ability to potentially target very tight subject niches (plus, you get a much greater percentage of the profits).

The disadvantage is that your reach is significantly diminished, especially if your target market are not necessarily active online. [Or your industry may be very competitive online but far less so offline. When you go offline your marketing efforts will gain much greater traction.]

Step 1: Publish Book.
Step 2: ……..
Step 3: Profit!

How many authors actually make a profit from their work? A few bestselling authors make millions, but the majority either eke out a modest existence or make nothing.

If publishing a book is a “means to an end” (i.e. a lead generation tool for your business), then not making any profit on the front end isn’t a problem. If you structure it correctly, you should have a back end of products and services where you make your money.

And simply calling yourself a “published author” can add significantly to your pre-eminence within your industry. Even if you never sell a copy, you’re still a published author and an industry expert.

Now, where was I with that manuscript……

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