Posted by: Sam Eidson, Partner

What should you focus on to improve your search engine visibility?  It’s a moving target and it should be customized to your competitive advantages, but here are some important factors:

• Onsite content – Make it keyword-rich, but keep it contextual for the audience.  Make sure your copy is text, not images. Use headings and bullets to your advantage.
• Navigation and folder structure – Ensure navigation is standard and keyword-rich, for both search engine spiders and users.  Create URLs with keyword strategy in mind.
• Backlinks – Think quality, not just quantity. Steer clear of link farms and don’t waste time building links from weak, irrelevant sites.
• Meta data – Focus your meta data efforts on creating strong, unique Title and Description on each page.
• Off-site content – In addition to backlinks, other off-site content can have a big impact.  Focus on optimization and online distribution of press releases; your blog; articles the staff authors for online trade publications; listings in internet yellow pages and vertical directories; and even social networking sites.
• Site performance – Load time, proper 404 and redirect formats all play a role.
• Keyword strategy – The tactics above don’t help if you haven’t focused on the right keyphrases.

Posted by: Sam Eidson, Partner

Looking for an expertise-focused Web 2.0 tactic to increase your search engine visibility? If the fit is right, try personas. A persona is an online alter ego that corresponds to your unique expertise.

Start by creating an account using gmail, yahoo, or any other web-based email. In the place of your first and last name, enter a title that reflects your target keywords – “Nashville Tax Attorney,” for example. 

Posted by: Sam Eidson, Partner

Keyword strategy is the foundational element of a successful B2B search engine optimization (SEO) program, and it’s not easy. There are SEO tools like keyword popularity analytics to help cover the tactical bases. They can help you narrow down a keyword list, an important step to make sure you don’t spread your efforts too thin. But these techniques won’t help if the keyword strategy isn’t linked to your business growth strategy. To achieve this, use a process specific to B2B.

Start by identifying which audiences you are targeting. Identify the individuals who have a role in the purchase decision of your target organizations – not just the decision makers, but also the users, influencers and ratifiers. Think through the information that’s important to each audience, and develop informational offers (white papers, webinars, ROI calculators, etc.) that will get them to a landing page and encourage them to consider your products or solutions. Sound like a lot of effort? It is.

Posted by: Sam Eidson, Partner

One of the tough things about lead generation registration is that it’s moving in two opposite directions.  On the one hand, as users get more experienced the amount of information they are willing to provide decreases. On the other, as marketing and sales hone their lead generation and closing practices they recognize the need for more information about a prospect. To prioritize leads and get to the right decision maker at the right time, Sales wants to know who they are, their role, their budget and where they are in the decision process.

The trend toward shorter registration forms is good for the user and good for registration form conversion rates. By reducing your form from a long, all-encompassing form to a quick contact info-only form, you can increase the conversion (people arriving at the form / completing the form) from an unfortunately typical 5% to at least 20%. That’s a 400% increase in conversions. The flip side is, you end up with a lot more unqualified leads, because you haven’t gathered enough information to determine whether the prospects are the right people to talk to, and whether they are ready to buy.

There’s no one answer to this problem, but there at least two approaches – and a straightforward way to figure out which one to pursue: