Inbound & Digital Marketing Blog

Online Marketing: Convert Prospects to Leads

Posted by Kami Valdez

March 24, 2016

In the last blog post we discussed some of the best channels available to attract visitors to your website. Now you know how to get visitors to your website, let's take a few minutes and determine if it has the elements needed for those visitors to become leads.

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2. Convert Prospects to Leads

Take a look at your current website and ask yourself the following questions:

1. Is your website optimized for mobile?

Over half of all website visits come from a mobile phone or web-enabled device. If you have a website and you want to cut out half your visitors, make certain your website doesn't work on mobile.

Mobile is critical to your business and will continue to be so. Help visitors have a good experience on your site when they’re visiting from their mobile devices by ensuring your site is mobile friendly and responsive.

2. Is your website easy to navigate?

A great website has well thought out navigation. Think of the general path you want a site visitor to take. When the navigation's clear, visitors will stay longer on your site and will be more likely to become a lead.

Think through the structure of your website so it all makes sense in a logical flow. That way, when visitors come to your website, they will have an easier time navigating to the information that's most relevant to them.

3. Is the message clear?

Your website has the best chance to leave a good and lasting impression on your visitors when you have an uncomplicated and clear-cut message. To have a successful and engaging website, you need simple and clear communication of  your company's product and purpose.  

Will a visitor understand what's special and remarkable about your business from looking at the website? Make certain your website's purpose is clear on your home page and landing pages so it will deliver valuable leads and sales.

4. Do you have an offer?

When a visitor comes to your website, what action do you want them to take? What will get their attention and entice them to provide their name and email so you can follow up with them further?

To get visitors to take action, you need effective calls-to-action, or CTA's. These are an essential part of any website and will help direct visitors to take the action you desire.

Your website is competing with over 1 billion other websites in the world, so it must be in top selling condition. Take some time and make the adjustments necessary so every visitor to your website has the greatest chance to become a lead for your business.

If you need help determining how your website is doing, click below and sign up for a Free Website Review. 

Free Website Review

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Topics: Inbound Marketing, Conversion


Get AdWords Help from Inbound Team

Posted by Clarke Bishop

August 19, 2013

Google Marketing Agencies like Inbound Team have a special type of AdWords account. It's called an MCC (My Client Center) account.

So that we can help you improve your pay per click marketing, please complete these steps.

Login to AdWords, and get your Customer ID. It's a 10-digit number that shows up in the upper right corner when you log into AdWords. Send the number to your Inbound Team account manager.

Get-Adwords-Help

Once we get your Customer ID, we'll request access to your account.

You will receive an email from Google that contains a link to approve our request. Either click the link or log back in to AdWords.

Go to "My account" > "Account access" in your account and click "Accept invitation." You must be an administrator on the account.

Once you've approved access, we will review your account and let you know how you can improve your paid search marketing results.

You can always turn off our access if we decide not to work together. Doing things this way leave you in complete control, and lets us get the information we need to help you improve your marketing ROI.

 

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Topics: Inbound Marketing, Conversion, Pay-Per-Click


Announcing HubSync 3 eCommerce for HubSpot 3

Posted by Clarke Bishop

March 10, 2013

I am pleased to announce the release of HubSync 3!

We are in the process of updating all our current clients. New customers will be setup on the new version from the start.

HubSpot 3 was a major upgrade for HubSpot. Contacts, List, and Workflows all got major improvements.

And, HubSpot completely re-worked their software APIs. The changes caused us to re-think how a shopping cart integration should work, and we hope you really like the new version.

As before, HubSync continues to help you optimize marketing ROI for your eCommerce company:

  • Know which sources are converting to sales.
  • Recover sales from abandoned carts
  • Closed-loop eCommerce

At a high level, it still works like it did before. We monitor your shopping cart to detect when visitors are adding items to their shopping carts and when they complete a purchase.

Every few minutes, we analyze the data to see if there is a new events:

  • Completed Purchase - The visitor has put items into their cart, and checked out to complete their purchase
     
  • Abandonded Cart - The visitor added items to their cart, but then did nothing for at least 60 minutes, and never completed their purchase. We know if they are still putting thing into or taking things out of their shopping cart.

 What's New in HubSync 3

The main changes you'll see are in Contacts. We've added a new Property Group called HubSync Information. All of these work just like any other HubSpot contact field.

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For the most part, these fields contain the information from the Last, most recent, order.

The fields are:

  • Last Order ID - The shopping cart order ID for the last order. Use this if you ever want to lookup the order in the cart or cross-reference orders.

  • Cart Customer ID - The customer ID in the shopping cart. Again, it lets you cross-reference contacts.

  • Last Order Date - Date of the last order.

  • Last Order Subtotal - For the last order, the sub-total before taxes or shipping. 

  • Total Orders - A field you can use to track the total number of orders for this contact.  This requires setting up a workflow. I'll tell you how in another blog post.

  • Last Order Category List - (Depends on your specific shopping cart.) Where available, we put the product category list from the last order. Categories are separated by semicolons (;).
     
  • Last Order Items List - A list of the items from the last order separated by semicolons (;).

  • Last Order SKU List - A list of the SKUs for each item in the last order separated by semicolons (;).
     
  • Custom Field List - (Depends on your specific shopping cart.) Where available, we put a list of custom fields from the last order separated by semicolons (;).

Besides this information, we also update other standard contact fields like name, address, city, state, company, etc. All of this is much cleaner for HubSpot 3 than with the old version of our software. 

Those of you who are more advanced in HubSpot 3 may already see ways to use this new information. I'm also going to show you some tricks in future blog articles. 

New Forms

We also added new HubSpot 3 forms to support the new capabilities in HubSync3. 

The old version of HubSync used forms with names like "Completed Purchase." To keep things clearn, all the new conversion look like this: Completed Purchase (HubSync 3).

Some of you may have the new Forms interface. Whether you do or not, it's very important that you not edit these forms or use them for anything other than HubSync.

 

I hope you like the changes. Leave a comment to let me know what you think!

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Topics: Conversion, eCommerce, Marketing Automation


Top 10 Mind Mapping Productivity Tips for Content Marketing Success

Posted by Devine Mae Loredo

November 1, 2012

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Over the years, online entrepreneurs have indulged in the benefits of content marketing to promote their businesses online. But with the overflowing amount of data and content on the internet, it can be difficult for your readers to segregate useful and relevant information for their research needs.

Roger Parker is a coach, speaker and author and mentions that content marketers commonly experience difficulties with complexity, increased responsibilities and information overload in their content marketing strategies - but with the help of mind mapping, content marketers can overcome these challenges.

Mind mapping is a content productivity tool used to visually outline information centering on a specific topic and category. It helps content marketers gain a fresh perspective, sparking new ideas, encouraging collaboration and breaking complex projects into manageable tasks, according to Mr. Parker. There are many mind mapping tools online, here are just a few:

  • Mindjet MindManager 2012 which is used by over 500 companies. It is easy to use and has amazing features, allowing you to integrate with Microsoft Office and Sharepoint.
  • MindMeister has simple but well-designed functions which allow you to work simultaneously with colleagues on the same project. It is also cost-efficient and accessible on your mobile phone, which is very ideal if you want to access your work even while on the go.
  • MindMaple lets you organize multiple threads of ideas creatively. It has arrows and callouts to show interactions between different sections of your maps. It is also ideal for planning of presentations or meetings.


Regardless of the mind mapping tool or software you plan to use, you can view as much (or as little) information you desire, plus with the ability to export your work. Through mind maps, you can analyze and track your competition, create buyer personas, plan editorial calendars, brainstorm article and blog topics and organize complex projects.

In the article written by Roger Parker entitled, "Top 10 Mind Mapping Productivity Tips for Content Marketing Success", he mentioned some tips on how to use your mind mapping tools to its full potential.

With the increasing prevalence of information overload online, mind mapping will definitely help you reduce the clutter for your prospects and customers. Remember that it doesn’t really matter what mind mapping tool or software you use, what truly matters is how you use it.

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Topics: Inbound Marketing, Conversion, Content Marketing


How to Amplify Your Blogs

Posted by Devine Mae Loredo

October 30, 2012

Blogging can be an essential way to inform and educate your prospects on their wants and needs (that your products or services may help them with). Because building a business empire takes an extraordinary amount of time and effort, and blogging is just one aspect of it, most busy professionals neglect updating their company blogs.

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If you want to lengthen the life of your blogs, and you don’t have the time to update your blogs on a consistent basis- what should you do? Here are six strategies you can put into place right away:

  • Make sure that your blogs are search engine friendly. Always double check your title and description tags, categories and keywords to be certain that they stay relevant to your post. Make sure you don’t stray from the guidelines set forth by search engines, otherwise your blog will be penalized.
  • Inter-link your posts. Make sure that when writing your post, you link relevant keyword phrases to previously published articles. It will help in your search engine optimization.
  • Send your subscribers emails about your post. Include a brief summary of your blog and communicate the value of why they should read your blog by telling them how it can help solve their problems. You can also encourage them to subscribe to your blog so that they don’t miss out on the important updates. By doing this, you will build a stronger relationship with your email subscribers.
  • Be certain that your blogs have CTAs (Call-to-Action). This directs your readers on what they need to do next, and so they will know where to reach you.  CTAs are important because, in most instances, people need to be told what to do and typically respond well when there’s a clear step of what to do next.
  • Repurpose your blogs. By sharing someone else’s information that would also be beneficial for your network, you can repurpose a blog or article that’s an old post (that’s still relevant) or use as a theme for one of your upcoming webinars. By using other’s content, you now have an entire mini-package comprised of useful information and tools to share with your prospects or clients.
  • Use social media sites, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Twitter. These are a popular and valuable platform to showcase your blogs and articles. Link your post to your social networking sites to spread your content across all platforms, and allow your readers to “share” these resourceful posts.

Blogging will be a major asset for your business to reach your targeted prospects as long as you stay relevant and true to your prospects needs. Offer realistic and timely solutions in every post, in order for your customers to feel value and to help gain their trust. Blogging allows you to interact and engage with your audience, and to get immediate feedback regarding their concerns. Engaging them in discussions to gather comments and suggestions regarding your company’s brand will help your business grow profitably and professionally.

The most important thing you should remember in blogging is consistency. Even if you can’t regularly post blogs, make sure you continue to communicate with your prospects and clients through your blogs to strengthen your relationship with them.

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Topics: Blogging, Inbound Marketing, Social Media, Conversion


Segment Your Database with Timeline Segmentation & HubSpot

Posted by Devine Mae Loredo

October 23, 2012

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Every day, millions of people surf online to search, research and purchase products and services that fit their wants and needs. Because of this, savvy business owners and online marketers make it a priority to continuously improve the quality of service they can offer to their consumers. To stay competitive, it is vital for online marketers to adapt to the changes and enhancements of the tools and features they use in their marketing strategies.

HubSpot is well-known for helping business owners and online marketers provide their customers and clients with an excellent service they truly deserve. As an advocate of marketing, they have constantly developed tools and strategies that help online marketers and their prospects have the best marketing experience possible.

Recently, HubSpot enhanced their list segmentation tool.  In addition to building segments from form submissions, list memberships and properties, it is now easy to set page views and events as criteria. This feature makes it possible to build a list, trigger an email or internal notification, start a workflow, trigger a web hook, or serve Smart CTAs to contacts that have completed a specific event or viewed a specific page.

It's now possible to do things such as:

  • Send an email to a contact (or nurture them) when they view a specific page on your website
  • Build a list of everyone who has seen a specific page on your website
  • Send a notification email to the lead owner in Salesforce when a contact views your pricing page
  • Turn a lead into a marketing qualified lead when they view a product related page
  • Show a specific CTA to contacts who have clicked a "buy now" button in the past or completed a transaction on your website
  • Send a notification email to an account manager when a contact views a cancellation page
  • Trigger a web hook when a custom event is triggered


To find out more about the timeline segmentation, check out the article, “Timeline Segmentation: A New Way to Segment Your Database with HubSpot Enterprise” by Jeffrey Russo.

Use HubSpot’s timeline segmentation tool to build segments off of form submissions, list memberships, and properties, and easily set page views and events as criteria to convey more relevant purposeful messages.

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Topics: Inbound Marketing, Conversion, Marketing Automation


7 Easy Steps for Creating Buzzworthy Content

Posted by Devine Mae Loredo

October 9, 2012

If you’re using education to reach your targeted audience, you know that quality content is vital for online marketing. But your prospects are constantly being bombarded with distracting content that clutters their attention, so what are you doing to make yours relevant and outstanding amongst your competitors online?


You’ve probably heard that “content is king”, yet so few marketing professionals seem to understand how to create useful content that isn’t overly promotional. For your blogs, articles or landing pages to be read and shared, you need to be relevant, informative and entertaining enough to capture the attention of your prospective customers. Your content can be promotional, but in a highly educational way - enough that it is passed on by your readers

Erica Swallow said that most business owners and online marketers find it hard to create useful content that isn’t overly promotional for the brands supporting it. There are seven steps that can be your basic guide to kicking off content creation for any business. She wrote an article entitled, “7 Easy Steps for Creating Buzzworthy Content” that will guide you in creating buzzworthy content.

How has your company gone about the content creation process? Let us know in the comments below.

There are many benefits in producing buzzworthy content: 1) it will drive more traffic to your website 2) it can help you rank higher in search engines results 3) it will get your pages shared more often. It can also be used as a platform to interact and engage with your audience, making you more open to business opportunities.

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Topics: Blogging, Inbound Marketing, SEO, Conversion


LinkedIn Lead Generation Formula: How to Find Prospects

Posted by Clarke Bishop

June 4, 2012

LinkedIn is an amazing resource for B2B lead generation -- If you know how and don't mind doing some work!

Most small business people are on LinkedIn, but many have never gotten any leads. One reason is that people think of LinkedIn like other social networks. They try to amass connections, but nothing happens. It's not about how many connections you have. 

There's a better way, and I'm going to share our LinkedIn Lead Generation Formula!

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Step-by-Step Guide to Lead Generation with LinkedIn

1. Know Your Ideal Prospects

For effective sales or marketing, you need to know who would be a great prospect. This is especially true on LinkedIn. For our clients, we usually create one or two Personas that describe their ideal prospect.

Let's say you have a product that is especially valuable to hotels, but you only serve Dallas, Texas and the surrounding area. 

Try this: Log into LinkedIn and click the advanced search button. 

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Put in the keywords: hotel, hospitality

Put in a Dallas zip code: 75201, and a radius: 75 miles

Click Search. I got over 2,800 results.

Now all of these may not be perfect prospects, but they are all in your target industry and your target geography. And, each of them almost certainly knows several of your perfect prospects.

2. Create Valuable Content

Your prospects have problems and business challenges, and you have valuable knowledge. 

If you were an expert in staffing for hotels, and you knew how to find reliable employees, don't you think most hotel managers would want to hear from you?

So let your prospects know your tricks! Are you worried that you won't be able to sell your services anymore once you tell prospects what you know? Well, don't. It's almost always easier and cheaper to hire an expert. But first, you have to let your prospects know you are an expert!

Content can mean many things. Videos, Blogs, PDFs, eBooks, Info-Graphcs, Photos, MP3s -- Anything that communicates. You know your prospects, so you know what they would appreciate.

3. Announce Your Content with LinkedIn

Knowing your prospects and creating valuable content -- That's what you do for any Inbound Marketing campaign.

It's a common problem that small businesses have. They put up a website or blog, but nobody comes to see their great content. You can have the best content in the world, but it doesn't matter is nobody sees it.

You also need a content announcement strategy that connects your prospects to your content. This is where LinkedIn shines. Here are some examples of ways to get the word out:

  • Send a direct message to all your contacts
  • Announce your content to groups you've joined
  • Use a status update to announce your content
  • Create your own group and provide value
  • Do a Poll and let everyone know the results

Even though all of these are possible with LinkedIn, many companies don't take advantage. Why? Because it takes time -- Time that small companies don't have. Plus, it does take some specialized knowledge so, 

  • Time to find, write, and format valuable content
  • Time to build their network on LinkedIn -- Connections, Recommendation Requests, Responding to Questions, etc.
  • Time to write the announcements for the groups, and the skill to do it correctly so that prospects find it valuable, not annoying.

If you've got a modest budget, we'll do it for you. If not, subscribe to our blog because we plan to continue this series and tell you everything. You'll grow some, have a bigger budget, and decide it's better to hire experts like us!

Typical Lead Generation Results

This is all nice, but does it work? I'll share the actual metrics with you from a LinkedIn campaign we did internally in the fall of 2011. 

linkedin-lead-generation-results

In one day, we got 15 leads. It kept growing, but we neglected to capture the graphs or I'd show you the rest. How many of you wouldn't love to get 15 quality leads a week -- Every week? These are typical results -- Not a special case.

For a large business, that's not enough, but for most smaller businesses, you'll quickly overwhelm your sales team.

Even better, these were very qualified leads. You can visit the Quickly Boost B2B Sales landing page. It's a good landing page, but a 50% conversion rate? The only way you get that high a conversion rate is to have great content and send very qualified traffic!

linkedin-conversion-rates

Here's another thing that happens. Your LinkedIn visitors will vote for your content. Good results confirm that you are solving their problems and delivering valuable content. Who do you think they'll call when they need your products or services?

The example below got 51 LinkedIn "shares" and 6 Re-tweets. The Twitter results came for free as we have our LinkedIn and Twitter accounts connected together. We weren't even focused on Twitter!

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Inbound Marketing Takeaways

Use LinkedIn correctly and you can connect your prospects with your content -- Everybody wins.

  • Know your prospects -- Be targeted.
  • Create valuable content that solves your prospect's problems.
  • Announce your content on LinkedIn. Let your world know.
  • Track your results.
Click me
 
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Topics: Lead Generation, Inbound Marketing, Conversion


Inbound Marketing | Get Better | Measure Your Results

Posted by Clarke Bishop

May 17, 2012

Our researchers and writers are continuously searching the web for better ways to improve results from Inbound Marketing. Here are some recent articles we've been reading.

One key to Inbound Marketing is measuring your results with web analytics and continuously finding improvements. That's our topic for today. Web Analytics.


Know Your Customers by their Digital Footprints

John Walker of JPL Creative offers tips on how to learn more about your customers through web analytics. Key points:

  • Inbound Marketing Bounce RateBy 2017, the chief marketing officer will spend more money on information technology than the chief information officer

  • Review your traffic flow graphs to see when traffic goes up. Then,discover why and repeat.

  • Check your bounce rate to see if your home page needs improvement. Also see where your visitors go next.
     
  • Review your most popular pages. Should you have more on popular topics? 

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Topics: Inbound Marketing, SEO, Conversion


30 Ways to Convert Visitors into Leads (Lead Generation Technique)

Posted by Devine Mae Loredo

May 16, 2012

Driving traffic is important to get visitors to your site so they can learn about your products and services. But then, it doesn't end there. It's not just about increasing site visitors.

For your business to be effective, what you should do is to convert visitors to leads.

To give you some new ideas, here's an article on 30 ways to convert visitors to leads.

 

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Lead Generation is not just about obtaining data but having permission to talk about your products and services. 

It is essential that you give people a reason to talk to you and these reasons will then generate genuine desires to talk about your products and services. One example is making your site interactive and use that interaction to increase relevance. The more relevant you are, the more interested your visitors are.

Always remember that it's important to keep people interested. Once people visit your site and you get their interest, what will most likely happen is, these visitors will become loyal customers!

Read this article on 30 Ways to Convert Visitors into Leads... and your business will surely be more profitable! 

Which of these 30 ways did you pick? Have a better idea? Either way, leave a comment.

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Topics: Lead Generation, Inbound Marketing, Conversion