SEO Denver

Marketing industrial products and services using the internet might not seem practical.  After all, larger organizations have purchasing departments, many with strict purchasing guidelines that make a new sale difficult.  Sales teams have tried for years to get in to talk to some companies with no success.  However, an internet web page might be the answer for some organizations.

The internet is primarily a research tool.  Potential customers that have questions or problems are now more likely to use the internet search engines to find solutions than ever.   Companies with web pages that are informative and useful –as well as ones consumers can find – actually earn new business for the organization. 

Companies of all sizes and types that provide services and products to large industrial corporations are now utilizing the internet to build relationships with organizations they were previously unable to speak with or sell to.  Industrial service companies such as Epoxy Flooring contractors and janitorial chemical companies are now all making use of the internet to gain access to new revenue sources and to expand their local market share.

There are three essential guidelines to marketing industrial products on line:

• Create an ‘Informative’ Website
• Anticipate User Questions   
• Include a Clear ‘Call to Action’

An informative website responds to the user’s need for information.  As the internet has emerged as such a powerful research tool, providing a website that gives users the information they are seeking puts the company in a position to become an authority on a particular topic.  Authority sites then are the ones people trust with their purchases. 

An authority website is one that is also modified frequently and updated.  New information about products or problems particular industries experience attracts repeat site visitors.  Earning repeat visitors strengthens the company reputation and brand image.  Updated pages may be costly to manage, but if readers continue to check for new information, the cost may be well worth the price.

Anticipating questions from readers also contributes to the general authority strength of the site.  Useful answers about problems or products can establish company credibility.  And again, when users find an authority website, they are more likely to trust that site with their future business. 

A clear ‘call to action’ is important as customers may not know how to get more information.  Readers need to be directly encouraged to ‘click the contact-me’ tab or call the company phone number.  Without a ‘call to action’ the best web presence may not reach its full sales potential.

In the end, industrial product sales using the internet may not be much different from other types of sales.  It is the existence of established purchasing departments and long-held buying relationships that prevent new companies for competing for industrial business.  After all, purchasing departments are all about efficiency and cost savings.  At some point though, purchasing agents will have difficulty with a particular problem or issue.  At that time, the company will almost always begin to research the problem using the internet and internet search engines.

A well-constructed and well-optimized page is essential to compete for new business.  By answering questions and providing new and updated information, the company web page can reach out to industrial purchasing agents that might have previously been inaccessible.

Earning revenue is of course the single biggest challenge for businesses of all sizes.  For a new or small business, earning revenue without the benefit of an established business reputation is exceptionally difficult.  Still, there are ways for new and start up businesses to attract sales and achieve profitability.

Many if not most new organizations now rely on internet marketing to attract potential customers.  Use of online marketing tactics such as Pay per Click advertising or Search Engine Optimization are absolutely necessary for most organizations. These methods attract internet readers to the company website when users are in the process of researching a purchase. 

When prospective customers search for information about a product type or service, most will utilize the common search engines.  Company websites that are returned as highly placed results on search engines such as Google then receive a great deal of traffic.   Pay per Click and SEO are quite useful in driving revenue to any size business.   In fact, even narrowly defined consumer level sales companies such as Garage Builders or Epoxy Flooring Contractors can use these tactics to drive new revenue into their organization. 

There are three main tactics or strategy essentials to marketing services on line:

• Careful Keyword Selection
• Email Blast (if possible)
• Article Distribution

Keyword Selection is an important first step in attracting readers to the company website.  Identifying keywords that have some traffic but aren’t dominated by major corporations can be difficult to identify, but are a ‘must’ to begin building website traffic.  Google offers several keyword tools as part of its Webmaster suite, or several other free tools are available to help identify keyword phrases that might work.    

Once suitable keywords have been identified, focus the main page on the one keyword that has the most potential by setting title tags, headline text and page copy to utilize the same keyword phrase.  This is generally termed ‘on-page’ optimization and arranges assets on the page to attract the attention of the search engine crawlers or robots.  Once the search engines have confidence that the page contains content that matches the keyword description, search engine ranking will improve.

Email Blasts are useful for driving traffic to a new website.  Since websites or sites for new business ventures have no past traffic history or page rank, driving traffic in the early stages is frequently a matter of inviting people to view the page.  Besides, what good is it to build a company web page and not tell people about it?  The trick of course is to somehow acquire a list of contacts that might have a need for the product or service provided by the organization.  Several companies offer email lists for purchase or rent, so this could provide an option.  In the end, email blasts using a mail management system can attract website visitors quickly and easily and drive traffic directly to the site, bypassing the search engines in the early stages. 

Article Distribution is also highly useful for attracting traffic.  Short, 500 word articles about the line of business, a product feature or other interesting aspect of the business can make great content for others to post on their sites.  After composing an article, the author may submit it to free directories.  These directories not only provide content to other sites, but also provide strong back links to the author’s site themselves.  Be sure then to include a link back to the company site within the body of the article.

For more information about Keyword Selection, Email or Article Distribution, please contact SEO Consultants Denver today!

One of the most useful elements in a Low Cost SEO plan is use of the business blog to attract readers and generate sales.  But, as internet readers are quick to ‘cut to the chase’ it is very important to quickly share the main point of each blog post.  Blog authors risk losing readers if this criterion is not met.  By using some simple blog composition rules – similar to the business “30 second pitch” – a business blog can compete for new customers and build a positive brand image. 

Like most, internet readers have a very short attention span.  The internet is loaded with other sites competing for attention, so retaining readers is hugely important.  Delivering a clear message about the value of each article or post can help the reader understand in advance what he/she can expect by reading the piece and what points of value can be expected. 

Business sales teams often refer to composition of a quick statement of value as a “30 second pitch.” As this term implies, the messenger has a maximum of 30 seconds to grab attention and give the reader or listener a reason to continue paying attention.   Blog writers frequently spend a great deal of time composing their version of a 30 second pitch for each article.

Developing an effective ‘pitch’ can take time, so here are a few rules for structuring a blog article.  These are used effectively by SEO Consultants in Denver to help blog owners develop unique but meaningful posts that will attract readers and generate new business.

Organization:  Consider use of a ”bold” statement of value” to hook the reader’s attention.  Then deliver supporting points in outline form if possible.  Use of ‘bullet points’ are useful especially when presented near the top of the article.  The reader then gets the main value statement along with a couple bullet points that show why this value is real.  All of this should be included in the opening paragraph. 

Content and Tagging:  Remember that blog titles act as ‘tags’ or significant bits of information that search engines recognize.  These tags should ideally contain keywords for the site.   Content should address the statement of value using these keywords.  This assists search engines to understand the blog content and helps the visitor understand why he/she should continue reading.

Value:  The bold “increase sales by 30%” type of statement is actually very useful here.  This helps the reader understand that she/he could be significantly increasing sales for the organization if advice in the article is followed.  Clearly and quickly saying what the reader will receive is important at the beginning of the article and can be reiterated and supported throughout the post.

Wit:  Without being silly, a good way to help a reader respond positively to the content is with some degree of wit and humor.  From the prospect’s point of view, reaching out to a prospective provider can be difficult.  Humor makes the page owner seem more human and more approachable.  Wit and humor can also effectively disarm a reader from his concerns about value and trust in the organization enough to explore initiating a business relationship.  Still, be careful using this tactic.  Too much humor – particularly about difficult subjects can cause the reader to take the piece less seriously.

Using these suggestions when composing a blog article can attract more internet traffic, increase the number of repeat readers and ultimately to drive new business traffic to the organization’s website. 

The single greatest challenge for all businesses is growing the revenue base and making sales.  Search Engine Optimization (SEO) allows business organizations of all sizes to reach out to prospective customers via the internet at the point in the buying process when consumers are seeking information about an upcoming purchase.  A business website that appears as a result of a Google search for product information can greatly improve that businesses’ chances of earning a new customer.

Actually optimizing the business web page can be a daunting task however.   Hiring an SEO consultant can get the job done, but can also cost real dollars a start up or new business may not have.  Even if the enterprise chooses to bring in an SEO consultant or coordinator, the business owner should understand the basic methods that person will be using to bring the business page to the top of the search engine results.

Although complex methodologies exist for SEO, there really are essentially five simple, effective and efficient methods.   These methods have been successfully employed by SEO Consultants in Denver and have delivered solid results.

On Page Modifications – Finding or identifying meaningful words and phrases that describe the business and page content that consumers would also use in searching for information is a difficult chore.  However identification of these terms and phrases (keywords) is essential as these are the terms that the search engines will use to understand what the business website is about.

When these phrases are identified, they should be used in the title, headlines and text of the web page.  Use of these phrases in the content body though, should not be overdone.  Overuse of these terms can be viewed negatively by search engines, so the web author should only use the keyword terms in a form that they would normally be used in conversation. 

As finding these terms can be a challenge, the web owner should invest some time in learning keyword techniques. Several free keyword tools are available to help, including Google’s Adwords tool.  In the end though, effective terms and keyword phrases are discovered by understanding elements of the customer’s behavior and language use. 

Off Page Optimization – The term ‘Off Page’ refers to the part of the SEO effort that takes place outside of the business owner’s website and refers mostly to efforts to let readers and internet users know that the page exists and provides good content.  There are four pieces to the ‘Off Page’ process:

• Blogging
• Article Marketing
• Site Submission
• Direct Outreach

Blogging – Information gained by reading blogs in the business subject area is valuable. Setting a link back to the business website by commenting on other blogs is also quite valuable.  These links are viewed as ‘votes’ for the business website.  To enhance the value the business gets from leaving a blog comment, label the link you leave (usually by using this in the Username portion of the comment form) using one of your short keyword terms.

Articles – Article composition unfortunately takes time.  However by embedding a link to the website within the content of the article, the business can build a network of back links by distributing these articles to article directories.  Compositions need not be terribly long – the baseline for acceptance in most directories is 500 words or so. 

Site Submission – Most search engines including Google, allow the website owner to submit the website to its search engine directly.  This generally causes the search engine to send out a ‘robot’ or crawler to review the business page and to validate its content.  For newer and start-up business sites, this can provide a head-start and get your site into prospective customer’s view sooner.

Direct Outreach – Asking other website owners or webmasters to set a link to your business page is a common and highly useful way of increasing the number of links that point to the business web page.   This usually requires offering something of value in return for this favor though.  In most cases, unique content or articles that the business doesn’t distribute anywhere else can be offered in exchange for the favor.  This effort requires investing in building new relationships within the business niche and can take time to manage. 

Of course other SEO techniques and social networking tactics exist to enhance the ability of small businesses to use the internet to attract new business.  But these five SEO methods can get a new business started down the road to earning more revenue using the internet.