Inbound Marketing Blog

The number one request I get as an inbound marketing consultant is to help companies rank higher in search results to drive more traffic to their site. So the question begs; “how do we do this the right way?” Thankfully Google is committed to returning search results that are highly relevant to searchers’ requests. They do this by updating their search algorithm, the way they rank web pages and return results to the searcher, to penalize sites that use tactics that cheat the system, known as ‘black hat’, ‘keyword stuffing’ and ‘webspam’. 
"The key takeaway is that Google is changing its algorithm to reward quality sites – so stay focused on publishing quality content."

The purpose of this blog series is to take business owners, and marketers down the path – they should be taking – to market their business effectively on the internet.  It focuses on the Hubspot tools to help existing clients leverage the tools effectively, however, the lessons learnt can be applied to other tools available.

I sat in on a webinar recently by Hubspot, explaining keywords and how to use their keyword grader to determine the best keywords for your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Strategy.

Social Media Optimization (SMO) is now an important factor in SEO. Will it be more important than SEO, will Facebook take over Google as the king of searches? 

From the recent webinars and research Ive been involved with, 2010 appears to be the year of the website redesign. If you're planning on a new website or a redesign in 2010 it's important to think about why? What are your objectives, what do you hope to achieve? Don't lose site of the fact that you're in business to make money, not to have the best looking website. Research shows that a good looking website doesn't equate to more traffic or more leads.

The most overlooked marketing tool that (almost) every business has is their website.  I continue to meet many business owners, especially in small business, who have a misunderstanding about the purpose of their website, and as a result aren't seeing the results they should and can get.

When I asked this at a recent business networking function no hands went up. 

A friend of mine sent me an email that she had received from an SEO firm seeking her business, several months ago. The email started with something like, "we tried to search for your business on line and couldn't find it, which means your prospects can't find you either."  It went on to say that they could guarantee top search rankings (for a monthly fee). It was quite a lengthy sales pitch but basically what they were promising was top search rankings for my friend's company, for what they (the SEO firm) perceived where the relevant keywords.  My friend thought this sounded great, so she presented it to her management team. After all isn't that what we all want, to be at the top of the search results and drive more traffic to our site?