I am on the web!

It’s not all too uncommon these days to start with a blog and never get around to creating a website - especially if you are an independent consultant like I am. Still, I decided that a blog didn’t offer me all the advantages of a website so I needed both.

I am pleased to say that I am finally on the web. You can visit The Marketing Survivalist for a look. But, before you get all excited (or critical) let me say that this is a project that is still in its infancy.

I’ve worked with webmasters for years, so it’s been kind of interesting to play at being one. I thought I’d share my experiences with you as I hope it might motivate some of you who have been thinking about creating a website. Plus, as I continue to improve my site, I’ll share those things that have had the greatest impact.

First, I decided to host my domain with GoDaddy and use their Website Tonight product. Chalk one up for gross (IMHO) advertising. It is memorable. It helped that I decided to work on my site while watching this year’s Tour de France and their ads are all over VS. (Along with some even grosser ads.)

I’m not an HTML coder so it’s nice to use a website building tool that is designed for someone who understands the theory behind building a successful site, if not the coding that goes into it. For me, the Website Tonight product was a little quirky, but not that bad. My 8 pages were more like Website [tomorrow] Night but it was close enough.

I will say that the support I received when I called in was really good. I had accidentally purchased more than I needed and they were the ones who pointed it out to me. They very promptly refunded the extra, which I very promptly spent on some more services from them. (It was the thought that counts.)

Even Google will tell you that content is king, so instead of focusing on creating title tags, meta tags, page descriptions, backlinks and the like, I just focused on the content. In other words, if you try to find me using a search engine right now, I am probably invisible.

I thought I’d have some fun and have Hubspot’s website grader look at my raw product and see how it ranked. It’s still having problems finding it so I’ll probably come back as a 2. (Which means that 98% of websites out there are better built than mine.) Actually a 2 might be too optimistic.

This weekend, I’ll start optimizing the site for the search engines. I’m eager to put the things I recommend into actual practice and see what kind of impact I can have on my site. They say “a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.” I’m looking forward to sharing my journey with you.

All the best!

Melissa

Read more!

Burning Blogging Question - Answered!

My blog is a large part of my social media strategy. (It’s a large part of my life too – but that’s another story.) I understand the quid pro quo of blogging. If you want to seriously engage through blogging, you can’t just write your own blog. You need to comment on others as well.

But I don’t always get to read my favorite blogs right away. In fact, the ones I get to most often are those that allow me to subscribe via email. I’m a bit old-school in that my inbox acts a bit like my to-do list – at least until I realize I’ve spent too much time answering emails and decide to get some real work done.

Unfortunately for me, but fortunately for the bloggers, many of my favorite blogs get tons of really great comments. For example, Doyle Slaton’s Compelling Argument Against Cold Calling post on SalesBlogcast.com has 84 comments as of this moment. By the way, this is a really interesting debate that I suspect might have evolved into a food fight if it was held over a lunch.

As I said, it’s unfortunate for me because by the time I get around to reading the post, let alone composing something relevant and pithy to say, I’m usually way down the list with at least thirty or more comments ahead of me. I should be so lucky in this case. By my count, my comment is number 54 in the list. This begs the question, “Is it still worth commenting?”

One of my other favorite blogs, copyblogger, answered my question in a post written by Brian Clark. Is Commenting on Blogs a Smart Traffic Strategy? It’s an excellent post with several great points.

My key take-away is that it’s OK to be late in the game when it comes to commenting because it’s really more about what you say than when you say it. In the case of Brian’s post, I am #165 in the list of comments, but now I don’t feel so guilty about it.

All the best!

Melissa

Read more!

Not All Backlinks Are Created Equal

I received an email from Tiffany Otten at GlobalSpec who wanted to thank me for mentioning her organization in 12 Steps to Dumping Your Marketing Department – Step 3 Hang Out with Your Market. She also brought up a very good point that I really should mention as a follow up.

Google, and other search engines do not view all backlinks equally.

A backlink is a link back to your site from another site. However, most paid directories such as GlobalSpec track the link through their site so that the link ends up looking something like this:

http://www.globalspec.com/Goto/GotoWebPage?gotoUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Elawson%2Ecom%2F&gotoType=WebHome&VID=120925

Google, and other search engines, do not consider that link as legitimate as one that is “free and clear” of any other sites. A link of higher quality would look more like:

http://www.yourdomain.com

It’s tough to find a clean answer from the SEO experts on how exactly Google sees the first link. e.g. Is it worth 10% as much as a clean link? 25%? 30%? If you’re like me, you want the specifics so you can manage your SEO efforts more effectively. However I suspect the vagueness of the responses has a lot to do with the ever-changing rules of SEO and that Google is a little coy about releasing any of their search engine algorithms.

Yahoo, as I understand it, has a little looser restriction on the backlinks, but that could change by the time I post this. I haven’t seen anything about how Microsoft’s Bing sees backlinks yet. Any SEO experts want to weigh in on this one?

That said, these paid links should not be included in the same category from other paid links that the SEO experts will warn you about. As long as paid directories like GlobalSpec are consistent with your theme, you shouldn’t be dinged for using them. (At least according to the rules as of this moment!)

Thanks again Tiffany for suggesting this clarification.

All the best!

Melissa

Read more!

How Do You Measure Blog Conversions?

Conversions are often the metric used to measure the success of electronic marketing. But, what exactly is a conversion? Is it a sale? Is it getting the prospect to call you? Is it an opportunity in the pipeline?

A conversion is getting the visitor to take the action you want them to take on a specific page.

For example, if you have a Google Adwords campaign that links to a landing page, a conversion is when someone clicks through the ad, lands on the landing page, and then takes whatever action you desire on that page – usually fills out a form.

You can calculate your conversion rate with the following formula:

(Number of forms completed / the number of click-throughs) * 100.

If you have ten click-throughs from the ad and two of those visitors fill out the form, your conversion rate is 20%.

(2/10) * 100.

Blogs can be a bit tougher. Is a conversion getting someone to comment? Comments are not necessarily a great measure for success. You could be getting dozens of visitors a day and still not get comments.

Is it getting people to stay on the page and read the posts? You should look at metrics such as the length of time your visitors stay on the site (indicating that they actually read something), the number of pages visited, and bounce rates as an indication of the success of your blog. But, it’s still difficult to tie these measurements back to your pipeline metrics.

You could use your blog to drive people to your web site or to something they can download This would give you a very solid conversion number with a value to the business that is a bit easier to assess. For example, if they click through to your website, it’s an indication that your post piqued their interest in your products.

However, measure blogs by the amount of web traffic they drive and you run the risk of making your posts too commercial.

You can also measure the success of a blog in metrics that have nothing to do with conversion rates. For example, blogs can be a great way to build evidence for your media outreach program. That’s a very valid goal, but not necessarily a “conversion rate.”

How do you measure the “conversion rate” of your company blog?

All the best!

Melissa

Read more!

Winning Customers and Influencing Prospects Through Lead Nurturing

I think I’ve been remiss by not covering lead nurturing in any real depth in the couple of years since I started this blog. The more I work with marketing teams, many of them great in many respects, the more I am convinced that lead nurturing is the “secret sauce” that is missing from their efforts.

I want to thank Brian Carroll and his team at InTouch for helping me really cement my thoughts on Lead Nurturing and its importance in any marketing plan. My opinions are not necessarily always representative of theirs (so don't blame them!) but they are an impressive organization with an incredible amount of expertise.

Let’s start with what lead nurturing is. Here’s a quick quiz to test your knowledge.

Lead Nurturing is:

A. Telling your prospects that they are wonderful and you know they’ll become great customers someday.

B. Calling your prospects every few weeks to “touch base” and see if they are ready to buy yet.

C. Staying in front of your prospects with information that is useful to them and that they want to receive and that brings them closer to engagement with you.

The answer is C, of course.

I think most of you probably guessed that A was an attempt at humor. And, although most of you probably guessed C was the right answer, it’s amazing how many companies will say they have a nurturing program that, upon further investigating, consist of B – with maybe a few email campaigns thrown in.

Critical elements of lead nurturing
C is a pretty broad statement and doesn’t really capture the essence of the elements of lead nurturing so let’s take a look at a few of these in more depth:

Staying in front of prospects – This implies that you “touch” your prospects on a fairly frequent and consistent basis. The frequency of contacts in more sophisticated lead nurturing programs may be different by type of prospect. Some companies will even allow their prospects to define how often they want to be contacted.

At the very least, you don’t want to let so much time lapse that the prospect forgets who you are. In my opinion, if a lead is worth nurturing it’s probably worth at least one touch a month. This is one of the reasons why quarterly newsletter programs can play a part in lead nurturing, but by themselves, they don’t complete the picture.

Useful information – The type of information sent is also critical to a solid lead nurturing program. We’ll spend more time in a later post on types of content and tips for creating good content. For now, I want to focus on the word “useful.”

What prospects really want to see is information that is useful to them. In most cases, this does not mean product information. Save that for the sales process.

At this early stage, prospects want information that educates them. This educational information may help them understand their situation better. It may help them think about their problem in a different light. It may equip them with knowledge they need to make better decisions. It may answer some of the most common questions that others in their situation have.

It probably goes without saying that this education information is not focused on your product or your company. The focus is on your prospect and their needs. Brochures do not count as lead nurturing content.

Want to receive – This doesn’t mean that the prospect requested the specific information per se, but it should be information that is not intrusive. That begs the question – Do prospects in a lead nurturing program need to opt-in to the program?

Opt-in is not legally required in the U.S., but in a lead nurturing program, opt-in is a fundamental component. In the next post, we’ll talk more about how to build your opt-in list for your nurturing program.

All the best!

Melissa

Read more!

Better Branding on LinkedIn

Following LinkedIn’s evolution over the last several years has been fascinating. They continue to improve the product and make it more relevant to individuals who are looking to brand themselves as well as their company. I have to imagine that LinkedIn has some great product managers who really listen to their market.

As in all things in life, sometimes it’s the little things that make a big difference. Here’s a new feature I stumbled upon recently.

Most of you who use LinkedIn are probably familiar with adding your sites to your profile. These sites could be your company site, your blog, or any other site that you feel adds to your profile and your online brand. But, did you know that you can change these tag lines from “My Blog” or “My Company” to the wording of your choice? (within the allotted number of characters, of course.)

Here’s a snapshot of what my website section of my profile looks like now:


The first is my blog. The second site is My Google Group. In this case, I used the title “My Google Group” because the title of the group wouldn’t fit and I wanted to make it clear what the site was anyway. The last site is my group on LinkedIn.

It’s a small touch, but I think this looks better than “My Blog,” “My Company” and “My Website.”

All the best!

Melissa

Read more!

12 Steps to Dumping Your Marketing Department - Step 3 Hang Out With Your Market

Step 3 – Hang out with your market

As a marketer, I don’t really believe that you could or should dump your marketing department. On the other hand, as a former sales person, I can also understand the frustration you feel when your marketing department fails to consistently deliver enough qualified opportunities to keep your pipeline full.

This is Step 3 in a 12 step series showing sales people how they can reduce their reliance on their marketing team. Marketers should also pay close attention as this series can give you tips that you can share with your sales team to help make them more successful and take a bit of the pressure off of you.

In steps 1 and 2, we covered:

Step 1 - Targeting your market

Step 2 – Building your online presence

Step 3, hanging out with your market, expands on that using both traditional and more modern web based methods to “see and be seen” in your target market.

Associations
This is nothing new, but in my experience, very few sales people take the lead on this. They may get involved with an association if marketing signs them up for it. But even then, participation is sketchy.

You need to figure out which associations, both real and virtual, your target market is participating in. This is one of the reasons step 1 is so important. It’s hard to determine which associations are critical to a target market without first defining that target market.

Clearly, you won’t have time to participate in associations for very many markets so narrow your choices down to one or two top markets that you really want to become known in.

Then participate!

Trade Shows
Again, nothing new. But don’t wait till marketing signs you up to stand in a booth for hours handing out trinkets to people who are collecting them for their grandkids.

You need to go back to your target market(s) and figure out which conferences, large or small, your market attends. Don’t forget to look for virtual shows or conferences.

When I was the Life Sciences Industry Manager for Microsoft’s Business Solutions division, I attended a training class on FDA regulations for pharmaceutical manufacturers taught by EduQuest. I made a few connections at the class, and the “diploma” really added to my credibility.

In any conference, you can get more opportunities by actually attending the conference and having conversations with fellow conference attendees than you can by standing in a booth. Plus, you have the added benefit of getting closer to the issues that your market cares about. (Product Marketers and Managers you should be attending these conferences too and not just hanging out in the booth!)

Speaking Opportunities
Look for speaking opportunities at these conferences.

I know what you’re thinking. “But I don’t have nearly enough credibility or experience to be a speaker at a conference!”

I know because I was there too. But, my motto is “you never know until you try.” Plus, I had a great mentor in Mike Frichol who encouraged me.

Most of these conferences want to hear from people in the industry and not vendors. Instead of being the expert yourself, enlist one of your best customers to present a case study with you. Just remember, you will need to shelve your innate instincts to sell. The stage at a conference is not the place to do it.

Marketers, look for sales people who are interested in doing this and do whatever you can to help them get on that stage. Tasks such as handling the logistics with the customer and making sure everything gets submitted to the organization on time will help things go a lot smoother.

The better your presentation (generally) the more business cards you’ll collect. Mike Volpe at Hubspot recommends asking people if they want to be on your mailing list when you accept their card. Let them know that you often produce additional educational information like the presentation they just watched and you’d be happy to let them know about it. You’ll be surprised at how quickly this can help you grow your opt-in mailing list.

When I worked for Mike Frichol at Microsoft, he did a series of presentations on “Lean Accounting” at APICS. He must have collected hundreds of business cards every time he presented.

LinkedIn Groups
I mentioned LinkedIn Groups and LinkedIn Q&A in step 2, but this bears repeating. If your market is hanging out on LinkedIn, you need to have a presence. And, you need to engage.

Other Online Forums
Look for other online forums that attract your target market. When I was a Product Manager at Microsoft for their ERP applications in the manufacturing sector, I spent quite a bit of time on IT Toolbox.

Take note, though. If you don’t have anything meaningful to say, don’t say anything at all. “Call me. I can help you solve your problem,” is not a qualified response on these forums. You’ll likely find yourself publicly derided by the members if you can’t keep yourself in check. They want information, not pitches.

At the very least, you should make sure your profile on these forums is complete. Some of these forums have also added the ability to connect with other members the way you do on LinkedIn.

You might also want to check for Google or Yahoo groups that might exist in your industry. If active, these are another chance to interact with a target market that might not have found networks like LinkedIn.

Blogs
A couple days ago, I wrote a post called Save time (and make more sales) by blogging showing sales and marketing how they could improve the sales process by answering common questions in blog format.

But, for purposes of hanging out with your market, let’s focus on blogs other than your own. You need to find the ones that your market reads. And, you might be surprised to find that these are not usually blogs owned by your competitors.

A good place to start looking for these blogs is to check the publications written for your market. Chances are they have at least one blog associated with their group. You can also research independent consultants whose expertise is synergistic to the products and services you offer. Or, just Google some of your keywords and the word “blog” and see what pops up.

There are blog directories available, but so far I’ve had more luck finding appropriate blogs using those simple tactics than by searching directories. This is especially the case if your topic is one that is not generally mainstream.

Now you need to start commenting to build up your credibility in your market. But, as with the forums, if you have nothing really interesting or compelling to add, don’t bother. “Great post. Keep it up!” doesn’t count as it looks like you probably didn’t even read the post. Not great for your cred.

The other piece of advice I have is one that you probably heard many times from your mother,

“If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”

That doesn’t mean you always have to agree with the blogger. Your comments can express a different point of view. Just do it in a respectful and thoughtful way.

Directory Listings
While you are hanging out on the web looking for blogs and associations, don’t forget to look for directory listings. You have to pay to be in some of these listings, but there are many of them that are free.

The irony is that the better ones, at least from a targeted market perspective, tend to be less expensive. The audience that the directory reaches is probably significantly smaller, but they probably matter much more than the more well-known directories.

Hopefully, you can enlist the help of marketing is providing you content such as product descriptions. Maybe they’ll even take over the maintenance of the directories if you just let them know which ones you think matter.

The added benefit to your organization is that these directories usually allow you to post links back to your website. Some directories like GlobalSpec have numerous ways you can posts links – everything from allowing you to post press releases, to articles and white papers, to product descriptions. All of these links can help you build your organization’s standing in the major search engine results.

This post ended up being significantly longer than I intended, and I’m sure I’m still missing a few things. There’s also a lot of overlap with Step 2 in building your online presence. Everyone of the techniques in step 3 that involves being online will help you build on the LinkedIn profile you built in step 2 – assuming you didn’t have one already.

But, that’s the point of each of these steps. You need to make sure you’ve covered each of them, in order, as the early steps build the foundation for later steps. If you haven’t refined your target market or built your LinkedIn profile, go back and read steps 1 and 2. If you already have those covered, look for ideas you can execute in step 3. Finally, stay tuned for Step 4. I’m still debating which idea makes the most sense to cover next, so I’ll have to stay tuned too.

All the best!

Melissa

Read more!