Businesses are starting to understand the benefits of digital marketing. They promote themselves across multiple channels, invest in website creation and optimization, and create engaging content. With so many industry rivals that have been rocking digital marketing for quite some time now, it is increasingly complicated for startups to get noticed, attract qualified traffic, and generate more leads and sales.
But, this should not discourage you. There are always ways to make a mark. For starters, let’s get one thing straight – having a website does not guarantee you success. To gain a competitive edge and generate more leads in the fierce market, you need to optimize your website properly.
Here are 4 tried and tested SEO tactics that will, when implemented properly, help you take your lead gen efforts to a whole new level.
1. Intent: Know What Your Customers Are Googling
Keyword analysis is the nerve center of your lead generation efforts. However, keep in mind that, with the evolution of Google’s algorithms, keyword optimization has become more organic and sophisticated.
In the past, you could optimize your website for the most popular keywords. Today, using phrases with the highest search volume and creating keyword-heavy website content will not help you rank high. Such keywords are highly competitive, meaning you will not get an opportunity to rank on the first, second, or even third page of Google. Logically, if your pages do not rank high and entice searchers to click, your traffic and, ultimately, lead generation efforts will suffer.
Precisely because of that, you need to understand the search intent behind every keyword you use. For example, google your main keyword and see what kind of posts appear in the SERPs. If most listings on the first page are blog articles, how-to guides, and infographics, it is obvious that users googling this keyword want to learn something, not to purchase from you. Such keywords have an informational intent and, as such, they should be used on your blog. Those phrases with the commercial intent are perfect for your homepage, promotional landing pages, and product pages.
Apart from the traditional keyword research software like Google Keyword Planner or Ahrefs, you could also use alternative and, yet, highly valuable keyword research tools. Google’s Suggest, Searches Related To, and People Also Ask will help you understand keyword intent and identify your profitable keywords. Answer The Public is also a nifty tool that tells you what kind of questions people usually ask.
2. Usefulness: Create Content That Solves The Searcher’s Problem
Irrespective of your industry, content creation and optimization is critical for your success. It lets you engage your website visitors, evoke emotions, and build stronger relationships through engaging and personalized website content. Your ultimate goal is to create relevant, data-backed, informative, immersive content that delivers value.
Starting to understand that your content educates them and helps them solve real-life problems, your website visitors will keep coming to your blog and trust you more. Above all, they will be more likely to sign up for your email list to stay on top of your latest posts.
Now, to create content that is relevant to your audiences, you first need to know who they are and what stage of a conversion funnel they are at. Based on this data, you will know what content will resonate with them the best. For example, in the awareness phase, a user is looking for solutions to their problems, so they will probably focus on infographics, ebooks, podcasts, or articles. Those in the evaluation phase will compare you to other brands in the niche, so they will focus more on customer reviews, testimonials, success stories, evaluation tools, product webinars, free trials, case studies, and so forth.
Content marketing unifies many SEO processes, such as strong on-page optimization, internal and external linking, and keyword research. Your website performance and user experiences determine how well your content will convert. Precisely because of that, you should perform a thorough quarterly SEO audit to understand your website’s overall technical and SEO health, identify potential UX issues, and learn what sites link back to your content pages and what keywords your pages rank for.
3. Conversion: Encourage Visitors To Take Action With A Clear CTA
One of the fastest ways to convert a website visitor into a lead is to directly ask them for their email address with a clear call-to-action (CTA). However, it is not that easy. Most people visiting your website need to have a good reason to sign up for your email list. And, that reason is called a lead magnet. Simply put, a lead magnet is an irresistible offer you can promote to your website visitors in exchange for their email address.
Now, there are numerous types of lead magnets that may work for your audiences. Some of them are:
- Checklists
- Toolkits
- Web apps
- Resource lists
- Gated content – infographics, articles, news, case studies
- Tutorials
- Ebooks
- Reports
- Case studies
- Educational videos
- Mind maps
- Discounts
- Free shipping
In other words, a lead magnet is basically any type of content a user can download from your website for free and use forever in exchange for their email address.
4. Promotion: Promote The Content You Create
Apart from running a blog on your startup’s website, blogging on other relevant sites in your niche also immensely important because it builds awareness, backlinks, and promotes your own content. There are many benefits of guest blogging. First, when publishing content on popular and reputable sites in the same niche, you will position yourself as a credible source of information. Second, you will expand your reach and boost your website traffic and leads. The more you invest in your authority as an industry leader, the more you will be able to turn your website visitors into leads and sales.
Now, there are a few SEO rules to apply when wanting to invest in guest blogging. For starters, mind where you publish articles. Choose sites that are in the same niche and that target the same audience groups. Then, check their engagement. Do people comment on their articles and share them on social? From the SEO viewpoint, check the site’s domain authority, keywords, anchor tags, backlinks, and organic rankings to see how relevant and quality it is. Finally, adapt your writing style to the blog’s specific needs to appeal to their audiences. Make it fresh, authentic, informative, and intriguing.
Only by publishing top-notch content on SEO-friendly and highly engaging sites will you be able to drive new audiences to your site, engage them, and convert them into leads.
Over to You
In the hypercompetitive digital marketing landscape, putting your startup in front of the right audiences and turning them into leads is extremely challenging. Fortunately, there is still a clear-cut strategy for them to apply. It consists of 4 critical elements of SEO – understanding the search intent and targeting keywords based on it; generating authoritative content that positions you as an industry leader and helps you build trust with your audiences; offering catchy lead magnets, and building links on reputable sites in your niche.
The reason this tactic works lies in the fact that it is not pushy. It is built on understanding prospective customers, building trust with them, and delivering value across multiple channels. This is the only way to convert them into profitable leads and, ultimately, loyal customers.
Editor’s Note: The article is part of the blog series Grow Your Business brought to you by the marketing team at UniTel Voice, the virtual phone system priced and designed for startups and small business owners.
