When you have a business that relies on attracting new business online the sheer volume of options can be confusing. Should offline advertising efforts transfer to online? Maybe email marketing? What about SEO or the hot topic, social media? So much focus is placed on tactics and channels, that a lot of misplaced digital marketing budget gets wasted or spent inefficiently.

To bring some clarity to the myriad online marketing options available, I think it’s worth marketers taking a holistic approach that starts with an essential understanding of goals and customers. Who are your best customers? Who are your worst? What do your best customers care about? What are their pain points and goals? While you’re answering those key questions, think about how your solutions meet the needs of your target audience and what stories you can tell to bring align those interests to a common goal.

To be an effective online marketer in today’s fast changing environment, it’s important to understand the customer journey though the sales cycle. That empathy helps internet marketers adapt to any changes in consumer behaviors. Curiosity about technology and trends will help marketers become smarter regardless of what changes occur in the industry, with specific channels or applications.

If you want to learn more about how a more customer centric and content focused internet marketing approach could work for your business, please give us a call or come to one of the events listed below. Over the next month or so, I will be speaking at a number of events drilling down into the strategy and mechanics of such an approach. Of course, a great complement to these events would be the book that Joe Pulizzi says will, “help take your online and content marketing to the next level”.

May 16, 1:00 pm Central
Webinar:  Optimize & Socialize for Better Content Marketing
Online Marketing Institute: Register Here (free)

The answer to better content marketing isn’t simply adding more content. Designing content that’s meaningful vs. mechanical for customers that inspires engagement and business outcomes enables brands to reach more people ready to buy, refer or share. This webinar will provide a framework for an Optimize and Socialize approach to content marketing that attracts, engages and inspires community and sales.

Key Takeaways:

• 3 Key consumer trends that spell opportunity for Social SEO
• A Framework for an optimized and socialized content marketing program
• How to plan search and social content across the sales cycle
• Essential KPIs and business outcomes for Social SEO and content marketing

May 23rd, 4:45 pm Pacific
Solo Presentation: Sales Cycle Optimization With Content, SEO & Social Media
Marketo Users Conference (Client), San Francisco: Register Here

While Google.com handles over 11 billion queries a month, competition for attention on the search and social web is at an all time high. There are over 65,743,590 blog posts published each month and more video is uploaded to YouTube in that time than the 3 major US networks created in 60 years. Content flows in every direction throughout a variety of platforms, formats and devices. The mass adoption of the social and mobile web has facilitated a revolution of information access, sharing and publishing.

Guiding customers on their journey through the sales cycle in that environment requires an integrated approach to content, optimization and social media marketing. Optimizing the sales funnel is essential to attract, engage and inspiring customers to buy and this presentation will provide attendees with a framework and tactics to develop their own Optimize and Socialize approach to sales cycle optimization.

June 1st, 8:00 am Central
Presentation: Optimize – How to Attract and Engage More Customers by Integrating SEO, Social Media and Content Marketing
Social Media Club, Redwood Falls MN: Register Here (free copy of Optimize for all attendees!)

How can small businesses approach their online marketing to achieve better visibility where customers are looking and socializing online? This presentation on Optimize will provide attendees a framework for organizing their content marketing that leverages both search and social media to attract more customers, shorten sales cycles and retain existing customers. Some of the key presentation topics to be covered:

• Major shifts in consumer search and social trends
• Key opportunities to improve online marketing strategy and performance
• How to integrate customer-centric SEO with social media and content marketing
• Using this knowledge to attract, engage, and inspire more sales online

June 7th, 9:00 am Eastern
Track Keynote: Optimize and Socialize for Better Content Marketing
BlogWorld New Media & Expo, New York: Register Here

Search, social media and content marketing are converging, and consumers are using numerous ways to discover, consume and act on content. In this session, you’ll learn how to use content marketing best practices to design information that inspires audiences to share, buy and recommend your brand.

Key Points
1. Learn the framework for an optimize and socialize approach to content marketing
2. Understand the framework for optimizing across the customer lifecycle
3. Know the difference between KPIs and business outcomes for web and social measurement

June 8th, 11:30 am Eastern
Solo Presentation: Attract & Engage More Customers With An Optimized State of Mind
Vocus Users Conference (Client), Baltimore: Register Here

The worlds of Marketing and Public Relations are converging and now, more than ever, communications professionals need to accelerate their internet marketing skill sets to create a competitive advantage. This presentation provides an integrated approach to using content for optimizing awareness, engagement and action.

June 11, 10:30 am & 3:30 pm
Enterprise SEO
Content Marketing Optimization
SES Toronto: Register Here

Enterprise SEO: This session will also include a proven model of organization for your enterprise-level SEO campaign as well as a summary of key metrics that you should be measuring to drive ongoing SEO strategy.

Content Marketing Optimization: Pandas and Penguins and Zebras Oh My!  If your SEO is all about chasing tricks and shortcuts with content and links, then this session isn’t for you. If you are interested in building a competitive advantage focusing on customer centric content marketing that works with or without search engines, then make sure you have a front row seat.

It will be a busy 30 days but there’s been so much interest in a more integrated approach and with Optimize, that it’s been a real pleasure meeting and exchanging ideas with marketers looking for a more holistic perspective to marketing on the web. I hope to see you at one of these events.  To get a tase of these types of presentations, take a look at this deck from the Fusion Marketing Experience conference that I presented last week in Antwerp. It’s currently featured on the home page of Slideshare.

For anyone that liveblogs these events, please be sure to email me the link to your post and I’ll send you a copy of Optimize. If you have one, I’ll send you one to give away to your readers.  lee at toprank dot org

Gain a competitive advantage by subscribing to the
TopRank® Online Marketing Newsletter.

© Online Marketing Blog, 2012. |
Holistic Optimization Across the Sales Cycle: Optimize Speaking Events May & June | http://www.toprankblog.com

Online Marketing Blog

SEO Help Videos – 50% And Great Sales Copy
These SEO Help Videos Come With Exclusive Bonuses Not Found Anywhere Else Along With Split Tested Landing Pages! Go To Http://seohelpvideos.com/affiliates For Instant Access To 3 Powerful Tools To Help You Earn More Money Now!
SEO Help Videos – 50% And Great Sales Copy

Google Juice – Best SEO Book Of 2011
Google Juice Is The Newest Ebook Covering SEO And Social Media To Help Get Anyone (small Business / Bloggers/ Realtors / Musicians / Etc) To The Top Of The Google Search Results And Helps Them “get Found Online.” Click To Watch The Video!
Google Juice – Best SEO Book Of 2011

Online retailers lose an estimated £1.73bn in global sales each year due to slow loading speeds, according to new research from online customer data platform QuBit.

Slow loading times are incredibly frustrating for shoppers, yet the Retail Focus white paper suggests e-commerce sites do not see site speed as a top priority.

The report also highlights the fact that consumers are becoming more impatient.

In 2006 the average user would be happy to wait around four seconds for a page to load, but by 2009 this had halved to two seconds.

Econsultancy’s Internet Statistics Compendium includes data from Rackspace which shows that 38% of UK online shoppers abandon websites or apps that take more than 10 seconds to load. 

Furthermore, Google considers a page to be ‘slow’ if it takes longer than 1.5 seconds to load and will consequently relegate it in the search rankings. As only a quarter (28%) of users bother to go past the first page of Google’s search results this could have a drastic impact on site traffic.

Lack of speed also kills conversions on mobile: 74% of users will abandon after waiting five seconds for a mobile site to load.  

To quantify the actual impact of slow loading times, QuBit surveyed 60,000 consumers using its Exit Feedback tool where users are asked to comment on their experience at the point of leaving a website.

Customer opinions were captured across 80 websites, within a range industries including retail, travel, technology, finance and publishing.

Of those surveyed, 8% cited slow loading pages as a key reason for abandoning their purchase.

QuBit, which is run by four ex-Googlers, said it is unrealistic to assume all of these users would have completed their purchase. 

Therefore it weighted the average conversion rate of web shoppers (4.35%) against the value of global online sales (£496bn).

Based on this estimate, internet retailers could be losing out on £1.73bn each year.

The report also evaluated loading times for pages across a range of industries. It found that on average homepages took 3.50 seconds to load, although some were as slow as 15 seconds.

Product pages were the slowest, taking twice as long to load as homepages across the board.

Site loading times vs. the average

But all is not lost for slow websites, QuBit suggests several steps that can be taken to improve loading times:

• Use a content delivery network: this is a network of servers that delivers static content to users from the closest point of presence. It can increase loading speed for all visitors and is relatively inexpensive.
• Minify HTML, CCS and JavaScript: the white space created by these formats reduces the speed at which the on-screen elements can be delivered, making load times slower.
• Optimise image content: while high-res images look attractive, their size and prominence can slow down web pages. To optimise images you should remove unnecessary metadata, define image dimensions and use CSS sprites.
• Use browser caching: this can be used to remember static files from the site that have previously been downloaded. This means that should the user return to that site in the future, large elements can be immediately accessed from the cache rather than downloaded from the server.
• Minimise HTTP requests: QuBit’s Exit Feedback research also highlighted that one of the key issues faced by users was too much on-screen content, leading to confusion and eventually abandonment. In fact, some of the most effective uplifts in conversion can be delivered via streamlining web-pages, so minimising HTTP requests won’t only boost site-speed but in all likelihood will directly boost sales as well.

Image credit: psd via Flickr. 

Posts from the Econsultancy blog

(PRWEB) May 04, 2012

Oracle Digital, the leading SEO and Internet Marketing Company in Western Australia, has been strongly campaigning for its Social Marketing strategies which have been proven to help build reliable backlinks, boost page ranking, and improve customer relationship, among other benefits. This recent undertaking is in line with current statistics that show the increasing popularity of social networks and the untouched potential that this platform entails.

With the increasing popularity of social networking, marketing analysts consider it as among the best platforms to help businesses reach their target market across the borders and build-up a sustainable consumer relationship. Taking advantage of these social platforms, local businesses will be able to reach further and influence prospective clients to support their products and services that would in effect lead them to dominate their niches as a reputable business.

A recent report from SmartCompany has revealed Amazons plan to build a warehouse in the country. According to market analysts, this impending move, considering that it comes from one of the retail giants online, is most likely influenced by the fact that online sales has been growing at a very fast rate in Australia. They also believe that this move by Amazon will ensure faster shipping times, lower costs and generate more sales.

This latest development is further supported by Ben Hegerty, Savills Associate Director Investments. Hegerty explained that this planned move by Amazon makes clear sense, considering its popularity and the support it gets from the locals. He says, Theyre popular here they could cut down on costs.

Further reports have stipulated that the recent development plan by several online companies to build their corresponding local warehouses in the country will help boost the industrial property market in the long run. A recent analysis undertaken by Knight Frank – a leading private agency on global property and consultancy in Melbourne, shows how the available industrial-spaces-for-rent in the first quarter of the year fell down by approximately 16%. The report also added that buildings and properties in prime locations are also doing well and is expected to become even better.

Hegerty further correlates this improvement in the industrial property market to the increasing popularity of e-commerce and online companies. He says, Even the cheaper importers such as Sonic, theyre in the market in a big way. Its pretty simple, in that you have less manufacturing on shore. Goods have to come from somewhere to service a market, and they need to be stored.

The undeniable popularity of eCommerce is largely considered by most experts as a big factor that may affect bricks and mortar businesses. They strongly suggest that traditional companies must take the essential steps and engage in online marketing strategies, like Social Marketing, to further their cause.

The crucial role of Social Marketing in the business world is likely supported by Clint Maher, Oracle Digitals Director of Operations. Maher says, Social media has become so big nowadays that it would be unwise for a company to ignore the huge market that this platform brings into the forefront. Fortunately, there are numerous companies all over who are willing to provide assistance to those who are interested.

He further adds, In order to have a successful campaign, however, one must only deal with those companies who have the expertise, the reputation and the technology to speak of. Otherwise, you might get less than you deserve.

With this objective in mind, Oracle Digital has lately marketed its most up-to-date Social Marketing strategies in order to help businesses efficiently promote their product and/or service offerings. This, of course, is aside from the companys other online services, such as its powerful off-page and on-page optimisation techniques, blog management, and reputation management.

Oracle Digital is recognised as one of the leading Digital Marketing Company in Perth, which also serves clients from Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney. For more information about the company and their services, please call 1300 899 851 or visit their website at http://www.oracledigital.com.au.

(PRWEB UK) 30 January 2012

SEO Positive is expanding once again as the company welcomes a brand new sales manager to its business development division today.

The SEO agency, which is based in Essex, would like to welcome Paul Taylor to the team. Paul has extensive experience within this particular area and is looking forward to bringing his knowledge and skills to a sales department that has grown from strength to strength in recent times.

As expected, SEO Positive has had yet another month of record sales, which has been helped by the recent managerial restructuring within the firm. Staff are now able to work more efficiently thanks to minor tweaks to the existing sales processes.

Ben Austin, the Managing Director at the company, is excited for the expansion and believes that adding to his strong sales department will lead to unprecedented success in the coming months.

We believe were ready for rapid growth, Ben announces. Our business is achieving new great things because were constantly adapting to the industry its second nature for us to adjust our services to suit demand and we believe our sales team really communicate this commitment to new clients.

Since the launch of the companys re-designed corporate website in early January, SEO Positive has been pushing an aggressive in-house marketing campaign to promote its new range of services, which include cutting edge web usability and SEO copywriting packages alongside more advanced SEO options.

SEO Positive was established in 2007 in Chelmsford, Essex with the aim of bringing effective yet affordable online marketing services to companies from all industries and backgrounds. The company offers a huge range of services including search engine optimisation, Pay Per Click management, social media marketing and online reputation control.

###

More Search Engine Optimisation Press Releases