How to Turn Your Blog Into a Lead Generation Machine

While I'm on vacation in Europe for a few weeks, I've lined up a series of guest blog posts both here and on Biz Tips Blog, by several of my trusted colleagues (and friends). I'm deeply grateful that these savvy business people graciously provided top-notch content for you while I'm away.

First up is Rich Brooks from flyte new media with a great article on How to Turn Your Blog Into a Lead Machine...

To generate online leads, you need a steady stream of new, qualified prospects to your web site. These days, that means strong search engine visibility coupled with an active presence in social media.

And there's no better tool to help you in both categories than your business blog. But like any tool, it doesn't work by itself, it just amplifies your own efforts. Here's how to maximize your efforts to increase your online visibility, drive more qualified traffic to your site, and convert that traffic into leads for your sales team.

1. Spend time crafting a keyword-rich title for each blog post. Every blog post creates a new web page; each web page is another opportunity to rank well for one of your targeted keyword phrases in Google and other search engines. Your blog post title becomes your web page title, and titles are the biggest variable in the search engine algorithm, so don't short-change yourself here. Make sure your best keyword phrases appear in the first few words in the title for maximum exposure.

2. Keep those titles compelling. Leverage the "sharing power" of social media by creating compelling titles. People will often "Like" or retweet a blog post based solely on the title, even without reading it first! Although the tool may be tongue-in-cheek, check out the Link Bait Generator for ideas on how to create a compelling title.

3. Blog for your audience: your prospects and customers. Too many business blogs appear to be where press releases go to die. Although there's a place in an active blog for company news, for most businesses that's not what will attract customers. Instead, keep the focus of your blog on your customers' pain points. Every time you get an email or phone inquiry asking you for your expert advice, turn it into a blog post. If one person had that question, probably a dozen, a hundred or a thousand other people had the same question. Answer it before your competition does. Eighty to ninety percent of your blog posts should be addressing problems that your prospects face on a daily basis.

4. Blog regularly. Don't fall into the "I don't have time to blog" trap. Blogging is marketing, and every business needs to make time to market their services. Get up an hour earlier, stay up an hour later, don't watch "Project Runway" one week (unless of course you have a fashion blog. Then watch it twice.) You should really be blogging at least twice a week, three times when you're just getting started.

5. Reach new audiences through guest blogging. If you have the opportunity to blog at someone else's blog, you are immediately introduced to a new audience. If you get another blogger to contribute to your blog, very often they will promote the post to their faithful readers, who will check out your blog. In either case, the cross-promotion is valuable to help you reach an audience who may never have heard of you otherwise.

6. Actively market your blog. If a blog is such a great marketing tool, then it should market itself, right? Well, it needs a little help from you, especially at the beginning. Leverage your social media presence by promoting your new blog posts through tweets and status updates. Use tools like Pingoat to push your post to news aggregators. Use social bookmarking & news tools like Digg, Delicious and StumbleUpon as appropriate. Leave (intelligent) comments at related blogs and make sure your name links back to your blog post.

7. Funnel blog traffic to your web site. Once you start attracting new traffic to your blog, it's time to convert those visitors into prospects. You can do this through keyword-rich links to areas of your web site where you offer more information, or directly to a lead generation form. Consider offering a free download from your blog (at flyte's blog we offer "The 11 Biggest Mistakes Small Business Bloggers Make") that requires an email registration for collecting leads.

Now it's your turn: what techniques do you use on your blog that generate leads and get people to start doing business with you? Share your ideas in the comment field below…and who knows, maybe some later readers will follow your link back to your blog!

Rich Brooks is founder and president of flyte new media, a Web design and Internet marketing firm in Portland, Maine. His monthly flyte log email newsletter and company blog focus on Web marketing topics such as search engine optimization, blogs, social media, email marketing, and building Web sites that sell. He is currently an Expert Blogger at FastCompany.com and a regular contributor at SocialMediaExaminer.com.

He is a co-founder of Social Media FTW, an organization putting on conferences and events to educate small businesses and non-profits about the power of social media marketing. Rich is a nationally recognized speaker on web marketing and social media. He is the "tech guru" on WCSH Channel 6's evening news show, 207, and teaches a Web marketing course for entrepreneurs at the University of Southern Maine's Center for Continuing Education.
Tweet

image by Shutterstock.com

Comments

[Spencer Powell]

I thought this post hit the nail on the head. We are working to optimize all of our blog posts, but are struggling to gain traction on visitors and subscribers. I think the content is useful and interesting, but maybe we aren't promoting it enough. The only thing we are not doing under #6 above is Pingoat. I will check that out right away. Any other ideas for promoting a blog?

[dotCOMreport.com]

Love the part about "Not having time to blog." It's so easy to slip into that. Each day you let your readers down is another missed advertising opportunity, etc. Such a slippery slope. Great post. Thanks.

[Calicolost]

I would like to start a blog on Affiliate sites and working with the companies that are affiliated with them.
When a company that I do business with gives great service, either on the Web or "brick and mortar," I would like to recommend them to others.
How would I set up such a blog, and market it to others?

[Entreprenuer Blog]

A blog can be such a useful vehicle to attract targeted traffic to your blog or other sites but, like you say, a blog on its own is going to achieve very little.

Regular blog posting with compelling content is what's needed for a successful money making blog.

[Julius]

I like your idea of turning your client's questions into blog posts. I agree that if one person has this question, chances are lots of people also have the question too

[Therichbrooks]

To be honest, I don't use Pingoat as often as I should. One thing I'm trying to do more of is guest blogging, as you can see. It can help you reach a new audience and get some good links back to your site.

[Therichbrooks]

Thanks. The real question is "how do you NOT have time to blog?" If you're not getting enough leads or sales then you have enough time to blog.

[Therichbrooks]

You can set up the blog through TypePad or WordPress (my personal favorite), but I'm not sure how you might market it to people. What interest would your recommendations have to these people? Try writing the post titles to answer the questions your target audience is asking at the search engines.

Hope this helps!

[Therichbrooks]

It's like a snowball rolling downhill...your blog gains momentum and size the further it goes.

[Therichbrooks]

Plus, this way you don't have to come up with yet another new idea! ;)