Getting Leads (and More!) from Your Blog: 10 Tips for...

Getting Leads (and More!) from Your Blog:

10 Tips for Higher Blog ROI

Howard J. Sewell, President

Spear Marketing Group

#MarketoTour © 2012 Marketo, Inc. Marketo Proprietary and Confidential.

Navicure

► SaaS-based medical claims management (Atlanta)

► $30MM, 150+ employees

► Target audience: physicians and office managers at small- to mid-sized medical practices


The Problem

► “CEO blog” was generating no measurable return: low traffic, few subscribers (RSS), no comments

► Irregular content with no editorial plan or defined set of contributors

► Standard Wordpress template with standard widgets: tags, archives, popular posts

► No stated objective, no internal champion

► Question: are blogging and social media worth the investment?


The Process

► In order to be worthwhile, the blog needed to do to do more than just promote thought leadership

► Goals: ► 1. Generate new sales leads & measurable ROI

► 2. Create content that can be used for nurturing & customer marketing

► 3. Increase awareness of “next generation clearinghouses” but not be too Navicure-centric


The Process

► In order to be worthwhile, the blog needed to do to do more than just promote thought leadership

► Goals: ► 1. Generate new sales leads & measurable ROI

► 2. Create content that can be used for nurturing & customer marketing

► 3. Increase awareness of “next generation clearinghouses” but not be too Navicure-centric

► Steps: ► 1. Design the blog with demand generation in mind

► 2. Create an industry blog: make the Navicure brand secondary

► 3. Create an editorial strategy and gain firm commitment from contributors


Branded “Daily Practice”



Mix of Content: Practical Advice, Thought Leadership, Promotional




Prominent subscription options: Email, Twitter, LinkedIn, RSS




Prominent subscription options: Email, Twitter, LinkedIn, RSS

Links to Webinars, events, and gated content in the sidebar


Monthly Email Newsletter


The Results

► 60 net new leads in first 30 days

► 500 net new leads in first 9 months

► 22 percent of new prospects requested sales contact

► 778% ROI for 2011


Customer Blog


10 tips for higher blog ROI


Prominent subscription options

► Capturing new subscribers is one of the most efficient ways to convert visitors into readers that you can nurture over time

► Offer as many subscription options as possible

► At minimum: Email, RSS, Twitter

► Don’t rely on icons alone; include simple text instructions that “sell” the various options


Promotional content

► Don’t be afraid of promotional content

► Consider the “4-1-1 Rule” (designed for Twitter) ► “For every one self-serving tweet, you should re-tweet

one relevant tweet and share four pieces of relevant content”

► Blog version: 1 promotional post, 1 post commenting on content written by others, 4 pieces of original content

► Include a call to action at the end of relevant posts ► “For further reading on this topic, download a

copy of our free white paper … (link)”


Gated resources in sidebar

► Highly effective technique for converting casual blog visitors (people interested in the topics and issues addressed by your blog) into measurable sales leads

► Include text link + visual “icon” (shown to improve response by making offer seem more tangible)


Use links for SEO, offer content

► 2 linking techniques to drive improve search rankings, boost Web traffic, and drive sales leads:

► Link keywords within blog posts to Web pages that you want to rank highly for that keyword

► Link names or descriptions of content (white papers, Webinars) to gated landing pages for that content


Make every new offer a blog post

► Post excerpts, highlights, or reviews of every new white paper, case study, or Webinar

► Close the post with a link to the original or complete content (preferably gated) ► “View the complete Webinar on our Website: (link)”


Social Sharing: Easy & Visible

► Include social sharing options at the end of every blog post, and in the blog sidebar (for sharing the blog as a whole)

► Popular sharing services: AddThis, ShareThis

► Tip: Use options that display individual options (Facebook, Twitter, +1) vs. one button


Write post titles for Google

► When writing post titles, think about the reader seeing the post as a search result or a tweet, NOT the reader viewing your blog

► Use search-critical keywords, but don’t overdo it (keep the title engaging)

► Using numbers (“5 Ways to Improve …”) is a cliché but it WORKS

► Ask the question: does this title stand by itself?

“Wow, that looks interesting.”


Make your blog a newsletter

► Leverage your blog investment by pushing blog content monthly to your prospect database

► Drives blog traffic, increases subscribers

► Less labor-intensive than the traditional “write it all at once” newsletter model

► Go the extra step and design an attractive newsletter template vs. using an “automated” email service like Feedburner


Tags are your friend

► Tags are primarily a navigational tool for finding related posts, but they’re also a highly effective way to increase search rankings

► Don’t display tags in the sidebar (wasted space!)

► Use the same tags over and over again ► Increases the number of related posts (and traffic to

those posts)

► Increases the value (and search ranking) of “Tag Pages” (“Tag Archives”) that contain excerpts of all posts that use the same tag


Start with a plan

► Choose a goal and stick to it (a blog can’t be everything to everyone)

► Choose your audience

► Brainstorm all possible topics and narrow them down to 5-6 categories (e.g. industry trends, best practices, offer content)

► Assign 1 or more contributors to each category (reduces the demand on any one individual)

► Create an editorial calendar with deadlines for each category and contributor

► Good luck!


Resources

► Questions? [email protected]

► Copies of slides

► www.spearmarketing.com/blog

► dailypracticeblog.com

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