WSI Digital Marketing Consultant – We Simplify the Internet

A business cannot sustain itself, grow, prosper, thrive or even just exist in a vacuum. Every business needs three things to survive.

1)  Lead Generation
2)  Brand Recognition and Credibility
3)  Customer Nurturing/Communication

Lead generation is a top priority for many businesses. Without a consistent supply of new prospects, growth is not feasible and the ability to be self-sustaining is difficult at best.

Additionally, brand recognition and credibility is what sets one business apart from all of their competition. If people recognize you and respect you, you’ve got a leg up in capturing the business of all the prospects that you come in contact with.

And finally, communicating with your prospects and customers is what a business needs to do to keep existing customers and maintain their loyalty. Losing touch can mean risking the loss of repeat business in the future.

Typically, depending on where your business is in its lifecycle, one of these three things will be more important than the other two. For example, a large and successful business in a mature industry may find it difficult to maintain contact with all of their customers on a regular basis, so developing a proactive communication strategy might be their first priority.

But whatever the top priority, an effective online marketing strategy should take all three of these things into account. Making the mistake of focusing only on lead generation and neglecting to maintain communication with your existing customers, for example, could potentially result in gradually loosing valuable customers. And, if you didn’t have the time to think about why you were losing customers, you might incorrectly think that you simply need to put more energy into lead generation.

So remember, it’s not about keeping your eye on the ball. It’s about keeping your eye on all three balls at the same time. And, at WSI, that is exactly what we do every day for all of our clients.

If you would like a free, no obligation consultation with us to help determine your best priorities, please don’t hesitate to contact us today. We’re always here to help.

The acronym SEO (search engine optimization) has become familiar to many of us. But the term “SEO Junk” may not be as familiar. While others may have seen it used, or even used it themselves, I myself have never seen it in print… until now, that is. So, what is SEO Junk?

I like to think of SEO Junk as a sort of virtual, digital version of the term Space Junk, which gained popularity during the Apollo space missions and generally refers to “the collection of objects in orbit around Earth that were created by humans but no longer serve any useful purpose (wikipedia).” Dead spacecraft and satellites, lost equipment and spent rocket booster sections, for example, can all be referred to as Space Junk.

Now back on Earth, have you ever searched for something online, found a great looking link and clicked on it, only to land on a web page that was not at all what you expected? As a result of their SEO efforts (or lack thereof), the strange website that you landed on got an increase in their traffic statistics. But what did you get? Nothing, nada, waste of time.

If you have experienced the above, you have encountered SEO Junk - tactics aimed at getting you to click on a search result with little or no regard to your true specific needs. Numerous examples of SEO Junk litter the internet like so many dead satellites and spent rocket boosters.

Now suppose you are a business owner and you have a website for your business. Should you care about anything besides the number of people who visit your website on a weekly or monthly basis? Of course! You want as many of those visitors as possible to be directed to exactly what they were searching for, and you want it to be as easy as possible for them to get it from you, to download an article, to request a service or buy a product.

All of this cannot be accomplished with SEO alone. SEO, by itself, is only one part of the puzzle. You ultimately need an integrated plan that includes conversion tactics, communication strategies and is specifically designed to target your ideal customers and to achieve your specific business goals.

Don’t settle for SEO Junk!

Please feel free to add your comments below, or contact me directly to learn more about how to develop a comprehensive online strategy designed specifically to grow your business.