Nearly three quarters of marketers say that relevant content creation is one of the single most important ways to generate interest in a website. However, many companies in the B2B sphere, particularly those that are not tech-related, still struggle to attract inbound leads to their websites. Here’s a quick overview of how SEO and inbound marketing work, and how you can utilize them to increase your business’ online presence.
The Rise of Inbound Marketing
First, it’s important to understand the difference between inbound and outbound marketing.
Outbound marketing is what we traditionally think of in marketing, such as TV ads, billboards, yellow pages, online banner ads, etc. These advertising methods are pricey and tend to generate little revenue, because consumers either tune them out or can opt out of them altogether with spam folders, ad blocker, and internet television and radio.
Inbound marketing, by contrast, pulls consumers in with informative content. There are over 100 billion searches on Google every month, and those searches don’t just include consumers looking for products. Millions of C-level executives are using Google to decide which companies to do business with.
Have Strategic Graphic Design
Just as attractive packaging grabs the attention of customers, so too does a professional, clean, and colorful layout generate interest in your website. Recent studies show that having an unattractive or outdated layout can cause nearly 40% of web visitors to click away, while an attractive layout can increase web recognition by nearly 80%. Working with graphic designers through marketing firms to redesign your website is a great first step to make your website more noticeable to potential clients.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
You may have heard of the acronym SEO and how it can increase your internet presence, but not realized how it was done. Because potential clients are looking for businesses on Google, they will often only see the first few that appear on their browser. As a result, smart businesses work to rank highly on Google by constantly creating new content for their websites, generally through informative blogs. Working with marketing firms and digital marketing experts to launch a professional blog for your website tends to cost 62% less than traditional outbound marketing but generates over 54% more revenue, in part because leads come to your website organically based on their Google searches.
Ultimately, you don’t need to be an expert writer or graphic designer to have an effective and attention-grabbing website. Working with marketing firms to make your site more eye-catching and engaging is often all that is needed to show potential clients why you are the best company for the job.
