A Toe In The Web Marketing Water Will Yield Toe Jam

As human beings, one of the hardest decisions we make on a daily basis is deciding what to commit to and focus on. As business owners or managers of departments or divisions, the list of decisions and commitments that we focus on is even more extensive. We don't have time to waste so what we devote our organization's time and energy to must produce the results we want and help us reach our goals.

One of the most common and obvious goals that our clients state when we are discussing a new web marketing project is generating more leads for their sales team. Everyone wants more clients. That's a given. The web is surely a great place to do that, IF you are willing to jump in. You can't just dip your toe in the water. Well, you can. You'll just end up with toe jam instead of leads...

I'm Not Saying You Have To Be Involved In Every Web Tactic

Please don't take my previous statements as an all or nothing stance. You most certainly do NOT have to be involved in every tactic web marketing has to offer. You do however have to commit enough time and resources to get activity at the top of your funnel and nurture it through to your sales team. This may sound complex, but it's really very simple. You need quality traffic to your website at minimum. Meaning search engine optimization. That's a must. You have to be where your prospective client is looking for you the most, Google. Additionally, you need a website that speaks to your ideal buyer personas. The website should provide some value in exchange for something simple, like an email address. This value item could be a checklist of mistakes companies make when buying your type of product or service, or simply an information packet request about your product or services. This moves the website visitor down the inbound marketing funnel towards an opportunity to make a sale.

So we've identified that the minimum you need:

• a website targeted to your ideal buyer personas
• some valuable offer worth exchanging contact details for
• the technical ability for a website visitor to provide contact details in exchange for your valuable offer
• quality search engine optimization (key word, quality)

This is the bare minimum in today's realm of web marketing. This will get you the equivalent of buying a car with an engine and 4 tires. You can't guarantee it will work optimally on a consistent basis, but it will work sometimes. Depending on the web competition in your industry, this may be all you need to get started. You may also need much more to get enough quality traffic at the top of your inbound funnel.

The Real Necessity Is Commitment To A Strategy

The bottom line is, for your web strategy to do what you want it to, you have to provide real commitment. You can't dabble. You don't dabble in initiatives that you want to succeed. That may mean a little more work up front, but the payoff will be huge. The same as any other really successful initiatives you've pushed.

Sometimes all you need is the right people to help you through the process and keep you accountable to the original goals you came up with! Let us know if you are ready to pull your toe out and dive in!