Columns > Strictly Business
Strictly
Business looks at business-to-business (B2B)
search marketing, including challenges such as lengthy
conversion cycles, finding qualified buyers, the role search
marketing plays in the overall sales process and more. The
Strictly Business column appears on Tuesdays at Search
Engine Land.
To get this column via email or feed, visit our columns page.
Jul. 16, 2008 at 12:39pm by Andrew Wheeler
A B2B Paid Search Success Equation
It's simple. A successful paid search campaign is contingent upon three fundamentals: keywords, ad copy, and landing pages. Together they equal success. Right? Wrong. The fact is, those fundamentals are only part of the equation. There is another key component entirely. Namely, analytics. Or more specifically, tracking, and understanding...
See Related Stories In: Search Ads: General, Strictly Business
Jun. 25, 2008 at 1:26pm by Galen DeYoung
Keeping Visitors Engaged With Site Search
B2B sites tend to be more difficult for visitors to find what they’re looking for. Perhaps it’s because things don’t always fit neatly into more intuitive consumer categories. Perhaps it’s because B2B sites are often laden with so much diverse information. While site owners can engineer enhanced usability, better...
See Related Stories In: Site & Enterprise Search, Strictly Business
Jun. 18, 2008 at 8:24am by Jon Miller
Landing Page Testing: How Much Is Too Much?
Your landing page is a key part of any successful paid search campaign, and by now, the value of testing and optimizing your landing pages has become accepted wisdom. However, many testing methodologies—especially multivariate testing—are complex and are only appropriate for sites that get hundreds of conversions a day....
See Related Stories In: Strictly Business
Jun. 11, 2008 at 7:59am by Patricia Hursh
Invest First In Conversions, Then In Driving Traffic
Much time and energy has been devoted to improving PPC campaigns and SEO programs for B2B websites. The basic premise of advertising and optimization is to improve visibility and response, i.e., get that click! But, I've noticed recently that many marketers are focusing their initial marketing efforts not on...
See Related Stories In: Strictly Business
May. 21, 2008 at 7:09am by Brian Kaminski
Take Off The Blinders! Your Competitors Are Killing You, Whether You Realize It Or Not
The guy was in a panic. His ROI had been in a nose dive for the last few months, and he couldn't figure out why. With no major changes to keywords, copy, landing pages, bids or budget, he was dumbfounded about the decline. But when I asked him what...
See Related Stories In: Strictly Business
May. 14, 2008 at 8:05am by Patricia Hursh
Increase Online Registrations By Improving Downloadable Assets
Many B2B search marketing programs are designed to generate online registrations, inquiries, and leads. Typically, something of value (such as a white paper, product demo, or presentation) is offered in exchange for personal contact information. Today I'll offer three tips to enhance the value of these downloadable assets and...
See Related Stories In: Strictly Business
May. 7, 2008 at 1:07pm by Galen DeYoung
The Big List Of Major B2B Search Engines
Most search marketers focus on Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft. But B2B search marketers also have a growing number of vertical search options. Clicks and leads from these vertical search sites may not yield the same traffic as general search engines, but the percentage of qualified traffic and conversions can...
See Related Stories In: Search Engines: B2B Engines, Strictly Business
Apr. 23, 2008 at 2:27pm by Brian Kaminski
Leveraging PR To End The B2B Content Development Struggle
One of the biggest challenges B2B clients grapple with is content creation. Developing material that is fresh, relevant, and keeps users coming back—while also being SEO-friendly—can be difficult. This is a problem. Fortunately though, there’s an easy and effective solution. And it’s closer than you might think....
See Related Stories In: SEO: Writing & Body Copy, Strictly Business
Apr. 16, 2008 at 6:33pm by Patricia Hursh
B2B Marketers Should Embrace "Tire Kickers"
Should marketers avoid paying for prospects who are early in the buying process and not ready to submit personal information or be contacted by a sales person? Should these "tire kickers" be avoided so that marketers can focus their attention on generating more valuable, sales-ready leads? While this approach...
See Related Stories In: Strictly Business
Apr. 9, 2008 at 10:00am by Galen DeYoung
Six Mistakes B2B Marketers Continue To Make With Organic Search
By now, many B2B marketing professionals know the basics of content optimization and how to make a site search-friendly. With that complete, their focus turns to link building. While that's an admirable pursuit, it may not yield the maximum results if unaddressed website issues aren't resolved. Here are some...
See Related Stories In: Strictly Business
Mar. 26, 2008 at 7:37am by Brian Kaminski
B2B Marketing Priorities 2008
Let’s face it, life is about priorities. There’s never enough time, money, or resources for everything. Consequently, we must prioritize. Doing so forces us to choose between what we want and what we actually need. And marketers are anything but exempt from such choices. When times are good—and we...
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Mar. 19, 2008 at 8:37am by Patricia Hursh
Lowering Your Quality Scores To Increase ROI
B2B search advertisers must confront an annoying paradox. For most advertisers the billable event is the click. Yet for most B2B advertisers success depends not on clicks, but rather on conversions: the percentage of visitors who take the desired online action, such as downloading a white paper or registering...
See Related Stories In: Google: AdWords, Strictly Business
Mar. 12, 2008 at 3:28pm by Galen DeYoung
Eight Tips For Successful B2B Blogs
Virtually all marketers have realized that blogs can be a powerful part of an overall search marketing campaign. This is especially true in the B2C marketplace, but what about for B2B focused companies? What do successful B2B blogs have in common? In looking at hundreds of B2B blogs, eight...
See Related Stories In: Search Marketing: General, Strictly Business
Mar. 5, 2008 at 8:24am by Jon Miller
Hot Or Not? Finding Hot Prospects With Lead Scoring
As powerful as search marketing is for B2B lead generation, it has ironically served to increase the ages-old friction between sales and marketing. This is because when buyers use search to research solutions and find vendors, they are extremely early in the buying process—often long before they are ready...
See Related Stories In: Strictly Business
Feb. 27, 2008 at 7:46am by Brian Kaminski
Leveraging Search To Meet B2B Challenges
B-to-B marketers have unique challenges to overcome—everything from the lengthy sales cycle, to tracking gaps from leads to sales, to heavy competition on top terms. But the good news is that search engine marketing helps marketers meet these challenges head-on. The bad news is that this list of challenges...
See Related Stories In: Strictly Business
Feb. 20, 2008 at 7:31am by Patricia Hursh
Eight B2B Landing Page Conversion Tips
Driving prospects to your website is only half the battle. What can B2B marketers do to entice visitors to take desired online actions...and improve conversion rates? Here are eight easy-to-implement tips designed to improve landing page relevance, persuade action, build credibility, and maximize response rate....
See Related Stories In: Search Marketing: Landing Pages, Strictly Business
Feb. 13, 2008 at 11:54am by Galen DeYoung
B2B Blogging: Using Thought Leadership To Drive Positioning & Sales
The B2B world is wrestling with how to effectively harness "word of blog" marketing—let alone the glittery new world of social media marketing. How can we use social media sites to create that viral buzz that sends awareness and sales soaring? We see what occasionally happens in the consumer...
See Related Stories In: Search Marketing: Public Relations, Strictly Business
Feb. 12, 2008 at 10:55am by Eric Ward
LinkSpotting - Headlines That Lead To Links and Why
My last column, When Linking Experts Go Underground, elicited some interesting responses, and a private email with the following awesome request: OK Eric - if you really follow hundreds of SEM news sources every day, you are seeing literally thousands of headlines every week. How do you spot the...
See Related Stories In: Google: Maps & Local, Google: Partnerships, Link Building, Link Building: General, Link Week, Locals Only, Search Marketing: Local Search Marketing, Strictly Business
Feb. 6, 2008 at 7:39am by Jon Miller
Two Practical Landing Page Tricks That Will Save You Money
Do you want to know how to reduce your cost per conversion by up to $10.67 and improve your quality score at the same time? Let me tell you a story about how I used two easy landing page optimization tricks to do just this....
See Related Stories In: Search Marketing: Landing Pages, Strictly Business
Jan. 30, 2008 at 8:02am by Brian Kaminski
The Big B2B PPC Mistake
It’s been said that the three rules of marketing are brand recognition, brand recognition, and brand recognition. Given that, marketers spend considerable funds and resources to ensure that people recognize their brands and connect with them. In other words, brand matters. Yet, when it comes to PPC marketing, the...
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Jan. 23, 2008 at 8:30am by Patricia Hursh
The Brutal Realities Of The B2B Lead Qualification Process
So, your pay-per-click campaign has generated 100 registrations for the download of a white paper. One hundred conversions may sound pretty good, but the real questions are: How many of these are valid, qualified prospects... what percentage will become sales leads... and ultimately, customers? Understanding the lead qualification process...
