B2B Search Marketing often presents unique challenges for search engine optimization and managing profitable SEM programs. Columnists provide tips for common business-to-business search marketing issues such as lengthy conversion cycles, finding qualified buyers, the role search marketing plays in the overall sales process and more.

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Test Then Invest: Putting Innovation Into Your B2B Search Program

Jul 5, 2012 at 11:08am ET by Brad Neelan

As we move toward the halfway point of 2012, now is a great time to ask ‘how successfully has my B2B search campaign performed?’ We still have the second half of the year to realize our goals, and for those who are on track, it is highly likely that your efforts are fueled by innovation in some form or fashion. If you are not on track, you might be asking yourself, what more can I do to gain the results I need in my search program? If your efforts have focused on what has historically worked and you have reached a plateau, it is likely due to missing the opportunity to test your way t [...]

Related Topics: B2B Search Marketing | Channel: Search

3 Questions To Ask Your B2B SEO Expert

Jun 27, 2012 at 3:34pm ET by Kristie Colby

Whether you’ve hired a search marketing agency or are using in-house resources, how do you know if your B2B SEO expert is doing a great job? Three simple questions that all business marketers should ask about their B2B SEO program are: How does our SEO plan differ from a consumer-oriented (B2C) SEO program? Specifically what B2B SEO methodologies are you implementing? How does the SEO program directly contribute to my business goals and marketing objectives? 1. Unique Aspects Of Your B2B SEO Plan Evaluate your expert’s understanding of your specific B2B market. Ensure that yo [...]

Related Topics: B2B Search Marketing | Channel: Search

3 Content Aggregators For The B2B Community Manager Toolkit

Jun 21, 2012 at 12:18pm ET by Lauren Litwinka

It’s nothing new to preach the importance of sharing non-competitive, complementary, third party content for brands actively participating in social media. To make friends, you have to be friendly – that’s true for B2C and B2B alike. Friendly friends discuss mutual interests that fascinate and benefit one another. They don’t talk about themselves the whole time. To that end, we teach clients that best practice is to have a rich, informative, and consistently flowing social feed comprised of at least 80% non-branded content, 20% branded. But where, oh sweet social media community man [...]

Related Topics: B2B Search Marketing | Channel: Search

6 Key Considerations For Preparing A B2B Mobile Strategy

Jun 13, 2012 at 1:40pm ET by Derek Edmond

For B2B marketers, a common challenge is targeting the key platforms and mediums where users are most likely to consume information. In today’s digital landscape, this now includes mobile marketing. According to a recent eMarketer article, nearly one-quarter of B2B ecommerce professionals said that mobile Web was one of the most influential touch points for their customers. In addition, 28 percent of U.S. C-level executives in the B2B space used a mobile device to research business purchases; 21 percent used a tablet. For this reason, mobile will become an increasingly impor [...]

10 Essential Tools For B2B Conference Coverage Domination

May 23, 2012 at 10:59am ET by Lauren Litwinka

Congratulations! You've finally convinced the boss-man that attending and covering an industry conference on behalf of your B2B company is fantastically worthwhile for a multitude of reasons. As an attendee, you'll absorb rich information from true thought-leader s-- info you can bring back to the office so the whole team stays on the cutting-edge of technologies, trends, tactics, and techniques specific to your biz. As a blogger, you'll churn out a ton of valuable content sure to beef up your B2B publication (fresh traffic, readers, links, hooray!) and get on the radar of the conferen [...]

Related Topics: B2B Search Marketing | Channel: Search

Four Steps To Create The Foundation For Social SEO

May 9, 2012 at 11:51am ET by Brad Neelan

With the intersection of Social and SEO happening at a rapid pace, now is the time when you need to lay the groundwork in your social campaign to capture SEO value. As a B2B marketer, one of the key benefits to your social campaign is in its ability to help influence the buyer journey across all stages of the marketing lifecycle. In a recent Forrester study on the topic of social media in B2B, their research highlighted some of the dimensions that B2B tech buyers consider when determining a purchase plan. When we consider the impact of the social engagement, we naturally want to have our [...]

Related Topics: B2B Search Marketing | Channel: Search

6 Targeting Methods To Reach Your Business Audience Via LinkedIn

May 3, 2012 at 11:50am ET by Kate Powell

Most B2B marketers have a list of potential buyers at specific companies that they would like to reach. It can be very difficult to selectively target this audience via PPC Search ads or banner campaigns. Even behavioral targeting has its limitations. Your next move… LinkedIn Ads: https://www.linkedin.com/ads/ LinkedIn Ads is an offering from the popular professional networking site that provides many targeting options and cost-effective innovative ways to reach your audience. Campaigns can be created to target a specific message, product, general brand, promote a web conference o [...]

Related Topics: B2B Search Marketing | Channel: Social | LinkedIn

Runaway Facebook Threads! 5 Tips B2B Community Managers Should Master

Apr 25, 2012 at 12:42pm ET by Lauren Litwinka

Alert! Alert! Your social community is in crisis! Remember that third-party article you posted to the company Facebook Wall yesterday afternoon? Its content sure didn't seem controversial at the time. In fact, you deemed it the perfect intersection of informative, relevant, interesting, and agreeable. But where there's people, there's opinions. And there was something about that article's point or perspective that didn't sit quite right with some of your community members... Yes - while you, the good-intentioned B2B Community Manager, were fast asleep in your bed, dreaming of sunshine an [...]

Related Topics: B2B Search Marketing | Channel: Search

4 Key Recommendations For Social Media Execution In The Industrial Sector

Apr 18, 2012 at 9:24am ET by Derek Edmond

Published earlier this year, GlobalSpec conducted its third annual Social Media Usage Survey of engineering, technical, manufacturing, and industrial professionals. While social media adoption is on the rise, more traditional social networks might be blocked or limited at the workplace, even if a percentage of usage is work related. The research also showed that industrial professionals are still largely passive users of social media, preferring to read and watch content, versus creating and sharing content. From a user perspective, B2B search engine marketers should take note of the fol [...]

Related Topics: B2B Search Marketing | Channel: Search

Four Steps To Building A Powerful SEO Brain Trust

Apr 11, 2012 at 9:41am ET by Brad Neelan

To the B2B marketer, few channels are as effective in driving results as a well-crafted SEO program. Whether the needs are lead generation, thought leadership, or competitive differentiation and brand engagement, organic results are the largest overall driver of traffic to websites according to market research powerhouse Forrester. However, when it comes to creating a brilliant SEO campaign, things are not as easy as simply building a website and hoping the Search Engines smile favorably on your effort. This is due not only to the unique virtues of the almighty algorithm, sacred as it is, b [...]

Related Topics: B2B Search Marketing | Channel: Search

Determine The True Value Of Your B2B Search Marketing Program

Apr 4, 2012 at 12:21pm ET by Patricia Hursh

B2B marketers, if you’re measuring and evaluating "conversions" only -- such as white paper downloads, webinar registrations, or contact forms -- you are likely not seeing the big picture in terms of true return on your search marketing investment. Today, savvy business marketers are defining search marketing success not just in terms of pre-defined conversions... but rather, based on the value of multiple, desirable online actions. That’s right -- they are thinking beyond the white paper! 4 Questions To Help You Evaluate Search Marketing Value I urge you to ask these four question [...]

Related Topics: B2B Search Marketing | Channel: Search

B2B Blogger’s Guide To Turning Tweets Into Rockstar Conference Coverage

Mar 28, 2012 at 12:34pm ET by Lauren Litwinka

So, you're craving a surge of fresh, unique, valuable content on the front page of your business's B2B blog...but scraping the bottom of the proverbial barrel for blog post topics that aren't blatantly self-promotional or boring as ever. One solution is to attend a few industry conferences, conventions, trade shows, seminars, or networking events throughout the year and churn out rockstar blog coverage on behalf of your company. Covering events in your B2B industry by way of live-tweets and blog posts is a surefire way to amplify your content and link building strategies, not to ment [...]

Related Topics: B2B Search Marketing | Channel: Search

4 Examples Of B2B Content Marketing Executed With SEO Best Practices In Mind

Mar 21, 2012 at 9:13am ET by Derek Edmond

According to the 2012 MarketingSherpa Search Engine Marketing Report, of all SEO tactics available, "content creation works the best, but takes the most work," says Kaci Bower, Research Analyst, MECLABS. B2B Internet marketers need new content to enforce and build upon keyword strategies, acquire links, and attract attention in social media. In my experience, effective SEO-centric content creation requires planning on both the long and short term impact, and a strict attention to detail. With a myriad of responsibilities on the B2B marketer's plate, it certainly is not uncommon for detai [...]

Related Topics: B2B Search Marketing | Channel: Search

3 Step Model For Developing Insights Through Keyword Trends

Mar 14, 2012 at 9:09am ET by Brad Neelan

Knowing what topics are top of mind to your customers can sometimes feel like an uphill battle. After all, there are always unique challenges and obstacles to every prospect and client. The good news is that your search program can be an amazing resource to identify topics of interest to your clients and the industries that you serve. Armed with these insights, being ahead of the curve on thought leadership becomes an opportunity to differentiate you in the minds of your customers. Put Your Fingers On The Pulse Of Your Market One of the fascinating things about search is that you can see [...]

Related Topics: B2B Search Marketing | Channel: Search

4 Proven Methods For Improving B2B Ad Targeting

Mar 7, 2012 at 11:59am ET by Jessie Thomas

B2B marketers often use paid search for lead generation and customer acquisition purposes. Based on the lifetime value of a customer, many business marketers are willing to pay a significant amount for a PPC-generated lead. Advanced PPC matching technology can be extremely effective to ensure campaigns are highly targeted in order to provide high-quality inquires and leads. Below are four recommended negative keyword targeting methods that will help you better target your B2B ad campaigns. Utilize Both Campaign & Ad Group Level Negatives You can apply negatives at the campai [...]

Related Topics: B2B Search Marketing | Channel: Search

Beef Up B2B Publications With Rockstar Industry Conference Coverage

Feb 29, 2012 at 2:50pm ET by Lauren Litwinka

Sharing. It's a fundamental principle of social interactions that harkens back to Kindergarten 101. And yet… companies can lose sight of this essential concept when it comes to creating, syndicating, or rebroadcasting content in the social stratosphere. It’s one thing to showcase news, events, or other industry contributions of note on a company blog or a business Facebook page or trickle it in a corporate Twitter stream. But if branded content completely saturates social properties, the good-intentioned company runs the risk of boring, irritating, and even alienating its online communi [...]

Related Topics: B2B Search Marketing | Channel: Search

5 Critical B2B SEO Initiatives, In Addition To Developing A Google+ Page For Business

Feb 22, 2012 at 9:30am ET by Derek Edmond

Google+ Pages have sparked a lot of discussion in B2B marketing circles. The ability to add multiple management functionality, site verification, and easy to integrate Google+ badges have leadership teams asking whether this truly is the next social media platform B2B marketers must focus upon. However, all of the recent hype and scrambling to start marketing on Google+ should not come at the expense of equally critical B2B search engine marketing responsibilities. Balance short and long-term B2B initiatives carefully. While we're certainly jumping into Google+ Pages for Business and bui [...]

Related Topics: B2B Search Marketing | Channel: Search

The Future Of B2B Search: Start Preparing For Social SEO Now

Feb 15, 2012 at 11:59am ET by Brad Neelan

Just when you thought your strategy was defined in SEO, the time has come for us to once again get ready for significant change in how we approach SEO as search marketers. With the recent announcements from Google, the future of search is indeed social in nature. The weighting of social signals, particularly those from Google Plus sources, will be a major factor that can be used to serve more relevant information to its users. After all, this is how Google will continue to serve its mission "To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful." Why This Is [...]

Related Topics: B2B Search Marketing | Channel: Search

3 Steps To Optimize Your B2B Informational Assets

Feb 8, 2012 at 10:29am ET by Susan Kelly

Does this situation sound familiar? Due to the success of your SEO program, organic traffic to your website is increasing. However, visitors aren’t engaging with specific aspects of the site and aren’t taking the desired actions. Why? Many B2B marketers fail to include informational assets in their overall SEO strategy. Information presented on your website such as press releases, case studies, newsletters, white papers, product demos, and how-to videos are all great ways to engage prospects, generate leads and acquire customers. But, if they aren’t readily found by searchers, they [...]

Related Topics: B2B Search Marketing | Channel: Search

How to Spice Up B2B Ad Creative Brainstorms In 90 Minutes Or Less

Feb 1, 2012 at 11:34am ET by Lauren Litwinka

Fact or Fiction? Writing search PPC ad copy promoting B2B brands, products or services isn't as fun as promoting some sexy, fabulous, coveted line of B2C goods because B2B, by nature, is boring. Fiction! Fiction, I say! Clever marketers embrace the opportunity to market B2B because they recognize and respect the challenge it embodies: To make the ostensibly boring not only saleable, but beautiful. The good news is this is a goal any ambitious marketer can achieve. Even you. All you needs is a creative mind (or team of creative minds), willingness to think outside of the box, courage to [...]

Related Topics: B2B Search Marketing | Channel: Search

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