Posted by Justin Cambria on Mon, Aug 30, 2010
This weekend I finished reading
Brian Halligan and
Dharmesh Shah’s book
Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs as part of my first set of objectives here at PNP. As
inbound marketing practitioners, there were some valuable pearls of wisdom to glean from the book.
The book is a great primer for business owners or marketers who are not digital natives to get a sense of the landscape of inbound marketing. It neatly outlines the tools – On and Off Page SEO, Blogging & RSS, Social Media – and basic implementation methodology that you need to know to attain baseline proficiency in this arena.
Here are 3 good takeaways you can use in your marketing, to which I've added something relevant that's changed the picture since the book's publication:
Being #1 overall in Google searches really matters
From p. 58, describing Google search results for any term: ‘A recent study show that Google’s first page captures over 89% of the traffic… Even within the first page, the traffic is not spread evenly – the top ranked result (number one on the first page) captures about 42% of the traffic.’ I didn't know how much more traffic #1 gets than #2 in a search.
But now... There’s another variable in this picture now, too: Google Caffeine. Search results are now influenced by an increasingly complex set of factors, including the searchers' location, search history, and social media network. It’s still important to do as much as you can to be close to the top for your important keywords, but while you may be #1 for a searcher in Boston, you may not be for the same term by a searcher in San Francisco.
Takeaway: chasing the top slot if you are number 2 or 3 could result in a big traffic bump and it’s worth the effort to pursue the top slot. But pay attention also to your local search results in important locales.
Answer questions on LinkedIn Answers – and now, Facebook Questions
I've looked at LinkedIn as an online resume which may one day have value, and simply accept that as the default professional networking site, it is essential to maintain an updated profile. I try to keep my profile active by updating it with tweets.
But I have never answered a question on LinkedIn answers, which the book suggests as a good way to establish some thought leadership within the community and a next level step to get more value out of LinkedIn.
But now... Facebook has rolled out a version of questions recently, this is another place where it’ll be worth spending some time to get more value than just simple networking from these sites.
Takeaway: Visit LinkedIn Answers and Facebook Questions, subscribe to some topical interests, and ask and answer some questions. I plan to make this part of my daily morning check up online, and maybe you should too!
Test multiple Landing Page designs and copy
I have some landing pages to work on for our website, and having read the book, I plan to A/B test a couple of different landing pages. Best practices dictate having an eye popping graphic, a simple and easy to complete form, and no other links to divert your potential customers’ attention elsewhere.
But now... Companies are continually having to compete on more and more specific niches. If you are dedicated to a single specific product or service, consider adding a landing page to your home page. Test your conversion rate, which means that as many visitors to your landing page as possible are actually filling out your form. I learned that 15% is a base target for conversions on your landing page, and 50% is excellent. Try a couple of different designs and see if your conversion ratios improve.
Takeaway: Test new landing pages for your campaigns, and consider slapping a compelling form on your home page if you are a niche service.
What are your favorite internet or marketing ‘must read’ books?
Sick of Old Fashioned Marketing? Take HubSpot for a Spin.
 Find out how we can help turn your website into a marketing machine.
Sign up for a HubSpot Demo with PullnotPush.
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Posted by Samantha Coren on Thu, Jul 29, 2010
At PullnotPush I get to teach small business owners the ins and outs of inbound marketing. It's refreshing to talk to people who are so dedicated and immersed in every aspect of their business. One thing is for sure though - running your own business can take up quite a bit of time.
The beautiful thing about HubSpot is that it gives the small business owner a one stop shop for managing a web presence and channel for new customers. I was eager to find out how small businesses outside of the ones I currently work with were fairing in the world of inbound marketing with the big orange sprocket.
To quench my curiosity I spoke with the heads of three local businesses from different parts of the US who are involved in different industries. All three of them are current HubSpot customers. Here's what they had to say:
“Prior to HubSpot (April 28th 2010) we practiced traditional advertising that included radio, outdoor (billboards), magazines/programs (professional sports), and a non-structured email campaign. We did absolutely no SEO or Inbound Marketing prior to our launch with HubSpot.
Our landing pages have been an awesome tool to help build our email list and the blog has not only helped with SEO, but after the first 90 days we have over 220 subscribers via email and RSS. We also use the social media tool to engage the community when one of our brand keywords populates and submit all of our articles to the social media outlets that HS provides. Our social media reach has increased by 3000% since becoming a HubSpotter.
By using the Keyword Grader along with the Competitor reports we have been able to target more long tailed keywords” with lower volume that our competitors are not targeting. This has led to 187 of our 583 keywords being ranked in the Top 100 and improved our search traffic by 382% since HS launch.
Our content creation really has been focused on our blog for not only SEO, but to become a “Trust Agent” in our industry and for the city of Nashville. This has also helped with Link Building as we have increased our inbound links from 67 to 364 since June 1st.
HS makes it so easy that we spend less than 5 hours per week on our entire social media and blog campaign and about 2 hours per week with on page and off page SEO."
"360 Signs started in September of 2008. We are a commercial sign company providing design, fabrication, and installation of many type of business signs: lobby signs, directory signs, floor, wall, and window graphics, monument signs, building sign, vehicle wraps, event signs and many more. We sell only in the Austin, TX area and are fortunate to have achieved a great deal of success during our first two years.
We rely on personal networking, networking groups, and the internet to drive our new business and repeat and referral business to come from current clients. We relied on paid search for our first 18 months in business and thought we did quite well with the amount of leads we were getting. Our website has generated over 50% of our business to date.
We have seen a dramatic increase in the number of leads, over 200%, since I started using the HubSpot tools. We have added two sales reps to handle the extra leads. I have been particularly pleased that we have landed some larger accounts off the web, not just small businesses.
We are ahead of many of our competitors in terms of optimizing our website and improving our page ranking for a company our size. We differentiate ourselves on design and service since it is impossible for us to make signs that someone couldn’t get at other sign companies in Austin. The website helps position us properly and attracts customer that value service and quality."
"Test Drive Technologies was
started to help used car & truck buyers to make an informed decision on what they are purchasing. We are the eyes, ears and hands of our clients that find themselves in the automotive market. Before HubSpot we were solely relying on organic search & free classifieds.
There are so many tools on HubSpot that I use every day. I particularly like the social media engagement tool; it is easy to use and monitors the keywords that I find relevant to the automotive industry. This not only keeps me on top of what is going on but also what the consumer base thinks is happening. I also find the CMS at HubSpot very easy to use.
Our blog is what is making us stand out above our competition. We are able to post our findings for each of our inspections right on our blog much like a case study without the particulars of dealer and buyer information. Having these results on our blog will allow our potential clients to see what we do, how we do it and what we find in some vehicles.
Most of our competition is all about pay per click advertising. Our blog is what is bringing in most of our customers which also allows us to pass this savings on to our clients."
Sick of Old Fashioned Marketing? Take HubSpot for a Spin.
Find out how we can help turn your website into a marketing machine.
Sign up for a HubSpot Demo with PullnotPush.
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Posted by Samantha Coren on Thu, Jun 03, 2010
When the PullnotPush family first saw the tweets about Inbound Marketing University being forced to go offline our hearts sank.
IMU has helped introduce so many people to our world of inbound marketing, so when we heard the buzz about it being served a cease and desist letter we had to see what was up. When we asked HubSpotters to give us the scoop they all stated that they weren't allowed to talk about it because of a non-disclosure agreement.
Fortunately, the inbound marketing community has excellent google-fu. Between Rebecca Corliss' hostage video and the lack of credibility from the website's of the lawyer and company serving the notice we knew something was fishy. Apparently the whole ordeal was a ploy to promote their new Ning social network cleverly called Captain Inbound Agency (or CIA for short).
People who signed up on the "Help Save Inbound Marketing University" landing page received a cute email from Captain Inbound directing them toward the new community. If you'd like to read more about all the little easter eggs of the prank Bryan Ricard, an iMU student, has an excellent write up on his detective work.
So how do you feel about HubSpot's clever prank to promote IMU? Did they get you?
Posted by Samantha Coren on Fri, Apr 16, 2010
Creative ideas make successful videos, not expensive cameras.- Rebecca Corliss
Here at PullnotPush, we always encourage our clients to get creative when it comes to their web content mix. One suggestion we love to give is to get into the habit of making videos.
No, not boring infomercial type videos; the kind of videos people want to share with everyone the instant they're done viewing. Think about how many times people have viewed Tom Dickson's Will It Blend? videos (over 100 million in case you didn't want to check) and then Googled around to find out more about Blendtec. A successful viral video can lead to a huge ROI.
A couple of weeks ago, our friends at HubSpot announced that they were going to be releasing weekly HubSpot Originals. These short videos produced by professional filmmaker Woody Tondorf add to their already massive video library. The first video from this series, Foursquare Cops Episode 1, was uploaded on April 13th and with over 20,000 views at the time of this post, it shows no sign of slowing down.
So, how can your company get the most out of making videos? Where do you even start? To find out, we invited HubSpot's in-house video guru and Marketing Manager Rebecca Corliss (@repcor) to participate in our very first PullnotPush Tweet&A. You might already be familiar with her pipes from HubSpot's popular You Oughtta Know Inbound Marketing video.
Read our Tweet&A recap and learn from Rebecca how your company can create successful videos with bits of wisdom dished out in 140 characters or less:
@PullnotPush: Time for our very special Tweet&A on viral video with @HubSpot Marketing Manager Rebecca Corliss (@repcor)!
@PullnotPush: You've masterminded some really great viral videos for @HubSpot. In your opinion, what gives a video potential to go viral?
@repcor: Shock, fast-paced, humor, parody. Grab viewer in first 5 seconds or lose 'em. Short vids are best. Tips: http://bit.ly/xDfnh
@PullnotPush: @HubSpot recently recruited @WoodyTondorf to produce a slew of original videos. How has bringing in a pro paid off for you guys?
@repcor: We learned a ton. Sometimes takes an outside perspective to push you to leave your comfort zone to make something remarkable
@PullnotPush: How well do you think the videos produced by @HubSpot reflect the company's culture?
@repcor: Pretty well! We like to have fun, be creative and experiment. Not every video is a winner, but we keep trying and learning.
@PullnotPush: Videos can play a huge part in brand awareness. What's a good example of a viral video that establishes a company's brand?
@repcor: The Pink Glove Dance by St. Vincent Hospital http://bit.ly/8qCA7G Represents community, support and hope w/ 8,908,632 views!
Posted by dan ronken on Sun, Nov 29, 2009
Wow! 82% growth in participation from our first to second 'Meeting of the HubSpot Partner Minds' conference call - we HubSpot Partners like to measure stuff. Here is a brief overview of what was discussed on the call, and some of the suggestions afterward.
Updated Spreadsheet
The ultimate goal of inbound marketing is to generate the highest return on investment (ROI) for your marketing dollars. Some key metrics to look at are how many website visitors convert to leads, and from those leads, how many leads turn into sales - aka closed loop marketing. A few months ago, Pete Caputa, HubSpot's Partner Program manager, created a free worksheet on how to determine your internet marketing plan based on revenue goals. The spreadsheet was a valuable tool, but he also tells us it may have been too complex to be easily understood by someone new to inbound marketing. Chris Hafner made a great suggestion that we may want to embellish this worksheet, and use our collective intelligence as agencies to introduce new ideas from the field into this form with the help of HubSpot.
Collaborate and Communicate Between Calls
Why wait until the next monthly meeting to share and collaborate? That may have been what was going through the mind of Daniel Lynton when he recommended we create a Google Group because "we can post messages, files, and create pages or wikis there." This is a fantastic idea and we also have Google Wave as well. It's still in beta and not many folks have much experience with it plus there's a learning curve involved. However, there are already real life Google Wave success stories so it may be wise for us to explore this further since we live on the cutting edge of technology.
Troy Sheer graciously offered 10 invites (invites are in high demand because it is currently the only way to begin participating in Google Wave) for those who were interested. Strangely enough, I was just granted an additional 8 invites a couple of days ago. It seems we may have all of the partners covered, so if you're reading this and would like an invite, simply leave a comment.
Distribute Agenda Prior to Meeting / Open Chat Window
Claudia Hafner made a good point that we should distribute the agenda for the call before we meet, so there's ample time to ponder the questions and then share our thoughts on the call. My friends Murray Sye and Dale Berkebile were victims of some technical difficulties, e.g., audio issues, no chat window, etc. Sorry guys. It was especially disappointing that Murray could not get on since he provided a majority of the topics for the call.
One partner joked that 'Murray just might be a figment of my imagination because I repeatedly stated throughout the call, Murray? Are you there? I see you but I cannot hear you. Murray?" I've done my fair share of 'GoTo Meetings,' but this was my first 'GoTo Webinar' so I have some things to learn as well for streamlining communication for this special hour. Thank you to all who participated and we're excited to see more growth on the next call in Mid December (TBA in the next few days).
Posted by dan ronken on Mon, Nov 09, 2009
The first 'unofficial' meeting of the HubSpot Partner Minds conference call took place last week and it feels like it's going to be the start of something big.
This first call was more representative of quality and not quantity -- I affectionately say that because there were just two of us on the initial call (myself, and the upcoming star partner, Murray Sye of Whitespace).
We didn't have a chance to reach out to all partners to invite them on the call, please consider this post an official invite for all existing (and potential) HubSpot partners who are interested in taking their inbound marketing agency to the next level. Our next call is scheduled for Tuesday 11/24/09 from 12PM to 1PM EST.
Collaboration certainly appears to be the wisest route to take when building a successful inbound marketing agency. I just saw a tweet yesterday from the original Trust Agent Chris Brogan stating, "Collaboration opportunities and personal network effectiveness are two goals to pursue 2nd only to your main business." We can kill both birds with this stone (disclaimer, no actual animals were harmed during the writing of this post, nor will there be any injured on the partner's call).
There has been a long held tradition of companies keeping their experiences locked away behind intellectual property protection. Now I'm not suggesting that companies should share their secret sauce, e.g., Google's (or HubSpot's) algorithms, Coke's recipe, Chia Pet's mysteriously miraculous growth formula, etc.
But what I do believe is that sharing best practices and insights amongst your peers in the field will make you all stronger and provide you with more tools to help serve your clients in the best way possible. And with that mindset, everybody wins.
Join us on Tuesday 11/24/09 at 12PM EST. Please leave a comment if you would like more details and I'll reach out to you. Thanks!
Photo Credit: Derek Schaefer