SEO/PPC Can Help Build Your Email Marketing List

According to a recent e-Marketer article, 57% of those surveyed by BtoB Magazine said email marketing was the online channel that contributed the most qualified leads to their businesses.

While social media and PPC (SEO was conspicuously missing from the survey) were also top lead sources, this type of logic rings true for many of the B2B organizations we work with as well.

Website search presence undoubtedly brings lead opportunities into the sales funnel, but email invitations for more qualified content strategies such as webinars, events, and trade shows are likely to close the deal as well.

It’s difficult to teach old dog new tricks. The e-Marketer article indicates that 59 percent of those surveyed view lead generation as their greatest online marketing challenge. With that pressure in mind, it’s also difficult to move away from the strategies that continue to work well.

Instead of bucking the trend, B2B search engine marketers should work toward aligning their goals with what has worked well for their organizations. In this case, build the email marketing database.

Here are three practical steps tying SEO and PPC initiatives to the continued development of the email marketing list.

Make Email Subscription a Conversion Benchmark

There are several potential metrics B2B marketers can use to benchmark an SEO program. While B2B organizations naturally gravitate to the desire to acquire sales ready leads, search engine marketers need to lead the effort in developing a spectrum of lead opportunities from an SEO program

Create More Visibility to Email Subscriptions in Page Templates

Landing page optimization is a critical component of any search engine marketing initiative. Consider supporting primary conversion goals with an opportunity to acquire email subscriptions as well. Places B2B search engine marketers could consider optimizing for email as a secondary conversion include:

·         Below the primary form submission

·         In utility navigation

·         Confirmation page messaging

Contact AdWords about the Communication Extensions Beta

Not widely adopted and hard to find in terms of (ironic) communication, the AdWords communications extension beta could become another way to drive email registrations for the B2B organization.

Don’t ignore online marketing channels that work and are trusted like email marketing. Build the case for SEO and PPC to support and enhance all channels of lead opportunity, existing and in development.

http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2166516/How-SEO-PPC-Can-Help-Build-Your-Email-Marketing-List