Are you having trouble decoding all the buzzwords floating around the SEO industry? One phrase that’s been making the rounds over recent years is “inbound marketing”. As an Australian SEO expert, you’ve surely come across the term.
Actually, the phrase was coined by HubSpot’s Brian Halligan all the way back in 2005. But it’s experienced a renaissance of interest lately as marketers have realised they have to play by the rules if they want to succeed. So what is it exactly?
Inbound marketing is essentially the same as content marketing. In other words, you use useful content to draw people to your site. Inbound marketing starts with your on page SEO and extends to everything you disseminate to attract visitors – blogs, podcasts, video, eBooks, newsletters, white papers, and social media.
Get Found and Be Trusted
The main beauty of inbound marketing is that it’s set and forget. You put up a blog, submit a guest post, post on Facebook, publish a newsletter and they’re out there indexed in the search engines for all to find. Skillfully done over time, it just grows and grows.
Marketing with content builds awareness, trust and authority. You position yourself as an expert. You prove yourself worthy of being listened to which means you’re worthy of buying from.
Today’s consumer is swamped with choice and desperate for a helping hand. Offer him useful solutions to his problems in a non salesy way and you’ll gain a follower for life. That’s not something you can do with a banner ad.
The Downside – Effort and Time
Creating and distributing quality content takes considerable hard work and perseverance. Careful SEO from the beginning and quality content all around is the only way to ensure a steady stream of targeted visitors.
It also takes time. Your Google PPC ad goes live soon after your pay for it. Your blog takes time to be indexed and attract attention. But once it does, it’s there forever. Stop paying for ads and it’s like turning off a tap. But like diamonds, your blogs and white papers are forever, or at least until the end of the net.
So what does all this mean for Sydney SEOs?
Other than optimising sites so they rank well, you need to get creative about how you can get your client’s message out there in a way that intrigues and captivates. Popular methods include curating news stories, creating vivid infographics, and maintaining a strong presence on social media.
Above all, make sure you’re giving your prospective end user what he wants – effective solutions to his problems. Do that well and you may go viral. Then you’re biggest problem will be if your servers can handle the surge of traffic.
