SEO - Critical in Lead Generation

By: Matt Hall, MD of Profunnel.co.uk

published 1295880366

Web activity and maximising online visibility through Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) has become a critical component in lead generation for businesses in all sectors. But strong SEO is only the beginning.

Attracting visitors to your website is the first step of the new business chain – but once they are there, how do you make sure they keep on returning and ultimately purchase your product or service?  The key to this is building understanding of these visitors – where they have come from, what they are interested in on your website, where they are in the buying cycle and more.
 
So how can you achieve this?  Next generation web forensics (tagging & tracking individual activity) enables companies to really understand potential business, nurture it, communicate more effectively with individuals, and manage those relationships.
 
Traditionally data such as what search engine was used, key search terms and the IP address has been provided by web forensics applications, but now the technology can go way beyond this, with the ability to tag individuals and build a much deeper insight into their motivations and actions.  Tagging cannot be done simply through the IP address, instead it uses advanced techniques to build knowledge that allows you to track and nurture website visitors.  The result?  Not only do you know who has been on your site, you also know what they’re interested in, when they return, and what motivates them to buy, enabling you to deliver more effective online marketing and more highly qualified leads to your sales team.

Modern web forensics is all about getting to grips with the ‘journey’ your customer makes to your website and once they are there, how they are interacting and using the site to show their interest levels in your offering.  The key to success is to make sure your forensics solution gives you the control and analysis your team needs to improve customer communication and win sales – not just the basic analytics, but something much more powerful.

SEO is an important marketing tool, however, it should not be your only online activity.  It should be used to help bring traffic to an organisation’s website, but cannot be solely relied on to increase sales.

With more innovative technologies, businesses can get clearer results on which activities pay dividends in developing a lead into a sale, and are provided with a far stronger basis for building a revenue stream.
 
Matt Hall is Managing Director of Profunnel, a company specialising in online marketing and a more modern approach to lead generation www.profunnel.co.uk