As the sales leader of your organization, you are supposed to be selling, not worrying about your organization's marketing strategy, like SEO. But, wouldn't it be nice if you wouldn't have to go hunting for your customers, instead they come to you? Sounds too good to be true, huh? Well, SEO is one of the strategies that can have qualified leads knocking on your door. According to the 2013 State of Inbound Marketing Report from Hubspot, 15% of marketers say SEO delivers above average sales conversions. So, why should SEO matter for sales executives?
The following are a few general SEO indicators that sales executives should be aware of. They are worth considering since they will help you understand how much lift your SEO is giving you.
Non-Branded Keyword Traffic
What is it? – Non-branded keyword traffic is basically visitors and leads that used a keyword on the search engines that represents a product or service from your organization without your brand name. For example: car insurance vs. Geico car insurance. This traffic was directed to your website without the intent of finding you.
Why it matters for sales executives? - Non-branded keyword traffic should be a reflection of your sales funnel. For each stage of your sales funnel, you need to ensure you are providing the right information and the right nurture campaign to turn that visitor into a lead, and Voila! You have your website working the prospect for you. In the meantime, you have extra time to work on ready-to-buy prospects, ensuring you meet your sales goals.
Meta Description Tags
What is it? – A meta description is the text that shows under the company's link in the search engine results page (SERP). They help the searcher decide at a glimpse if the website offers the solution or answer to their problem.
Why it matters for sales executives? – Once your site is ranking, this description is a major factor in the decision to click through to your website or your competitor's. Normally you have 30 seconds to make a first impression, but when searchers are looking through the search enging results page, you have about 5 seconds to make the right one. As a sales executive, you need to make sure those descriptions describe your customers' pain and how you fix them. When you nail this down, you will obtain more high-qualified visitors that convert on your website. Again, your website is acting as a sales assistant. = )
Content Marketing
What is it? - Content marketing consists of providing answers to possible questions or needs your consumers have about your products or services. E-Books, Whitepapers, and blogging are ways of creating and providing this information.
Why it matters for sales executives? – SEO is shifting from being keyword-ranking orientated to rich-content orientated. As a sales executive, you face all the possible questions your clients have about your products and services, making you the perfect resource to create remarkable content. Together with your marketing team, you can create this information and spread it to the world wide web, which will not only help you increase and maintain ranking on the search engines, but will also position you as the leader in your industry.
Understanding your current SEO status can help you focus or jumpstart your online strategies to turn your website into a lead generating machine. SEO is just a piece of the puzzle. To have a successful online marketing strategy, you need a complete program and the right tools to generate ROI. 41% of CMOs/CEOs report that online marketing generated the positive ROI they sought last year (2013 State of Inbound Marketing Report). To learn about other online strategies to get more high-qualified leads, download our E-book : 6 Strategies to increase traffic and conversion.
