Generating leads through online marketing can be tough. On the internet, every industry is crowded, so you really have to work for every single quality lead. Once upon a time, all you needed was the right keywords and the right density to get attention. Today, you need to employ a variety of search engine and social media marketing optimization tools to stand out. The tips below will help you generate more leads than you ever thought possible.

Optimize Your Content for Search Engines

First things first, if you haven’t updated your website in many years, it’s important to remember that Google now bases your rank on user experience rather than just keywords. It considers everything from the quality of your blog to the relevancy of your content and even the quality of your links and photos. Some of the things you need to do right away to generate more leads with your website and fulfill the requirements of Google’s algorithms include:

• Updating your site frequently. Dynamic, ever-evolving content will help you climb the rankings remarkably well. A good, informative blog is by and large the best way to achieve this goal.
• Using only quality content. If you’re hiring outside writers to create your content, don’t settle for less than the very best. Content should be concise, informative, and authoritative – never “fluffed” with excess content or filled with spelling and grammar mistakes.
• Making sure your URLs are search friendly. Your URLs should contain terms that people use frequently, so go over them from time to time to make sure they are still relevant.
• Improving your site’s aesthetics. Things like font size, font style, picture quality, and navigability are all important parts of your site. If they don’t look nice, or if they make it difficult for your visitors to figure out how to use them, this could have a negative effect on your rankings.
• Building trust with your readers. If your site seems too sales-y, it will be hard (if not impossible) for you to build trust with your readers. Include some information about your company, and if you do any volunteering in the community, show some photos. These things help you become more trustworthy, and that will go a long way toward generating traffic.

Find Out What Your Audience Really Wants to Know

When writing your blogs or your website content, it’s hard to go wrong if you answer common questions. “How to….” and “Why should I….” are both excellent points to consider, and you can relate them to any industry. However, it’s important to look beyond the hows and whys to think of other ways people may think to ask their questions or search for information.

Rather than a post titled “Why Should I Bathe My Cat?” try one titled “5 Benefits of Bathing Your Cat.” While people certainly do ask “why” when they search Google, they also want to know about the benefits. Along those same lines, you might also think of titles like “Why is Bathing My Cat Important?”, which include the same information, but allow you to approach things with a totally different key phrase that could attract even more attention.

Don’t Forget Google Local Business Listings

Another outstanding way to use SEO and SMO to generate more leads is to make certain that you’re using Google local business listings to your advantage. If you head over to GMB (Google My Business), there is an option within the insights section called “My Business Keywords.” In this section, you can specify which keywords you want to associate with your website. You can even use this tool to see what’s currently trending, and you can ask the tool to give you that information for the past week or month. By verifying what people are searching, then associating those keywords and phrases with your website, you can start snagging the clicks, improving your ranking, and generating leads.

Use Social Media to Your Advantage

Your website is only one tool in your online marketing arsenal, and when you pair it with social media, the results are even better. Like Google, Facebook and other social media platforms utilize algorithms that will ultimately determine the number of people who see your posts in their newsfeeds. LinkedIn can also be a great place if your marketing B2B services. With that in mind, there are things you will need to do to ensure that your posts reach as many people as possible:

• Update your profile. Simply posting to your social media accounts isn’t enough; you also must keep your profile updated with the most recent information about your company. If you change business hours, change your profile. If you add a 24-hour telephone number, add that to your profile, too.
• Do not use copyright or duplicate materials. This is a surefire way to cause your business some problems. If you need photos, check out one of the awesome stock photography sites – or perhaps even take your own. Today’s mobile phones take excellent high-resolution photos and allow for some extraordinary effects.
• Reply as quickly as possible. If someone messages you on Facebook or Twitter, they should receive an instant response. This is easy enough to set up through your business page, so be sure you’ve taken the time to do it.
• Post positive things regularly. It’s best to post to your Facebook and Twitter accounts once or twice each day, and it’s also important to vary the content in such a way that it reaches a broad audience. Link to your blogs, share photos, and make people aware of any special savings, such as sales, discounts, and free trials.

Above all else, when it comes to social media, make sure that you are always positive when responding to comments on any of your posts. Even if the feedback is negative, you should address it as quickly as possible. This shows your leads that you provide outstanding customer service, which is a great way to make your brand more likeable and relatable.

Because so many industries have saturated the online space, there’s little doubt that capturing leads is more difficult now than it was just a few years ago, but it is certainly not impossible. Employing the tips shown here will improve your reach, help your brand become more authoritative, and drive far more traffic to your website than ever before.