If you’re running a B2B shop, you shouldn’t just rely on LinkedIn to send business your way. You also need search engine optimization (SEO).
Fortunately, there are plenty of SEO business strategies that are perfect for B2B companies. Here are 7 of the smartest.
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SEO Business Strategy 1: Become a Thought Leader
If you want to make a statement online, become a thought leader.
In other words, become the “go to” person when somebody needs a question answered related to your niche. When you’re perceived as an industry expert, you’ll not only build brand-name awareness but you’ll also attract business from people who are looking for “the best.”
Getting to that point is tricky, though.
So how do position yourself as a thought leader? Here are a few steps to take:
- Run a blog – Prove that you’re a thought leader by sharing your expertise online.
- Work with influencers – Find non-competitors who already have a following and work with them. They’ll act as ambassadors for your brand to people they know.
- Move beyond your blog – Guest-post on other blogs to convince others that your knowledge is in demand.
- Make public appearances – Speak at trade shows and conferences where you’re likely to find members of your target market in the audience.
- There is more: – Publish everywhere your demographic is YouTube, LinkedIn, Podcast and more…
Remember, though: you become a thought leader when other people say so. It’s likely you’ll have to market yourself in addition to marketing your brand.2:
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SEO Business Strategy 2: Target 5 Big Search Terms
Find 5 big search terms related to your niche with more than 1,000 searches a month. Target those terms for your website.
How do you find popular search phrases? For that, you’ll need the aid of a keyword research tool.
Most experts tend to agree that SEMRush is one of the best keyword research tools available. It’s not free, though.
You can also do some limited research with Google’s Keyword Planner tool. That’s part of the AdWords toolset.
Keep in mind that the full feature set of Keyword Planner is only available to people who are actively advertising with AdWords. Still, it’s a free tool you can use to at least get started.
Once you’ve identified your keywords, create blog posts that use them. Make sure each article uses the keyword in the title and H1 header.
You’ll also want to sprinkle the keyword throughout your content. Don’t use it too much, though, or Google might penalize your site for keyword stuffing.
Bottom line: make your use of the keyword look natural.
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SEO Business Strategy 3: Create Longform Content
Picking up on where we left off with the previous point, create long-form content related to your niche and your keywords.
Why? Because longform content rocks.
In case you haven’t heard the phrase “longform content” before, it means content that’s at least 1,500 words in length.
In fact, you can conduct a little experiment right now to see the SEO advantages of longform content. Just Google “benefits of longform content” and check out the top results.
In the first position is an article on the subject with more than 4,100 words!
The third place article has more than 2,000 words. The fourth place article, linked above, has more than 2,200 words.
Longform content will get you noticed.
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Involve People You Want to Do Business Within Your Blog
Customers can also be partners. SEO business experts always mention potential customers or referral partners in their blog.
You can also ask them to participate in your blog (keep in mind, it can also be a radio show, podcast, etc).
Find people who you want to do business with. Ask them if they’re interested in promoting their brand on your website.
That’s a win-win for everybody. You get additional content while the authors get free marketing.
Even better: you’ve established a relationship with somebody who might one day become a customer.
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Send Your Blog Posts out in a Weekly Email With Commentary
Email marketing is still one of best online strategies for several reasons. Among them:
- Email has an average ROI of $38 for each $1 spent
- Companies that nurture leads generate 50% more sales-ready leads at 33% lower cost
- In the B2B space, email marketing gets a 47% higher click-through rate (CTR) than B2C
That’s why you should send out email blasts regularly as part of your overall marketing effort.
Here is an example of the newsletter I send out every Thursday.
You can subscribe to it here if you like.
One of the ways to do that is by sending a weekly email highlighting your blog posts from the previous week. Add just a little bit of commentary about each post to give people a reason to click on the link.
This drives traffic, allows you to become a thought leader and promotes your content so people link to it.
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Organize Your SEO Business Content Into Clear Segments
As a good marketer, you’ve undoubtedly segmented your market. Now, it’s time to segment your content as well.
How do you do that? By writing content that appeals to each segment.
For example, let’s say you’re running a digital marketing company. Your market consists of various segments, such as people who are interested in SEO, people who are interested in SEM, and people who are interested in CRO.
Develop a content strategy to appeal to each of those segments. Write some blog posts about SEO, some about SEM, and some about CRO.
Be sure to follow the advice from Point #2 above and use popular keywords related to each segment.
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SEO Business Tip 7: Produce Industry Studies and Research
If you really want to look like an expert in your domain, produce some original research.
For example, identify a need for some market research in your industry and commission the study yourself. Then, publish the results online.
You’ll find that your content gets shared by business leaders to other business leaders. That’s going to do wonders for your brand.
You might even get interview requests from the media. Grant those requests and give your business an additional boost.
Get Started With These SEO Business Strategies
When it comes to SEO business strategies for B2B, you cannot beat the benefits of thought-leadership. If you do that and merge it with these other strategies, you are sure to be successful driving traffic. The next step will be converting that traffic.
When you get to that point, these will be two articles you’ll want to check out.
- Conversion rate optimization tips
- How to do a conversion rate optimization audit in Google Analytics
Have a question about B2B lead generation with SEO business strategies? Ask below.
