Sorry Search Marketing firms. We don’t need your help.

B2B Lead Generation - We don’t need your help.

(Case in point - the above title was created using an H1 tag, which Google looks to for indexing. Took seconds.)

If you’re like me, you get calls every week from search marketing firms like the one in this picture, offering to get your company to the top of Google organic search rankings.

“Just think of all the leads that will pour in if you rank highly in Google when people search.”

It’s a powerful statement.

I have bad news for all of them. We’re already there.

Find New Customers is top 5 on page one of Google for each of our main keywords, like B2B lead generation, sales lead generation, and lead generation companies.

We did not hire a search marketing firm. We spent $0 on search marketing. Nor did we engage in so-called “black hat” techniques. We did it the right way.

To show what we accomplished, check out the image below (click on the image to enlarge it) - a Google search on the term “B2B lead generation” - one of our most important keywords. Find New Customers ranks well ahead of companies far larger than us.

And unlike the Paid sections, natural search is trusted more and costs nothing. It is a business asset. Mike Volpe, VP of Marketing at Hubspot, an inbound marketing software company in Cambridge, MA says the problem with paid advertising is “as soon as your budget dries up your ads go away and you are back to having no presence in the world.” Instead he suggests “you can be your own media company, start a blog and publish your own content.  The great thing about this is that you are building an asset that has long term value.  After you have built up the subscribers and traffic to your blog, even if you stop publishing articles, people are still finding your content through search engines and social media.  I’d much prefer to invest in assets (inbound marketing) than in expenses (outbound advertising).”

Amen, Mike. That is exactly what the B2B lead generation company, Find New Customers did. We invested in assets and not expenses. Look at these results (click the image to enlarge it):

You can do what we did - get to the top five in Google organic search, if you’re fully committed.

Here are five steps to get your company to page one rankings in Google.

1. Start with your keywords
   Use the keyword research tool at Google AdWords and come up with 4-5 keywords you want to use. This first step is critical. Take your time and think it though. These are the words people type into the Google search box when searching for your products and services. Look for some that are fairly popular (lots of searches) and not the most competitive.  (Undoubtedly, “car insurance” is a very competitive term with lots of searches, but “insurance for RV” is not - less competitive but a good number of searches.)
2. Build pages on your website around those keywords
   Let’s say one of your keywords is “Insurance companies on Long Island.” You want to create a webpage which says why you are the best insurance company on Long Island. You want the searchers to land on this page.
3. Embed your keywords in everything you do
   Start writing a blog and use keywords in your articles. For instance, write an article about the importance of dealing with a local insurance agent and use an example of a shopper on Long Island, mentioning your keyword “insurance companies on Long Island.” Then highlight the term “insurance companies on Long Island” with your mouse and click the link button. (looks like the number 8 on its side.) It will ask you for a web page (URL). Type the webpage you want them to go to when they click the link, like http://www.abcinsurance.com/longisland. 

   Schedule your blog article to publish. I publish my blog on B2B lead generation, Fearless Competitor at 11am and 2:30pm every weekday. Scheduling means you can write them any time of day or night and publish according to a calendar.

4. Publish great content
   Create content consistently - eBooks, white papers, podcasts, YouTube videos, SlideShare presentations (with audio), etc. Propagate that everywhere - Twitter, Linkedin, Digg, Delicious, Reddit, Tumbler, etc. When you add your content, almost all of those ask you for keywords. Use the keywords you created in Step 1. Because people are consuming your great content, they will create links to it. Links are the most important factor in high-ranking. A link is a vote for you and the basis of Google search.
5. Be patient
   Results don’t come fast. It took us a bit over two years to get where we are today - top 5 in Google for each of our keywords. Over those two years, you must keep publishing. It is a long journey, but the sooner you start, the sooner you arrive at your destination.

What do you think? Do you agree that paying search marketing firms is a waste of money? If you like it, please comment or re-tweet it.

Jeff Ogden is President of Find New Customers “Lead Generation Made Simple” Check out the online show every Friday at 11am ET, “Laugh and Learn with the Fearless Competitor.” Find New Customers is one of few lead generation companies in New York. Follow Jeff on Twitter or download the free guide toB2B lead generation, How to Find New Customers.

Find New Customers helps companies like yours (with 150 to 5,000 employees and complex products) implement lead generation programs to improve the way you find and acquire high quality sales leads using best practices in online lead generation. Companies looking for leads need good marketing strategies including social media marketing.

Quality leads matter. In fact, a recent study found that sales teams with fewer, high quality sales leads closed more than sales teams with more leads of dubious quality.

If you wish to do sales lead generation online, contact the B2B lead generation experts at Find New Customers. Use the form below to send me a personal note or Leave a Reply to post a permanent comment on this article.