For a business, getting leads and increasing sales to improve the bottom line tends to be high on the priority list. Initiating a comprehensive and systematic corporate social media strategy is a key element to getting online leads, and should be coupled with highly effective Search Engine Optimization (SEO).  After all, is it going to matter how much content you have online if it doesn’t match in any way what your customers are searching for? SEO will help connect your online presence to your customers.

Any really effective marketing plan could be called a Lead Generation Machine. In this post I’d like to briefly outline the main elements for a simple plan that automatically puts you in the room with the most potential customers.  That is, in the organic search results section, as opposed to the sponsored ads area of a Google search results page.

Here are the main elements you would want to be sure are included in an organic lead generating strategy:

2. Blogging: Shows up in organic search results, increases the number of indexed pages for your site (potentially increasing your rank in Google’s eyes), and gets you in front of more people than just using PPC would allow.

3. Unlimited Content Contributors: Be able to allow an unlimited number of contributors so the heavy lifting of providing content is leveraged among as many people as possible. Allowing your employees to contribute their personal views, opinions and stories will also help you build relationships with your customers.  Employees tend to know their company on an intimate level (possibly better than the owner), and clients like to connect with real people, not a corporate image.

4. Call to Action Buttons: Instead of cluttering your blog with Google PPC ads, create “Call to Action” buttons that encourage the potential lead to take the next step. Usually that would include giving up an email address so you can continue to send them relevant information over time. Think of it as a Pay Per Click ad, but minus the “Pay” part.

5. Long Tail Keyword Research: If you don’t know what this is, but you are involved in online marketing, better crack open the books. Or Google Search, anyway. Long Tail Keywords open a door onto the 1st page of Google searche results pages, if you know how to use these keywords effectively.

5. Fresh Content: Content is where most blog strategies die on the vine. Creating new content can be a lot of work. But if you’ve been in business for a while, and have been utilizing online newsletters, you’re probably half way there to a LOT of great content. Take your old email newsletters and turn them into blog posts!

Time is not on your side if you haven’t already gotten started with your own online marketing campaign. Get started today and make the most of today’s modern lead generation capabilities.