A big part of building your online presence is to have content on your website that is valuable and relevant to people searching online. When search engines see how relevant your content is and how connected or "linked" your website is, your ranking will improve on the search results page.

Have you seen the books titled “_____for Dummies” on every topic you can imagine? Well they‘re the inspiration for this blog post.  As I was thinking through how we feel when we don’t have background knowledge or basic vocabulary on a subject, we tend to feel like a “dummy” even though we are brilliant in other areas. We all have expertise in one area or another, but there are also those topics we know very little about. If you own your own business or are a leader in a small company you may not have much experience with or background knowledge in SEO services for small business and that can make it very hard to follow a conversation or take the next sales call. If this feels familiar, then this post is for you!

Sitting here tonight, watching the first game of the NFL 2013 season, I am reminded at how many aspects of sports can teach us about life and about business. There are so many ways playing on a team and having a common goal relates to our daily lives and (for the purpose of this blog) to our small business internet marketing strategy.

If you have been following Half a Bubble Out for any length of time or if you know our owners or employees, you know that relationship is a foundational element of who we are and what we do, including marketing and advertising.

So yesterday at INBOUND13, HubSpot launched its new Content Optimization System, blasting off into the new frontier of personalized inbound marketing and when I went to HubSpot.com today, this is what I was welcomed with on their home page:

Wait for it....

Wait for it....

Wait for it....

Well that's what we have been doing for the last month here at the Bubble! We have been waiting and waiting; waiting to share with all of you the amazing new inbound marketing tools we have available with HubSpot.

For those of you who don't live in our "bubble" we have been working with HubSpot as a partner and implementing their Inbound Marketing Software since December 2012. We have been, and still are, excited about this partnership, learning a ton and watching the leads roll in, both for us and for our clients. It's been FUN to say the least!

So, what have we been waiting for then? 

Lately here at Half a Bubble Out, we have crossed paths with a number of small business owners who are Baby Boomers or just becoming grandparents, asking about the validity and tangible benefits of using social media in their small business - specifically in using lead generation techniques to get new customers.

Sitting at your desk, writing another email, a friend pops in and gives you a gift. You open it, and see your favorite type of candy.

Your heart sings, there is a huge smile on your face and you thank her.

You not only thank her, but you acknowledge her thoughtfulness--How did she know you love {insert your favorite candy here}?!

It was so nice of her to think of you, and take the time to give you a gift. How thoughtful and considerate!

Now, think about the question, what makes a good website?

Although landing pages are a great internet marketing tool for converting website visitors into leads and eventually customers, they don’t play the game solo. They are part of a team and it is the team that makes the best landing pages THE.BEST.

Before you do any type of marketing or advertising, you need to know who your potential customers are and no, the answer isn’t someone with a pulse and a pocketbook. Ok, well maybe that’s a good place to start, but to really draw in your ideal customer, you need to speak right to them, speak their language and speak to their needs.