Content marketing is now referred to as “today’s marketing” by the Content Marketing Institute (CMI) – testament to its importance in promoting your business to an audience that is practically online wherever they are.

It has become the foundation of the marketing strategies of more than 88% of today’s B2B marketers, according to the CMI and MarketingProfs’ B2B Content Marketing 2015: Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends (North America). Of these, 70% are developing more content than they did the previous years.

In a marketing landscape where information is readily accessible and can make or break your brand, content marketing has become requisite.

When your search engine optimisation and social media lead prospects to your website, you need to make sure that your business website Penrith is ready to deal with these prospects, at all stages of their buyer’s journey.

Lead nurturing pertains to nurturing your prospects through the different stages of the buyer cycle using relevant content. Interested men and women aren’t always ready to buy. According to a study by Gleanster Research, only 50% of leads are ready to buy when they visit your website. It is up to your content to lead them from one stage through another.

According to DemandGen, lead nurturing is more effective in getting a response than the usual email blast. Effective lead nurturing starts with content mapping.

One of the crucial purposes of having a Penrith website is to generate leads. After all, your website receives visitors who are likely interested in your products. These site visitors may have come from your social media accounts; or, they may have found you with the help of search engines. It is important to retain this interest, and encourage them to step into the next stage of their buyer’s journey.

Ranking your website in Google search engine results pages (SERPs) is one of the primary goals of any Penrith business, especially with today’s highly mobile customer base. A first page – or even second page – result is ideal. It guarantees that you have a captured audience; in particular, those who don’t want to go deep into search results to see their options.

Back in the day, landing on the top SERPs is like ABC. The rules were simple. Business owners and website managers scrambled for domain names that started with numbers, believing these ranked first. Web pages prioritised keywords – even doing so scrupulously through keyword stuffing or invisible text.

Perhaps, that’s why search engine optimisation got so complicated. When link and content farms sprouted by the millions, and devious tactics were used by scheming website managers just to get the coveted top SERPs, Google upped its game. Ranking algorithms began to change constantly, from Panda to Hummingbird and whatever’s lined up next. Ranking for keywords turned into – more or less – a craft.

One of the most important metrics that you need to keep an eye on when you get online with a website and social media presence is your conversion rate. As conversion consultant and businessman Jeremy Smith puts it: “Every aspect of marketing is entirely useless unless it produces conversions.”

Your website conversion rate has a direct impact on your bottom line. It determines how effectively you use your web presence to get qualified leads and improve sales.

One of the challenges a Penrith business faces is finding the best mix of online promotional channels. After all, funds are limited, and you need to devote your time and energy to your choices. Success online doesn’t come overnight. It is a product of steady consistent good work, wherein you optimise your visibility and presence to your target market.

Lead nurturing is an important aspect of any inbound marketing strategy. Lead nurturing refers to the process of building a relationship with your leads and prospects. Your Penrith website plays an important role in this process. There are several things you can implement through your website when you want to engage with your leads and provide them with the information that they need.

One of the best ways to reach your local market is through web design Penrith. A website gets you out there and tells people about your products and services. According to Google, 4 out of 5 people use their search engine to find local businesses. That’s a huge market potential right there.

The only problem is ranking in web searches such that you’re actually on the first page. Having a website is only the first step. Your page has to be optimised for web searches. Your target market has to find you.

Here are a few tried-and-tested local search engine optimisation strategies you can do for your website.

The difference between conversion marketing and content marketing blurs as content becomes more relevant and targeted. In fact, a new branch of online marketing is in the offing. Behold – conversion content marketing! Surprised? Not really, right? After all, content and conversion go hand in hand.

If you have a website or do business online, one of the most important strategies that you should get started with is conversion optimisation or conversion rate optimisation (CRO). After all, you took to the internet to help your business, right? Conversion optimisation is your way of ensuring that the people you engage with through your website take action. You want your website to work in converting visitors into clients.

You’ve taken on online marketing and have gotten some leads. Great! Now what?

Not all leads are the same. You get them at different stages of your sales funnel. Some may be at the bottom of the funnel, ready to buy. Others linger on top, reading your blog posts or engaging with you on social media.

Your job is to get them through the funnel to make a purchase. There are many strategies here. In the same way, there are several risks. Leads could leak out of your funnel.

When you spend as much time online as we do, you won’t escape the buzz made by content marketing. If this was show business, we would’ve crowned content marketing as today’s ‘it girl.’ That’s how hot it is in 2017.

What’s more impressive is that it’s not a hot-off-the-pan sensation. Content marketing has been around, and gained its deserved following in recent years.

According to CMI and MarketingProfs’ B2B Content Marketing 2015: Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends — North America, 88% of marketers today use content marketing as an integral part of their marketing strategy. Of these marketers, 70% even say that they are producing more and more content per year.