Intriguing offers that are relevant to your personas' interests and pain points are a crucial second step in the inbound methodology: convert. On average, Hubspot customers following best practices convert 2% of website visitors into leads and 6% of those leads into customers. So for every 1,000 visits, you should be converting one new customer. Again, that's an average, so it can vary by industry and company, but overall I'd say it holds true. That being said, if your offers aren't performing well and your website is converting less than the average 2% of website visitors, you're probably not getting very many leads per month, even if your traffic is pretty solid. By adding a few more enticing offers to your website, you can solve that problem. Here are some ideas:

The original angle I had for this blog was about my 10 favorite barbecue recipes because well, it's summer in Texas and grilling outside is one of the best parts about it. Anything grilled or smoked with barbeque sauce is always amazing. Plus, I got a new cookbook a few months ago in the Texas Hill Country on a wine tour, and every recipe I've made from it has been better than the last. I also wanted to write about it because I'm a big believer in digital marketing being human and real, and not just for robots that don't have feelings or do things without computers. :) Believe it or not, all of us geeky marketers do actually still do many "normal" activities that don't involve computers like eating, cooking, and entertaining. Good food is something everyone can appreciate (although some of us do probably Google more recipes than others...or use apps like AllRecipes' dinner spinner to find ideas).

Search. This is something that has not only seemed like a vague, mysterious world for anyone outside of marketing but also to many marketers for many years. I know many who have, dare I say, pretty much abandoned search engine optimization (SEO) strategies because they don't really trust what anyone is saying out there about what really works. They believe they're just going to end up going into a rabbit hole and never getting that time back in their life.

They say the only constant in life is change. This couldn't feel more accurate than at this point in my life and is probably truthful for most people reading this post. I remember recently telling someone I'm so used to change that it actually doesn't even phase me anymore. When I log into different systems and it all looks different from the day before, it's more expected than a surprise. I just simply have to quickly figure the changes out and move on.

Whew! That’s all I can say after revisiting my notes from creating DMD’s recent webinar series and reflecting on all that went into it to reach the goal of one new client.

If you’re a manager or a business owner, you don’t care about email open rates or website page views. You care about where the best leads are coming from and what they’re converting on so you can get more of them. This blog will walk you through the inbound marketing reporting tools that come with the varying levels of Hubspot. These should be present in whichever system you use to track your leads.

To quote The Profit’s Marcus Lemonis, “Business success is about the three P's: People, Process and Product." That applies to your company’s lead generation strategy for its growth goals too. How so? It takes the same combination of elements and discipline to really drive sustainable growth by continuously bringing in great leads.

What makes a great sales representative? Among things other than persistence, it’s someone who can relate to and connect with their prospective clients. But before you do that, you have to understand your prospects. That’s why creating an ideal client profile is so important. 

I just returned from Inbound 2015, where over 10,000 inbound evangelists gathered to talk agency, sales, and marketing. I'm a bit of a conference cynic so I was a little skeptical about how much actual value I would gather that would help DMD and its clients grow, but I have to say...Good stuff!