How to jump start and run a successful SEO campaign
An SEO campaign starts with a keyword and evolves into a multi-media marketing program. When a marketer finds a keyword that he feels can dominate in search engines, the goal is to create a product that can utilize the title, to either sell or start collecting email addresses.
Since “free” is the magic word, we tend to lean towards using our best keywords to collect email addresses so that we can do that whole selling thing later on.
An SEO campaign works best when all the pieces are in place, so the outline we provide below will explain the process, step-by-step. Plus, the greatest thing about launching an effective SEO campaign is that, if done right, it can generate traffic for an indefinite amount of time, rather than for just a surge of traffic you might get from a blog reference or Twitter re-tweet.
1. Create a Free Report or Product
Free products (freemiums) can be easily created by releasing your archives and recycling content. You might bundle together related blog posts and turn them into a special report, or you could work backwards and create the product that will then be turned into several blog posts. Read more about how to create a freemium.
2. Create a Rapid Conversion Landing Page
Job #1 for an effective website is building your database — adding names and email addresses to your list. This is true for both B2B and B2C publishers, both ad-driven and product-driven.
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3. Create a Website Post
Create a free article post on your Portal separate from your RCLP that informs your current readers, RSS subscribers and casual visitors about the new product that you are giving away. Encourage them to link to you and Tweet about the new report.
4. Create an Email Newsletter
Even though the purpose of the new product is to get more email addresses, we are obviously going to pass on the great information to our current subscribers. Besides, you always encourage pass-alongs so that perhaps your existing subscribers will forward the email to their own contacts. Read more about building email lists with freemiums.
5. Distribute a Press Release
Get immediate inbound links to the RCLP by doing this, which tells Google that other sites appreciate the content on this page. Read more about free and paid press release sites.
6. Tweet it on Twitter, share it on Facebook
Once you’ve gotten your product up, optimized and distributed, it’s time to tell your social networks about the product. Make sure you have your analytics set up properly so that you can track these efforts, or try using the Google Analytics URL Builder for an easier approach. Use our 12x12x12 strategy on Twitter to get the most out of every promotion.
7. Distribute to your contacts on LinkedIn
Some marketers will use their entire contact list to send out the link to a new free product. This depends on how well you know your LinkedIn network. If you truly know everyone, then this will work well. If you are connected to people you hope to build a better business relationship, this will work less well. Use your own judgement. You can however, update your “status” with a link and add it in your profile.
This is a pretty general overview of launching an SEO campaign with a free report. Developing more content that points back to your RCLP is how you develop a hugely active email list.
What else have you done to promote your freemiums? Leave a comment and let us know!
Editor’s note: This article was originally published in 2013 and has been updated.
