Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs »

Brian Halligan is cofounder and CEO of HubSpot, a marketing software company that helps businesses "get found." He is a former venture capitalist and seasoned sales and marketing executive. He is a frequent lecturer at MIT and Harvard Business School.

Dharmesh Shah is cofounder and CTO of HubSpot. He is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, and authors the top-ranking blog OnStartups.com. He speaks frequently on the topics of marketing and entrepreneurship.

To connect with today's buyer, you need to stop pushing your message out and start pulling your customers in. The rules of marketing have changed and the key to winning is to use this change to your advantage.

If you've wondered how to get found in Google or why blogs and social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are important, Inbound Marketing is the book for you. HubSpot founders Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah give you the tools and strategies you need to improve your Google search rankings; build a blog to promote your business; grow and nurture a community on social media sites; and analyze which of your online marketing efforts are working.

Stop wasting money blasting the world with marketing messages that nobody cares about. Instead, learn to get found with Inbound Marketing.

"If you've been looking for a trustworthy primer on getting found online, here's a great place to start. Buy one for your clueless colleague too." —Seth Godin, author of Meatball Sundae

"If you have more money than brains, you should focus on outbound marketing. If you have more brains than money, you should focus on inbound marketing by reading this book." —Guy Kawasaki, cofounder of Alltop, and author of Reality Check

www.InboundMarketingBook.com

Foreword David Meerman Scott xiii

Acknowledgments xvii

Introduction xxi

Part 1 Inbound Marketing 1

Chapter 1 Shopping Has Changed...Has Your Marketing? 3

Who Moved My Customers? 6

Inbound in Action: Barack Obama for President 7

Chapter 2 Is Your Web Site a Marketing Hub? 11

Megaphone Versus Hub 11

It's Not What You Say-It's What Others Say About You 12

Does Your Web Site Have a Pulse? 13

Your Mother's Impressed, But... 14

Tracking Your Progress 17

Inbound in Action: 37Signals 18

Chapter 3 Are You Worthy? 21

Creating a Remarkable Strategy 22

Tracking Your Progress 24

Inbound in Action: The Grateful Dead 24

Part 2 Get Found by Prospects 27

Chapter 4 Create Remarkable Content 29

Building a Content Factory 30

Variety is the Spice of Life 30

You Gotta Give to Get 31

Moving Beyond the Width of Your Wallet 31

Tracking Your Progress 32

Inbound in Action: Wikipedia 33

Chapter 5 Get Found in the Blogosphere 35

Getting Your Blog Started Right 36

Authoring Effective Articles 37

Help Google Help You 39

Making Your Articles Infectious 40

Give Your Articles a Push 42

Starting Conversations with Comments 43

Why Blogs Sometimes Fail 44

The Gift That Keeps on Giving 44

Consuming Content with RSS 45

Subscribe to Relevant Industry Blogs 46

Contribute to the Conversation 46

Tracking Your Progress 48

Inbound in Action: Whole Foods 50

Chapter 6 Getting Found in Google 55

Paid Versus Free 56

A (Brief) Introduction to How Google Works 59

Picking the Perfect Keywords 62

On-Page SEO: Doing the Easy Stuff First 65

Off-Page SEO: The Power of Inbound Links 73

Black Hat SEO: How to Get Your SiteBanned by Google 76

The Dangers of PPC 80

Tracking Your Progress 81

Inbound Marketing at Work: DIY Shutters 82

Chapter 7 Get Found in Social Media 85

Creating an Effective Online Profile 86

Getting Fans on Facebook 88

Creating Connections on LinkedIn 93

Gathering Followers on Twitter 103

Driving Traffic with Digg 108

Being Discovered with StumbleUpon 113

Getting Found in YouTube 116

Tracking Your Progress 120

Inbound in Action: FreshBooks 120

Part 3 Converting Customers 127

Chapter 8 Convert Visitors into Leads 129

Compelling Calls to Action 130

Mistakes to Avoid 134

Optimizing Through Experimentation 134

Tracking Your Progress 135

Inbound in Action: Google 135

Chapter 9 Convert Prospects into Leads 137

Landing Page Best Practices 138

Creating Functional Forms 142

Going Beyond the Form 145

A Word of Caution 146

Tracking Your Progress 146

Inbound in Action: Zappos 146

Chapter 10 Convert Leads to Customers 149

Grading Your Leads 149

Nurturing Your Leads 153

Broadening Your Reach 155

Tracking Your Progress 156

Inbound in Action: Kiva 157

Part 4 Make Better Decisions 161

Chapter 11 Make Better Marketing Decisions 163

Levels and Definitions 164

Campaign Yield 165

Tracking Your Progress 167

Inbound in Action: Constant Contact 167

Chapter 12 Picking and Measuring Your People 169

Hire Digital Citizens 170

Hire Analytical Chops 171

Hire for their Web Reach 172

Hire Content Creators 174

Developing Existing Marketers 175

Tracking Your Progress 175

Inbound in Action: Jack Welch and GE 178

Chapter 13 Picking and Measuring a PR Agency 181

Picking a PR Agency 182

Tracking Your Progress 184

Inbound in Action: Solis, Weber, Defren, & Roetzer 185

Chapter 14 Watching Your Competition 189

Tools to Keep Tabs on Competitors 190

Tracking Your Progress 191

Inbound in Action: TechTarget 192

Chapter 15 On Commitment, Patience and Learning 195

Tracking Your Progress 196

Inbound in Action: Tom Brady 197

Chapter 16 Why Now? 199

Tools and Resources 203

Tips from the Trenches for Startups 209

Index 217