To all the business owners out there, tell us something: Ever feel like you're shouting into the void of the internet, hoping someone – anyone – will notice your business? Ever get the sinking feeling your business is drowning in the digital noise? You're not the only one. And your issue is this: you are probably working too hard for too little return. Lucky day for you, because we have just the lessons that’ll help you flip that script. All awesome tips and tricks wrapped up neatly in Scott A. Dennison's "80/20 Internet Lead Generation." 

The big idea? You can get 80% of your results from just 20% of your efforts. And Dennison applies this to marketing and lead generation! See: lead generation is finding potential customers online and getting them interested in what you're selling. Sounds easy-peasy, but in practice, it gets… complicated, to say the least. And, this is where Dennison's book comes in. He’ll teach you all there is to know about lead generation!

So, let’s walk you through the highlights of Dennison's 80/20 approach. By the time we're done, you'll be itching to put these ideas into practice.

Without any dilly-dallying, let’s get straight into the world of the 80/20 rule, also known as the Pareto Principle. First thing, this is not Dennison’s concept. He’s just gonna show you how to make it your new best friend in the wild world of internet lead generation.So, 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts. Remember this. Now, in the realm of lead generation, that means only a small chunk, say 20%, of your marketing efforts is bringing in the lion's share of your leads. Say you're running an online store selling artisanal soap. You've got a blog, social media accounts, email newsletters, and all. You scour through the data and realize that most of your sales are coming from just a few of your products. That's your 20% right there. AND it's not the lavender soap that's flying off the shelves, it's your peppermint soap. What do you do with this info? Instead of trying to advertise everything, everywhere, all at once, you throw your efforts on peppermint! Focus your marketing mojo on promoting this star player. Create peppermint-scented social media posts, write blog articles about the 101 uses for peppermint soap, and do whatever you can to advertise your business as minty fresh. Your sales WILL start to climb. And just like that, minimal effort is getting you maximum results.This applies to pretty much everything in your lead generation toolkit. Maybe 80% of your website traffic comes from 20% of your blog posts. Or 80% of your social media engagement comes from 20% of your witty tweets. Identify these golden nuggets and then milk them for all they're worth. The simple technique is this: Take a step back, look at what you're doing, and identify the standout performers. Then, give those stars more of your time and attention.Plus point: the rule works the other way, too. Maybe you've been pouring hours into writing blog posts that nobody reads, or spending money on Facebook ads that aren't converting. The 80/20 principle gives you permission to cut those efforts loose. Declutter your marketing strategy, people!And let’s make one thing clear: we’re NOT asking you to totally abandon the other 80%. The 80/20 rule doesn’t work that way. In digital marketing what works today might not work tomorrow. So, you have to keep analyzing, keep tweaking, and keep searching for that magical 20% that'll skyrocket your lead generation efforts.Earlier...

When George Orwell said, “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others” he definitely didn’t expect that YEARS later someone would apply it to marketing, but here we are! The thing in 80/20 rule and identifying your ideal audience: Not all leads are created equal, some leads are more equal than others!See, some customers are worth their weight in gold, while others... To figure out who's who, you need targeted audience identification. Again, dive into your sales data. Actual, literal dive. Like, into the past year or two of transactions. Next, find patterns: Which products or services are your top sellers? Who's buying them? Analyze every single aspect! Here's a pro tip: Create a spreadsheet! Yes, a spreadsheet. Make columns for customer name, purchase history, and any other relevant details. AND what do they have in common? Age range? Industry? Next, highlight the top 20% of customers who bring in the most revenue. Congratulations, you're targeted audience identification is complete. You have in front of you the loyal customers who keep coming back for more, the ones who actually read your newsletters, and the ones who don't haggle over every penny!Side note: When you're selling something special, price becomes less important. Like, people don't buy Apple products because they're cheap, right? The trick is to make your brand feel exclusive. Create that 'special club' feeling around your brand. Also, your unique selling point is one of your secret weapons here. It's what makes customers choose you over the sea of competitors. By focusing on what makes your product special and consistently hammering that message home, you're not just selling – you're building a brand. And in this age of information overload, a strong, clear brand message is worth its weight in gold. And while you’re at it, create a rattle and hum, as Dennison calls it. Like how Elon Musk is basically a walking billboard for Tesla? That’s rattle and hum. And by putting yourself out there as the expert in your field, you create that rattle and hum which can help you charge what you're really worth. Remember: when you're exclusive and scare, you're competing on value, not price!Back to our audience. Use those top 20% profiles as a guide for all your marketing efforts going forward. And marketing efforts means content. With your newfound knowledge, you can craft content that speaks directly to your audience's...

Alright, online marketing channels! What’s that all about? In simplest words: platforms you can use to reach your target audiences online. Anything online where you try to catch your audience’s and win their heart. Clear? Then, let's talk about how to make these channels work for you, shall we?First up: Website SEO. No need to freak out, it’s nothing fatal! It stands for Search Engine Optimization, and it's all about making your website pop up when people Google stuff. And to make your website pop up, you need a proper technique.One, optimize your website structure, ensuring important pages are no more than two clicks from the homepage (else search engines won’t list it). Your website needs to be very user-friendly. Everything should be easy to find! So, if you sell shoes, have clear links to "Running Shoes," "Casual Shoes," and "Dress Shoes" right on the front page. Better yet, put your main services or products on your homepage.Two, use primary keywords strategically. That means putting important words that describe your business in specific places, for example:Meta descriptions: This is a short summary of a webpage that appears in search results.Header tags: These are the titles and subtitles on your page. They're like the chapter titles in a book.Image captions: The text that describes pictures on your website.Main copy: The regular text on your page.So, if you sell running shoes, you might use phrases like "comfortable running shoes" or "best shoes for marathons" in these places. And don't go crazy stuffing keywords everywhere! Google's too smart for that and might actually punish your site. Instead, focus on getting other reputable websites to link to yours - we call these backlinks. It's getting popular kids in school to say you're cool.The most effective tip is to simply create high-quality, relevant content that search engines will WANT to rank highly. See, they send out little digital spies, spiders, to check out your site. Make these spiders happy with good content, and they'll help your site climb up Google's rankings! Also, search engines are pretty lazy - they won't even bother looking at pages buried deep in your site. So, that’s why putting all your important stuff right on the homepage is a good SEO strategy. And hey, with more people browsing on phones than computers these days, your site better look good on a tiny screen!We’re not done with marketing channels just yet....

SEO done? Now, let's chat about social media marketing. It's a moneymaker for businesses if you know how to use it right. Your job is to be where your audience hangs out. Are they Twitter addicts? Instagram fashionistas? LinkedIn professionals? Find out and set up shop there. And don't just broadcast - engage! Respond to comments on your posts. Share industry news and ask for your followers' opinions. In fact, consider a regular posting schedule, like daily updates on LinkedIn or Twitter.Content marketing is next on our hit list. Here, you simply create content that addresses your audience's specific problems or questions. A how-to guide, or an entertaining video, or a mind-blowing infographic. Don’t just selling – help! People love that, and they’ll flock to you. Like, if you sell skincare products, write articles like "5 Ways to Reduce Acne Naturally" or "Understanding Different Skin Types." Important thing to keep in mind here is to focus on quality over quantity. In-depth, well-researched pieces often perform better. And make your content easily shareable with social media buttons and clear calls-to-action. But where to put all this awesome content? WordPress, Medium, and Tumblr are Dennison’s go-to. They're cool cause you don't have to rebuild everything from scratch every time you want to make changes. Unlike those old-school static websites, these platforms let you update stuff on the fly. So very convenient!Now, PPC advertising. That stands for Pay-Per-Click. In this online advertising, you create ads with keywords related to your business. When people search for those keywords, your ad might show up. But, you only pay if someone actually clicks on your ad. So the main thing for you to focus on is obviously keywords. Choose keywords that closely match what you offer and what your ideal customers are likely to search for. If you sell luxury watches, bidding on the keyword "cheap watches" would be stupid. People searching for cheap watches aren't likely to buy your luxury watches, are they? That means you'd be paying for clicks that probably won't lead to sales. So, choose your keywords properly and avoid this Google stupidity tax of ineffective keyword choices. When you're picking keywords, don't just guess - use Google Keyword Planner. It shows you what people are actually searching for. Want to get even fancier? Tools like Market Samurai help you spy on what's working for other businesses in your field.Your next focus...

Remember when we were selling soap some minutes back? Say, you've been engaging with potential customers who showed interest in your  peppermint soap. But how do you know which method is working better to turn these leads into loyal buyers? Yet again, data! We cannot emphasize enough how important data insights are for lead conversion. This Data-driven decision making is all about using cold, hard facts to guide your marketing moves. You're working with real, actionable information and drawing conclusions from it that you can apply to your business. Very easy on the surface, and not that difficult to put into practice.To begin with, you might start looking at some basic numbers. How many people who clicked on your social media posts actually made a purchase? How many email recipients moved further down the sales funnel? These numbers are called metrics, and they're super helpful in understanding what's going on. A seriously helpful tool for this is Google Analytics. It is a super-smart assistant who tells you everything about your visitors - where they came from, what they clicked on, how long they stayed, and most importantly, whether they converted. And it's free!Another lead conversion hack is A/B testing. It's a this-or-that for your marketing ideas, aimed at improving conversion rates. You pit two versions against each other and see which one converts more leads into customers. For example, you could send out two different email subject lines to two groups of people. Then you check which one got more opens AND purchases. The winner of this A/B testing becomes your new go-to subject line style.Next analytics? Your 'bounce rate.' Bounce rate shows how many people visit your site and leave right away without making a purchase. And to fix your bounce rate, you might wanna tweak your homepage a bit. Making the sharing buttons handy and comment sections active are a nice start.As you collect more of this information, you start to see patterns. Maybe you notice that leads who watch your soap-making tutorial videos are making more purchases than those who only view your product photos. That's valuable intel, people! It tells you to focus more on making videos. That’s data-driven lead conversion, right there!!Another important thing to look at is your return on investment, or ROI. It's just a way of checking if you're getting your money's worth in actual sales. If you're spending $100 on Facebook...

Old-school marketing just doesn't cut it anymore! Back in the day, businesses had it simple - slap an ad in the newspaper, get some radio time, or put up a billboard. Done! But here's the thing: those methods were like using a fishing net to catch one specific type of fish. Sure, lots of people saw your ad, but how many actually cared? Today's marketing is more like using the perfect bait for exactly the fish you want. Why? Because most people find what they need online now. The beauty of modern marketing is that you can zero in on exactly who might want your product. And by using the 80/20 rule, you're not just marketing smarter - you're building relationships that last.