Did you know that there was a B-to-B Magazine that puts out an annual Lead Generation Guide? Ellis Brook writes:

“Our guide reveals at least two themes: Successful lead generation is a combination of process and processors (read automation). This notion is expressed nicely by Eloqua CEO Joseph Payne, who told us, “Marketers need to automate the process of capturing information and routing great content and making sure they are completely aware of all the people that want to be sold to.” “

There is a lot of buzz about blogging, social networks, podcasts, Twitter, etc. But does any of this activity generate leads? Maybe. You need to track it. If there was one place that people work the hardest is LinkedIn. Virtual networking to let others know what you know and what you do. Also, on LinkedIn there are many opportunities for people to refer you as an expert (in Answers) or write recommendations for you. This adds credibility to you. It is also a source of testimonials. But that doesn’t really equate to leads, right?

New Media is mainly a search engine optimization (SEO) tool. The more places you show up online surrounded by your key words for your products, the more likely people searching will find you. But not to contact you necessarily, but look for your product information. Is that easy to find? How easy are you to contact?

In online marketing, the key is the content of the Landing Page. The Landing Page is the URL where the links in the search results end up. This is the page that has 7 or 8 seconds to load and capture the interest of your Prospect. It better be compelling. It has to answer the search question. It has to have a call to action. ABC means always be closing and you can only do that if you keep asking for the sale (or in this case the next action step).

The B-to-B guide discusses website analytics, webinars, auto-responders, white papers, and the tracking of all this activity as sources for leads. This all means more work – blogging, podcasting, LinkedIn, Adwords, Landing Pages, writing white papers, updating the website, doing webinars. UGH! What can I tell you? It isn’t getting easier. There is too much noise and way too much information for the prospect.