The challenge for effective digital marketing is to send ads to reach potential customers while at the same time ignore people who do not need your services. That's true of all marketing really. The idea is to spend the least amount on marketing to get the most leads.

We discovered that once you stated the problem this way, the solution fell into our lap. The secret is to get VERY specific relative to who you are targeting and then to devise a plan to reach that audience.

So? How would you target people who were recently hit with roof damaging hail? We know that some roofing contractors are sending postcards and mail to areas and neighborhoods that were hit by hail. By the time that mail gets there, the digital marketing audience will have seen 20X more of our ads before that postcard gets to the same people and eventually ends up in the trash - IF you're targeting them correctly.

Fishing is a great metaphor for lead generation. Most small business websites are standing on the shore without even a fish pole and they're hoping a fish just jumps up into their bucket. Seriously! If you do have lead capture mechanisms on your website, what are you using for bait? If the fish aren't biting, you're probably using the wrong bait! Or, you've got the right bait but you don't have it attached to your fish line! You're just tossing it in. Now, no fisherman fishes that way but when it comes to the average website, there's often no bait, no pole and no bites.

A typical first stab at website optimization begins with the simple notion that if I get more traffic I will in turn get more customers. There's nothing wrong with that idea however it only brushes the surface of true website optimization. If your website is already well established, there is one key question that begins the process of website optimization.