The focus of power

Achieving any major goal requires single-minded determination. It requires powerful focus, and the ability to avoid distractions. This applies to any area of life, including your online marketing efforts.

My first taste of this was in 1999, when I was struggling to get a new web business off the ground. I knew a lot about direct marketing (offline), but almost nothing about online lead generation. The results were somewhat predictable.

Despite early setbacks, I kept going. I remained focussed on my objective. This dogged determination to succeed made up for my inexperience. I used traditional direct marketing techniques to measure everything, and quickly learned from my mistakes.

Within 6 months I was able to quit my job, and work full-time on the web. I've never looked back. The power of focus literally changed my life.

More recently, I've been thinking about the application of focus to create powerful lead generation techniques and campaigns.

Most business web sites are anything but focussed. The site owner knows little or nothing about how search engines work, and wants to make sure nothing is missed. Every little thing the business has ever done, sold or heard about is crammed onto the homepage. The key word list (which is ignore by the major search engines) contains the entire Oxford English Dictionary. And the title tag (the most important from an SEO perspective) contains something counter-productive such as 'Welcome to our website'.

Internet marketing benefits greatly from focus. The more focus you can bring to your homepage, the better you'll do. This is especially true if you're working in conjunction with an SEO-savvy online lead generation expert.

So what do I mean by 'the focus of power?' I use the word 'power' to represent that one thing your company does better than anybody else. For me, it's lead generation. Whatever it is for you, that is your source of power.

This source of power is the thing your website, and especially your homepage, should focus on. It's a little like using a magnifying glass to focus the rays of the sun on a single point. By doing so, it's possible to turn even mild sunlight into a blazing inferno.

By bringing such powerful focus to your homepage, you greatly improve your odds of good search engine performance. And that's an important first step in a successful lead generation strategy.