I was struck by the subject of a recent article titled How to Optimize B2B Pay Per Click in Just 4 Hours a Week (Part 1) by Jon Miller of Marketo. What caught my interest wasn't the information on pay per click advertising but the idea that 4 hours a week was considered a time savings! I speak with small to mid size manufacturers in Connecticut every day and from what I hear, no one has an extra 4 hours a week to manage a pay per click program. More often than not I hear, "We really need to update the site but we just can't find the time." Now don't get me wrong, I believe that small to mid sized B2B email list companies are missing out by not focusing more on their online marketing strategy but a MarketingSherpa study showed that the single greatest obstacle for B2B companies achieving better optimization is lack of time and in-house resources. B2C companies are spending many marketing hours (and $$) blogging, mobile marketing and social marketing to generate high traffic but B2B companies are different. Jon Miller points out these differences in search marketing goals: B2C Search Marketing Goals: High Volume, low value Focus on clicks and transactions Single decision maker Search with the intent to buy Transactional landing pages Purchases immediately No hand-off from sales to marketing B2B Search Marketing Goals: Low Volume, High Value Focus on conversions and leads Multiple decision makers Search with the intent to research Lead capture landing pages Purchase months to weeks later Closed loop lead management It is worth repeating...B2B online marketing is not about VOLUME of traffic, it's about the RIGHT traffic. TARGET, TARGET, TARGET! It is a waste of time and marketing dollars getting emails and phone calls from contacts that have no chance of ever being a customer. So what is the answer? Given there is limited amount of time and in-house resources you need to get help to at least get the basics done so your website is out there working for you. Your ThomasNet Rep (me) or your web developer, agency, SEO agency, etc. can help.