A strong project plan for a free tool should include: A clear definition of the target audience. A strong problem statement outlining the problem the tool will solve for the target audience. Core features needed in the initial version of the tool. A project timeline and milestones.

The third place people learn/shop is social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Reddit, YouTube, and others.

Do not ask your prospects questions that require them to go elsewhere to find the information. Nor should you ask questions that require prospects to “think.”

A recent study shows that Google's first page captures over 89 percent of the traffic, and most users will not look beyond the first page. Even within the first page, the traffic is not spread evenly—the top-ranked result (number one on the first page) captures about 42 percent of the traffic.

First, track the number of other websites linking to your website.

In order to move from outbound to inbound marketing, you need to stop interrupting people in your target market and “get found” by them instead.

First, add some collaborative functionality to your site, like a blog (which is easy to update on a regular basis). Second, start creating lots of compelling content people will want to consume (see following chapters on how to do this). Third, start focusing on where the real action is: Google, industry blogs, and social media sites.

You should ask for the minimal amount of data that is just enough to make a reasonable quality assessment. Ask too many questions, and the web visitor won't become a lead in the first place and an opportunity is lost.

Ranking is based on a combination of two things, relevance and authority.