One Key Strategy That Will Help Solve Your Lead Gen Problem in 2025

If you’re struggling to find new leads for your MSP, is it because they’re struggling to find you? Stefanie Hammond has 7 SEO tips to help change your fortunes.

Stagnant Sales? Lack of leads? Poor revenue growth? Does this describe your 2024 so far?  

With the end of 2024 nearing, many MSPs that I have been speaking with have been reflecting on their sales and customer acquisition activities, and many are incredibly disheartened with their lack of logo growth this year. And this concern has been a long-standing issue in the MSP community and is a central focus of our N‑able 2024 Horizon Report.  In that report, it cites that for 22% of the MSPs that were surveyed, new customer acquisition continues to be their top business challenge.

During these discussions, a very common issue I am finding, is that many MSPs have an extremely weak online presence. It is weak to the point that I can’t even find them when I try to do an organic Google search. And that is a grave concern, because if prospects – who don’t know anything about you and who don’t even know that your MSP exists – can’t find you when they attempt to do a Google search, that will naturally have a significant impact on the quantity of leads you receive.

While many MSPs tell me that they rely on word-of-mouth and referrals as their primary form of lead generation, that can only do so much toward helping achieve the revenue targets they have set for themselves. For sustainable growth, MSPs need to explore other potential lead gen strategies and develop a plan on how those options can help fill the top part of the sales funnel. And if your digital presence is weak, to the point that business owners can’t even find you online, then unfortunately you’ll likely continue to struggle when it comes to sourcing new leads. 

According to analyst firm Gartner, by the time a prospect decides to reach to you, they are 2/3 of the way through their buying decision process. So, if your MSP cannot be found online, or the information about your MSP that can be found online is patchy and/or inconsistent compared to that of your competitors, who do you think your prospects will engage with? Unfortunately, it won’t be you.

So, before you embark on a journey to completely overhaul and revolutionize your sales and marketing for 2025, you’re going to want to fix the basics first. If you are challenged with lead generation, investigate what is stopping prospects from finding your MSP online. If your MSP cannot be readily found using a basic Google search, then Priority #1 is to design and implement an SEO strategy that will work to help get you noticed so that it improves the flow of leads into your sales funnel. Because I am certain that if you work to improve your ranking on Google for the area of the world that you live in, this will go a long way to filling your funnel with fresh new leads.

Here are 7 tips that you can leverage to help get your MSP found more easily online.

1. Choose the Right Keywords

It all starts with using the right mix keywords to help Google better understand the content that appears on your website. Remember, the goal of SEO is to get your website noticed and to help it stand out from your competition. And with over 335,000 companies globally providing some sort of managed IT service, there is a lot of competition out there. But I also believe that the bar is still pretty low when it comes to those MSPs that have a really good handle on the marketing and lead gen aspects of their business. So, with some time, discipline and dedication your MSP can quickly rise through the ranks. 

Some points to remember about keyword importance:

• Utilize keywords or keyword phrases that would be used by the audience you are targeting. Refrain from using keywords that industry ‘insiders’ would use such as ‘managed services’ or ‘managed services provider’ or ‘MSP’. While these are terms that we are familiar with (because we work in the MSP industry), think of who we are targeting and want to do business with: Non-technical business owners. This audience, if they were looking for a new IT support company, would likely not consider searching for their new IT support company using the keywords ‘managed services provider’. Rather they might use the phrases, ‘IT service providers in [Location]’ or ‘Who are the best IT service providers in [Location]’.

• There are some excellent toolsets that many SEO experts recommend can be used to help in your keyword research and help you make decisions on which keywords you should use, such as Google’s Keyword Planner, SEMrush or Keywords Everywhere.

2. Ensure your Google Business Profile Up to Date

I’ve found from my review sessions, that many MSPs do not take the time to ensure that their Google Business Profile has the correct information in place, and that it matches what is appearing on their website. By ensuring that these details align, it is a quick fix that will provide an immediate impact on how easy it is for a local business owner to find you.

3. Ensure That You Make Regular Updates to Your Google Business Profile

Google doesn’t like feeling left out. It succumbs to a real sense of FOMO (fear of missing out) when it isn’t kept in the loop and will penalize those that forget about it. So, another easy tip that will help improve your search rankings and improve the chances of your MSP getting noticed is to be sure that you develop a regular cadence for applying updates to your business profile. This can be as simple as adding new photos as you are engaging with customers or out in the community or adding blog summaries or press releases. Anytime prospects can gain new information about your business, it helps them to make more informed decisions on who to engage with in their buying journey and this improved customer experience and engagement is appreciated and rewarded handsomely by Google. 

4. Content IS King – But Don’t Develop Content for the Sake of it. EDUCATE!

Some MSPs might be confused when we talk about the importance of developing a ‘content marketing strategy’ for their business, but they shouldn’t be. All this means is a business should ensure that anything that is written and posted online or to their website, has a strong educational purpose behind it, and serves to answer a prospect’s query or concern. Good content is content that teaches and works to solve problems that your target business audience might be experiencing. From an SEO ranking perspective, the more relevant and helpful Google thinks your content is, the more likely it will push it forward towards Page 1, and the higher the chances that your business owner prospect will click on it and be immediately swept away to your website.

I often get asked by MSPs, “Stef – what should I write about? I’m not a writer.”

When it comes to figuring out what content to produce, I believe every MSP should read ‘They Ask, You Answer’ by Marcus Sheridan. It is a wonderful read with practical advice on how a business owner should answer the question “What do I write about”?  In his book, Marcus encourages Business Owners to spend time writing out every single question they have ever been asked by a prospect or customer, and then work on creating very detailed and prescriptive responses to those questions, which will then form the basis of a wide variety of content pieces like: Blogs, videos, infographics, guides, checklists, whitepapers etc. By creating content that focuses exclusively on your customers’ and prospects’ problems, concerns, issues and fears, you are automatically creating relevant, useful, and educational material that Google appreciates and will reward with more favorable rankings.     

But of course, don’t forget to check out our MarketBuilder platform, if you are looking for help with creating content to post to your website and to your social feeds.  We have done the majority of the work for you and have loads of material available that can be customized; especially if you are an MSP that doesn’t have the luxury of employing a Content Marketing Manager within your business.

5. Reviews are Everything

Google reviews and SEO rankings go hand-in-hand. Reviews are an incredibly powerful way to help boost your SEO ranking and get you noticed online. The more positive reviews your MSP can amass, the greater the impact it will have on your overall ranking results. Often, as I am consulting with MSPs about their lead gen and NCA issues, there is an inconsistency when it comes to their Google Reviews – either they have none, their reviews are old and outdated, or it is evident that they have been collected in spurts. Having zero Google Reviews, or older, outdated reviews, in today’s digital age, will greatly hinder your online ranking success and impact who sees you.

This is something that can be easily corrected by virtually every MSP. All it takes is simply creating a process where your employees remember to ask your customers after every single positive interaction, if they could submit a review? And then be sure to make it easy for them by creating and sharing a link that your customers can use. Your team can include that link as part of a ‘thank you’ email, include it as part of everyone’s email signature, include it at the end of every chat interaction, or consider including it as part of your monthly invoice. Any time your team is engaging with your customers, be sure to ask them if they would consider submitting a review for your business.   

Most customers would be agreeable to submitting a review, if prompted. MSPs just need to be mindful to ask. And creating a process that ensures you have a continuous cycle of fresh reviews provides a double benefit to improving your ranking results. Not only do you get the customer’s sentiments on how great your MSP is, which highlights your credibility and trustworthiness, and your commitment to providing a positive user experience, but this also counts as ‘fresh content’, which Google also appreciates and will reward with an improved ranking result.   

6. Investigate How Your Competitors Appear Online and Mimic Their Success

When you do a Google search, what MSPs are ranking on Page 1?  Examine what their Google Business Profile looks like and what their website looks like. What kind of content are they posting? How does your Google Business Profile and website compare to theirs (and be honest)? Figure out what is working to propel them to the pole position on Google and what can be replicated within your MSP.

7. Don’t be Afraid to Solicit Help From the Professionals

Lastly, if you have room in your marketing budget, consider bringing in an SEO specialist to help develop your SEO strategy; someone that understands the nuances of how to work the Google algorithms in your favor. This is an important piece that could be potentially blocking hundreds of qualified business owners from ever finding you, so making an investment in SEO consulting services could be the real difference-maker in 2025.

If you are interested in reading up on some more SEO tips that will help get your MSP noticed by Google, then be sure to check out an earlier blog I wrote titled: Six Tips to Getting SEO Right For Your MSP.

Stefanie Hammond is Head Sales and Marketing Nerd at N‑able. You can follow her on LinkedIn