Your website is the hub of all of your marketing efforts, whether you intend it or not. Print advertising, email marketing, direct mail, public speaking, search marketing, and just about any other marketing tactic naturally or overtly leads people to your website.
So what happens when prospects come to your web site? Are they compelled to tell you who they are? Or do they vanish without a trace?
When it comes to turning your website into a lead-generation machine, here are 7 tips:
1. Create Compelling Content
Give your prospects a reason to stay on board with your website. Interesting and compelling content lends credibility, trust, and authority to your company – not to mention it’s often what gets people to your site to begin with! The importance of content simply cannot be understated. If you’re having trouble creating the great content you need to make your lead generation dreams a reality, look into hiring a content writing service (there’s a link to ours).
2. Make it Easy
Make it easy for your prospects to become a customer or at least, to tell you who they are. It’s amazing how many websites we visit that literally make it HARD to become a customer. Make sure your key conversion links are easy to find. Build your website so that it’s easy for people to find their way around. Every page should be just a click away. Finally, use headers to draw people into the content of each page and use bullets, subheads, and shorter paragraphs to make your content easy to digest.
3. Develop Great Offers
Website lead generation is all about giving people a reason to raise their hands and tell you who they are. So why would someone want to communicate with you instead of navigating anonymously around your website? Because you have offered them something that is so compelling, valuable, and interesting that they are happy to exchange their anonymity for it. Your offer could be a free trial, a free whitepaper, a free webinar, a free consultation, or any number of other offers. Put yourself in the shoes of a potential customer and ask yourself what would make you respond.
4. Promote Your Great Offers
Coming up with an offer is great, but you’ve got to promote the offer on your website in a way that grabs attention. Create an ad and place it on your website in a conspicuous place. Also, mention your offers alongside relevant content within your website (this can include your blog). Test the placement and wording of your offer to ensure you’re maximizing your lead generation potential.
5. Stay above the Fold
Make it easy for your customers to complete your lead generation goal by keeping response forms, offers, and primary calls-to-action above the fold so the user won’t have to scroll down to find them. This is a little thing that can make a big difference in your lead generation response.
6. Use Landing Pages & Conversion Forms
When you create an offer, you’ll want to link that offer to a landing page where the actual lead conversion will occur. A typical landing page contains details about the offer and a “conversion” form (response form) that your visitors will complete before receiving whatever it is you’ve offered. For example, if your offer is a free trial, your visitors will go to a landing page where they’ll learn more about the free trial, submit their contact information through a conversion form, and then gain access to the free trial itself. Landing pages are designed to maximize conversions by stripping away “exit paths” and keeping your visitor focused on completing your desired goal. Here’s an example of a landing page that promotes our Free SEO Guide.
7. Integrate Lead Tracking & Intelligence Tools
What good is all this lead generation stuff without a mechanism to gain useful information about individual leads and track them as they turn into actual customers? There are so many great lead tracking and intelligence tools out there. The most popular tool for inbound marketers is HubSpot’s inbound marketing software. With HubSpot, you can measure your website traffic, capture and manage leads, and tie lead generation efforts directly to sales outcomes.
Any discussion of lead generation must also include a reference to lead nurturing, which is what happens AFTER your leads are captured. Through lead nurturing you are staying in front of your leads with interesting and relevant content, tied to compelling offers, that helps move your lead along the purchase path toward your products or services. We’ll be talking about lead nurturing a lot as this blog grows, so stay tuned.
And hey, don’t forget: a lead-generating website is just one of the many inbound marketing success components. Learn more about inbound marketing by downloading our Free Guide: “The Power of In: Inbound Marketing for Success.” If you want to talk specifics, please request a free marketing consultation.
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Posted by CristiSpahr on October 7, 2009 |
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