5 Tips for Generating Leads Online
You've carefully crafted your online message, you've filled your website, blog, and social media sites with creative, interesting, and informative content. All of these things are wonderful first steps, and will generate substantial online traffic for your business but your job doesn't stop there.
The next step is converting that virtual viewership into more tangible business leads. You don't just want people to look at your content, you want them to engage with your company and become potential buyers or clients.
Here are five easy and effective ways to make sure that you convert web traffic to leads:
1. Make sure your website is user-friendly
With the vast array of options available online, users tend to go for the easiest choice- the webpage that anticipates their questions and answers those questions in a readable, visually appealing format.
Make sure that your homepage is cleanly formatted and that the different sections of your website are clearly indicated. You want to anticipate which pages your viewers will want to see and make it easy for them to access those pages.
Think carefully about the conversion paths on your website. Where will visitors land first? Where will they want to go? Where do you want them to go? Make sure that there is a logical, intuitive flow within your pages, and that the most commonly asked question have readily accessible answers.
2. Make it easy for viewers to connect with you
After you have determined and streamlined the conversion paths in your website, use those pathways to encourage viewers to engage with your business.
Include links to email subscriptions or monthly newsletters along your most popular pathways. Encourage users to "like" you on Facebook or follow your business on Twitter, and provide clear, simple icons that will link them to those pages. (For tips on maximizing your business on Facebook, see our earlier blog).You might also want to consider including discussion boards or comment forums within your blog or on some of your more popular pages.
By clearly showing viewers how to contact you, you make it much simpler for viewers to become engaged with your business, and thus, you greatly increase the likelihood that your web traffic will develop into business leads.
3. Use the right bait
The fisherman with the best bait tends to catch the biggest and the best fish. Along the same lines, the company with the best promotions and offers tends to generate the most valuable leads.
Give your viewers an incentive to engage with your business. Anticipate and answer one of the most common client questions- "What is in this for me?"
Online contests, trial offers, and limited-time give-aways are all excellent ways to lure new clients. Just make sure that these offers also promote engagement with your company- for example, viewers must give their email address to receive a free trial or to enter a contest. There are benefits for both sides- the viewer gets a chance at a great deal and you get a solid lead for your business.
4. Target Known Audiences
One of the best ways to generate leads is to market to an audience you know will be receptive to your product or service. This type of audience is called targeted traffic, and you want to draw that traffic to a specific page within your site.
Email subscribers, trade show customers, and newsletter recipients are all great examples of targeted traffic. Develop an offer that will particularly appeal to these targeted viewers, and send that offer out via email. Within the email, include a link to a landing page that you have developed specifically for those viewers.
With this process, you carefully direct viewers' attention to the pages that are most likely to entice them to engage with your business.
5. Utilize Social Media
Social media such as Facebook and Twitter also allow you to market to a targeted audience. If users are already following you on Twitter or visiting your Facebook page, they have already shown themselves willing to engage with your business.
Facebook contests and Twitter promotions are excellent ways to reach out and reward these visitors. Both sites also provide large-scale marketing platforms for other contests and promotions you might be running.
As discussed above, create specific landing pages for your Facebook and Twitter users, directing them to the information and contact methods most likely to appeal to them.
