Modern websites are more than simple brochures about your business.
They act as 24/7 sales people who provide the information visitors need, no matter when they visit.
In addition, they can also collect information, and with the right set up, they should collect leads for your company.
But building a lead producing website isn't easy.
It requires specific functions for your website, and other elements that all work together to make lead generation possible.
Here are the most important factors you'll need to start generating leads on your website:
- Calls to action
- Landing pages
- Forms
- Content
Calls to Action
Visitors to your website want to read the information they were promised. Along with this, research has shown that websites that also tell the reader what to do next are more effective at generating leads.
A call-to-action or CTA is where you tell visitors what to do next. Here are some examples of CTAs:
- Download Your Free Guide to Faster Sales Now
- Click Here to Purchase Marketing Automation Software
- Get 17 Tips for Manufacturing Marketing Success Here
By putting each of these sayings on a button, using either Hubspot or a button generator like Da Button Factory you bring more attention to it, and generally more clicks.
There are 3 important aspects to calls to action that make them more effective:
- Tells Visitor What To Do
- Tells Visitor What They Get
- Tell Them To Do It Now
Landing Pages for Producing Leads
Now that you understand calls to action, you need the next element- Landing Pages. These are the pages your visitors come to when they click the CTA. Again, there are best practices to help you achieve the highest conversion rates possible from these clicks.
First, let's talk about the most important items on your Landing Page.
Headline- Your headline is the most important thing you'll say on your landing page. The only other aspect similarly as important is the giveaway or offer itself.
Spend half of your time working on the headline, edit it multiple times, and then test it regularly after you publish the page.
The headline should include a benefit of taking action with the offer you are presenting.
Additionally here are some other helpful things to keep in mind when building your landing pages:
- Keep copy short
- Use bullets for benefits (not features) of your offer
- Have at least 1 call to action as described above
- Include an image of the offer, even if it is digital
- No links to other pages
- A form to collect information
Forms For Lead Production
One would think it wouldn't be difficult to make forms for a landing page, but there is a lot more to it than simply generating HTML from your favorite program. Here we will talk about a few tips you need to make the most of your form and turn landing page visitors into leads.
Form Headline- Here is another opportunity to grab the visitor's attention and express a benefit for taking you up on your free offer. Think long and hard about what you are saying here, and try to picture it from the visitor's point of view. What would make this the ultimate no-brainer?
Form Fields- As marketers or business owners we want as much information as possible about leads. When we have more information we can better score them, reach out to them and sell to them, right? While this is true, on the other side of the spectrum, visitors don't want to leave their life stories just to get a download.
For the first of many offers you are going to send a lead, start by asking for a name and email. Phone number fields greatly increase form abandonment and loss of a lead.
Submit Button- Your submit button should not just say submit. Make it clever with a short call to action, here are some examples:
- Grab My Download
- Send Me The Information
- Get My Free eBook
- Give Me Access Now
Content is a Must For Your Lead Producing Website
In order to bring new visitors to your website (to turn them into leads) you need to write interesting content on a regular basis. Blogging is a great way to achieve this, and it helps with SEO as well as social media, assuming you will be sharing your posts on social media sites as well.
What kind of content you write is important, so here are some of the best lead producing types of blog posts you can write:
- Answer reader questions- Educate them!!
- Answer lead questions
- Get in-depth about how to accomplish something readers want to do
- Provide the information they want while giving them what they need
- Lists are always a great way to write a post
When you first start blogging, you'll want to stay away from sharing what you want to share, writing about the topics that appeal to you. You need to build a readership and the only way to do that is to make the blog posts about them.
Summary
Lead producing websites have several elements in common, but the most important of these are the four listed here: Content, Calls to Action, Forms and Landing Pages. If you start your lead campaigns by focusing on these important pieces, you'll be off to a great start.
As always, if you have questions or concerns, leave a comment or contact us and we'd be glad to help.
