How to use your website to generate more leads

Lead generation is the process of getting contact information for “leads” (i.e. potential customers) that might be interested in buying a company’s product, either immediately or in the future. 

There are two main steps for business owners in this process: getting customers to your website and getting their contact information so you build an email list to directly market your product(s) to.

To get customers to your website, you will need to optimize it to attract visitors by including the appropriate keywords that your potential customers are looking for. This process is called search engine optimization (SEO) which we’ll talk about more later on in this post. 

Once a potential customer lands on your site, you next need to get their contact information from them so you can market your product to them directly. This is your lead generation strategy.

A good lead generation strategy should focus on both developing an optimized website to capture leads and systems to effectively convert those leads into customers. In this piece, we will go in-depth into how the lead generation process works and provide some of the best strategies that you can use to get started quickly.

What is lead generation?

Companies have invested billions of dollars in digital marketing campaigns over the last decade. Today, customers are constantly bombarded with marketing tactics, making it challenging for any business to cut through the noise and get the attention of a lead. 

Modern lead generation strategies should incorporate messaging that resonates with the target audience and be tailored to whatever stage they’re at in the sales funnel to maximize effectiveness.

Ultimately, you will measure the success of your lead generation campaign by looking at its conversion rate. The conversion rate refers to the percentage of total website visitors that successfully turned into, or “converted,” into a lead.

What are some ways to improve lead conversion rates?

Now that you understand the logistics behind how you get leads from your website, your next question is probably: “how can I make sure to get the most amount of leads (or highest conversion rate) from my website?”

You’re not the only one asking that question.

Over 52% of B2B marketing professionals state that increasing the conversion rate is the most challenging part of lead generation. Luckily, we have some practical and actionable tips you can use to increase conversion rate over time.

Let’s take a look at those now. 

#1. Focus on quality over quantity

One of the mistakes many businesses make is focusing on the quantity of leads over the quality. Quantity is important, of course, being that sales is a numbers game. 

However, if you’re not properly targeting the right potential customers, and instead just trying to grab as many as possible, you will ultimately end up with a lower conversion rate as many of your leads will not convert.

How do you do this? By having quality content on your site that resonates with your audience and, in turn, nudges them closer to purchasing your product. 

When your potential customers read your content it should build their trust in your company and product and make them want to do business with you. 

#2. Refine your lead capturing system

A critical part of lead generation is, of course, gathering contact information.

So, when you set up a system for obtaining information on your website, ensure that you’re collecting relevant information to target your leads. To maximize your conversion rate, you also need to make sure that your system is simple and easy to use. 

Typically, this will be a contact form. Ensure that you’re collecting the lead’s name, email address, phone number, or whatever pertinent info you need. But don’t overdo it. Including more than three fields on a contact form can decrease your conversation rates by up to 50%. 

#3. Regularly follow up on leads

Marketers and sales representatives need to work together to ensure the success of lead generation tactics. While the marketing strategy may be to create content that captures the leads’ interest, it’s essential to nurture the lead by following up through a sales strategy.

The follow-up time should be short enough that your company is still fresh in the minds of your new leads. However, it should not be so frequent that your lead feels pressured and is turned away from buying your product.

Also, your follow-up outreach should do more than just remind the customer of your product or business. It should include a solid call to action (CTA) that tells the reader what you want them to do and gives them an easy way to do it.

For example, if your business is service-based, you might say, “Click here to learn more about how our services can help you [X].” Don’t forget to include a link to a page where they can book a time for a sales call.

What is a lead magnet?

By now you’re probably thinking, “Well this is all well and good, but how do I get a lead’s contact information in the first place?” We’re glad you asked! The answer is by using a lead magnet.

A lead magnet is a free resource that you provide potential customers in exchange for their contact information. Typically, a website visitor is not going to just give away their contact info willy nilly; they’re already getting too many emails as it is.

Thus, you have to make it worthwhile for them to give up their contact information by providing a valuable piece of content (your lead magnet). If your lead magnet doesn’t convey enough value then people won’t give you access to their inbox.

The better your lead magnet is, the more leads you will get. Below are some ideas for lead magnets to help you get started.

Templates and checklists

Templates and checklists are great lead magnets because they help readers do something they don’t feel they can do independently. In other words, it offers them a significant amount of value because it makes their life easier.

How-to guides

Guides are another great way to provide value for potential customers. Similar to a template or a checklist, it’s helping them do something they can’t do on their own or are struggling with. Guides are versatile and any business can create and share a guide based on their business and offering.

Free trials

If your offering is something subscription-based, a free trial is a great way to get contact information for leads. Essentially, a free trial lets a customer use the product for free for a limited period. 

The intention is to get the customer to buy the product at the end of the trial. Not only will interested leads share their details, and contact information, in most cases, they share payment details as well. 

For this reason, free trial offers typically have a higher conversion rate than other lead magnets, as much as 66% according to a recent study.

Newsletters

Newsletters can take any shape or form you want. Typically, a newsletter is a weekly email with links to new blogs, updates, and offers from your company.

Like gated content, the key to getting users’ contact information is by providing a lot of value through the newsletter. For example, you can share exclusive offers through the newsletter. This will encourage potential customers to subscribe to it.

Website lead generation strategies

A well-designed website is the key to getting new leads. The website design should create a sense of trust in your potential leads. Further, it should provide many opt-in opportunities to them to increase the chance of getting information. 

Here are some additional strategies that you can use to get more leads from your website.

Optimize your website to increase traffic

Increasing traffic to your website is half the battle. You can have an excellent product, but it won’t sell unless customers hear about it and can find you!

The first step for increasing traffic to your site is optimizing website design and content for search engines. You should start with an SEO audit and keyword research to ensure that the content you share is ranking well on Google.

Set up actionable landing pages

Landing pages refer to the pages where you hold your opt-ins and offers. Visitors “land” on these pages and either convert or don’t. So, they should be clear, concise, and up to date. They should clearly explain the product or service you are selling and convey its value.

If you want to collect contact information on your landing page, think of what website visitors might need to see before sharing it. An effective landing page will provide an overview of the product, any offers attached to it, and set up an actionable call to action. 

Invest in chatbots

A potential customer will likely have lots of questions about your products. Automated chatbots are a great way to answer these questions in real-time.

The most significant advantage of a chatbot is that it will be available 24/7. On top of this, a chatbot can answer the queries of many customers at the same time. 

You can set up the chatbot to send text-based replies, redirect users to relevant content or connect with a customer support representative if they don’t have an answer.

Chatbots can be customized depending on which web page the user is on which allows you to make them more personalized. 

Create valuable gated content

Like a lead magnet, gated content refers to content users can access after providing their information. Unlike regular blogs, such content cannot be accessed unless users share their information. This usually includes their name, email address, phone number, and other custom fields.

As stated above, these could include guides, templates, or checklists. It could also be an on-demand webinar, whitepaper, or a client testimonial/case study.  Creating valuable gated content provides a huge incentive for users to share their information.

Use social media to help promote content

Social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn are great places for content marketing. 

Connecting with your core audience on social media can help you increase brand awareness, promote your content, and increase targeted website traffic to your homepage or landing page to drive more leads.

Ramp up your lead generation with Broadly 

The success of a lead generation strategy is the key to long-term growth, but they require market expertise and a strong understanding of your target customers’ needs. 

At Broadly, we help customers to build effective lead generation strategies that boost their sales, from a centralized all-in-one platform.

With Broadly, you can manage your leads and communications from a single location, instantly engage website visitors to win their business, use email campaigns to build strong customer relationships, and so much more!