Website Lead Generation – Does Your Website Do It’s Job?
In the ’90’s, if your business had a website up and running, you were way ahead of the game.
But it’s not the 90s any longer.
Your website (and you should have a website by now) needs to become an effective lead magnet securing it’s place as a substantial lead generation machine in your small business marketing plan.
Lead generation is something all business owners worry over. So let me give you an idea of how your website lead generation should be implemented so that you can grow your local or small business faster.
Good Lead Generation Online
The first step in understanding good lead generation online is really considering why visitors come to your website and what you want to tell them while they are visiting.
Are you trying to sell them something? Hoping to educate visitors? Maybe you’re working to build reputation or brand awareness. No matter what you are trying to accomplish (and you need to decide what you’re trying to accomplish) there is a method to generating leads from your online property, including but not limited to: websites, wiki sites, blogs, lenses, social media and more.
Put yourself in the visitors shoes.
If you visited your website looking for your business or service, ask yourself why you are visiting. What is it visitors are looking for from your local business or industry. This exercise goes a long way toward helping you decide what your website is trying to accomplish [see above].
And you have to be honest with yourself here. Don’t delude yourself into thinking people visit your site because they’ve heard of you already (even though they may have) or because you’ve spent time and money on SEO or PPC (even though you may have).
Because at the end of the click, your website has to offer something that makes the visitor want to stay.
Or what’s the point?
Riding in on the white horse are lead magnets >>>
Lead magnets are what we call the STUFF that makes a visitor want to stay and turns your website into a lead generation machine.
So if the purpose of your site is to sell, maybe your visitor is looking for free delivery, that’s a lead magnet. If your visitor is looking for the best price, online coupons may be a good lead generation tool. Or a special guarantee that beats the competition.
If the purpose of your site is to educate, offer the visitor information that improves their life in some way. You could offer a teleseminar or webinar that offers information in either a free or paid format.
Maybe the purpose of your website is to brand yourself or your business as the local industry expert. As a lead generation tool, offer a free pdf download that showcases some of your expertise. Create a video blog that shares insights or showcase video snippets from speaking engagements and interviews where you were the featured expert.
All of these tools and many, many more are lead magnets. Spend some time in the prospective client’s proverbial shoes so that when a visitor comes to your small business website, it offers them a lead magnet that is irresistible. Because every business website is not an electronic business card, but a POWERFUL lead generation tool.