Many websites on the internet do not generate leads and also don’t know how to generate leads online.
In the late 90s we saw a surge of websites going live on the world wide web. Every company wanted a website (even if they didn’t have products and services to offer). But most businesses were naïve to think that just being on the internet would be enough to have the leads flood in.
According to NetCraft, in the last 6 years, the internet has gone from 100 million websites to 644 million websites…and counting. As time goes on more and more websites go live on the internet offering similar products and services making it hard for your website to get found online and stand out. This is because these websites are static, product focused, light on content and don’t answer the customers questions.
Here are the 4 steps on how to generate leads online?
1. Search marketing
90% of consumer buying decisions start online!
To get found online you need to have the right search terms – branded and non branded terms. For example, if you were a T-shirt company that sold purple T-shirts your branded term would be ‘purple T-shirts’. A non-branded term could be ‘where to buy purple T-shirts in Glasgow’. When researching for your companies branded and non branded keyword terms use the Google Adwords keyword tool. This is a nice little tool that will give you keyword suggestions and monthly search volumes. Additionally, you will need a website page about purple t-shirts and you will need to have your webpage optimised with the correct page title – www.tishirtcompany/t-shirts-in-glasgow and you need to have content on this webpage which has your primary and secondary keyword within the content.
2. Content marketing
Companies that blog generate 55% more traffic and 70% more leads.
Regularly posting blogs and sharing through social media helps get you better search ranking results. By writing remarkable content this can attract inbound links which are key to the success of search marketing. To be successful your content needs to engage the reader. By frequently offering content that is of value to your reader they will come back for more keeping your company at the forefront of their minds then when they are ready to buy they will remember you. It is a fallacy that content is just text on your site, content includes video, infographics, blogs, webinars, whitepapers, etc.
3. You need the right offers/call to actions on your website
When doing your weekly shop at the supermarket, you have offers that entice you to take action such as, buy one get one free or three for the price of two. As you perceive you are getting something of value for less than it is you usually try the products out and if you like it then it may get you to come back next week and buy the product again.
This is not so different if you are in B2B lead generation. You would want to offer your personas valuable content that warrants them giving you their contact details. On B2B websites, typical content offers could help them in their role such as free guides, checklists or how to’s… Other visitors may want to enquire about prices or are looking for a demonstration. Therefore, typical offers could be request a demonstration or a call back. On your website these offers could be call to action buttons that lead through to a landing page. Landing pages should be designed with the least amount of navigation so they read the message and fill in your form to download the content and you get their details.
4. Lead nurturing
If a lead has requested a demo or appointment then you would give them a call and qualify them through (budget, approval, need and timescale) BANT. If they downloaded a free guide, checklist or how to tips on industry or job functions, then you should add them to a workflow/drip email campaign which feeds them with more valuable content related to what they first downloaded. It is best to have at least three or four emails offering content leading them to the bottom of the funnel to buy. In these emails you should have call to actions so you can track if they are downloading the content. If you have a marketing tool which offers lead scoring – you can score each piece of content e.g. top of the funnel = 10, middle of the funnel = 20 and bottom of the funnel = 40 this means that once your leads goes over a certain score then they will be ready for a telephone call or to buy.
After you have successfully converted them to become a customer you should offer them more content on your website, social media and blogs – delighting them, which will lead to upselling products/services.
Marketing Mavens is a digital marketing agency based in Glasgow. Our inbound marketing strategies and tactics work for you by meeting prospects at the moment when they need specific information instead of interrupting their day.
If you are finding it difficult generating leads online and need some tips, request an inbound marketing audit where you will get some recommendations on how to improve your website.
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