Smart marketers are already aware that their website serves as the focal point for all they do. All of your efforts in social media, email marketing, and conference networking are meant to drive traffic to your website so you can convert them. Hence, it’s important to optimize your website for lead generation.
Converting your website traffic entails making them a lead. The aim is to encourage people to express their interest in your services freely or to ask for additional information.
Your objective may be to obtain more leads, better leads, quicker converting leads, or leads with a greater value. But no matter how you look at it, lead generation is still the most important thing, necessitating the need to optimize your website.
Even if a prospect doesn’t become a customer right away, keeping their contact information in your database allows for potential interactions and sales in the future.
However, the procedure could seem overwhelming. It can be overwhelming to know where to begin when trying to improve the lead generation on your website because there are so many possible steps you might take. Henceforth, let’s try to understand the meaning of lead generation before venturing into the different ways to optimize your website.
What is Lead Generation
Lead generation is the process of obtaining leads for your business. A lead is any person who provides you with their personal information (such as their name, email address, phone number, and demographic details) to receive an offer, blog subscription, or other services. Once you have this information, you can use it to establish a rapport with your leads while they consider whether or not to choose your business to meet their needs.
The lead generation process begins typically when a website visitor clicks on a call-to-action (CTA) present on one of your site pages or blog articles. That CTA directs users to a landing page with a form that asks for their contact information. The visitor is then directed to a thank-you page after completing and submitting the form.
How Lead Generation works
Your website is where customers will first interact with you if you operate an online store. It is most likely one of the first locations a prospective client will go to learn more about you before making any purchasing decisions. It is your company’s aim to pique a visitor’s interest and turn them into a lead before they leave your website.
A CTA, or call-to-action, is the simplest and most fundamental way to collect leads. This is a straightforward directive that encourages someone to input their email address or sign up for a newsletter in order to receive notifications of sales and discounts. It typically takes the shape of a button or sign-up sheet.
When they do that, you know you’ve got yourself a lead.
How do you Optimize Your Website for Lead Generation?
The early days of the internet era were simple for business websites. Simply adding a vibrant button with a call-to-action, such as “Click here to get started!” will suffice to generate leads. However, in the modern world of online marketing, it could need a little more effort and planning to create new leads consistently.
Here are the most effective ways you can use to optimize your website for lead generation.
#1. Add Forms to high-traffic pages
Start by auditing the lead generators that drive the majority of your internet outreach and traffic. Email marketing, social media, live chat, and blog postings are a few of the typical areas a business could receive visits.
Google Analytics can help you determine where new visitors are coming from and what pages they visit on your website.
Once you have determined where your leads are coming from, you should check that the pages they are landing on are doing all possible to nurture their interest.
Add longer-form content on your most visited website pages that users can access via forms requesting their contact details. Also, keep forms brief and make sure they are mobile-friendly to reduce friction.
#2. Design and optimize landing pages
Landing pages are an essential component of website SEO since they frequently shape visitors’ and inbound leads’ first impressions of a business.
A landing page will feature some sort of form or information box where visitors may enter their information (such as an email address or phone number) in exchange for a bargain you are offering them.
Landing pages focus your visitors’ attention on the current job. As a result, sending prospects to these sites tends to result in far higher conversion rates than simply throwing people onto your homepage and hoping they’ll see the CTA you want them to click.
Having a landing page will increase the number of leads you receive, even if a visitor is already on your website.
#3. Add a basic but strong CTA to your homepage
A person’s attention is drawn to your homepage by its appearance, but the CTA keeps it. On the other hand, refrain from constantly inviting readers to view your most extensive or intricate information.
Because it is at the top of the marketing funnel, your homepage should provide a free trial or a way to subscribe to a regular campaign, like a newsletter.
This frequently applies to completing a form in terms of lead generation. Nobody will, however, complete a form merely because you politely requested it. It’s still a commercial transaction even though money hasn’t been exchanged yet. As a result, you must provide the user with a pertinent, meaningful incentive in exchange for their lead information.
#4. Optimize each phase of the lead generation process
If a visitor landed on your page after searching for “Home organization tips” and found your piece titled “7 Hacks To Keep Your Home Organized”, you’d better not link your blog post to an advertisement for a skincare or beauty tutorial. Make sure your offers are pertinent to the page they are on in order to capitalize on website users’ enthusiasm for a certain topic.
You can start gaining knowledge about a visitor’s conversion route as soon as they arrive on your website. This process begins when a visitor comes to your website and finishes when they submit a form and convert it into leads.
But occasionally a visitor’s journey doesn’t lead to the intended destination. In those circumstances, a landing page A/B test can be used to optimize the conversion route.
#5. Evaluate and adjust SEO strategies
Search engine optimization, or SEO, refers to any steps made on the front or back ends of a website to increase visibility in search engine results pages. Your marketing approach must include SEO if you want to attract frequent visits from new visitors who aren’t only clicking on sponsored advertisements.
We need to get new visitors into the door before we consider how to motivate them to convert to leads. While Google search ads and Facebook social media ads may result in website clicks, investing in SEO will help you gradually increase organic traffic, which will ultimately reduce your overall advertising costs.
Having a good website SEO also enables Google to match the content of your website to more qualified users. Even though traffic increases are commendable, they frequently amount to little more than vanity. When a website’s SEO is just fair, you may occasionally receive clicks from users who aren’t a good fit for lead generation.
The better your SEO is, the better Google’s search crawler can determine what the information on your page is meant to accomplish. When Google can execute its job successfully, you have the advantage of getting visitors from the kinds of users you want to concentrate on converting.
#6. Create and optimize content
Content is the foundation of your lead-generating strategy. It is the main strategy for drawing visitors and keeping them interested in your website. To draw in a diverse audience, you can employ a choice of content types, including blog articles, videos, and images. A well-written piece of content enthuses readers about your company and motivates them to take action.
By enlightening and educating prospects at every level of the funnel, content marketing is a potent tool for lead creation that promotes return visits to websites. However, content optimization is a prerequisite for the success of content marketing plans and publishing websites.
Direct readers to more content on your website once they have finished reading a blog post. It could be a case study, a research report, or another article on the same subject. It might even be a YouTube video or a clip of a webinar.
Making it gated content is the secret. This implies that in order to access the content, the reader must give some personal information. This is a crucial element of a successful lead generation strategy.
Related: The Ultimate Guide to Effective Content Marketing.
#7. Optimize your website user experience
The term “user experience” refers to all elements of a website that improve the user’s interaction and enjoyment of their visit. The user experience is influenced by a variety of elements, such as page design, content quality, presentation, loading speed, navigational simplicity, and interaction.
Users won’t have the patience to put up with a slow, awkward, or unpleasant website. They may always quickly locate a rival website with a superior user experience. The user is under no obligation to stay on your website, and you won’t get any leads if their experience isn’t worthwhile.
#8. Optimize your website speed
The more swiftly and efficiently your website loads, the more probable it is that visitors will stay on it long enough to click your CTA and complete your form. The speed with which a website loads is one of the fastest ways to lose visitors. By frequently checking the speed of your website and optimizing any places with slower load times, you may keep people on your sites longer.
Longer loading speeds significantly increase bounce rate, which is a fairly well-known fact. You should aim for a load time of two seconds or less on average. Your bounce rate may rise by roughly 40% when the duration goes from two to five seconds.
#9. Implement lead magnets and tools
Lead magnets are resources or pieces of material that are solely available on a business’s own website and offer practical information to potential customers. A lead magnet is a carrot that tempts potential customers to submit their contact information even when they aren’t ready to buy. They agree to do this in return for receiving something worthwhile.
Leads magnets, however, provide more than just authorization and a way to follow up with potential clients. Many different lead magnets also provide you the chance to establish yourself as an authority figure, gain your audience’s trust, and “control the narrative.” This makes it simpler to eventually convert those leads into paying clients.
#10. Offer Free Downloads or Info
Encourage visitors to check out your website’s blog or news update area. There, you can promote special downloads of educational e-books or whitepapers.
Offering free access to some of your knowledge to visitors is a chance too good for them to pass up. You can incorporate download offers to information or solutions your readers might be looking for in specific blog posts or on specific web pages.
Giving them a small amount for free will entice them to return and obtain much more at a cost they will be prepared to pay.
#11. Develop a chatbot for your website
Find out which pages on your website visitors are spending the most time on if you want to create leads through live chat. Installing a chatbot on the pages where users are most in need of support or information can be done with the correct development resources. As you assist them with their inquiries, you might sloppily gather and record information about their product needs.
You can even incorporate your customer care personnel with your live chat feature, depending on who initiates the chat and the queries your visitors have. This guarantees that every website visitor’s demands are met regardless of where the conversation goes.
#12. Create an assessment tool or quiz
The creation of an evaluation tool or other interactive content, such as a quiz, is another excellent technique to optimize your lead generation process.
The user’s attention and curiosity are piqued by interactive components. They include a poll or quiz, which keeps them actively engaged with your content experience.
Make it mandatory for users to complete your lead generation form in order to get their results. In addition to gathering contact information, you’ll be able to adapt your lead nurturing activities. This is based on how prospects answered their quiz or evaluation.
Quizzes have a broad appeal, and a long shelf life, and can be both entertaining and interactive. Engaging questions will get your audience’s attention.
#13. Nurture your leads with an Email Marketing List
Keep in mind that no lead will suddenly become a customer. You can only get quality leads if you nurture them.
After a lead submits a form on your landing page, add them to a process so they don’t forget about you and send them relevant, helpful material. With pertinent follow-up emails that include quality content, lead nurturing should get started. As you nurture them, find out as much as you can about leads, and then customize all subsequent mailings accordingly.
#14. Automate emails or the “Thank You” page
After they complete their form signup, you should redirect users to a “thank you” page to verify their submission.
Take advantage of the potential to increase interaction by using this page. Even though many people won’t even view your “thank you” page, you should employ additional CTAs to capitalize on the visitors that have shown interest.
To begin with, you should try your hardest to give the user their signup incentive right away. The more time you can keep a person interested, the more they’ll remember your company.
Also include:
1. Links to an appointment and call schedule on your Google Calendar and Calendly
2. Link to your primary website or a page describing a relevant product or service
3. Links to your company’s social media accounts
4. Download links or links to any supplementary materials pertinent to the offer
#15. Track the performance of each lead generator
Analyze the value that each of your current lead generation sources is bringing to your company.
Web analytics can be especially instructive for assessing the effectiveness and conversion rates of landing pages. Later, this information can guide modifications and better techniques for making advancements.
A/B testing is an effective strategy for figuring out which website improvements might produce the best outcomes. This kind of testing enables marketers to modify page strategy to get desired outcomes.
Companies may determine which leads are the most valuable by scoring them, and they can then focus their outreach efforts appropriately. This aids in identifying the funnels that convert leads the best, and as a result, may be used to direct website optimization by prioritizing the most effective web pages.
Conclusion
A website must be continuously modified to reflect the shifting intentions of leads and potential customers to generate leads effectively.
By making an investment in website optimization, a business can make sure that new visitors have a favorable image of it. This motivates them to become leads and future customers.