If you have a website or a blog, you need visitors, and you need sales. You must generate leads and get consumers interested in your business. There are several ways that you can go about this and a few hacks to employ to make it easier.
Why You Need Lead Generation
The internet is a competitive place, and you need to get consumers to your blog or website if you hope to make any sales and to grow your business. Your growth will stagnate or decline if no one is coming to your site. Here are some ways to get visitors to your site:
- Create compelling content that people want to read
- Offer a coupon, code, or another discount for some free product or service
- Have targeted advertisements
- Make good use of social media and videos
- Give webinars or provide other information that people will find useful
If you don’t give the site uses a positive first impression, they won’t be coming back. The problem is that many business owners don’t work on their lead generation all that much. It’s estimated that 25% of marketers don’t even know anything about their conversion rates. You need to keep those first visitors coming back as around 56% of those that visit your site are not ready to buy. If you give them no incentive to come back, you’ll lose sales. You need to turn leads into sales and repeat business if you hope to succeed online. You can use some lead generation hacks to increase the number of leads you get.
1. Understand Your Market and Optimize for SEO
If you just throw up a website and hope it sticks, you won’t get very far. You need to have a clear understanding of the market and those that you’re selling to. You should also understand your competition and what they are doing. Get a clear picture of the market and then build your site around that market. This requires a lot of research, but it will pay off.
One of the first hacks is to optimize your site for SEO. You can’t generate leads if no one can find your site. Make sure you’re using the right keywords and that the entire site is optimized in the right way. According to SEO stats, 67% of all clicks will go to the first five organic results. You need not be on the first page and ranked high. Track your lead rates with statistics tools such as Google Analytics, so you know where that traffic is coming from. Google Keyword Planner can help you the right keywords for your site.
2. Focus on Your Content
You need great content to make a sale online. It’s not enough to put up some products and hope they sell. You need articles, guides, how-tos, podcasts, videos, and information about your products or services for consumers. The more information you provide for the consumer, the more likely they are to buy from you. For example, if you sell musical equipment, you could write guides about what to buy as a beginner or how to set up a home studio. This provides value and gives the consumer an incentive to buy. Spread content throughout the internet. Let people know about new articles and content through social media.
3. Have a Webinar
You get both interactivity and video with a webinar so you can focus on your audience. You can show the viewer what they are looking for. For example, maybe you could describe a product or a service that you offer. It’s estimated that around 90% of those that attend a webinar want to ask questions after the event, so this is a great time to open up communication with potential new clients. You can replay your webinar on your site so those that missed it can replay the event. You get good leads with a webinar because it can turn those curious about your business into buyers. You can generate excitement about your product or service through a webinar.
People can see your event from wherever they are. There is no need to go someplace else. You can communicate with people all over the world, and they can get to know your company from the comfort of their own home. Give them something of value at the webinar and get them excited about what you have to offer. Advertise your webinar through social media, make a video about it, distribute articles, and so on to generate interest. Start planning for the webinar a few weeks in advance of it to generate more interest.
Tips:
- Get email addresses when someone signs up for the webinar
- Keep a list of those that attended and those that didn’t. Send invites to the next one
- Remind people they signed up during email correspondence as it establishes loyalty
- Give something for free when someone signs up for the webinar
- Have a webinar that is around 40 minutes
- Test days and times to find the best way to reach your audience
- Do plenty of promotion to gather interest
4. Call to Action
You want to capture attention with sales and offers, but you also need a good call to action so you can get people to buy from you. No one will buy if they can’t find the offer or don’t know about it. Make sure the user can find your offers. CTA statistics indicate that just one CTA on your Facebook page increases click-through rates by 285%. Add them to videos, email, and other content to increase rates as well. A CTA can be on more than just a landing page.
5. Easy Website Login With Google or Facebook
People online have a lot on their minds. They don’t want complicated logins and passwords to remember. Use Google or Facebook as your login page to make it easier for customers to connect with you. When someone has to sign up from a regular login it’s a barrier to your site entry. A Google or Facebook login is something most people have so this is much easier for the potential customer to use.
6. Headlines Matter
You want to write strong headlines with verbs. The verb is an action word or a “do” word. You want to draw the attention of the reader. The headline gives the reader an incentive to click. It’s estimated that 73% of buying decisions will be influenced by the headlines you have. Your search engine ranking can improve with good headlines as it reduces the bounce rate. Visitors will spend more time on your page if you use good headlines.
You can use any platform for your headlines, whether it’s on your own site, through social media, or your videos. Use descriptive verbs to get people to click. Strong verbs might include:
- Improve
- Nurture
- Change
- Expand
- Increase
- Focus
- Engage
- Drive
You can see that these verbs are powerful and can help make your headlines stand out from the crowd. String verbs in headlines help to clarify that headline and help you reach new customers.
Conclusion
These hacks should help you make additional sales online. You need to generate leads to your blog or website. Get to know your audience and tailor your content to them. Offer them something of value before they even buy coming back with great offers.
Author Bio
Emily Burnett is the Content Marketing Officer of OnSource, a sales and support outsourcing company. Outside of catching up on the latest business trends, Emily enjoys spending her time going to the beach and hanging out with friends.