You wouldn’t meet with a prospective customer without being prepared to discuss the value you bring to the table; that would be an opportunity missed.
Similarly, you don’t want visitors to log on to your website without providing them with essential information and a means for continued dialogue. Website lead generation tools do just that: They engage the visitor and provide them with important information, while allowing you to gather valuable data about them, as you nurture the lead and prompt continued conversation surrounding your brand.
According to Forrester Research, companies that nurture their leads see 50% more sales-ready leads than non-nurturers, and at 33% lower cost. So, it makes good business sense to prime your website for lead generation.
Following are tips and tools to help you convert your website visitors into leads.
1. Use forms (more than one)
Make it easy for visitors to contact you using content forms that are brief and to-the-point (you can gather more details later). Use multiple forms throughout your site based on page content and site placement; and follow up with A/B testing to see which form(s) are getting best results.
2. Include basic CTAs throughout your site, including on the homepage
Consider your end goal and then work backwards with thoughtful calls to action: Offer a perceived “value” with each, such as a free demo, a whitepaper, a free trial, special promotion, etc. Next, route these recipients into specific nurturing funnels and conduct A/B testing and then modify, as needed. Make your CTAs command attention by using “power words” such as: Get, Overcome, Boost, and Join.
3. Offer live chat
Today, people are starting to expect this customer service benefit on websites that offer services/vendors. Be prepared to answer questions about products/services. And use the live chat as an opportunity to actively guide a visitor through your site to a specific end goal.
4. Provide social proof
Prove that you can do what you say you can do by sharing videos of customer testimonials, social media re-posts or online reviews. These social moments are great opportunities for making brand connections and allow you to further customer engagement on social media channels.
5. Build trust by being authentic
Tell your story using photos—provide faces with names to help customers make connections; and speak to visitors, not at them using 1-to-1 videos. Provide evidence of your skills/quality/capacity by promoting awards, certifications, ratings, etc.
6. Blog
Use your blog to generate website traffic and drive SEO (not necessarily to drive leads). Be useful in your posts and people will come back for more. A few tips:
- Consider solutions-based posts
- Develop groups of posts covering industry-relevant topic(s)
- Incorporate keyword research into posts
- Include videos and graphics to drive interest
- Provide offers within the blog – free whitepaper, ebook, etc.
- Add CTAs when relevant
- Add links to specific pages in website – drive traffic back to site
- Include social sharing links
As we prepare to revamp our Shamrock website, these are some of the guidelines we’ll be using to optimize our new site. Are there any that you’d add to the list? Share your feedback at
emoriarty@shamrockcompanies.net.
