Would you like to generate leads online to lighten the load on your sales team? We’ve put together a guide with ten ways to generate leads. We’ll also explain which tools can help with lead generation.
What Are Online Leads?
Online leads are users who search the World Wide Web for specific information. They find answers to their questions, for example, in white papers or by using contact forms. To do so, they must register by providing their information, such as their email address.
As the company sending the email, you can automatically save the email addresses in a database. You can use them later for various marketing activities.
These methods of generating leads are called lead generation
Lead generation is a marketing method. It encompasses all measures that encourage potential customers to provide their contact information. Generally, its goal is to foster interactions with qualified, potential buyers. As such, lead generation is a key factor in a company’s success.
One area of application could be inbound marketing, for example. Generating high-quality leads is one of the primary tasks of customer acquisition. However, expanding business with existing customers can also lead to increased revenue.
Here, too, the optimal mix leads to the best results:
1. Research keywords to generate online leads
You can generate leads online if you know the key search terms related to your offering. That’s because users are actively searching for products and solutions.
If your company doesn’t appear in the first 1–10 search results, even a great website and a good offer won’t help. Search engine users typically scroll no further than the end of the second page. Anything that comes after that isn’t seen or is considered less relevant.
However, this always requires a website that is optimally designed in terms of technology, content, and layout. That way, potential customers not only find the company but also stay on the site and leave their contact information there.
This way, contacts aren’t bombarded with intrusive advertising. Instead, you build a relationship with them. This means providing them with relevant information and making tailored offers.
You should define as your top keywords those terms that, on the one hand, accurately describe your offering and, on the other hand, are searched for by potential customers online. You should then incorporate these keywords into your content and website structure.
2. Create landing pages to generate more online leads
Online leads don’t just come from the company’s website. Landing pages are a great way to highlight specific offers and collect contact information.
These are pages that aren’t necessarily accessible through the website’s navigation menu and contain specific content. Users end up on these pages when they’re looking for a solution to a specific problem.
The goal of a landing page is to encourage the user to take a specific action, such as downloading a white paper or signing up for the newsletter.
From the advertiser’s perspective, this is therefore a good option:
- to increase online visibility and position ourselves as a problem-solver for specific topics
- to target different audiences or personas (ideal customer profiles) with tailored content
- to get to know your target audience better and obtain their contact information
3. Page Navigation & User Guidance
Providing potential buyers with a good user experience is important for generating leads online. But how do you achieve a good user experience?
To provide the best possible user experience, your website should have an easy-to-understand menu and well-designed page navigation. Think about the ideal path a user should take to become a lead. Only if your site is structured logically will users be able to find their way around and take the desired actions.
For example, this means that your site includes a contact form that is linked both at the top of the menu and throughout your listings.
4. Content Marketing
To obtain email addresses from potential buyers or to get them to start the decision-making process, your content must include the following points:
- The content must be tailored to the stages of the sales funnel in order to reach potential customers at each stage of the customer journey with appropriate content.
- Relevant content is only meaningful if it reaches a large number of people who match your personas. Therefore, be sure to place it where your personas spend their time.
- Content with a wide reach alone isn’t enough. To ensure it leads to conversions and generates online leads, you need compelling ads. You should strategically place these ads within your content to direct users to landing pages or product pages. There, for example, you can promote additional content or newsletters in exchange for a potential customer’s email address.
5. Sending Effective Emails
Send emails containing valuable information or helpful content to a targeted list of qualified recipients. Using calls to action, you can then direct potential customers to your website. For example, an email like this could highlight a new blog post.
6. Use Social Media Effectively
Simply running ads doesn’t work. The deal is this: relevant content in exchange for data. Your content should be useful to the potential buyer and satisfy them—ideally even before they download the white paper.
To do this, you should understand your persona’s expectations on social media and create content that meets them. The choice of images is also very important. After all, the first thing they’ll look at is the image. In the worst-case scenario, they won’t even read the accompanying content.
To ensure that your ad spend yields a return, you need to place a strong emphasis on setting goals and monitoring your ads. Investing time in testing therefore makes perfect sense: It allows you to evaluate your content and build a successful platform that helps you generate online leads.
7. Run search ads
Generating online leads through paid search ads is a surefire way to drive more traffic to your website. This involves improving your search ranking in exchange for a direct payment to the search engine operator.
Google Ads is the most commonly used platform . To increase traffic, you need well-crafted copy to ensure your ads are worded precisely. You also need to continuously optimize your campaigns.
8. Webinars
Right now, video is at the top of the popularity scale. Direct interaction with experts is also becoming increasingly important. That’s why webinars are the perfect tool for generating leads online.
What do you need to keep in mind? The topic in question should be well-covered and effectively promoted. This will increase the likelihood that more potential customers will participate.
9. Putting Yourself in Your Customers’ Shoes
Imagine each persona and address them in a tailored way with content designed specifically for them at each stage of the customer journey. Can you picture an example of this? If your customer is in the awareness phase, try to help them get to know your company. They should become aware that you offer the product they’re looking for. This way, you’ll make a lasting impression on the consumer and can, for example, generate leads online through relevant blog posts.
10. Convert Visitors into Online Leads
A potential online lead can quickly fall through: Interesting topic. Where should I click? Why do they need my cell phone number? No, thanks! That’s how fast it can happen.
A website visitor only becomes a lead once they provide their contact information. With a few simple steps, you can create an online space where your visitors feel comfortable:
- a clear layout and intuitive navigation
- Easy-to-understand content and meaningful links
- short loading times
- the ability to choose for yourself (for example, whether you want to watch a video)
- Reducing the number of options (users like to be guided)
- the proper placement of compelling “calls to action” (these are instructions to take action, such as “Click here”)
- Forms You’d Like to Fill Out
The list could be expanded further and, of course, always depends on the industry and the personas.
Conclusion
Websites can generate leads online. To do this, design the path to your business so that as many users as possible find their way to you, enjoy their visit, and say “yes” when it counts.
Would you like to learn more about online lead generation?
