If you want to grow your business, you need to be intentional about how you interact with your website visitors and nurture them through the sales pipeline. The way to do this comes down to qualified lead generation: you want to invite the right people to interact with your website content so that they will give you their contact information and enter into a relationship with your business.
Capturing qualified leads doesn’t have to be a guessing game; there are proven tactics you can use to find qualified leads and move them through your sales funnel.
Getting Started with Qualified Lead Generation
Instead of trying random lead generation tactics and hoping they work, put your efforts into following these recommendations for purposeful and effective lead generation.
1. Create quality content that makes a statement
Content is what you offer people so they can get to know you and your business. Quality content will bring leads and prospects to your site, show them that you are knowledgeable in your subject area, and encourage them to give you their contact information.
Types of quality content to post on your site:
Blog posts about subjects that are of interest to your audience
Write blog posts that:
- Answer common questions people have about your area of expertise
- Help your audience accomplish their goals
- Include keywords that people search for online
These posts should position you as a thought leader in your industry and help your audience associate your brand with valuable, helpful information.
Ebooks or other long-form PDFs
If you have a lot to say on a particular topic, instead of a blog post, write an ebook or longer PDF. Include useful information, advice, tips, and even sections where the reader fills in their own information within an interactive workbook format. Having content like this for download on your website gives people that feeling of being able to take home something free after a visit to your site, which means they will have a positive opinion of your brand after doing so.
White papers
A white paper is an ebook or PDF that includes research on a particular topic. You can do the research yourself or hire an independent research organization, and then summarize the information into a white paper that you offer to your site visitors. This positions you as an authority on a particular topic and lends credibility to your brand.
Case studies or customer stories
When someone is thinking of buying from you, chances are they would be encouraged if they could talk to someone who has purchased your products or services in the past. Interview your happiest customers and turn those interviews into articles; these case studies can live on your website as longer-form testimonials of the quality of products or services you offer.
Pillar pages
A pillar page is a page on your website that serves as a complete guide to a particular topic. Once you have written several blog posts and created ebooks, white papers, or case studies on the same topic, you can combine content into a pillar page that showcases your knowledge on that topic. Think of a pillar page as a resource round-up and a one-stop shop for information about a topic within your industry.
Optimizing your content for lead generation
Once you create high quality content for your site, the next step is to convince your site visitors to give you their contact information in exchange for that content. In general, the best practice to find qualified leads is to use blog posts and pillar pages to invite people to read the content on your site, and then to include forms on those posts and pages for people to sign up to receive opt-in bonus content, like the ebooks or white papers you have written.
A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software makes capturing and following up with leads seamless. Information collected on the form flows directly into the CRM, applying tags to denote each lead’s specific interests, how they came to your site, etc. Then, sales and marketing automation triggers relevant messages to nurture those leads into customers over time.
2. Make it easy for mobile users to give you their information
Think about all the people you know personally: How many of them have a computer in their homes that wasn’t provided by their employer or a child’s school? The fact is, most people today browse the Internet on a mobile device, not a computer. If your website isn’t optimized for mobile visitors, you’re making it hard for people to engage with your content.
How to generate mobile leads:
- Limit the number of fields on your opt-in forms. Smartphones have smaller screens and you don’t want to overload your users with too many fields to fill out.
- Organize your form fields from a user’s perspective. Place fields in an intuitive order, such as name, email, then phone number. Don’t ask for any information you don’t absolutely need up front.
- Size your fields accordingly. Make sure to fully utilize input fields by using the entire viewport, ensuring that fields are easy-to-tap and not too tall. Don’t make people pinch and zoom just to enter their information.
- Use top-aligned field labels. Research has found these form labels are quickest for users to scan and quite effective, so consider that as you structure your forms.
If you want to find qualified leads for your business, make sure people are able to access your information and provide their own using any mobile device.
3. Optimize your website for search engines
Most people find information today by first visiting a search engine and typing in a question or topic. If you want them to find your site in this process, you need to optimize your website for SEO (Search Engine Optimization). In other words, use the keywords and phrases that people are likely to include in their search queries when you create the posts and pages on your website.
Use the same keyword phrases a few times within the content of your blog post and site pages. That way, when someone searches for a similar topic, your website will have a higher ranking in the search results.
When that visitor lands on your website, make sure the rest of the page is in line with the topic they searched for (don’t use keywords out of context or pull a “bait and switch” with your content keywords) so that they will stay and keep reading.
The final step is to draw a clear line between what they were searching for and what you offer for sale. On each page that you’re optimizing with keywords, make sure to include at least one or two calls to action to get site visitors to sign up for your email list or make a purchase from you that is related to their search topic.
Pro tip: If you also optimize your site for web accessibility, you are more likely to grow your search engine rankings. Using alt text on your images (a caption that describes the image but is only visible when using a screen reader) is a great way to incorporate keywords into your content while making your site more accessible to visitors using screen readers or other assistive devices.
4. Use the power of social media
Social media is an excellent source of quality leads because practically your whole audience can be found there, spending their idle time throughout the day. Social media can be a partner in your lead generation process as long as you use it intentionally to drive traffic back to your own website.
Tips for Using Social Media for Lead Generation:
- Customize your content to the style of that platform. For example, image-heavy content with captions works well on Instagram, while video content is effective on Facebook.
- Include links to opt-in forms so that people who like the content you post on social media can sign up for your list to hear from you more often.
- Target leads on social media in order to find new customers. Options include targeting based on specific attributes (geography, interests, demographics) as well as lookalike audiences (uploading a list of customers and letting the algorithms find similar leads). This targeting can help generate qualified leads.
- Remember that you shouldn’t build your house on someone else’s land. In other words, use social media as a place to meet qualified leads and invite them back to your own home base: your website. Keep this goal in mind so that you’re not just posting on social media, but instead, with every interaction you’re inviting people into your sales pipeline.
Using a CRM software can help you harness the power of social media. Once social media leads visit your site, Keap’s forms and landing pages make it easy to tag and capture them right into your CRM and follow up with them with relevant messages.
5. Use email to identify qualified leads
Last but not least, you can’t go wrong with a classic email lead generation campaign. While other tools rise and fall in prominence, email is a staple that keeps going strong.
Email marketing allows you to meet your prospects where they have already been conditioned to look for information: their own inbox. Make sure to create emails that are attention-grabbing, concise, and valuable so subscribers will get into the habit of opening them regularly. Your emails should include a strong subject line and call to action to encourage people to travel further into your sales pipeline, but not be overly sales-oriented.
The best practice for email marketing is to relate to your audience’s pain points, give them information to solve a problem or answer a question, and then ask them to take action to move further into your sales funnel.
Using these steps means that you’ll be able to separate unqualified leads vs. qualified leads, because the people who regularly open your emails, read the content, and click the embedded links are more likely to transition from leads to customers.
Qualified Leads: Tying it All Together
When you’re starting to find qualified leads for your business, or filtering qualified vs. unqualified leads, it can feel a little overwhelming. Though it may seem like there are a lot of pieces to juggle all at once, the right company can help you capture and organize your qualified leads. Our team can handle it from here.
With Hasten Marketing you can:
- Capture the most valuable information from your site visitors to turn them into leads
- Track your prospective buyers along the sales pipeline and follow up with them appropriately as they move deeper into your sales funnel
- Tag and sort your leads into unqualified and qualified categories
- Identify the content and tactics that are the most successful lead generators for your business
Get started today and see how Hasten Marketing can help you capture qualified leads and convert them into customers.