20 Apr How to Get More Leads from Your Website

Think about this. You work hard to get visitors to your website, don’t you?  And, unlike and some other advertising methods where you are paying to reach people whom you aren’t even sure are really looking for your type of service, when someone visits your website you know they are interested specifically in what you offer or they wouldn’t be there. There is a very simple way to convert more of these website visitors into hot leads, yet I still see many small businesses not taking advantage of it.

It’s the optin-form-giveaway approach. You need to have an opt-in form on all your key web pages, located near the top of the page so people don’t need to scroll down to see it. You want to entice people to sign up for your mailing list which is created and run from an e-mail marketing program to which you pay a low monthly subscription fee.  And you need to offer people something of value to entice website visitors to actually fill out the form and put themselves on your e-mail list. Be generous. Answer one of their most pressing questions and be sure the title is really compelling so they want to grab what you’re offering right away. The title is what sells people on the idea.

Here are some suggestions for giveaways:

Possible giveaways

• Free newsletter subscription (not as effective as it once was)
• Free month’s membership
• Free report
• Free e-book
• Free tips sheet
• Free top 10 list
• Free audios
• Free videos
• Free downloadable software
• Free survey results
• Free white paper
• Free coaching or consulting
• Free sample
• Free tele-class
• Free coupons
• Free upgrade

Offer something that would truly help them. No matter what business you’re in, you need to create a thirst for the knowledge or product you’re trying to sell. Asking people to simply sign up for a newsletter or to buy instantly often doesn’t work anymore—unless it’s a low priced item and is exactly what they’re looking for, like say a pair of shoes or a ring tone or even a low priced e-book on a niched topic, like say “how to make your teenager do what you ask immediately”. I’d buy that!

Let me give you an example. One of my clients runs an event planning business. Most of her business comes from weddings and she has become the premier wedding planner in her city. She offers a free e-book for opt-ins called, “10 Secrets To Making Your Wedding A Smashing Success”.  In order to get the e-book website visitors need to give her their name, email, phone number and wedding date. Her assistant then calls to see if they liked the e-book and invites them for a free consultation. Every sale she closes as a result is worth around $2,000. So you can see there’s a system in place and it starts with the opt-in.

Think about this strategically. You’ve worked hard to create a great website and to get traffic to it. People come, don’t know what to do because they’re not ready to buy and they leave. That’s like letting people walk into your store, ignoring them, not answering their questions and watching them walk out the door frustrated. You want to do everything you can to get them to engage with you so you can build a relationship.

Then once they trust you and know you can help them, they’ll be ready to buy your products and services. This system is simple and it works.