A lead generation website should be a strong part of your lead generation strategy. If it's not, I am going to help you with that so you start generating leads from your website now.
"When a designer gives you a bill, what do you see it as? An expense, right? When a designer gives me a bill, I see it as an investment. For me, it is something that appreciates and helps your business grow." - Neil Patel
How do you see your small business website? Like Neil said above, you should see it as an investment...
Your website is at the center of all your small business marketing efforts. No matter where a prospect starts, they will inevitably end up on your website.
It’s almost unfair what we ask of our websites. They need to help your business get found, build trust, educate, inform, nurture and convert.
The problem is most websites don’t even accomplish half of this. Do you have a lead generation website? Is it generating enough leads?
Most people who want to grow their business can never have too many leads (unless you can't properly handle a greater volume of leads, but that's a topic for another article).
7 Tips for Creating a Lead Generation Website
1. Website Design & Navigation Need to be Simple
When a user comes to your website it must quickly speak to them, their needs and their wants. They must be able to find what they need easily. Poor website design and navigation will absolutely stop a visitor in their tracks.
Take the time to fix any glaring design and navigation issues on your site, it will go a long way in keeping visitors on your site.
2. Responsive Design (Mobile Friendly) is a Must
Did you know nearly 60% of searches are now on a mobile device? If you haven't checked your website analytics recently you might be surprised how many of your visitors come from a mobile device.
Why is this important? It's important because if your website doesn't offer a solid mobile experience you are losing visitors and customers in the process. Your website MUST display well and be easy to navigate on a mobile phone! This is no longer an option, it's a requirement.
If your website needs to be updated to a responsive design do it now. Don't wait. Not only are you losing business, but your website is being penalized by Google in the search results.
3. Increase Credibility with Social Proof
Social proof on your website can have an incredible influence on the level of confidence a visitor has about your small business.
Incorporating reviews, testimonials, and white papers is a must to build credibility quickly. I believe you should have social proof throughout your website, but you MUST have it on your homepage where a website visitor is bound to see it.
Are you using online review sites like Google Reviews, Yelp, or Angie's List? You should link to any review sites you utilize on your website and might want to consider embedding your review feed if possible.
Here's a sample of client testimonials from the homepage of our website.
Do you need more reviews for your business? You might find this article, How to Instantly Jump Start Reputation Management for Your Small Business, helpful.
Would you like help and guidance with the suggestions in this article? Get your FREE website review by clicking the button below.
4. Consistent Content Focused on the Customer Journey is Essential
The importance of content marketing in your marketing strategy cannot be understated at this point. It is a really, really important component of any small business marketing strategy.
Google loves content and consistent content geared towards your target market will not only help your visibility in search results, it will keep visitors on your site and it will keep them coming back.
At the very least, your website should have a blog with how-to articles and other education-based information that will speak to potential clients and current clients. You will need a variety of content because the information someone just starting to investigate your product or service is looking for is totally different than someone about to try your service or someone who has been a long time customer.
You must have content that speaks to people at every point in the customer journey.
There are a number of ways people look at the customer journey.We follow and recommend the Duct Tape Marketing System for small business marketing where the customer journey is looked at as an hourglass.
Looking for more in-depth information on content marketing? Turbocharge Your Small Business's Content Marketing Now will help you get the info you need.
5. You Must Make it Easy for People to Reach You
How often do you visit a website looking for a phone number or email address and can't find one? Words can't describe how frustrating this is! There are a lot of businesses that make it incredibly difficult to reach them...and it's one my biggest pet peeves!
Why in the world would you make it difficult for a potential or current customer to reach you? This is a great way to lose business.
Your contact information should be in the footer of your website and it should be readily accessible in the navigation of your website...in my opinion. It's OK if you don't agree, just find another way to make it easy for people to contact you from your website. Finding out how to contact your business should not be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
6. Calls to Action Should be Plentiful
Calls to action should be placed throughout your website. Common forms of calls to action include:
- Contact information including email, phone, and chat
- Email sign up forms
- eBooks
- Cheat Sheets
- Checklists
- Webinars
Here's an example of a call to action we use.
EASY TWEAKS TO HELP YOU AVOID THE MOST COMMON WEBSITE MISTAKES TODAY
Are you Making These Common But Avoidable Website Mistakes?
Once you know what they are, they are easy to fix, and this cheat sheet will show you how. You'll bring in more leads and sales with your website immediately.
7. Consistent Improvement through Monitoring & Tracking
The best free tool for this is Google Analytics. To set this up on your website check out this article Getting Started with Analytics.
Google Analytics will help you track things like:
- Total visits
- Unique visits
- Page views
- Pages per visit
- Average visit duration
- Bounce rate
- Audience demographics
- Where your website traffic is coming from
All this information will help you determine whether the changes you make are having an impact so you can make adjustments when needed.
Monitoring and tweaking is not something that has a set beginning and end. It is an ongoing process to continually improve your lead generation efforts.
Now it's your turn. Give some of these tips a try and let me know whether it helps you create a lead generation website for your business.
Did you find this helpful? Feel free to comment below and share.
Need more lead generation tips? Check out our entire Ultimate Guide to Lead Generation.
EASY TWEAKS TO HELP YOU AVOID THE MOST COMMON WEBSITE MISTAKES TODAY
Are you Making These Common But Avoidable Website Mistakes?
Once you know what they are, they are easy to fix, and this cheat sheet will show you how. You'll bring in more leads and sales with your website immediately.
Header image courtesy of Pexels.