Many B2B companies are still focusing on traditional lead generation methods such as advertising, referrals, attending conferences, cold calling and direct mail. While these approaches can provide a nice supplement to your lead generation efforts, making them your primary method of attracting new customers isn’t a recipe for success. As marketing strategies and buying habits have changed with the rise of the Internet, websites have increasingly become the most important lead generation tool available to B2B companies.
The abundance of information available online has transformed the way people research the companies with which they do business. Today, most people are between 67% and 90% through their buying process before ever contacting a product/service provider. This means most people are spending a great deal of time researching their purchase on their own and are relying increasingly less on a sales team to provide the information they’re seeking.
For this reason, it’s crucial that you are on a buyer’s radar long before they’re ready to speak with you. Your website is the primary way to reach potential customers while they’re researching the products and services you provide. As a result, your website has become the single most important lead generation tool at your disposal.
Simply building a beautiful website isn’t enough to generate the quality B2B leads you’re looking for. It’s also important to optimize your website for lead generation. The following tips will help you leverage your website to its full lead generation potential.
Evaluate the Performance of Your Current Lead Generators
Before you can make improvements to your lead generation strategy, it’s important to understand what is and isn’t working with your current efforts. You can use a tool such as Website Grader to assess the performance of your existing lead generation sources, such as your landing pages and calls to action (CTAs).
In addition to receiving information on the performance of individual lead generation sources, you can compare the performance of different items to gain insights on how to make improvements. For example, if you discover that one of your landing pages has a 2% conversion rate and another landing page has a 9% conversion rate, you can look at the differences in the ways these pages are structured and make adjustments to the lower performing page so that it more closely mimics the more successful page.
You should also look at analytics data regarding landing page visits and CTA clicks to determine which of your offers are generating the best results. This will allow you to create new offers that are similar to your highest performing ones.
Optimize Each Stage of Your Lead Generation Process
Once you understand how your current lead generation items are performing, you can make efforts to optimize the different stages of the process to convert leads at a higher rate. This involves going through your lead generation steps with a fine tooth comb to make sure they are all aligned and providing a seamless journey for the user.
For example, if we were to include an offer on this blog, it should relate to lead generation since that is the focus of this blog, and that is the type of information the reader is seeking. If the offer on this blog took you to a landing page focused on building you a new website, it wouldn’t be aligned with the needs of the reader and would be less likely to convert.
It’s important to create a compelling conversion path that continues to drive your website visitors towards your end goal, which is filling out a form and becoming a lead. By optimizing this conversion path, you can increase the likelihood that your visitors will actually fill out the form.
Make sure you evaluate the following key components of your lead generation conversion path:
CTAs
Your calls to action should be created in a way that makes them stand out and clearly communicates the desired action you’re trying to get the reader to take. Test the following elements associated with your CTAs to determine the best approach to improve conversions:
Colors – Having a CTA with contrasting colors from your website will help it stand out more.
Shape – Do round CTA buttons convert better than rectangular buttons with your audience?
Placement – What is the best location for your CTA on the page to maximize clicks?
Language – Sometimes the way you word your CTA can impact conversions. Test different language such as “Free Consultation” vs. “Talk to Us” vs. “Get a Quote” to see if one of these converts at a higher rate.
Want More Website Leads?
For more than 27 years, we've worked with thousands (not an exaggeration!) of Denver-area and national businesses to create a data-driven marketing strategy that will help them achieve their business goals. Are YOU ready to take your marketing and business to the next level? We're here to inspire you to thrive. Connect with Webolutions, Denver's leading digital marketing agency, for your FREE consultation with a digital marketing expert.
Your website CTAs, social media pages, paid ads and email marketing CTAs will direct people to a dedicated landing page related to the item they are interested in. Optimizing your landing pages is a critical component to your ability to generate leads from your marketing efforts.
Landing page content should be simple, clear and direct. It should provide the reader with a compelling reason to provide their information and an explanation of what they’ll receive in exchange for their information (not just the offer, but the benefits this offer will deliver).
In general, the more landing pages on your website, the better your chances of successfully generating leads. According to a HubSpot survey, businesses with over 30 landing pages generate seven times as many leads as businesses with five landing pages or fewer. The reason for this is simple – when you customize your landing pages for the specific needs of the people visiting them, you’re more likely to turn these people into a lead. This level of customization requires the creation of a large number of landing pages.
Forms
Your form is the final stop along the conversion path. You can’t generate a lead unless you capture the person’s contact information, and your form is the tool used to accomplish this. In general, forms with fewer fields to fill out result in higher conversion rates. For this reason, we recommend streamlining your forms so that they ask for only the essential information your sales team needs to start building a relationship with the lead.
Add Forms and Other Lead Generators to Website Pages Generating the Most Traffic
Your landing pages aren’t the only places where a form can serve as an effective tool to improve your lead generation.
Virtually any page on your website that receives a high volume of traffic provides a great opportunity to capture the reader’s contact information. This includes high performing blog posts that receive a large number of views and shares.
You can evaluate your analytics data to determine which pages and blogs on your website are generating the most traffic. Once you identify these pages, update them to make sure they include a way to entice the reader to provide their contact information. This may involve:
Adding a contact form that allows the reader to request a consultation without leaving the page
Adding a CTA for a lead magnet such as a gated content piece that will provide valuable information in exchange for the reader’s contact information
Include CTAs on Your Home Page
Your home page is often the first place people will land when they visit your website. It needs to be engaging to catch the reader’s attention, keep them on your website and make them want to learn more about your business. But it also provides an important opportunity to engage visitors and drive them farther down the marketing funnel. You can accomplish this by adding several compelling CTAs to your home page.
Since your home page resides at the top of the marketing funnel, the CTAs you include on this page should be geared towards individuals who aren’t necessarily ready to make a purchase. Your goal is to simply engage these people and start building a relationship that can eventually result in a sale once they are ready to make a decision. Some examples of effective home page CTAs include:
“Subscribe to Our Newsletter”
People at the top of the marketing funnel are usually in the early stages of their information gathering process. Therefore, they are likely to be most receptive to offers that require minimal effort or commitment on their end, but still offer value to them as they research their purchase.
As a result, “Subscribe to Our Newsletter” offers are often an effective CTA to include on the home page. Make sure your newsletter is providing helpful information on industry trends, product benefits, and other items that may help them as they work through their purchasing decision. You can then review your email marketing data to see which individuals open these informational emails, allowing your sales team to follow up with them to build a relationship that turns them into a true lead.
“Sign Up for Our Webinar”
Some people prefer to consume information in written form, while others prefer to watch videos or participate in webinars. If your team has the resources to create webinars, this can provide a great lead generation opportunity for your home page.
Place a CTA on your website directing visitors to sign up for your upcoming webinars. Make sure to include the following information:
Date of the webinar
Time of the webinar
Subject matter being covered
Any credentials of presenters that may entice visitors to sign up
“Free Trial”
Free trials are a great way to provide individuals with a low pressure way to demo your product or service without committing to a purchase. This also allows you to compile the contact information for leads who are currently evaluating your offering.
Add a CTA to your home page that allows individuals to try your product for free for a limited amount of time. Make sure this CTA includes a form where you can capture the lead’s name and email address. You may also want to subscribe these people in an email series that provides helpful tips on how to get the most out of your product as they work through their free trial. When the trial has concluded, your sales team should follow up with each lead to discuss potential next steps in using your product as a paying customer.
Develop and Implement a Strong Content Marketing Strategy
A strong content marketing strategy is critical to your ability to generate leads with your website. When you develop and implement an effective content marketing strategy, it will help you improve brand awareness, establish yourself as an industry thought leader, drive traffic to your website and generate quality leads.
In order for your content marketing strategy to be effective, it must address the pain points experienced by your target audience and provide the solutions they’re seeking. In other words, the needs of your audience should drive the content you create. It should be engaging, compelling, and highly informative.
Your blog should be one of the central components of your content marketing strategy. Each post you create provides an opportunity to do a deep dive into a specific aspect of a topic, giving your audience targeted information that enhances their understanding of the overall subject matter. These deep dives also allow you to demonstrate your subject matter expertise, which will help you build the trust necessary to convert your audience into leads as they move down the marketing funnel.
When constructing your content marketing strategy, keep the following items in mind:
Make sure you’re creating content that engages people at every stage of the buyer’s journey
Be strategic about where you want to take visitors from each page so that you can move them further down the marketing funnel
Customize the CTAs on each page and blog to ensure they optimize your ability to continue moving your audience down the funnel
Include a balanced mix of informational content and lead generation content
Convey your brand messaging consistently throughout all content you create
Publish new content consistently to keep your audience engaged and improve your ability to generate quality organic SEO traffic
Webolutions Can Help You Generate More B2B Website Leads
While your website is one of your most effective ways to generate leads, it takes a sophisticated understanding of digital marketing strategies to ensure you get the most out of your efforts. It’s not enough to simply implement the tactics discussed above. To truly improve your website’s lead generation ability, you need to make data driven decisions that tailor your lead generation strategy to the specifics of your industry and your audience. At Webolutions, we can help you transform your website into the powerful lead generation tool you need.
As Denver’s leading digital marketing agency since 1994, Webolutions has extensive experience helping businesses in a wide range of industries maximize their website’s lead generation capabilities. We’ve developed a transformational Intrinsic Multiplier™ Approach that helps you grow your business smarter, faster and easier. This unique approach is critical to our ability to drive the quality leads you need to thrive over time.
You’ll participate in a collaborative, expert led journey focused on highlighting what makes your company special and unique. As part of this journey, we’ll also perform detailed market research to determine what strategies your competitors are using to stand out in the marketplace. At the end of this process, we’ll craft your industry leading market positioning to help you stand out from your competitors, and we’ll develop the important brand communication elements necessary to tell your story to your audience.
This information will drive your lead generation strategy to ensure you maximize your ROI on your efforts. All of our tactics and recommendations are data driven, allowing us to identify how well we’re meeting your success metrics. This helps us make adjustments over time that will continuously improve your lead generation results, allowing you to experience your desired business growth.
Contact us today to schedule a free consultation. During this consultation, our expert lead generation consultants will review strategies that will help you capture more qualified leads.
Want More Website Leads?
For more than 27 years, we've worked with thousands (not an exaggeration!) of Denver-area and national businesses to create a data-driven marketing strategy that will help them achieve their business goals. Are YOU ready to take your marketing and business to the next level? We're here to inspire you to thrive. Connect with Webolutions, Denver's leading digital marketing agency, for your FREE consultation with a digital marketing expert.
