Business websites are far from just digital brochures - they’re intended to get as much new business for the company in question as possible.
However, a beautiful design and mobile-readiness alone won’t achieve this - you need to think lead generation right from the word ‘go’ if your business website is to turn into a brilliantly productive member of your sales team.
The best news? Lead generation is surprisingly straightforward. In fact, many would say it’s common sense.
But, like so many forms of common sense, lead generation is easy to get wrong or ignore entirely.
With that in mind, here’s some vital lead generation website elements you simply can’t ignore.
This sounds obvious, but you’d be amazed by how many business websites get one of the most important elements of lead generation wrong.
Yes, you need clear, concise, easy-to-fill-out forms. Yes, online chat is also a great option. But what about serving the people who will just want to pick up the phone?
Make sure your contact number is on every single page of the website and above the fold (i.e. in the upper-third of the page). Beyond giving people an option to contact you, the phone number will also offer some comfort that you’re the real deal.
We noted this above, but it really is important to have a form on as many pages as possible (all of them, if you can).
At the very least, each landing page for your various services and products should feature a form that asks for as few details as possible.
Under GDPR rules, you’ll also need to make sure you make it explicitly clear what you’ll be doing with any personal data you collect and ensure any ‘opt-in’ checkboxes aren’t automatically ticked.
Sure, you say you’re amazing, but what about your existing customers? Why should people who are yet to spend money on your products or services trust you’re as amazing as you say you are?
By adding testimonials throughout the site (including images of the people in question, if possible), you’ll add what’s known as ‘social proof’. This will aid the lead generation process because prospective customers will take note of the fact you’ve already delighted others.
Like it or lump it, social proof is far more powerful than your own words when it comes to encouraging a lead. And you can get it from direct testimonials that you proactively seek out or by pulling favourable commentary about your business from social media.
Research suggests that viewers retain up to 95% of a message if it comes in video form, compared to text (the latter is just 10%).
This is why video is playing an increasingly important role in every marketing plan. The more video you can produce (be it in-house or via a video production company) the more likely you are to draw people into your website, keep them there and encourage them to act.
How effective is your website? When was the last time you received a valuable lead from it?
If you’re forever cursing your site’s inability to place qualified leads in your sales inbox, use our tips above to turn it into the lead generating machine it’s capable of being!