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6 Ways to Convert Web Visitors Into Leads

December 4th, 2012 :: Monika Jansen

Want to convert more Web visitors into leads? Just follow these B2B best website practices – some are mine, and some are from Mediative.

1. Write content that is focused on your customers

Whenever I write website content for my clients, I always do two things. The first is to address customers directly. It is more personable, and it helps your website visitors feel like you are talking to them. You can focus on yourself on your company’s About page.

The second is to discuss your visitor’s problems, needs and solutions, in that order. For example (and this is super simplistic): “You got a sunburn on your first day of vacation, and you need a super-soothing and cooling lotion that lasts longer than 5 minutes. Our Feel Cool, Not Hot lotion will do the trick.”

2. Help visitors move through your website

As your visitors read content on your site, direct them to next steps with “learn more” buttons, a call to action to download information, or a link to your “contact us” page.

3. Include interactive elements

Videos and games are highly engaging content elements that encourage sharing and conversion. Videos are easy to create and need not be long – a minute will suffice – though you’ll need a developer to help you create a game.

4. Make it really easy to contact you

It drives me crazy when I visit a company’s “contact us” page and find nothing but a form to fill out. Include a phone number, email address, physical address and a “request information” form.

5. Create landing pages for downloadable resources

If you are offering a free download of a white paper, demo or other content, create a visitor-focused landing page to capture their information. The landing page should include:

A brief overview of your customers’ potential problems and challenges
How they can solve that problem
A short list of what is included in the white paper (or other content)
Simple information capture form to fill out
Opt-in for newsletter
A thank you page with a short message

6. Create a newsletter opt-in page

I really like this idea from Mediative. Instead of just capturing an email address for your newsletter opt-in, create a page with an opt-in form and a short explanation of what information is included in the newsletter and how often it’s delivered.

***

What other ways do you capture leads on your website?

Image courtesy of trails.com

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Tags: landing pages, lead conversion, Marketing, website best practices
Posted in Marketing | No Comments »

5 Ways to Effectively Nurture Leads

December 29th, 2010 :: Monika Jansen

While generating leads is super important, it is even more important to hang onto them, convince them what a huge difference you’ll make in their lives, and convert them into clients. Nurturing them can, unfortunately, take a while. Ever hear of the “Law of 29”? It states that a prospect won’t turn into a client until they have viewed your marketing message 29 times. Twenty. Nine. Times.

It’s worth the effort, though: Companies that use lead nurturing have closing rates 300 percent higher than competitors who don’t nurture qualified and qualifiable leads (thanks to HubSpot for that statistic).

There are five ways to effectively nurture those prospects: drip marketing, blogs, newsletters, LinkedIn Answers and social media. It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway, that you always need to include a call to action.

1. Drip Marketing

Funny name, but a great description that refers to sending, or dripping, messages to prospects over time. Use a customer relationship management (CRM) tool to help you automate drip marketing, and be sure to send your prospects information based on how they contacted you. So, if it’s through your website’s contact us form, email them. If they contact you via Twitter, respond with a tweet.

Early in the buying cycle, send white papers, your newsletter, and/or eBooks. By the middle of the buying cycle, send special invitations, datasheets, and/or demos. At the end of the buying cycle, when you are ready for them to decide already, send pricing, feature comparisons, and/or testimonials.

2. Blogs

Invite prospects to subscribe to your blog, where, of course, they will receive useful, interesting, and relevant information on a regular basis. Engage with your readers by asking questions: do they agree or disagree and why; what has their experience been; should you write more on this topic? By starting discussions with your readers, you are also connecting to prospective clients and hopefully pushing them along the sales funnel.

3. Newsletters

A great way to keep your name in front of prospective clients! Just remember to only write a little bit about your company and a lot about your industry’s best practices, mistakes to avoid, easy ways to do x, etc. Feel free to repurpose blog posts, but always keep it short and include information your reader can use.

4. LinkedIn Answers

If you meet a prospective customer at a networking event, send them an invitation to join your network on LinkedIn (just personalize that invite!). Once you are connected, they will see your activity in their weekly LinkedIn update, including the fact that you are answering questions others have posed (and they can read those answers, too).

5. Social Media

Think of social media as a lead nurturing tool. You might not even know someone is a lead until they’ve been following you on Twitter or Facebook for so long they’ve gotten 29 messages (chances are high that they don’t read everything you post). This is why it’s so important to consistently send out useful, interesting, and engaging information, including outright calls to action.

What other tools or methods do you use to convert prospects into clients? I’d love to hear about them!

Image by Flickr user Rosalxxi (Creative Commons)

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Tags: blogs, drip marketing, lead conversion, lead generation, lead nurturing, Marketing, newsletters, sales process, social media
Posted in Business Development, Email Marketing, Marketing, Sales Process, Social Media | No Comments »

From the GrowSmartBiz Conference: Proven Strategies to Convert Web Visitors into Customers

November 17th, 2010 :: Monika Jansen

One of my favorite sessions at the GrowSmartBiz Conference on November 5 was a Technology Track panel discussion that offered valuable, no-nonsense ways to convert Web visitors into customers. Thanks to Jennifer Shaheen, President of the Technology Therapy Group, Melinda Emerson, the Small Biz Lady, and Walt Rivenbank, VP of the Mobility Applications Consulting group at AT&T for such great information!

Their strategies are fairly easy to implement, but they will require some time. Here’s what to do:

1. Check Google Analytics to find out whether your Web visitors are staying.

If you don’t have an account yet, get sign up for one today (it’s free, natch). One of the things Google Analytics looks at is your website’s bounce rate. If people are visiting your website but not staying long and not moving from one page to the next, it’s not good. It means you are probably not supplying them with the information they are looking for and you are definitely not converting them into leads, let alone customers. It also means you need to update your website.

2. Have a clear call-to-action (CTA).

Update your website by offering a consultation, white paper, how-to guide—anything that is both educational and valuable. As Melinda Emerson, the Small Biz Lady, said, “Give away your best stuff.” But you’re not giving away anything for free! Before they get that free consultation or white paper, ask them for their name and e-mail address. Your web designer/programmer can help you set this up.

3. Be sure your CTA is easy to find.

Don’t hide your CTAs! Add them to every page in the form of a big button that is hard to miss (it need not be a garish eyesore, just prominent). If you have a shopping cart, make it a really big button that is easy to click on.

4. You have 7 seconds to convince your Web visitors to stay.

Your website is your home base and most visible online presence. Because you only have 7 seconds to grab the attention of your Web visitors, your home page must be especially well-written. As you are writing—or re-writing—your website content, also keep in mind that your website is not a book—people do not read it from beginning to end.

5. No handouts.

When you give a presentation or workshop, do not hand out information that elaborates on your topic. Instead, ask attendees to visit you online at your website, Facebook page, or Twitter account to receive some great information that they will find useful (really sell it!). You can, however, give them a one-sheet (a one-page brochure) that acts as a CTA. It should only include some information to pique their interest. Your goal is to get them onto your website or connected to you via social media so you can continue to engage with them and convert them into customers.

Photo Courtesy Shashi Bellamkonda

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Tags: call-to-action, GrowSmartBiz Conference, lead conversion, lead generation, social media, website design
Posted in Grow Smart Business Conference, Marketing, Search Marketing, small business, social media, Technology, Web Design | No Comments »

Money, Money, Money! Profit Planning for Your Small Business

March 17th, 2010 :: Monika Jansen

At every networking event I go to, I feel like I meet a coach of some sort, whether it’s a business coach, sales coach, elevator speech coach, speaking coach, etc. After a while, they all kinda blur together into one big bunch of dark suits. I always think, “Coach? I don’t need a coach! I am doing just fine, thankyouverymuch.”

From DavidDMuir on Flickr

Last month, I met yet another coach, but he stood out. He was totally low-key, easy to talk to, and interesting (meaning, he didn’t talk about himself the entire time). I told him about the Grow Smart Business blog and how I needed to come up with finance-related topics to write about. He said he had lots of experience with finance and would be happy to share some advice and ideas. So we set up a meeting, and on a cold, rainy afternoon, I learned the basics of profit planning. For someone who hates numbers, I must confess that I was fascinated by the whole process.

In his pre-coach life, David MacGillivray had quite the career. He founded, operated, and sold a $7 million import/export business, was CEO of a $60 million import/export business, and was a Partner with Ernst & Young. Obviously, he knows business finance. He is now affiliated with ActionCOACH business coaching.

The profit planning strategy he uses with his clients is called 5 Ways to Super Profits, which helps you plan numbers and identify strategies to achieve your goals. First you look at what you made the previous year, starting with the number of leads you generated. Then you work your way down to your profit. To figure out your goals for the current year, you work backwards: You figure out how much you want to make and work your way back up to how many new leads you need to generate.

Here’s the formula, which is normally written down the page, but to save space I wrote it across:

# of Leads x Conversion Rate = # of Customers

# of Customers x # of Transactions/Customer x Average Sale = Revenue

Revenue x Margins = Profits

There are five things in the above formula you have control over: leads, conversion rate, number of transactions, average sale, and margins. If you want to make more money, you need to increase one, some, or all of these things.

Your target conversion rate should be 70-80% (didn’t know that), as it can take a lot of time and money to generate new leads (did know that). Once you improve your conversion rate, you can decrease the number of leads you need.

If you can believe it, there are over 300 strategies to help implement your profit plan! I asked David if he put this all together, and he laughed and said no. This is based on the book Instant Cashflow by Brad Sugars, who founded ActionCOACH.

David and I finished up our conversation by talking about social media and social networking, which he doesn’t know much about. We decided that I would help him with LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook, and he would help me refine my profit plan. Seems like a fair deal, especially since we figured out I could make $108,000 in profits this year by making a few tweaks to what I am currently doing. For someone in their second year of business, that number sure looks sweet!

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Tags: Finance, lead conversion, lead generation, networking, profit planning
Posted in Business Development | No Comments »