10 Tips for Generating Leads Online
Generating leads online isn’t always the easiest process. In light of that, here are 10 tips to help you use the online space to gain as many leads as possible.
Generating leads online is essential for any entrepreneur and especially for startups — 90% of startups fail.
Why? Because not having leads is a recipe for failure.
Leads mean you’re making money. You’re reaching the audience that’s interested in your products or services and engaging with them.
If you’re thinking this is an overly complicated process, it’s not. I’ll take you through ten of the most effective ways to gain more leads online. Let’s get into it!
Have a Strong Call to Action
Believe it or not, customers like being told what to do. Especially when it comes to interacting with your business.
If you have a great image and caption on your social media feed but don’t state what you want them to do next, they won’t take action. Potential customers won’t go out of their way to find your website link or other social media profiles.
To generate leads online with a bulletproof CTA is to:
- Place it where customers can see it
- Have a strong visual aspect
- Create urgency
- Use convincing sentences
- Don’t use open-ended questions
Create an Offer They Can’t Refuse
Along with your effective CTA, it’s time to follow up with something they need. Whether that’s a foolproof guide to succeeding as a startup or fact-driven reports.
When it’s something that’s extremely helpful and provides a ton of value, customers are more likely to click or sign up. Attach that offer to a strong CTA and to make it even better, collect their email in the process so you can market to them later.
Make sure not to flood their inbox constantly. An email once a week is enough to keep them interested and to stay subscribed.
Social Media Advertising
Another effective way of creating leads online is through advertising. Particularly on social media.
There are about 1.32 billion daily active users on Facebook alone. With proper market research, you could reach a lot of people who are interested in your type of work.
The best way to go about it is to not make potential customers feel they’re being advertised to. You want the image and message to feel like it’s a part of their feed.
Influencer Marketing
This is when businesses team up with bloggers or influential people on social media. They’ll promote a product or service of yours and explain how they use it in their everyday lives.
When the influencer has a lot of followers, this is more effective because then your business is seen by more people. It’s like word-of-mouth but for the digital world.
Create Engaging Videos
Video is rapidly becoming one of the most popular ways for generating leads online. 92% of people who watch mobile videos share them with others.
That’s a huge percentage, right? If you showcase a product or service that solves a problem in a mass market, there’s a possibility it will go viral.
These days, entrepreneurs need to stand out from huge companies. Video is one way to do that since we process visuals 60,000 times faster than text.
That means more people are digesting your content and afterward, they share it. Keep it short and to maximize leads, use video to describe your products/services on your website.
Host a Webinar
Webinars are a great and inexpensive way to engage your growing audience. This connects the both of you in a way where you can teach them something new and in return, you can hear their questions and/or concerns.
You can create a presentation to aid in teaching or host a question and answer session to hear their opinions about the industry you’re in. This provides valuable feedback that you can apply to your business tactics.
After the webinar ends, you can instruct participates to sign up for your newsletter or new workshop.
Start a Podcast
Along with video, podcasts are easily consumed because users can listen to them from anywhere. This can separate you from other businesses who aren’t taking part in podcasting.
Whether you create your own or come on as a guest, you can share your knowledge.
Guest Write
A lot of blogs are open for other writers to create content for them. Not only does it provide them with a fresh point of view but it gives you more exposure.
A lot of traffic can come from guest writing on blogs which make for a great way to generate leads online. It also shows the expertise you have for your industry.
Network Online
Sites like LinkedIn makes it easy to network with other like-minded professionals online. You’ll gain referrals who can then point their customers who are looking for a specific product or service your way.
This also allows you to explain a bit more of what you do and what your business stands for. Who knows, the person you’re talking to may own an influential blog and wants to write about you.
Develop a Referral System
Reward customers who refer you to their friends. When you do, they’re likely to share more of your content.
This doesn’t mean you have to give away free product as a reward. You can give discounts based on the number of friends they bring in.
For example, if they refer five friends, they can take five dollars off a high dollar amount. Or, instead of implementing a reward system, ask them to share your content with friends and family. There’s no shame in that.
Wrapping Up on Gaining Leads Online
Pretty simple, right? What seems like a daunting task is actually not and it’s going to propel you forward to reach new audiences and accumulate more cash flow.
With more cash in your pocket, you can put it towards other aspects of your business to help it grow. Don’t be part of the 10% that fails in the first year or so.
When you follow the tips listed above, you’ll grow at a reasonable pace. It’s all about interacting and engaging with your audience. No one wants to feel like they’re being sold to all the time.
Feel like you need a little more guidance? Download your free copy of my Ultimate Startup Checklist!