Let’s face it: The digital world has delivered a plethora of new avenues to increase lead generation. Simultaneously, it’s also created many avenues to complicate the funnel, lose track of leads, and actually miss opportunities.
The dilemma that many companies face is that they set up their website, create elite content, invest in banner ads and social campaigns, all to gain traction on their websites, but they aren’t generating the leads they need.
Why is this? Having an “online strategy” for lead generation in itself is not enough. The focus now needs to be on optimization.
Back to the basics: Conversion centered design cuts to the chase
Consider the following three questions when evaluating whether your website has a conversion centered design:
What are you offering? It’s surprising that on so many websites, you can scan the whole page and still not understand what the company actually does.
The layout can be user friendly; the images beautiful. You may have a gorgeous website, but at the end of the day if a customer doesn’t know what you are about, it is not effective. What the company is offering should be at the upper fold of the webpage, easily visible to visitors. Most of your prospects are only going to scan your site, and may not bother to scroll, so clearly articulating what you do is crucial.
Why should I choose you? Okay, you piqued their interest, but so what? In a 24/7 global economy, a company webpage needs to define what makes them stand out from the crowd.
A common technique is to look at what your competitors are offering and evaluate what you are doing different and better. Avoid simply tagging your website with the same jargon that competitors are using – all this does is promote that what your company is doing is at status quo!
Your site is your opportunity to share what makes you better than the rest. Consider your unique value propositions and clearly articulate why they should matter to your customer.
What do you want me to do next? Most company websites can answer the above two questions, but forget to give their prospects a clear call to action (CTA). If a customer is interested in your offering and are considering picking you, what action are they triggered to make? Should they sign up for a consultation? Is there a free demo that they can explore? Is there a virtual event where they can gain more information? Is there a key piece of content they can download?
Define the what next for your customer. If they have to search for it, they’ll likely miss it.
And remember, the key to lead generation is not WHETHER the webpage answers these questions, but HOW CLEARLY it answers the questions.
