Generating leads can be one of the toughest aspects of marketing. A lead is all about the potential: a potential customer or a potential client. Finding these potential customers can sometimes feel like finding a needle in a haystack. When it comes to generating leads, there are a few basics that your business should have covered including a website, search engine optimization, and, of course, advertising. But there are also a few other methods you can take advantage that you may not have realized before such as blogging.
Never underestimate the value of a good website. Websites lend credibility to your business as well as a landing spot for customers to discover or learn more about your business. In a society that relies heavily on the Internet, it is absolutely imperative to have a high functioning and aesthetically appealing website for consumers to peruse. A business without a site may as well not exist at all. And a business with a poor website is immediately dismissed in the minds of consumers for your competitor who does have an attractive and legitimate site.
There are a few things that ensure your business’s website is likeable to consumers: speedy load time, professional legible font, a streamlined layout, easy navigability, and contact information. Contact information is the crux of your site as consumers feel reassured that a business is credible when they know they can call or email someone for customer service. Make your site even better by making it cohesive with your brand as a whole. This means using your brand’s colors and ensuring your logo is clearly visible on the site. Utilize professional language that conveys the business’s expertise about the given field and be sure to highlight any relevant certifications or licenses.
Having a website only really matters if people actually get to see it. This is where search engine optimization plays a role. Incorporating SEO techniques into the construction your site is essential in pushing it to the top of search engine results so that is viewed organically by consumers. SEO is non-paid, which means that results depend on the amount of effort and skill is poured into it.
Hiring an SEO professional to help improve your rankings and drive traffic to your site is a good idea if you are not completely knowledgeable about how SEO works. The text on your page, your site’s relationship in terms of links to other sites, and your website’s overall structure can have an impact on your SEO. In the end, improving your site’s SEO will work to improve your site overall and ensure more people view it.
It’s hard to generate leads if your business has not released a single advertisement to let consumers know about what you are and what you do. Your advertising campaigns should tie back to your overall brand and should feature the same language and tone.
Developing a tag line or something your brand is known for will help consumers remember you amidst all the other advertisements they are bombarded with. Making sure all of your marketing messages are in line with one another will promote a cohesive and strong brand image that consumers can fall back on.
Blogging is an excellent way for your business to generate leads as it offers the unique opportunity for your business to talk to your consumers at length and provide value for free. While a blog may seem like a good platform upon which to boast your offerings and expertise, doing so would be a waste. Consumers will only voluntarily read your blog posts if you provide them with value. This means offering sound advice relating to your business or with background information regarding your industry and the like. Doing so will not only make your blog a good source of information for consumers, but will also make your business appear knowledgeable and legitimate.
You should always make sure your blog is able to generate leads by incorporating a sign-up section and by promoting yourself subtly and with your logo visible on the blog post. Be sure that consumers know the information is coming from you, but don’t oversell yourself. This is the chance to win customers over without overt advertising but by building a relationship of sorts.
