The good news is, get it right and your website could quickly become your most valuable lead generation asset.
90% of B2B buyers research 2-7 websites before making a purchase, so if your website isn’t up to scratch compared to your competitors, you could be losing prospects before they even get in contact.
Here, we’re going to share with you the secret behind creating a great lead generation website and everything you need to think about.
How well is your website really working?
Visiting a company’s website to check out its products, services and credentials is very much the norm nowadays. When a prospect finds your website, whether it’s through a search engine or via some other form of marketing, what they find when they arrive really matters.
Ultimately what you’re aiming to do is to drive web traffic and capture it, by converting those visitors into leads who go on to become paying customers.
To achieve this, your website must be working hard for you from day one, so you need to know how effective it’s being. Having processes in place to help you monitor success are therefore a must.
For example, you’ll want to monitor how many people are visiting, how long for and what pages they are looking at.
Basic tools like Google Analytics can provide a good starting point here, while tools like Lead Forensics can help take the process up to a whole new level.
For more ideas, check out: Who is visiting my website?
What makes a great lead generation website?
When used alongside more traditional marketing methods, such as face-to-face or hitting the phones, a great website should enhance the efforts of the sales team.
It should be designed to support the wider goals of the company and go on to earn its keep many times over.
6 secrets of success
A great website has a clear purpose.
Your website needs to have a clear purpose and a defined objective. This will help you strategically shape everything about it and how it functions.
Your objective should be the main driver behind every element of the website. For example, if its main objective is to drive B2B leads, then think how it is going to do that.
How is it going to capture information about who has visited? Or encourage people to get in touch, or leave their contact details? One hidden away ‘Contact Us’ form is just not going to cut it.
A great website is more than just an electronic brochure
If your website is simply a fancy version of your company brochure then you need to go back to the drawing board.
If you’re thinking of it simply as a digital ‘shop front’, then you could end up wasting your investment. To make the most of your website you need to realize its full potential as a lead generation tool – but that doesn’t have to mean spending a fortune.
Incorporating intelligent functionality and using the latest tools and software that are now available, is a great first step towards getting your website working hard for you.
A great website focuses on the site visitor, not the company.
To generate leads your website needs to be structured in a way that puts the website visitor at its center, not the company.
Nowadays, success comes down to the user experience (UX) you provide. That means providing the information visitors want to see, when they want to see it and taking them by the hand to guide them smoothly through the site.
A good place to start is by thinking of it as a conversation between your sales team and a new lead. Map out the journey that might be followed, from start to finish.
Now think of how this might work with a website visitor. For example, they may find your site after seeing a blog post on LinkedIn that offers advice on a topic they are interested in. They may then read another post it links to, which is more in-depth. They may then be encouraged to hand over their name and email address in exchange for a white paper.
This may encourage them to find out more about the product/solution your company is offering and the type of companies you work with. They may browse a couple of case studies, before taking a look at the FAQs page and finally reading the pricing list. By this stage, they’re in a great place to receive a call from the sales team.
Map out this whole journey and make it easy to navigate, by guiding them on to a next step each time.
A great website has mechanisms for capturing data.
Various data capture functions are available that can be built into a website, including mechanisms that can collect information from leads. Start by deciding what the priority data is that you really want to know.
It should be quick and easy for the visitor to answer any of your questions. Ideally, just use a few very simple questions, especially in the beginning where email address and name should be all you’re aiming for.
Also, think how you will draft the questions to ensure you keep it all as standardized as possible, to avoid getting lots of different answers.
You may choose to offer an incentive in exchange for their information, such as a downloadable resource. However, you do it, always make sure you are working within all data privacy guidelines that apply to your area.
A great website makes every potential lead count.
Advances in intelligent software mean there are now more and more ways that you can use your website to capture leads.
For example, Lead Forensics can let you know the identity of businesses who visit your website anonymously (i.e. who never fill in a contact form, email or call you), and in real-time so you can quickly turn them into an actionable sales lead.
A great website generates leads through strongly targeted content
To be effective, your website needs to be active and current. By regularly providing new content that will interest your target market, you’ll be able to reach more of the right kind of people.
The most important thing is that your content is targeted, relevant, high quality and appealing to your target audience.
Using content marketing in this way can be really effective for generating leads, but it also goes far beyond that. It can help show off your expertise and position you as a leader in your field.
Adding new content regularly will also help keep your website feeling fresh and aid your SEO efforts.
For more advice on creating a great company website and using it for lead generation, check out:
The 10 best ways to increase ROI through your website
Web Analytics: Your Essential Guide
Online Lead Generation in 2024: Are You Ready for the Revolution?
