When it comes to optimizing your website for lead generation, it is not as simple as adding a “click here” button to your home page and the leads will come pouring in. There are additional steps you need to take in order to make sure you are doing all you can to convert your website visitors into leads.

Here are 7 easy and effective ways to optimize your website for lead generation.

1. Use forms on your most visited pages

The first step to improving your lead generation strategy is to see where it currently stands so that you know what is working and what needs to improve. One of the first things you need to do is see where the majority of your online traffic is coming from.  Here are some places you may be seeing traffic from:

• Email marketing: Traffic from anyone who clicked through to your website from any email communications you have sent.
• Social media: This is traffic that may reach you from any users that have engaged with campaigns you have run on one of your social media accounts.
• Live chat: Traffic from users who are trying to reach customer service through a live chat window on your site.
• Blog posts: Traffic may be from your most popular blog posts.

Once you have identified where your leads are coming from, you want to make sure you are optimizing those landing pages. For example, if you find that leads are clicking on inbound links to your site via your Facebook page, make sure those landing pages are chock full of engaging content so the visitor sticks around longer.

On your most visited website pages, add longer-form content (articles that are 1200+ words in length) which can only be accessed by filling out a form that asks for their contact information.

2. Measure the performance of each of your lead generators

Not all your lead generators are going to produce the same.  For this reason, it is important to assess how each of your lead generation sources is doing.  Take a look at your landing pages and do a comparison between the ones that are performing and the ones that are not.  If you are getting a 1000 visitors to one page who fill out the form and convert into a lead, your conversion rate would be 1%.  If another page is getting 50 visitors to convert for every 1000 visitors, your rate would jump to 5%.  Look at the differences between the 2 pages and see how you can optimize the lower performing page.

3. Improve your lead generation process

Your lead generation process needs to be on point if you are going to have success.  If someone does a search for “pool cleaning tips” and they stumble upon a blog post you wrote, make sure it does not link to something unrelated like equipment installation.  Make certain your offers are in line with whatever page the visitor is on.  You want to take advantage of their interest in that particular subject they were looking for information on.

The moment a visitor comes to your website, they are beginning their conversion path.  This is basically when an anonymous website visitor becomes a lead.  A conversion path is made up of a great content offer, a call-to-action, a landing page, and a thank you page.

The visitor sees a content offer that interests them (your content), they click on the CTA button to access the content, and they are then taken to a landing page.  On this page, the visitor is able to provide their info on a form in order to gain access to the content.  When that form gets submitted, your new lead is brought to a thank you page where they will receive the offer. The conversion path is now considered complete. If you want to test out what tactics are performing better than others on your landing pages, take a look at these 3 important components of the lead gen  process:

• Calls-to-Action – There are a number of different CTA’s you can try out.  Here are some ideas.
• Landing pages – Here are some landing page ideas to give a try.
• Thank-You Pages – Aside from saying thank you, have a link to download the offer.  Also think about having social sharing buttons or even a form for another relevant offer.

4. Have a CTA on your home page

The call to action you have on your homepage is a key part of what will keep a visitor on your website longer.  Something like a free trial to your services or a subscription to an ongoing campaign are both good ideas.  Here are some ideas for CTA’s to include on your homepage:

• Subscribe here for updates – Visitors to your site do not want to be bombarded.  You want their experience on your site to be as least invasive as possible.  Inviting them to subscribe to an email that will notify them of product updates and industry trends is a good start.
• Offer a free trial – These are essential to a growing business.  This helps boost demand and allows you to generate a contact list of people who are trying out your product.  At the end of the trial period, be sure to follow up for feedback.
• Offer an Ebook – Create blog content that promotes a whitepaper or ebook that further discusses the same topic your blog is about. 

5. Incorporate live chat on your website

Incorporating live chat on your website is really a must do nowadays.  When people are researching a product or service to go with, they want to be able to ask questions in real time.   If you do not have this on your website, you are definitely missing out on a major lead generator.

In order to figure out where the best pages are to add live chat, you need to see where your visitors are spending most of their time.  Add in live chat on these pages and you will not only be stepping up your customer service game, but also gaining great insight into product needs.

6.  Try personalizing your calls to action

When you use dynamic content on your website, you are able to customize the experience your visitor receives.  People who come to your website will see buttons, product selections and images that are relevant to their interests, pages they have viewed previously and products they have purchased in the past.  Think of a header on the home page that says “Welcome back Jennifer”.  This type of personalization leads to more leads and higher conversion rates.

7. Have a lead nurturing strategy

Leads do not automatically turn into customers.  You have to nurture them in order for them to convert.  The moment they fill out a form on your landing page, the process should begin.  Start by sending them follow up emails with valuable and relevant content.  Learn as much as you can from this process and adjust your future emails accordingly.

Conclusion

Leads are the bread and butter of your business.  Every visitor is an opportunity to convert them into a loyal customer.  Using the tips above will help ensure you are not letting valuable leads slip away.