Here’s the scenario:

Bob is a consultant and is good about referring potential clients to his website because he knows it helps generate more business by cultivating potential leads. His has gone out of the way to:

• make sure his domain name is on his business cards
• added a link to his email signature and
• even has somewhat of a catchy domain name that people often remember and refer to.

Bob is doing a lot good things to help his digital business strategy but can he be doing more with all of these potential leads?

Yes, we would suggest creating optimized landing pages that will better direct clients to his business showing them only the products and services they may want.

Think about a recent trip you may have had to a department store.

When you walk in, there are usually many indicators to help draw you further into the building. Maybe a rug on the floor, wall signage or even showcases to literally pull customers further into the store, closer to a sales associate.

Let’s take this real-life example and transfer it into digital website strategy.

By creating optimized landing pages, we are giving visitors all of the information they need to make a decision and nothing more. Almost as if they are on a playground slide and have only one choice – to slide down.

With a landing page, our goal is to persuade readers to follow our optimized information and ultimately take some type of next step.

Let your website work as a lead generator!

Now, back to Bob for a second.

His goal might be to have a website visitor either leave their contact information for follow-up or maybe subscribe to a newsletter to receive useful updates. Either way, Bob is trying to better convert users who visit his site to leave their information for follow-up.

This is much better than simply dumping potential clients onto a homepage where visitors may be unsure of the pivotal next step.

A landing page helps Bob convert visitors to leave their information.

Now, let’s ramp this up a bit.

Let’s say Bob is spending money with pay-per-click advertising on Google AdWords. He’s doing this because it really helps draw even more potential clients to his website.

Bob selects the search terms he wants his ads to appear in, selects how much he is willing to bid on that term and enters the web address visitors will click on to be redirected.

By using a landing page instead of just sending visitors to the home page, Bob can better optimize his return on investment to his PPC campaigns by not only educating new visitors of his services, but by also gathering their contact information on the same page.

Almost like gathering their business card.

It just doesn’t make sense to spend money on Google AdWords if you’re simply just dumping visitors onto your website’s home page. (Unless your homepages converts well)

Here are some simple tips for getting started on your website’s conversion campaigns:

1. Think about your audience first

Know who you are trying to target and tailor your landing page content to best react with this particular audience. Avoid landing pages that are “one-size-fits-all”.

2. Watch how your content flows

Build your landing page to flow. Remember the department store example? Make sure your landing page is helping draw visitors through your content, leading them to something.

3. Build a call-to-action

Common call to actions are buttons and phone numbers. If you’re trying to get your visitor to subscribe to your newsletter, then you need a call to action of “subscribe now”. Use contrasting colors that are easy to see and comprehend. Remember, a good call to action is only useful if the content prior is helping build the desire.

4. Follow through with your conversions

Don’t just collect information, follow through! Landing pages and online conversion is only as good as your client follow through. Do this to generate sales and to build a following.

5. Link to a CRM Product

A CRM – or a customer relationship management program – can help you track incoming leads and manage your client communication. Most even allow you to set up to-dos so a lead never gets “cold”. Popular CRMs include SalesForce.com and HighRiseHQ.com – I recommend HighRise.

 

 

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