Is your web site generating leads?

This is the last of a 4 part post that deals with your web presence.    I have touched on the importance of making the web be an important centerpiece of your business, elements for design effectiveness and finally making sure you are getting visibility. Planning guide

It takes time and resources to be able to get to the final cutting edge topic, which is turning your web site into a lead generating machine.   I am sure that we have all stumbled on these sites.  Something catches your eye on a page and there is some information that you want-  maybe a free guide, white-paper, webinar, checklist – so you fill out the web form to get the information that they are giving away. Next thing you know, you have emails with other offerings coming from this business.  These lead generating web sites are using drip marketing to get your attention and at the same time trying to evaluate where you are in the buying process.  In my industry, insurance,  there are not too many that are taking advantage of this drip marketing method, as I think it is truly cutting edge.   Most of the agents that I have dealt were just getting a Facebook page – let alone a lead generating site.

Let me just paint a quick picture for you –  You are in the market for car insurance and you are out looking at many agents web pages.   Most of them will have a form that you can complete to get a free quote, but all of the sudden you stumble on a site that offers you a checklist that will help you determine if you are getting the lowest rate on your auto insurance.  Now, this is just my preference, but I can call any agent to get a quote, but here is the opportunity to get some information that I can take advantage of without committing myself at the moment.  So, I quickly download the report filling in any necessary information.  Next thing in my email I get some additional info that talks about 5 must have auto insurance coverages.  This agency all of the sudden has my interest, they haven’t tried to sell me, but instead have peaked my interest and engaged me.   What am I going to do?  I am going to go get my policy pull out the auto and see if I am getting those discounts they mention in the first email and the coverages in the second email.   This info is value added, so who would I be most likely to call now if I really wanted a quote?  I am going to call the company that didn’t focus on quotes, but wanted to give me something of value.

I know that there are probably many people that want to argue about what the best way is to get a customer, but my whole point is that I think when you are trying to generate leads from your site, it is important to give them something of value.  If all you are doing is giving a customer a method to obtain a price quote – this same customer will use it again if they were to become your customer.  I don’t necessarily want to know how much it cost for Lasik surgery, but instead I would rather know the dangers about Lasik, or the benefits etc.  Eventually I will be interested in what it cost, but I have to do my research first, then I will be ready for cost.

Think about this concept, I realize that it is not easy to jump into everything all at once and that a lead generating site may be a little down the road.   In order to prepare you for this undertaking create yourself a file and begin to put away information that can be used to attract your customers.    Then when you are able to convert your site, you will already have a head start.

The main takeaway is to really focus on your call to action and how it relates to the action that you are soliciting.  Will this be enough to get your customer on the hook and keep them, or do you need to put more value in your call to action?

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