Lead generation is a crucial digital marketing strategy that is often overlooked, both by large companies and business startups.
It identifies the people or potential customers that may be interested in what your business offers.
So, if you’re looking to increase sales on your eCommerce site, then you should be focusing on generating leads.
It is important to note, though, that in order for a lead to become a customer, they should go down the process or purchase funnel.
Purchasing a product or service goes through each step: attention, interest, desire, and action. Leads become aware of a problem, consider their options, and take measures.
Like a funnel, you may start out with a wide choice of leads on top, but only a fraction will get out at the bottom.
In addition, the more visitors you can convert into leads and the more leads you can turn into sales, the better of chances for you to get repeat and new customers.
The right lead generation funnel is one that fits your business and goals. One of the strategies to include to generate leads is a blog.
Blogs will increase not only your digital presence, but also your leads. However, this is only possible if you create momentum with the audience who are likely to purchase.
Here are some of the steps and tips you can use to build a lead generation funnel:
Lead generation funnel: make the blog an extension of the website
Both your blog and website should be linked visually and technically.
You can mirror the navigation and design of your main site and use the sub-domain for the blog from the primary domain like blog.website.com instead of placing it on a separate domain.
Get targeted, organic traffic through relevant content
It’s not enough to create and promote blog posts that will bring traffic to your site. The content should be relevant enough that it acquires targeted organic traffic over time.
Aside from doing thorough research for the topic of your blog post, do keyword research as well to know which actual words people are using to find posts they need similar to yours.
- Google Keyword Planner: See what keywords are related to the subject of the blog post, as well as their estimated monthly search volume and level of competition among advertisers.
- Google Trends: This lets you check on the keywords’ relative popularity both locally and internationally.
- Google Search: Allows you to see how close the title tags match the keywords and the relevance of the content to the search terms.
- Google Suggest: The suggestion box that drops down when you start typing on the Google search bar will let you see the various “long tail” extensions of the main keywords.
- Checking your competitors’ SEO: Through “View Source,” you can see the HTML code for your competitors’ pages. HTML tags include the title tags, h1 and h2 tags, and meta tags, which all include their (and possibly, your) target keywords.
Simplify the blog’s design
The first step to simplifying your blog’s design is to write down its goals and identify the content and design elements required to achieve them.
For instance, prominent navigation buttons may immediately inspire trust from prospects.
Make the blog posts easy to consume
When you make content easy to read, you also increase your audience’s reading rate and time.
An easy-to-read post is not necessarily short or not too long. It should just be hard-hitting, but concise.
Also, do not bury important information down the post and begin with a declarative sentence to set up the main topic.
Optimizing the blog post can be done with these tips:
- Sans serif font with sizes between 14 to 16 px are most comfortable to read
- Use a catchy title
- “I” and “you” give it a personal and engaging touch
- Use table of contents with in-page hyperlinks if the post is long
- Use short paragraphs, bullet points, and section headings to segment ideas and make it easy to skim and scan
- Put quotes, stats, questions, and anecdotes in italics, and bold keywords and critical concepts
- Use photos sparingly or to demonstrate something specific, as too many can be distracting
Regularly update it
Regular updates do not mean every day rather a sustainable schedule. You can create an editorial calendar to plan your posting schedule or have an editor to help keep track of the regular content.
When you regularly show up, it only means that you care about the readers you have gained through the blog.
Remember to encourage engagement by responding to their comments.
Leverage videos and webinars
According to multiple studies and surveys, more than half of online shoppers who use mobile apps and browsers find visual information more influential to their actions.
In addition, videos on landing pages can increase conversions by 80%, and that videos show up on first SERP 50 times likely than regular web content.
Video content is especially helpful in gaining the short attention spans of the audience, but another form of video to leverage are webinars.
It can ramp up your blog’s brand equity and increase subscriptions.
Include a clear call-to-action
You need to convert readers to leads, so it’s imperative to add a CTA that will tell them what they need to do next after consuming the content.
Whether you want them to subscribe to your newsletter, complete a satisfaction survey, ask for signup, or download your content, the CTA should be added at the end of each article.
Keep the following tips in mind when embedding your CTA.
- Ensure that the button is responsive and loads correctly on all devices
- Use words that appeal to readers’ emotions and urgency or use commanding verbs
- Utilize the prime CTA areas: “leaderboard” or at the top of your blog, the sidebar on either side of the post, and space immediately following the blog post
Compile similar blog resources into landing pages
Grouping posts that are similar in topics into landing pages may have a long-term effect with residual email opt-ins. It can also help make readers stay in your blog.
This is how you can do it:
- Find 3–5 posts about a topic
- Create a simple landing page
- List the page in the blog’s sidebar
Use autoresponders
Automated responses are a simple and effective way of permission marketing that is entirely opt-in based. It allows you to engage with and nurture the potential leads.
Autoresponder will also enable you to follow-up with your audience and ask how you can be of help to them.
Add social media buttons
Adding social media icons that will allow you post to be shared is a simple way to promote your content, assuming that you have been active for some time now and have engaged with your audience.
The more people to visit the blog, the better chance you have to generate leads.
Conclusion
A blog helps you connect with potential and existing customers in real time and accessible way.
As much as it is an avenue to drive promotion and participation, blogs also need to be promoted to allow your business to grow.
These tips are tweaks that can be done in increments, but they would make a massive difference in your lead generation rate over time.
