7 Tips for Generating Online Leads Part 1

7 Tips for Generating Online Leads Part 1

Generating a lead may be the sole purpose of your site or a
small piece of your marketing mix. Either way, it is always
about answering a prospect's unspoken questions and
communicating the value of doing business with you.



Folks do their research online precisely so they don't have to
interact with someone - think of your visitors as the most
introverted people you ever knew. They come to you with
curiosity, expecting you to understand what they need and to
lead them along a comfortable path of enlightenment and delight.
Every click represents an unspoken question they hope you will
answer.



Can the design, architecture and content of your Web site
convince visitors you're valuable to them, so they give
something of value to you in return by becoming leads? Here are
seven suggestions to get you started.



The Persuasive Process



It doesn't matter whether your business is B2B or B2C, whether
your sales process is simple or complex - these may influence
the details of your tactics, but they won't change the fact that
every ebusiness is about persuasion. Framing a persuasive
process always begins with answering the same basic questions:



Who do you need to persuade?



What are you persuading them to do?



When the goal is generating leads, you usually want to persuade
your visitors to fill in a contact form, download a white paper
or demo, register, opt in to a newsletter or e-mail list, or
forward your content to a friend.



Once you have created the personas, constructions that represent
your "who"s, and identified the action you want them to take,
you then turn to designing an online experience that
incorporates your answer to the third basic question: How can
you most effectively persuade them?



1. The Message Must be Relevant



Identify what really matters to your visitors. What

motivates
them to seek you out? What problems do you solve for them? What
friction points do you reduce for them? Identify the benefits
and value your products or services confer. Find your visitors'
buttons, then push them by serving up a nice, juicy, relevant
message.



2. No Jargon



Unless you're marketing to a select audience that absolutely
requires you to communicate credibility via insiderspeak
(jargon), stay away from the stuff. Jargon convinces folks you
aren't really interested in talking to them, so they're far less
likely to pay attention. If you must include specific
terminology, give it a low profile. Those wanting to know if you
can really talk the talk will look to find it (and yes, you
should have a place for this on your site).



If you're not sure how folks talk or think about your products
or services, conduct online consumer research and speak with the
people who interact directly with your customers. Using your
customers' language on your Web site not only helps them feel as
though you are speaking to them, it also boosts your chances
with the search engines.



3. Don't "We" All Over Yourself



The first rule of online success is it's never about you.
Brilliant as you and your business may be, focus on visitors.
Let them know you understand their needs and what matters to
them. Put them center stage. Want a thumbnail view of how
customer-focused the language on your site is? Try the Customer
Focus Calculator on our Web site. It identifies how often your
copy brags about things like, "We are the best, we are the
original."



About the author:


Talbert Williams offers debt consolidation, debt reduction,
credit card debt referrals and advice. For more information,
articles, news, tools and valuable resources on debt solutions,
visit this site: http://www.1debtfreedom.com