Lead Generation and Email List Building

So…you want to be on the first page of Google, huh? You want to triple your traffic and quadruple your conversion rate too? Sounds fun! We can help with that.

But first, here are a few things you probably don’t know about running a high conversion website. There are two sides to every coin. Consider that running a high conversion website means:

1. Crazy spam town – When you first start, you’ll probably find it annoying when you get spam comments on your blog and spam email through your contact forms. But just a heads up…after your search rankings go up and you start getting more traffic, the spam only increases 🙂 Yes, there are effective ways to mitigate this, but it never ceases to amaze me how much spam I get. Thousands per day at times. Get ready and make sure your blog is set up properly to defend against this. To be clear, spam can be dealt with properly so it’s not an issue, but if you’re not configured to handle the onslaught, be prepared for your inbox to get snowed in with offers for Cialis and Dr Dre’s latest headphones. Also stuff from Russia. For some reason Russians love to send me spam 😉
2. Hate mail – When you have thousands of people on your email list, you’re bound to rope in some crazies. It’s just gonna happen. And they’re not shy about letting you know just how much crazy they gots to share with you! So when someone sends you a 4 page email (in all caps of course) about that typo in your last blog post (yes, I’ve actually had it happen), just click delete or reply to them saying “Thanks!” And make sure to feel bad for them for a second. They must really be having a bad day. But that doesn’t mean you need to have a bad day too.
3. Cheap hosting won’t cut it – When you start to get more traffic, you need better web hosting or your site is just not gonna keep up. Just a general announcement to the small business community as a whole…if your website is an important part of your marketing strategy, make sure you’re on business-class hosting. It costs more, but it’s still super cheap and will save you loads of tech headaches over time. I know business owners who will happily spend thousands per month on marketing for their website (smart) but refuse to spend more than $10/mo on hosting (not so smart). And then they constantly complain about why their website isn’t performing well. I’ve never quite been able to figure this one out.
4. Language barriers – More and more, I’m working with clients and affiliates from all over the world. Talking with a VA or a customer in India is very different than talking with someone in the US for example. It’s not always just the language but also different customs and expectations. Working through language barriers, learning to listen and solve problems creatively gets a lot more important in situations like this. It also causes you to constantly get better at communicating with others and explaining yourself. Not every business owner will expand their local business and reach out globally, but the opportunity is there and available to you. There are countless ways that any small business owner can reach out to the global market. It’ll stretch your brain though. In a good way 🙂
5. You’ll have to start being more selective – It sounds great to have more leads than you can deal with. But when you see that actually starting to happen, the dynamic of your business changes. If you’re anything like me, you’ve been in a situation where you’re happy to work with any new client or customer. You just want the business so you can pay your bills. But after a short time building a blog and your email list effectively, you find that you have more opportunities than you could possibly take on. You have to pick and choose who to work with, who to refer out to other vendors, who to not work with at all, etc. It forces you to get really clear on who your ideal customer is. If also forces you to get really good at qualifying people to make sure you’re creating work opportunities that are fun and mutually beneficial. It’s SO great having the choice of who to work with, but it takes some practice learning how to make that choice.
6. No time for analytics drama – When I first started blogging and employing the lead gen principles I now teach to clients, I would check my analytics every day. Usually more than once per day. I’d pay attention to how many followers I had on Twitter. I’d be upset if I lost some followers or if my traffic took a dip. Please rest assured that it’s not gonna make or break your business if your bounce rate is 60% instead of 50%. It’s not gonna make one bit of difference at all if 50 people unfollow you on Twitter because you said something about how awesome Katy Perry is, and some people disagreed with you. Trust the systems. After you run a high conversion website for a short period of time, you won’t even have time or the inclination to check your numbers every day like a little freak (like I used to do). The people who unsubscribe or unfollow you SHOULD unsubscribe or unfollow you. You’re refining your list. It’s totally natural and unavoidable for your traffic to go up and down, especially while you’re still getting the ball rolling. My general recommendation is to install analytics on your site but don’t even check analytics for the first 3 months. Publish content, market the hell out of your website. Start with that. We’ll even show you how. Then check your stats quarterly. Quarterly. That’s every three months, not every three minutes! Check your stats, yes. But it should take you a total of 20-30 minutes per year.

Running a high conversion website has definitely been what made it possible for me to run my business from home. It’s also made it possible for me to do work I love doing, working with great people who appreciate what I do. I’m infinitely grateful for the opportunity to do that, and it’s why I’m so passionate about sharing what I’ve learned with you. There is always a bit of drama behind the curtain, and I felt compelled to share a bit with you today so it doesn’t take you by surprise when it happens to you too 🙂

Since I run a web marketing company, I get the opportunity to work on lots of websites and spend time learning how to tweak and improve them. After doing this for years now, I’ve learned there are just some trends that need pointed out.

By all means, this is not a comprehensive list. But if you want your website to get more leads and sales, it’s definitely worth taking note of this short list. These are the 3 biggest mistakes I see small business owners making with their websites every day:

Mistaking SEO for Lead Generation

There seems to be an idea out there that the main thing we should all focus on is SEO. Well, I’d have to agree that search engine optimization is important. Especially for small businesses. But if lead generation is your goal, it’s most definitely only part of the equation.

I’ve often asked clients “if you’re not getting any leads from the traffic you have now, what makes you think twice as much traffic is gonna help that much?”

Bottom line, you need visitors. Of course. But your website also needs to convert. If you are not getting a high conversion rate (20%+) from your landing pages, then you’re wasting any additional money you spend on SEO or advertising.

Just do the math. If you’re a business owner, do you really want twice as much traffic? Or is your REAL goal twice as many leads? If lead generation is the goal, then you can do that two ways…

1. Double the amount of traffic you get, while keeping conversions the same
2. Double the conversions you get, while keeping traffic the same

Just so you know, #2 is usually significantly less expensive, quicker and offers a much more sustainable return on investment. So instead of hiring an SEO firm to drive more traffic, simply optimize your site’s landing pages. Something to consider 🙂

Adding More and More Features and Tools

One thing I seem small business owners doing with their websites is adding more and more little widgets and tools. Common choices are:

• Calculators
• Calendars
• Newsfeeds
• Automated blogging tools
• Tag clouds (eeckkk!)
• Etc

Everyone likes the idea of a feature-rich website. So what the heck could be wrong with adding more features? Nothing at all is wrong with it. It’s just that when it comes to lead generation, it’s not gonna help much.

This is one of the profound ways the internet has changed. Visitors just aren’t impressed with little gadgets and tools anymore. What works better? Provide content that solves their problems, and give them a compelling reason to sign up for your email list. This is the brutally simple fundamental that most people still seem to be missing. It really is that easy.

By installing fancy tools, you’re just making your website look more and more like everyone else’s. When it comes to lead generation, this is the opposite effect than what you’re going for.

Failure to Use Lots (and lots) of Landing Pages

The fact is that landing pages work. I would not be able to claim the conversion rates I do if it weren’t for the use of landing pages. Even though the concept is not new by any means, it seems to be a concept that has still failed to proliferate into the small business world.

A landing page is simply a single page on your website built for one single purpose…conversion. You can build a page to generate phone calls, email signups, purchases, whatever you want. But a landing page has a single focus. No distractions. It’s optimized to do just one single thing…get the conversion.

Small business websites typically have one or two calls to action. Most commonly a small box in their sidebar that says something like “sign up for our newsletter”. Not very compelling. Would YOU sign up for a newsletter like that? Probably not. So it’s not too big a surprise that no one else is signing up either.

So as it happens, landing pages are a crucial element to any lead generation strategy. Offer your visitors compelling reasons to buy from you, sign up for your newsletter, get a free report or video, call your office for a free consult, etc. The possibilities are endless, but the point is that landing pages are the primary vehicle for generating leads and sales from your website.

So if you want more leads from your website, make sure you focus on these three things first:

1. Forget SEO for a little while. Get focused on optimizing your website for lead gen. Make sure you’re converting an impressive number of visitors into leads first. From there, increasing traffic to your site is gold. Until you have your site optimized for lead generation, everything else is a waste of time. 
2. Drop the idea of adding any more features or tools to your website. Focus on creating content that solves your prospects’ problems. And come up with compelling reasons they should sign up for your newsletter, contact you and buy from you.
3. Take the ideas you come up with from #2, and create landing pages on your website. Each landing page offers one simple, compelling reason to sign up for your email list (or whatever your call to action is). It’s not uncommon for a successful small business website to have 20, 30, 40 or more landing pages, all generating leads consistently every day.

After you learn the basics of how to generate leads from your website, everything else about marketing your business on the web gets a lot easier.

How do you design an effective landing page? How do you get traffic to your landing pages? How do you measure results? All good ideas for future posts, no? Maybe not? Let me know what you think. For realz…use the contact form on this page and let me know what you think, yo. Or else I may end up covering stuff that’s helpful for other people but not you. Speak up and let me know what questions you have, and we’ll see about getting you some answers. Peace.