What is a lead generation website?
A lead generation website is designed to turn visitors into potential customers. Not only does it inform users about your brand and what you have to offer, but it also includes multiple calls to action (CTAs) that encourage visitors to submit their information. This allows you to quickly add them to your email list and get them into your .
These sites differ from regular, more informational websites where the primary goal is to simply educate users. Standard sites often only have one generic call to action (CTA), such as “Contact Us.” On the other hand, lead generation websites ask visitors to take specific actions, like “Download My Free Ebook,” or “Sign Up For My Webinar”.
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How do you generate leads from a website?
Lead generation websites use a number of tactics to encourage visitors to submit their contact information. These include:
- Lead magnets
- Free consultations
- Coupons and discounts
- Free trials
Let's delve deeper into each of the strategies to give you a better idea of how to use them for your own business.
Lead magnets
The most common way to collect leads online is to offer a lead magnet. This is a free item that you give away in exchange for a user’s email address.
The idea here is that instead of simply asking for someone’s email you’re providing them value. If you give someone something they actually need or want they’re much more likely to hand over their contact information. In fact, 50% of marketers who use lead magnets report higher conversion rates, so if you’re not already using lead magnets it’s a good idea to start.
Some examples of lead magnets include:
- Ebooks
- Whitepapers
- Checklists
- Training videos
- Webinars
- Templates
Once you have a visitor’s email the lead magnet is usually sent to their inbox, along with an introductory email. Then you can continue to send them content related to your brand and nurture the lead until they’re ready to become a customer.
Free consultations
Another popular strategy is to offer a free consultation. Visitors who are interested in your services can schedule a call with you where you’ll assess their situation, offer them a solution, and potentially provide them with a quote.
Free consultations offer a number of benefits for both parties:
- There’s no risk for those who sign up.
- Prospective clients get valuable insights free of charge.
- You have a chance to pitch your services and demonstrate how you can solve their problems.
Even if a free consultation doesn’t result in an immediate sale you might still be considered for future jobs, or be recommended to other businesses if you make a good impression.
Offer a coupon or discount
Everyone loves a good deal, which is why many lead generation websites offer discounts in exchange for an email address.
This is generally done through the use of a pop-up that appears after someone has been on your site for a predetermined amount of time. The pop-up will let visitors know they can receive a coupon or discount and will include a field where they can enter their email.
Not only does this encourage users to buy something while they’re on your site, but it also gives you the ability to let them know about future products, promotions, and sales.
Free trial
Finally, we have the free trial, which is perfect for anyone offering some sort of subscription service.
With this strategy, you’ll pitch your service and provide them with all the benefits, features, and information they need to make an informed decision. Then you’ll offer them the chance to try the service for free for a period of time.
This is a great way to collect leads and sell them on your service. As part of the signup process, they’ll need to submit their email address, giving you the opportunity to build a relationship with them and nurture your lead. During this time they can also try your service out for themselves and start experiencing the benefits, which will hopefully lead to them becoming a paying customer when their trial is up.
How to build a lead generation website in 3 simple steps
Creating a website used to mean hiring a developer to design and build the site for you. This was both expensive and time-consuming. Fortunately, today’s entrepreneurs have a much better solution.
Website builders, like Leadpages, mean you can build a website in a matter of hours all by yourself, even if you don’t know anything about coding or web design.
Using Leadpages as an example, here’s how to build an effective lead generation website in three simple steps.
Step 1: Choose your template
Leadpages has over 250 professionally-designed website and landing page templates for you to choose from. These templates are designed with conversions in mind and follow all the best practices currently used by leading web designers.
This means most of the work is already done for you. You simply need to pick the template that best suits your brand.
When searching for a template you can sort them by type, industry, style, or color. You can also sort them by conversion rate, allowing you to identify the templates that will generate the most leads for your business.
Step 2: Customize your template
After you choose your template you’ll want to customize it for your business. The Drag & Drop Builder makes it easy to change colors, edit text, and upload new images. You can also add or remove different sections to give your page a unique look.
Need additional functionality? The builder has plenty of widgets including Calendly scheduling, contact forms, countdown timers, and online checkouts that you can drag and drop into place.
All of this is done without typing a simple line of code and the platform is user-friendly, even for those who are new to building websites. However, more experienced web designers will be happy to know that the HTML widget can be used to add custom code if you desire.
Step 3: Publish
Once you’re happy with the look of your website it’s time to publish it. Leadpages offers two different ways for you to share your site with the world:
- Publish your site to a free subdomain. All Leadpages users are given a free subdomain (https://yourname.lpages.co/) to publish websites and landing pages.
- Publish to a custom domain that you own. You can either connect an existing domain that you’ve previously purchased or sign up for an annual Leadpages plan and get a free domain through Hover.
After your site is live you can continue to use the Drag & Drop Builder to make changes and updates.
Lead generation website design tips
Using a high-converting template is a great start when building your lead generation website. But there are still a few more things you can do during the design process to improve your results.
Attention-grabbing headlines
It’s said that headlines are worth 90% of the money invested in copywriting, so you need to make your headlines count. Here are a few tips:
- Figure out what your unique selling proposition is (the thing that separates you from your competitors) and include this in your headlines.
- Make them benefit-rich.
- Be specific (“How to Start Your Own Design Agency” is a better headline than “Start to Start Your Own Business”).
- Add a sense of urgency.
- Test multiple headlines against each other to see which ones generate the most conversions.
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Focus on Benefits Instead of Features
When writing about your products and services don’t just tell people what you’re offering. Lead generation websites often succeed by focusing on these benefits to draw in potential customers. Describe how it will benefit the reader
For example, let’s say you’re promoting your new social media marketing ebook. Here’s a list of its features:
- Get three tips for creating your profile.
- Learn how to build Facebook ads.
- Discover how to choose the right platforms for your business.
And here’s a list of its benefits:
- Build your brand with professional social media profiles.
- Grow your audience with high-converting Facebook ads.
- Maximize your marketing dollars by choosing the right platforms.
See the difference? Listing benefits makes your copy much more compelling and shows people how you can solve their problems.
Use testimonials
No matter how much trust you build with your audience they’re still going to be a little skeptical of you. You’re the business owner, so when you tell people to buy your products and services their first thought is “of course you would say that.”
That’s why including testimonials from your customers helps boost your leads. People are more likely to trust their peers, which means when someone just like them says they should buy something it carries a lot more weight. This is backed up by a study performed by BigCommerce, where 72% of consumers stated that positive testimonials increased their trust in a business.
Sprinkle testimonials throughout your site to help prospects feel more comfortable handing over their information. You can also create a testimonial page where visitors can see all your business’ reviews.
Lead generation websites often maximize conversion opportunities by strategically placing CTAs at every crucial point. Some websites just include CTA buttons at the top and bottom of the page."
It’s impossible to know when visitors will be ready to download your lead magnet or sign up for your free trial. It could be after the third paragraph, three-quarters of the way down the page, or somewhere else you never anticipated. And if they have to search too long for a button to take them to the next step they might lose interest.
This is why you should include multiple CTA buttons throughout your pages—ideally at the end of each section. That way the moment someone wants to learn more or download something there’s a button right there for them to click.
Lead generation website examples
Ready to get started building your lead generation website? Here are a few examples of our favorite templates to inspire your next site.
This template is designed specifically for apps but also works great for any sort of subscription-based business. The bright colors catch visitors’ attention right away and it has sections for benefits, features, and information about your business.
Are you promoting a fitness program? Then this might be the template for you. Tell people about your experience, share testimonials, and show what type of results can be expected from your program.
This template is the ideal choice for any coaches or consultants. Show off your accolades, share a video so visitors can learn more about you, and describe your coaching services. It even has a spot to share your ebook on the homepage if you have one.
Any service-based business that’s offering a free consultation can benefit from this template. This is another colorful design that’s sure to increase engagement. It also has built-in sections for case studies and your portfolio.
Not every business is strictly online. If you offer in-person services this template should suit you nicely. It has a section for you to share a little about yourself and makes it easy for visitors to schedule their first session with you.
Ready to build your lead generation website?
A quality lead generation website is crucial for small businesses. So, if you’re starting a new venture, or you have an established business and want to boost your online presence, don’t put off building your site.
Leadpages’ extensive template gallery and Drag & Drop Builder simplify the web design process, no matter your experience level. Try Leadpages free for 14 days and start finding new leads for your business.
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