Generating leads online: the 10 best tips

In times of online marketing, generating leads online appears to be very straightforward. Simply build a landing page, put a bit of advertising on Facebook and off you go! However, if you have already attempted to generate high quality leads you know that there is more to it. Here are some of the best tips for finding potential customers and for acquiring their contact information.

1. Actively search for leads online

In the B2B sector, in particular, the search for potential customers can be conducted on the Web. Online business directories, pages with company profiles, offers of individual companies on their websites, social media posts, even advertisements and job offers on the Web can provide information about which companies constitute potential customers. Searching for suitable address and contact information, as well as detailed business information to address and contact the persons individually, can be realized on the Web.
Do not hesitate to get in touch with us if you want to conduct extensive lead research. We look forward to assisting you with our workforce.

2. Perfecting the landing page

In addition to actively generating leads, you can obtain information about potential customers through their own homepage and from landing pages that are created for individual marketing campaigns. Unless they are tailored to match the visitors’ needs, these will not leave their contact information. For more information, check our post explaining how to build a landing page: „Landing Page: Build Cleverly and Avoid Mistakes“.

3. Using incentives to obtain data from potential customers

Why should anyone leave their contact data on your website or landing page? Naturally because they are interested in what you have to offer them! But are you the only person offering this product or service? Is someone else offering it too? And then there are the many undecided. They might be interested in your product, but are they interested enough to leave their contact data? Therefore, consider offering a complimentary incentive that will convince the interested party to share their data.
Possible incentives must always be of high quality. The interested party must get the feeling that they are being given something valuable.

Examples of complimentary gifts:

Software
E-Book
Webinar
Tutorial
Consultation (for example via video chat)
Discounts or bonus

Note regarding prize draws as incentives:
Prize draws generally create many, but on the whole useless leads. The participants are often only interested in the prize. Filtering the truly interested parties is very time-consuming. (For more information about filtering leads click here.)

4. Newsletter with added value

A newsletter is basically the most standard method of generating online leads. This is why competition is so strong here. Subscribers generally receive so many newsletters that most end up in the wastebasket – unread. This can be avoided by offering added value and not just calling attention to the latest items in the winter sale.
A good example is Conrad Electronic. In addition to their standard newsletter subscribers also receive their “Tech Ticker”. It presents the newest trends in entertainment electronics, short and to the point. This matches the products offered by the electronics retailer and creates actual added value for the subscriber.

5. Prompt newsletter delivery

It is more than an obligation to send a confirmation mail if an interested party has registered for a newsletter. It should not take several weeks for them to receive the first message. It is good for them to receive the first newsletter the very next day at the latest. However, if the newsletter only appears once a month, the last current issue can be sent.

6. Create an informative website

Your business homepage ought to offer interesting content in addition to the newsletter. These are best published in a blog. Depending on the topic, creating special advice pages can also be considered.
The selection of topics should reflect your product or services. Consider what questions could arise and answer them in a well-written article. If you do not want to write yourself, hire a journalist or experienced texter. The effect of a regularly updated blogs and advice section is that you are reaching out to customers as well as interested parties. And Google also appreciates new, high-quality content on your website by rewarding it with a higher ranking.

7. Link guest articles to the landing page

You can attract interested parties to your homepage with more than Google search, online advertisements and entries. Guest articles on another blog can produce potential customers. However it is important that the guest article is not simply linked to your own web start page or blog. It is best to link the guest article to a suitable existing or newly created landing page. This will allow you to generate leads more effectively.

8. Make communication as easy as possible

Whether landing page or company website, interested parties must be able to make contact without taking any detours. The right hand column of every page ought to include a field to subscribe to the newsletter, a short contact form, a contact address or a phone number. Experts also recommend placing a newsletter, contact field or similar on the start page. Then visitors can immediately enter their data.
Do not ask for too much information on initial contact. If possible, only ask for an email address. Internet users are usually more willing to share their email address than their full address including telephone number, date of birth or bank information. When the interested party has gained trust in your company, they will be willing to provide all the necessary information.

On the other hand, there is also a discussion about the use of pop-up windows to generate leads. The visitor sees it immediately and can react immediately, but the opposite effect is also possible. Pop-ups can be very annoying and hard to click away if the visitor is visiting the Internet page with a smartphone. The actual content is no longer visible for the visitor and they leave the page.

9. Qualifying leads correctly

Some leads do not have the potential to transform themselves into new customers. To avoid unnecessary effort it is important to correctly qualify the leads. Clear filter criteria are needed. These obviously depend on the trade sector and the product.
If your company operates on a regional basis, you can filter according to zipcodes. If your product is only suitable for young people, leads over a certain age will drop out. The opening rate of emails that were sent out can also be analyzed. This gives a quick overview of the actual interest since interested parties will open the emails.
In very large collections of leads the use of marketing automation software can be helpful to sort and filter the leads.

10. Testing and comparing

Compare which mailings/newsletters are popular and which are not even opened. Which content is your target group especially fond of? Does it have to be serious or can it be humorous? The same applies for the content on your blog and advice pages.
You can also test the incentives (see „Using incentives“), that you offer for interested persons to leave their data with you. Exchange the software for an e-book or a complimentary seminar. What works better?
You also ought to test your ads on Facebook, Google and Co. We recommend the use of A/B tests, similar to those used on landing pages.