If you’re not really a marketing expert, this process can be confusing and even intimidating. Let’s face it, good websites (especially lead-generation sites) don’t come cheap. How can you be sure you’ll get the results you want?
Chances are, you’ve seen long lists of website design tips about using consistent fonts and where to put the phone number. Those design details are important, of course. Any good web developer should do those things. But they don’t necessarily bring in leads.
Website design for lead generation requires a more strategic approach. One that begins with your company’s specific goals and information about your buyers.
If you want a website guaranteed to bring in leads (and the RIGHT leads), don’t skip these important steps.
3 critical steps to success with website design for lead generation
The fact is, to get qualified leads from your website, you need to start by knowing your buyers. Then you must apply that knowledge as you develop your website to attract the right visitors and encourage them to become leads.
1. Learn about your buyers.
When we begin working with a new client, they usually believe they already know all about their buyers. You might be thinking the same thing. After all, you spend a lot of time dealing with them. But you’ll be surprised to find out how much you don’t know, such as:
- What problems they face that you can help to solve
- Exactly how their purchase process works
- Who is involved and who makes the final decision
- What resources they turn to for information and advice
- What reservations they may have about your company or your products/services
Here’s why you need to know these things. Website design for lead generation is about providing the information your prospects want and need at every stage of their purchasing process. And you must get them to trust you as a valuable resource. To do those things, you need to know a lot about what they need, when they need it, who they trust, and why.
Even a beautiful website with all the bells and whistles won’t bring in leads if it’s not designed with the buyer in mind. If it’s done right, on the other hand, your website can deliver a big payoff in new business for your company. One of our clients is getting over 200 leads per month through their website. Imagine how results like that could feed your sales pipeline and grow your bottom line?
Learn about gaining insights about your buyers through buyer persona research. Buyer Personas: The Tool You Didn’t Know you Needed.
2. Optimize your website for both search engines and buyers.
Imagine you have created a website that’s structured so buyers can easily find what they want. It has content that answers their questions and builds trust. How will your buyers find your helpful and informative website pages?
In most cases, the same way you found this one… by searching online. So, you need your website pages to come up in Google search results. That means your website needs search engine optimization, also known as SEO. Without proper SEO, you won’t attract enough website visitors or get more leads.
There are two parts to successful website SEO:
- Building your site with the right technical specifications so that search engines can easily index your site, understand your content, and include your pages in search results. This is a mandatory prerequisite for getting leads.
- Here’s the part that really brings the right prospects to you: Building your website pages to rank for the search terms your buyers are using to find information. You can’t choose the right terms (known as keywords) unless you know your buyers! Also, you have to choose terms that can get you close to the top of the search results. People rarely look beyond one or two pages. Some search terms will be too difficult to rank for. And you need to keep adding new optimized pages regularly, usually through a blog. Getting all this right requires a lot of expertise.
So, if you’re looking for an effective website design for lead generation, make sure your site is built from the ground up with buyer-driven SEO.
Learn more about website SEO: Website SEO Services: Think Your Website Is Optimized? Think Again
3. Capture leads with enticing offers.
The next essential ingredient in website design for lead generation is a way for interested website visitors to engage with your company.
With smart design, informative content, and carefully-crafted SEO, you can attract lots of visitors to your website. And many of them will be people who are truly interested in what you have to offer. Next you’ve got to get them to convert, or take the next step by providing their contact information to you.
How can you do that? By offering them an enticing piece of content or information. So, use the intelligence gained from buyer research to create helpful resources around your buyers’ needs at each stage of their buying process.
There are lots of different ways to do this. Offer an ebook that gives people tips for overcoming a difficult problem. Or an online calculator that helps them figure out how much money they can save. Another option is to offer a free assessment that helps prospects to identify problems and solutions. The possibilities are endless. They key is, prospects must want this information enough to complete a form on your website and provide their contact information, thereby becoming a lead.
This process, called conversion optimization by marketers, is both an art and a science. To do its job in the process, a good website design for lead generation must include:
- Carefully placed and eye-catching calls-to-action that make your offers compelling.
- Well-designed landing pages that entice people to convert.
- Forms that capture just the right information from prospects.
Need some help with website design for lead generation?
As you can see, it takes a lot of different skills to develop a high-performing website design for lead generation. Unless you’ve got a large and diverse internal marketing team, you’ll probably need some help from outside experts. To ensure you get the results you want and expect, make sure anyone you hire has the knowledge and experience to do the important steps outlined here.
Have more questions? Feel free to reach out to us at any time. We’re here to help.