5 Secrets to Successful Online Lead Generation

In most business-to-business or complex sale situations, online lead generation will get you more good leads, faster and at far less cost than offline tactics. But you have to do it right.

Here are five steps to ensure your online lead generation efforts deliver the greatest results.

Be very visible.

Your goal should be to become highly visible and easy to find anywhere your prospects are hanging out or looking for products or services like yours. Unlike most offline advertising, you don’t have to hit your prospects over the head to get their attention. They’re already looking for you. Just be easy to find.

That means implementing organic search engine optimization (SEO) and paid search programs (PPC). Even banner ads on industry websites still deliver some good results.

Get your prospects to take action.

Just as with conventional offline marketing programs, the goal of an online program should be to get your desired prospects to do something.

Ultimately you want them to buy your product or talk to a sales person, of course; but often there are smaller steps your prospects will be more comfortable taking first. Maybe it’s registering for a newsletter or webinar, downloading a special report or viewing a demo.

Figure out what you want your prospect to do - in a logical order - and then tell them to do it. This always works better than a running a message that doesn’t have a call to action.

Be prepared to convert the leads you generate.

Only a small percentage of prospects will be ready to talk with a sales person when they first make contact with you. Sending traffic or leads to your website is the first step in a multi-stage process.

Many people who respond to your lead generation efforts will be in the early phases of their buying process. It’s your job to engage them, provide them with the answers to their questions, and guide them through the education process.

Just as your lead generation efforts should motivate the prospect to take action, your website should also be optimized to get them to move further through the buying process.

If you ignore those people who are not ready to buy just yet, you’ll vastly reduce the power of your lead generation programs.

Participate in the community.

Your target audiences - prospects, customers, journalists, employees and investors - are talking online. Find the online communities, websites and forums where your customers and prospects go - and participate. Comment on relevant blogs. Answer questions. Offer your opinion and expertise.

But leave the marketing-speak at home.

There’s much to be gained by participating - correctly - in those conversations. You’ll give your target audience a chance to get to know you, and you’ll be increasing your visibility.

Test, measure and adjust.

The ability to quantify and compare results from nearly every aspect of an online marketing program is a key advantage of online marketing; and it’s possibly the main reason online lead generation can be so effective so fast.

You can test words and offers and images and forms and buttons and just about anything else to get the combination that produces the most results. No more guessing. Your prospects will tell you what works best. But only if you test.

Online lead generation is truly the fastest, more efficient path to growing sales opportunities today. But these programs don’t run themselves. If you keep the above secrets in mind as you plan and execute your program, you’ll increase your chances for success.


(c) 2009 Tatum Marketing Inc.

Rate Article

Related Videos
Play Video How to Create a Website Traffic Funnel to Generate Leads	Play Video How to Make a Real SEO Blog that Works	Play Video How to add Hyperlink on Youtube by Chris Gat	Play Video How to use HTML on MySpace by Chris Gat	Play Video Events at the Leading Strand, Part II

Listed below are more articles related to the above article from the "List Building" article category.

People interested in the above article "5 Secrets to Successful Online Lead Generation" are also interested in the related articles listed below:

 

The Power Of Building A List: Why All Marketers Should Build A List… No Matter What!

A lot of people in Internet marketing do not take the time necessary to build subscribers. They concentrate all of their marketing effort on other things and completely ignore the list. There are a lot of ways to build a list, some faster and some shorter, but this article is not going to deal with those details. Instead, the focus will be on why you must get started immediately in building a database of subscribers, and the consequences for not doing so

Internet Marketing - Who Cares About Opt-In Boxes?

Are your squeeze pages up to snuff? I mean, do you have a killer headline? What about a compelling image? Some knock-out bullet points? OK. Great! You're almost there. But what about that all-important opt-in box? Did you think a little about it before creating it, too? It's a very important facet of any Internet marketing squeeze page, and there are some things to consider.

Internet Marketing and List Building - Who Needs Squeeze Pages?

When you're new to Internet marketing, terms are flying past you at the speed of light, and you have no idea what they mean to your Internet marketing business. I've been there and so has everyone involved in the Internet marketing world. You need some time to learn what you should know, and then, you'll still need to keep learning because you'll never know it all. However...

Squeeze Page - The Best Paradigm To Create A Mailing List

There is no doubt that producing a mailing list should be one of an internet advertiser's highest concerns. A mailing list, in any case, will guarantee a responsive pool of clients for the online entrepreneur, one which he can utilize for every active movement.

Secret Facebook Strategy to Generate Leads

Use these strategies to build your business using Facebook . Did you know you can actually generate highly targeted leads surfing facebook. These techniques will simply make your jaw drop.

How to Use Facebook to Receive 20-30 MLM Leads Per Day

Facebook is not just another social network. It is the definitive social network - the granddaddy of all social networks. By far the world's most popular social network, Facebook has just about as many members as the United States has citizens! Any real marketer without a Facebook presence is missing out on a veritable treasure trove of MLM leads.

Internet Marketing and the List Building Tips - Required Reading!

By now you have probably heard a bit about the methods used by the internet marketing 'gurus' and how they get traffic to their site, and make their killer copy so good at enticing customers into pulling out their wallets and buying any product that it's almost like magic. Well, it doesn't always happen like that of course. So what happens when customers don't buy from you on the first visit? You hopefully get their email address and name, so you can have a shot at pitching your product(s) to them another day!