Optimizing your website to generate more leads as a service provider seems like the best starting point when growing or expanding your business online. Service providers typically believe that the best way to do so is by adding a pop-up for their opt-in or a “sign-up here” button on their homepage, sadly, that’s not quite it.

For a website to successfully generate leads, there needs to be a strategic plan in place – that typically involves designing a website that is targeted towards converting your audience, establishing your SEO to rank for your offers, and ensuring that your website is functioning correctly to capture your leads. 

Beyond having a plan on how to capture and gain new leads, you must have a plan in place to track the performance of your efforts to determine where your efforts should continue to go. Not every business thrives in the same marketplace, identifying your ideal marketing/lead generation atmosphere is another aspect of gaining more leads on your website as a service provider. 

Let’s break it down further:

What is Lead Generation?

Lead generation is defined as the action or process of identifying and cultivating potential customers for a business’s products or services. For our purpose, we’re going to focus mainly on connecting with potential and ideal customers for your services.  

Lead generation tactics may include utilizing online channels such as social media, paid ad campaigns, email campaigns, calls to action on your website, downloadable content, free content, and more. As mentioned above, sometimes the platform you find success on might be different than someone else in the same industry. This is due to where you can afford to invest time, money, or effort in addition to where your customer base is. 

Instead of covering every lead generation strategy that you can use as an online service provider, we’re going to focus on the top five ways I recommend to gain more leads on your website as a service provider:

01. Offer a “Freebie” or Lead Magnet

Lead magnets, also known as “freebies,” are one of the best methods of building your email list and generating new leads on your website. Lead magnets typically offer a small portion of your expertise in the form of a short ebook, checklist, masterclass, and more. 

This method serves two purposes: establishing your credibility as an expert in your field and gaining a method of communication to further connect with your new lead.

02. Add and Personalize Your CTAs

CTAs can be found throughout websites – service pages, home pages, footers, and sometimes even headers have been known to contain a CTA for an audience to take further action (outside of simply visiting your website). CTAs encourage visitors to engage with your content, this could be by sending you an email, signing up to your email newsletter, or setting up a quick call or meeting. Other, smaller, CTAs include encouraging your audience to follow you on your social media or join your community.

Next, you’ll want to personalize your CTAs. While “sign-up here” and “join now” are okay, go the step further and give them a real action or accomplishment that happens once they take said action. for example, instead of asking you to “check out” my services in my footer, my button CTA is “Elevate Your Brand.”

03. Optimize Your Site’s Mobility

Did you know that 92.1% of the world’s internet users use a mobile phone to go online at least some of the time and that mobile phones now account for almost 60% of the world’s web traffic? This means that your site’s mobility is one of the most important factors in your website build. An accessible site is essential for gaining more leads on your website as a service provider. 

A good way to check your website’s mobility is ensuring your site is connected to Google Search Console, this will inform you of any mobility issues detected. You can also check your website’s mobility in Google’s Mobile-Friendly Site Checker.

04. Invest in SEO

SEO is one of the most important aspects that you should consider when operating as an online business owner. SEO, or search engine optimization, is how Google ranks your website in their search results and you generate organic traffic – and new leads. SEO has two main focus areas, website optimization, and content optimization. While content optimization helps, website optimization is the building block of establishing your site online.

If you’re interested in learning more about why your business needs to focus on SEO, read through this quick SEO resource here.

05. Optimize Your Website for Lead Generation

Every niche and audience is different in what converts. While some tactics carry over, audiences typically require different marketing strategies to generate new leads. For example, you wouldn’t market to 85-year-old women the same way you would to 22-year-old men or even 22-year-old women. Both branding and site design play a role in optimizing your website for lead generation. 

This one is difficult to tackle or learn on your own – or even to determine if it’s necessary for your personal brand and website. Consulting with branding and web design expert is the best way to determine if your website or branding is a core reason for the lack of conversions. 

How to Know if Your Lead Generation Efforts Are Working

Track your leads! Tracking leads can be difficult when you’re not used to it, but the easy way to start is by clarifying your funnel and establishing a tracking method. Commonly used methods include using shortened tracking links like bit.ly, creating events and goals in Google Analytics, using third-party lead tracking software, or investing in an outside source to track leads for you.

When thinking about optimizing your website for lead generation or improving your website to gain new leads, it’s essential not to skip lead tracking to identify your results. Ready to start generating new leads for your business? Send me a message to elevate your business today!