Online lead generation is a technique where businesses use online methods to find potential prospects.
This includes using search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, and others.
There are several types of online lead generation techniques such as SEO (search engine optimization), PPC (pay per click), Social Media Marketing, and many more.
The Internet has changed the way businesses operate. It’s no longer enough to simply have a website and hope that people will find you.
You need leads, real prospects who are interested in what you offer. And if you want to get them, you need to be able to generate them.
You can use many different methods to generate leads.
Some of these methods are more effective than others. But all of them require some kind of lead generation strategy. And it doesn’t matter whether your business is B2B or B2C, there are still lots of opportunities available to you.
In this article, we’ll take a look at different strategies on how to generate leads online.
Now let’s start!
- Search Engine Optimization
The goal of SEO is to expand a company’s visibility in organic search results.
It helps businesses rank more pages higher in SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages).
As a result, these efforts drive more visitors to the company’s website, increasing their chances for more conversions which leads to more customers and more revenue.
SEO is about making sure that when someone searches for a product or service, they see your company’s page first. This means that your content needs to be relevant to the keywords that searchers enter into search engines.
To do this, you need to make sure that your site is structured properly and that its content is optimised.
Start discovering your strategy to build your online presence on SEO.
- Pay Per Click – Google Ads (PPC)
Pay-per-click is another way to get traffic to your site.
It allows advertisers to bid for ad placement in a search engine’s sponsored links when someone searches on a keyword that is related to their business offering.
For example, if you bid on the keyword “PPC software,” your ad might show up in the very top spot on the Google results page.
Every time your ad is clicked, sending a visitor to your website, you only have to pay the search engine a small fee.
When PPC is working correctly, the fee is trivial, because the visit is worth more than what you pay for it.
In other words, if you pay $3 for a click, but the click results in a $300 sale, then we’ve made a hefty profit.
So if you want to start using PPC, it’s important to learn how to do it right.
- Facebook Ads
Facebook ads now come in several varieties.
You can promote your Page, posts on your Page, actions users took, or your website itself.
Despite Facebook’s increasing focus on native ads and keeping traffic on its site, you can still be successful in sending users to your website.
There are also several ad formats including images, videos, carousel (multiple images), Instant Experiences, and collections.
Facebook ads are targeted to users based on their location, demographic, and profile information. Many of these options are only available on Facebook.
Facebook advertising has great potential but it isn’t as easy as just creating a bit of copy and watching the sales come in.
Getting it right takes a considered approach and lots of optimization until you find the perfect strategy for your Facebook Ads.
- Display Ads
A type of paid online advertising, display media consists of text, image, video, audio, and motion ads, which are displayed on websites, apps, and social media platforms.
These ads can appear in several sizes, including banners and reach users across the web.
There are display networks like Google AdSense where publishers buy space on websites to place ads.
Start exploring what makes a great display ad campaign and how to use it.
- Email Campaigns
An email campaign is a sequence of marketing efforts that contacts multiple recipients at once.
Email campaigns are designed to reach out to subscribers at the best time and provide valuable content and relevant offers.
Using email campaigns allows you to build deep and trusting relationships with your customers.
They help not only to increase sales but build your brand image.
There are many types of email campaigns, so it is necessary to choose a style that will help you achieve your goal.
- Content Marketing
Content marketing is all about providing valuable information to your potential customers.
The online content could be anything from eBooks to webinars.
To put it simply, content marketing encapsulates every form of content created for the purpose of educating your audience and helping them take action.
There are several types of content marketing such as blog postings, video tutorials, infographics, quizzes, webinars and podcasts.
Moving on to its importance, content marketing is a vital part of your marketing plan.
- Landing Pages
Providing a unique user experience and a creative design look and feel is absolutely essential for the success of your landing pages.
Landing pages are used to collect leads and nurture prospects into becoming paying clients.
It is an effective way to generate qualified leads because they allow you to target specific audiences with highly-relevant messages.
Landing pages give you the opportunity to create a strong first impression and convert visitors into buyers.
And there are a lot of ways to create a beautiful, high-converting landing page.
- Lead Magnets
A lead magnet is something you offer to your website visitors in exchange for their personal information.
The aim is to attract potential customers (leads), in the hopes that they will agree to be contacted directly by your business.
In digital marketing, a lead magnet is used to build an email list. It can be any valuable resource, offered free of charge when someone signs up to your email list. It can be in the form of an eBook, Cheatsheet, video course or white paper.
There are lots of strategies for creating a lead magnet that will guarantee conversions down the line– no matter if you are looking to sell courses online or physical products from your garage.
- Sales Funnel
A sales funnel is a series of steps that a business uses to guide prospects into becoming happy paying customers.
Sales funnels typically involve a combination of various channels such as SEO, social media, PPC, landing pages, sales emails, and live sales calls.
This process usually starts with a prospect’s initial interest and continues through to the point where he/she becomes a customer.
As soon as a visitor lands on your site, you want him/her to move along the sales funnel.
Once you have your avatar created, you’re ready to start building out your funnel steps.
The benefits of Lead Gen
The benefits of lead gen are numerous. Here are just some of the top reasons why you should consider using this strategy to grow your business.
- It increases brand recognition.
- It helps you identify your target audience.
- It provides you with quality contacts.
- It improves SEO. When you generate leads for your business, you will be able to improve your search engine ranking.
- It reduces workload.
- It saves money. The cost of lead generation is much lower compared to other marketing strategies.
- It enables personalization.
- It makes you look professional. A well-designed landing page will increase conversions because it shows that you take your work seriously.
- It helps you establish trust.
- It gives you access to data. After you’ve generated leads, you will be provided with detailed reports that show how many people viewed your website, what pages were visited, and how long each visit lasted.
By using these online lead gen techniques alone, you could create an effective marketing strategy.
You can’t just rely solely on digital channels; you need to use both online and offline methods to grow your business.
You’ll eventually get there!
It takes time and hard work to be successful at anything. But I’m sure you’ll agree that lead generation is worth every minute spent on it.
