Every great website has a great lead generator…or what is also known as a lead magnet.
Why is this, and why is it so vital?
It’s because your website must have a simple way for customers to give you their email address, which is actually what they WANT to do if you can help them.
If you don’t give your visitors a reason to give you their email address, you’ll likely never make the sale because they’ll become distracted and bounce off your site.
Always remember that people want to stay in touch with you if you’re able to help them in some way.
That’s why your lead magnet is actually quite a big deal. It’s the first time your customer commits! And it’s amazing how many websites neglect this and never even bother to make a lead generator (which costs companies more missed sales than they’ll ever know).
What Should Your Lead Generator Be?
Since most people don’t want to give their email address out for no reason, your lead magnet must have VALUE.
We suggest starting with an eBook as a PDF. They are incredibly cheap to create, short, visual, compelling and can be consumed right away. It’s easy for you and your customer.
This eBook lead generator should contain the following content in some form:
- Answer your customer’s questions
- Solve their problem
- Peak their interest
- Build trust in your offer
- Challenge them to take small actions to move forward in some way
- Give them a vision of the successful result they will experience
Traits of a Great eBook Lead Generator
A great lead generator eBook will do the following things:
- Position yourself as the guide—You are the expert and you show them what to do and where to go.
- Show how you are different—This is your chance to claim your space and differentiate yourself from the competition!
- Qualify your audience—A good lead magnet qualifies the customer to make sure your product or service is a good fit.
- Create trust —When you solve a problem before they’ve bought anything, they’ll look to you to solve other problems in your area of expertise.
- Create reciprocity —When you give FREE value like an eBook, the customer wants to return the favor.
Have an interesting title—Make your title catchy, bold, and fun. Ask yourself, is this something I would WANT to read?
The key is not to overthink it. Share your knowledge, but this isn’t a whitepaper or an academic exercise. It should be fun and interesting for people or nobody will read it.
Content Ideas for Lead Generators
There are plenty of other lead magnets you can do that don’t involve making an eBook. Here are 7 ideas for other lead generators that offer value:
Lead Generator #1: An Interview
Capture an interview with an expert. This should be an influencer who you talk to that you then can turn into a podcast, video, pdf, or article. Many of your customers will want to gain access to this valuable info for free.
Lead Generator #2: Checklist
A checklist walks your readers through a list of ideas related to solving their problem. A great way to let customers know what they are lacking and where you can help. Usually is great as a short, valuable piece of info customers are eager to give up an email for.
Lead Generator #3: Worksheet
Make a worksheet your audience will use over and over. For instance, maybe a weekly marketing plan or a goal setting plan. Imagine something that they would use daily or weekly. Your audience will be more than ready to give their email for free access to this!
Lead Generator #4: Event Access
Host an educational event. This can be harder to pull off, but if you have the right audience for it, it can work great. Just keep in mind more planning and effort is needed for something like this.
Lead Generator #5: Sample
Give away a sample to your potential customers. Samples lead to sales. What is something small you can give away? Think of something that is not too expensive for you yet your customers would love.
Lead Generator #6: Webinar
Offer training or information that will help your customer overcome a specific problem. Use the recorded webinar so you only need to do it once, and make it evergreen. Webinars are powerful sales tools if done right.
Lead Generator #7: Keynote Presentation
Develop a keynote presentation into a lead generator. Make slides and give your customers access. Think of it like the cliff notes version of an eBook. Scratch the curiosity itch by using click-bait titles if need be, because it doesn’t matter how great the content is if your title doesn’t get people to even read it.
Steps to Creating Lead Generator
Never stop thinking about lead generators. You should think about lead generators just as much as you think of new products. With the right lead generator, you’ll be able close sales in a natural way.
No matter what form of lead generator you decide to use (eBook, Webinar, Interview, etc.) you’ll use the same basic steps.
#1 Create a catchy, captivating title.
What is it that you are giving? Give them a reason to download a pdf or register for your webinar.
#2 Create the content.
This is the meat of the pdf or the video. Create it and get the outline, take the time to actually produce the content needed!
#3 Promote it.
What do you do with your lead generator? You must get it front and center on your website! We know of people that create lead generators and never actually use them or have them so hidden nobody ever will optin.
Important: While most people will tell you step 1 or 2 is the most important, please know that promotion is the most important step, and it’s not even close. Use popups to give your website visitor a chance to see the offer or use an intent to popup before they close. Make them click on a sentence to close the popup not a X. You can also promote your lead generator with paid ads on your social media.
General Tips for Lead Generation
- Don’t focus on too many problems at once. Focus on ONE problem at a time.
- Don’t use too much text. Less text is always better.
- Don’t be too vague, get SPECIFIC.
- Use a catchy title, and don’t shy away from “click baity” if you need to.
- A/B test your lead generator pages. Test, Test, Test!
- Set up post optin email flows. Once you get the email you have to do something with them. The next step is advanced email campaigns and paid remarketing ads.
Conclusion
If this all sounds daunting, don’t worry. Take it one step at a time. Having a great lead generator for your website is a game-changer so it needs to be done right, so don’t rush it. That said, you don’t need to invest a ton of money and take months to complete this either. This is a simple task, yet we also know it’s a complicated task—and that’s not a contradiction because GOOD lead magnets are thought out, well-planned, and executed.
If you don’t want to go at it alone, the pros at Greenslant are helping companies every week create high-converting lead magnets. We specialize in bringing in massive amounts of new leads while funneling them into a sales process that works for you.
Whether you want to do an eBook, a webinar, or just a simple checklist, we’ve done it all and know from experience what will work well. Schedule a free consultation and we can discuss what type of lead magnet could work for your website, your audience, and your product or service!
