Your business website can be one of your most powerful marketing tools, but it needs to do more than simply driving traffic to your website that quickly bounces away. Is it motivating your visitors to further engage with your business and turn into paying customers?

 

Here are 10 expert tips on how to generate more leads from your website:

 

  1. Review your website design and navigation.

Website visitors will stay on sites that are simple, yet have attractive imagery, and are easy to navigate. They will leave sites that make it hard to find the information they’re looking for. 

 

“The first thing you need to do is take a good, hard look at your website design,” says Brenton Thomas, CEO of Twibi Agency, a digital marketing firm in Portland, Oregon. “Is it clean and organized? Is it easy to navigate? If not, you need to make some changes.”

 

  1. Add relevant content.

Make sure your website has a lot of relevant, keyword-rich content—such as a blog that you update regularly with helpful articles and information and a frequently-asked questions (FAQ) page. For example, a small accounting firm might produce a blog with posts about new tax rules or tax breaks available to businesses or individuals in their local area and other timely or helpful content. “This will not only help improve your search engine ranking, but it will also make it more likely that visitors stay on your site and convert into leads,” Thomas says.

 

  1. Use impactful calls to action. 

Even if visitors value the information they’re finding on your site, are you making it easy for them take the next step in their buying journey with you? Putting calls-to-action (CTAs) throughout your site are critical. These can be links or buttons that let visitors easily make a purchase (“Buy now”), get a free quote or sign up for your e-newsletter. What call to action makes sense on a particular page will depend on the other content on that page, but the goal is for that site visitor to deepen their relationship with you.

 

“Calls to action should be clear, concise, persuasive and easy to spot,” says Oliver Moreno, founder and CEO at Miami-based Bright Click Digital Marketing. “If your CTA isn’t effective, visitors won’t take the action you want them to.”

 

  1. Use an effective lead capture form. 

By filling out a lead capture form, website visitors can provide their contact information and give permission to be contacted by your business. Moreno says the forms should be short, easy to fill out and appear on your home page and product or service pages.

 

Typeform and Zoho are two popular lead capture form providers.

 

Once the lead is in play, Moreno says, it’s key to have a system in place for converting the leads into customers. That could include automated email follow-ups or a call from a sales team member.

 

  1. Offer something of value. 

The best way to engage your website visitors and motivate them to provide their contact information through a lead capture form is to offer them some high-value content, such as an e-book, a discount code or a free service or trial. This is another opportunity to capture their contact information and ask them to opt-in to emails from your business.

 

  1. Use a chatbot. 

A well-designed chatbot can help generate leads and sales from your website 24/7. “By providing a human touch, chatbots can build trust and rapport with potential customers, and they can answer any questions website visitors have about your product or service,” Moreno says.

 

  1. Include videos. 

Many people now consume content by way of videos, and adding them to website pages can help boost conversion rates, says James Kaatz, co-founder of Illumination Marketing in Houston. Among the most popular: videos that showcase your brand, how-to and educational videos and product reviews.

 

  1. Make your website mobile-friendly. 

More and more people are accessing the internet through their smartphones and tablets, making it critical to build a responsive website that loads quickly and is easy to view, Kaatz adds. If your site isn’t mobile-friendly, potential customers will leave yours and find one that is.

 

  1. Incorporate social media buttons. 

Add buttons that let your site visitors easily follow your company’s social media pages, as well as share your content on their own social media pages. Of course, you’ll want to make sure you’ve also built a great social media presence that motivates them to engage with you. 

 

  1. Eliminate website clutter. 

For the best user experience and to maximize conversions, get rid of any clutter, says Paige Arnof-Fenn, CEO of Mavens & Moguls, a digital marketing firm in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Not only can website clutter slow down your site,

 

On Arnof-Fenn’s hit list: unnecessary ads, blinking banners, irrelevant images, old and unmaintained social media accounts, and out of date or irrelevant testimonials and reviews. 

 

She adds: “Having any of these issues in your website can kill visitors’ trust, which is a key reason online buyers don’t buy.

Print this article