You’ve crafted the perfect marketing plan to drive traffic to your website, which you’ve even optimized for SEO to attract prospects. But you’re still not seeing the surge in leads you’re expecting. Why? Join GROWL as we break down 10 tips to optimize your website for lead generation so you can guide prospects through the funnel and maximize your marketing ROI.
1 Conduct a Conversion Audit
To optimize your website, you will need a good understanding of how your website is currently performing. Conduct an audit of your website to identify your highest-performing pages and areas for improvement.
Utilize tools such as SEMrush to see your website’s domain authority score, current linking domains, inbound links, and ranking keywords. The domain authority will help you understand how your website ranks within search engine results. Additionally, tools such as Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test can uncover insights into the user experience for your website’s mobile view.
2 Create a Holistic Content Strategy
Tailor your content and web pages to stages within the buyer’s journey. By meeting your target audience exactly where they are within their journey, you can provide valuable content that resonates.
For example, a blog post aimed at prospects within the awareness stage of their journey can contain informative content that positions your brand as a thought leader while providing valuable resources. Similarly, landing pages built specifically for prospects within the purchase stage of their journey can be more concise with a clear CTA to purchase.
Use clear CTAs to help prospects understand the next steps. When using CTA buttons, tell your audience exactly what you want them to do next so you can effectively guide their journey through your funnel.
3 Utilize Pillar Pages
A pillar page is a web page that details your services or offerings and links to clustered for related topics. Pillar pages can boost your SEO, drive traffic, create efficiencies, and ultimately drive more conversions for your website. Overall, pillar pages improve site structure, help your site rank for high-volume keywords, and showcase your expertise.
Start by choosing a topic related to your industry and the problem your business solves for its customers, then develop a topic cluster. A topic cluster is a group of related content organized around your core pillar topic. Perform keyword research regarding these topics and optimize your blog for SEO.
Additionally, utilizing pillar pages can boost your credibility with your target audience by demonstrating that your website is an industry thought leader with the tools to help prospective customers succeed.
4 Use an Omnichannel Approach
Using an omnichannel approach will allow your brand to seamlessly speak to your audience throughout all touchpoints and direct them further down your sales funnel. From social media to email campaigns and direct mail campaigns, an omnichannel approach will improve your audience’s experience and provide actionable data for future campaigns.
Begin by identifying your goal and the target audience for your campaign. Identify which platforms will be used to activate your target audience and use consistent messaging explicitly tailored for each platform.
Optimize your campaign to assess which platforms drive the most traffic to your website by using UTMs. UTMs will allow you to set up specific parameters to track which sources, such as social media, email, or direct mail, to assess where leads are coming from and use that data to inform future marketing efforts.
5 Optimize for User Experience
The quickest way to kill a lead is by providing a poor user experience once they land on your website. If your website is challenging to navigate and the content is confusing, the lead will likely exit the site, and your chance to capture this lead will be missed.
Use a heat map to understand how users navigate your website’s pages. A heat map will show where users click the most within your site. Heat maps can also help uncover where leads begin losing interest in a page.
Additionally, review your website data to understand if most of your target audience utilizes your website on desktop or mobile. If your audience views the site on mobile, but your website isn’t using a mobile-first approach, their experience can become frustrating and interrupt their journey.
6 Optimize your Forms
Using forms within your highest-performing web pages is a great way to capture a lead’s contact information. When using forms, keep the structure simple by only requesting the most relevant information such as their name, email address, and phone number. Forms that are too long or request too much information can deter potential leads.
Consider providing a value-added resource, such as an eBook, webinar, checklist, or fun interactive quiz to encourage leads to complete a form. By providing free content through a gated page, you begin nurturing leads through valuable resources, building trust, and gaining the resources needed to continue the conversation.
7 Conduct an A/B Test
A/B testing is a great way to see what’s working and what’s not quickly. An A/B test allows you to test variations within a page to determine which performs best. When conducting an A/B test, be sure to test only one variable at a time. For example, you could test page layouts, CTAs, button placements, or headlines to determine which resonates the best with your target audience and leads to conversions.
8 Utilize Credibility Builders
There’s no shame in bragging! If your company recently won an award, received accreditation, or partnered with an industry leader, display this information prominently on your website
By showcasing credibility builders, such as an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau or an overall customer satisfaction rating, leads will trust your brand. Credibility builders help prospects feel more confident in their purchasing decision and contribute to a positive result for your conversions.
9 Continually Evaluate the Data
With platforms such as HubSpot, custom reporting dashboards can be set up to evaluate key performance metrics. By revisiting your website’s data on a regular basis, you can gain insight into how current initiatives are performing and identify additional areas for improvement.
10 Follow up with Leads
Don’t let your leads become missed opportunities! Seal the deal by following up with prospects soon after the lead has been captured.
Use tools such as email automation to continue the conversation with prospects. Once you’ve captured the lead, use an email nurture flow to provide additional resources and ultimately encourage your lead to convert.
Additionally, ad retargeting—the process of targeting ads to prospects who have already visited your site or display behaviors matching your target audience—is a great way to grab the attention of new and old prospects.
Need help leveraging your website optimization and lead generation? Contact the GROWL team today.