5 expert tips that will help you capture more leads with your website

As a business owner, you should always be looking for new ways to make more sales. To do this successfully, you don’t just need to know how to attract your ideal customers to your website, but you also need to work out how to turn these leads into sales. In this article, we’re going to outline the steps you can take to optimize your website and capture more leads.

Let’s get started.

Make it easy for website visitors to convert#

The easier it is for someone to take the next step with your business, the more likely they’ll be to make a purchase. This means that you need to make it as easy as possible for people to get in touch with you or make a purchase, for instance. 

There are a lot of different ways you can make it easy for someone to take the next step with your business. For instance, you could use a sophisticated search tool that takes the user to what they need, use strong calls to action that tell the user what to do next, or provide clear contact options, like a live chat service.

For instance, InsanelyCheapFlights.com, a website dedicated to helping people find inexpensive airline tickets, makes it very easy for a visitor to take the next step. As you can see in the image above, a user just needs to plug in their location, destination, departure date, and return date to get personalized ticket deals. Because it doesn’t require a lot of effort on the part of the website visitor, it’s very easy for them to take the next step, so it’s sure to help the company capture plenty of leads. 

On your website, consider whether it would make sense to offer a sophisticated search tool to make it easier for visitors to take the next step. If you can create something like InsanelyCheapFlights.com has that directs the user to the product or service they’re looking for, they’ll be more likely to make a purchase.

Rainbow Movers, a moving company based out of southern California, also makes it easy for a website visitor to take the next step on their homepage. As you can see above, there’s a short form where the user simply needs to offer some simple details, then the company will reach out with a quote. It’s that easy! It requires very little effort on the part of the website visitor, making this a great way to capture more leads.

On your website, consider whether you could use a contact form like this to generate more sales. If you can just gather a small amount of information from your website visitors and promise them a quick callback, they’ll be more likely to fill out the form. Use this as a strategy to capture more leads through your website!

Finally, My Visa Source, an immigration law firm based out of Toronto, makes it incredibly easy for website visitors to take the next step, as well. They do this in a particularly clever way — on their homepage, there are two flags: one for Canada and another for the United States. Website visitors can simply click the flag for the country they are trying to get a visa for. It’s an easy process to understand, and can also help the company to overcome any language barriers there may be, making it a great way for My Visa Source to capture leads.

On your website, take advantage of visual elements in order to get people to take the next step, as My Visa Source has. This is a great way to turn your leads into clients, as it will encourage people to click through your website and take the next step.

Earn customers’ trust with your positive reviews#

People tend to trust word-of-mouth recommendations over regular forms of marketing, so it’s a good idea to ask your customers for reviews or testimonials that you can publish on your website. These will show your website visitors that you’ve done a great job for your customers in the past, which should help you to convert more of your leads.

If you run a product-based business, star reviews can work well. Ask your customers to give your products 1 to 5 stars, then display these reviews on the relevant category or product pages. This will help your website visitors quickly and easily compare similar items. If you run a service-based business, longer testimonials from clients will typically be a better fit. 

To get more reviews and testimonials for your website, you simply just need to ask. Consider reaching out to past clients asking them to compose testimonials. Or, send out post-purchase emails to your customers asking for reviews, perhaps in exchange for a small discount!

Let’s take a look at a few examples of businesses that incorporate reviews into their websites well for inspiration.

A Gift Personalized, a retailer of personalized and custom gifts, incorporates star reviews into their homepage. Towards the bottom of the page, they have a carousel of reviews from customers featuring their name, rating, and a brief testimonial. 

Star ratings are particularly helpful for a business like A Gift Personalized — their website visitors are going to want to know about the quality of the personalization. On your website, you can use a similar strategy to not only reassure customers about the quality of your products but to help them compare different selections.

On the other hand, Forever Homes, a custom home builder located in London, incorporates written testimonials into their homepage. As you can see in the image above, they have a carousel of quotes from their past clients outlining how great they were to work with, how great the results were, and more. 

This is particularly important for a business like Forever Homes because their services are custom — all of their clients will have different experiences, making longer testimonials all the more important.

On your website, use client testimonials to build trust with your website visitors. This will help you capture leads and get more sales in the future.

Show you’re an expert using high-quality content#

Showing off your expertise and building authority in your field is great for boosting your search engine optimization (SEO) and earning your customers’ trust. When you improve your SEO, you can make your website more visible on relevant search engine results pages (SERPs). This can bring you more relevant traffic and get you more leads! Then, if people who visit your website see that you’re an expert in your field and can be trusted to do a great job, they’ll be far more likely to convert into customers. 

There are a lot of different types of content that you can create to show off your expertise. Let’s look at a few of them with examples for inspiration.

Ultimate guides#

Ultimate guides cover everything that a person would need to know about a certain subject. These are thorough resources that have something to teach to both beginners and experts alike! When coming up with your own ideas for ultimate guides, think about what subjects you know inside and out. What are you an expert in? Creating ultimate guides on these subjects can help you show off your expertise and capture leads.

HubSpot, a digital marketing company, has an ultimate guide to video marketing that does several things well. It covers what types of marketing videos exist, how to create a video marketing strategy for social media, and more. 

It’s a very helpful guide for anyone needing help on the subject. It’s a great way for the company to show off their expertise, and it’s the perfect tool for building trust and capturing leads. On your website, think about what topics you’re an expert in. What do people come to your business for over anyone else? Creating ultimate guides and other content on these topics will help you show your expertise and capture more leads.

How-to guides#

How-to guides outline a process for your readers. They offer a great way for you to show off your expertise and how well you know your business! 

When coming up with ideas for how-to guides, think about what processes people need to understand before getting started with your business. Writing how-to guides on these topics will help draw people to your website and build trust with them. This means that it’s a great way to capture leads! 

For inspiration, let’s take a look at a high-quality how-to guide one company has created to support their prospective customers and earn their trust. 

Highest Cash Offer, a real estate company in Arizona, has a solid how-to guide that tells prospective clients how to sell a house that’s in need of repairs. The article outlines how important it is to have a home that is in great condition before it can be sold. They outline why this is vital and how they have fix-up services to help repair certain properties. 

The guide not only gives the reader important information, but it can direct them to call Highest Cash Offer in order to find out about these repair services. For your own website, think about what kinds of how-to guides you could create. What processes do beginners usually need outlined for them? Creating this content for your website can help show off your expertise and generate more sales.

Blog posts about industry news#

Consider publishing blog posts and articles about different industry trends or events. This will show your website visitors that you’re always up to date with recent happenings. And, if people can count on you as a source of news about your industry, you can generate a steady source of traffic. This makes it more likely that people will come back to your website time and time again, and eventually make a purchase.

CondoBlackBook, a real estate company in Florida, posts industry trends regularly on their blog. One article on Edgewater, a neighborhood in Miami, does a few things particularly well. They note that the neighborhood is one of the city’s best-kept secrets, with an arts scene and luxury roots. They also outline the history of the neighborhood and point out what condos they have available. 

This is a great article for people in Florida interested in buying real estate. People who are researching the area can find this content from CondoBlackBook and learn about the best neighborhoods. Once they’ve been to CondoBlackBook’s website, they’ll see that this business is an expert in their field and that they’re knowledgable about their industry — this means that this piece of content will help the company capture more leads in the long run. 

Need more help creating blog posts? Check out the blog writing services offered by Verblio. They will create high-quality blog posts that showcase your expertise and boost your SEO.

Optimize your website’s homepage#

A lot of companies focus on optimizing their product and service pages, or their content, but can neglect to use the same strategies for their homepages. This is often the page people land on first, though, meaning you need to put a lot of effort into it!

To optimize your homepage, there are a lot of strategies you can implement. Here are just a few:

• Use video content or imagery to make your homepage more engaging
• Have a simple layout that makes it easy to find information
• Make sure it’s easy to navigate
• Make sure it’s mobile-friendly 
• Put your contact details where they are easy to find

These strategies will help to ensure that your website visitors find what they’re looking for, making it more likely that they’ll spend money with your business. 

Let’s take a look at an example of a business that has a well-optimized homepage for inspiration.

Moz, another digital marketing company, does several things well on their homepage that make it great at capturing leads. First, the imagery and copy in the middle serve to engage the visitor; the fist-bumping teammates and phrase "there’s a smarter way to do SEO" will get visitors excited about the prospect of working with Moz. 

Secondly, there is a yellow call to action (CTA) button that notes the website visitor can try the Moz Pro service for free. Lastly, there is a series of well-known companies that use Moz listed at the bottom of this image. All of these elements will help Moz to capture more leads from their homepage. 

On your homepage, be sure to include engaging elements, strong CTAs, and social proof to capture more leads, as Moz has. These elements are just as important on the homepage as they are on your product or service pages, so you need to get them right!

Use lead magnets to collect your customers’ contact information #

Lead magnets are free items or services that are offered to website visitors in exchange for their contact information — typically an email address. Someone might not want to spend money with your business the first time they visit your website but, if you stay in touch with them through your email marketing, they’ll be far more likely to come back and make a purchase. Simply put, lead magnets can help channel more people into your sales funnel!

When coming up with ideas for lead magnets, think about what you can feasibly offer to your website visitors for free. You could offer a free trial, for instance. Or, you could compile blog posts into an eBook and offer a download in exchange for an email address. Think about what resources you already have on hand — this can help you quickly make lead magnets.

Let’s take a look at a few examples of businesses that use lead magnets well for inspiration.

Edith Cowan University, a higher education institution based in Australia, has a great lead magnet on its page for the ECU Online Master of Human Resource Management. As you can see in the image above, there’s a space where a website visitor simply plugs in their email and name and can get a free course guide. This is a great way for ECU to capture leads — the people downloading the brochure are likely interested in the program and very well might become students. By offering this course guide as a lead magnet, ECU can encourage the right people to subscribe to their email newsletter.

Think about what types of additional information you could offer to your prospective customers as a lead magnet. Offering free guides or brochures to people you know are interested in your services is a great way to capture leads and gain more customers in the future.

Davis, Saperstein & Salomon, P.C., a New Jersey personal injury attorney firm, also uses a lead magnet to capture leads. As you can see in the image above, a user can plug in their contact information, as well as any questions they have, in order to receive a free legal aid book. This is great for people who are concerned about potential legal issues they might have — they can download the book and determine whether they need a lawyer’s help. If they read the book and realize they do need legal help, because they will already have a relationship with Davis, Saperstein & Salomon, P.C., they’ll be more likely to use their services, making it a great tool for converting leads into clients!

On your website, offer evergreen resources in exchange for their contact information. If prospective clients find these resources helpful, they’ll be more likely to spend money with your business down the road. Plus, you’ll have their contact information and can add them to your mailing list to ensure your business is always top of mind.

Summary#

If you want to make more sales, you need to figure out how you can capture more leads for your business. In this article, we outlined how you can do that using expert website content, positive reviews and testimonials, lead magnets, and more.

Need more help running your eCommerce business? Check out the JivoChat blog. They have articles on web hosting, email marketing, CRM software, and more.

Aaron Haynes is CEO and co-founder of Loganix. The company is an SEO fulfillment partner for digital marketing agencies and professionals, which provides the services businesses need to improve their online visibility and grow. If you liked this article, check out the Loganix blog, where you’ll find more SEO guides full of expert advice.