3 Steps to Capture Leads Online

Imagine that I just gave you a stack of crisp $10 bills. 100 of them.

Now let’s go sit down by a cozy fire and review the last 100 visitors who came to your website.

• For each visitor you captured, meaning they gave you their contact information through a webform, you get to keep a $10 bill.
• For every visitor who left your website never to return again, you have to toss a $10 bill into the fire (ooohh, look at the different-colored flames!).

At the end of this exercise, most small businesses would have less than $100. The remaining $900 that could have been in your pocket is now gone—forever.

This is what happens every day on your website when you don’t have an effective lead-capture strategy in place. If you want to build a substantial email marketing list (and capture a portion of that $900), you need to turn your website into a lead-capturing machine.

Here are three quick steps to follow:

Step 1: Create an irresistible lead magnet. The purpose of a lead-generation magnet is to attract visitors and give them a reason for opting in on your website. Free reports, e-books, white papers, webinars, coupons, etc. can be highly effective at capturing leads.

Step 2: Offer the magnet in a compelling way. The traditional “Subscribe to My Newsletter” lead-capture form is NOT going to cut it these days, because it offers very little value. Your offer must be compelling and your opt-in form needs to be placed in a prominent location.

Step 3: Automatically follow up with leads to convert them into customers. Once the person fills out your lead-capture form, you can use powerful marketing automation technology to begin to follow up with your new opt-ins. For example, you may send a series of emails like this:

1. Immediately: Confirm their request and deliver your magnet.
2. Day 2: Send another educational, value-creating message.
3. Day 4: Discuss the pain points your offering helps prospects to overcome.
4. Day 7: Present a special offer that relates to the conversation in prior messages.
5. Day 14: Deliver more value and follow up on the special offer.