We talk a lot about “Content Is King”; and that’s true. Your content provides keyword-rich fodder for the search engines as well as reputation-establishing credentials for your human readers. Long live the King.
Now that you are driving all this traffic to your website, what happens next? If you just shrugged your shoulders, you’re not alone.
Many small businesses fail to include even the most basic lead capture framework on their websites, relying instead on prospects to contact them. Big mistake. Here’s why you need to fix it.
Lead Capture Provides Opportunities
“Lead capture” refers to the mechanism by which you collect information on your visitors. This isn’t a creepy “we’re watching you” proposition but rather a swap of information if you will.
The implicit agreement is you provide premium content or some similar incentive to readers who then provide you with their contact information; name, email, phone number, etc.
This exchange is a win-win; your reader gets something others don’t and you get the information you wouldn’t otherwise receive.
Your Analytics Aren’t Enough
It’s important to include analytics on your site to understand what is happening on your website. Analytics, however, only show anonymous information. You can see which pages are being visited, which external links are driving traffic, and which keywords are being searched to find you but you don’t know who visited your pages, clicked on external links or searched to find you.
So while analytics give your marketing team a lot of metrics to work with your sales team gets nothing.
Lead Capture Is Not Just For Corporations
One of the very best things about online marketing is the relatively level playing field.
You do not need to hire a huge marketing agency to establish lead capture on your website. You can add a lead capture mechanism to your existing website fairly easily.
Lead capture boils down to nothing more than what are you offering and how are you collecting the information?
Without it your prospects may know who you are, but you don’t know who they are.