The Best Way to Generate Quality Leads Online

Leads are the lifeblood of your business. After all, if people aren’t interested in your products and services, you’re not going to get very far. But all leads aren’t created equal. From those ready to purchase, qualified leads are the gold standard of leads.

The good news? There are many ways to generate qualified sales leads online. If you’re looking to learn more about lead generation channels, you’ve come to the right place.

Read on for a roundup of 4 of the best ways to generate quality leads online.

1 – Email marketing

Email marketing works best when leads are permission-based, meaning the prospect has opted in to receive messages from your company. Spamming people has a brand-negative effect. Throughout Covid, the adoption of email marketing grew by leaps and bounds. Marketers understood that they had access to email wherever a prospect was working.

To overcome the flood in a typical in box, email campaigns should leverage highly creative messaging empathetic to prospect needs, informative videos, and links to relevant landing pages for conversions. Like other forms of marketing, email works best as a consistent campaign over time. Often, prospect response is in the 3^rd or 4^th email within a campaign.

2 – Social media

As social media has become increasingly pervasive, it’s valuable for many aspects of marketing—including lead generation. With the number of social media users worldwide expected to balloon to 4.41 billion by 2025, its lead generation potential will only continue to grow.

One of the reasons social media marketing is so powerful for qualified lead generation is that it boasts high rates of engagement when compared to other platforms. But that’s not all. Because user profiles are full of information, it’s got built-in targeting and contact info.

Factor in geo-targeting and location tools, and it becomes obvious why social media is an optimal channel for lead generation: it lets you convert users into paying customers by targeting them with the most relevant content.

A few social media lead generation strategies include:

• enticing people with lead magnets (a free service or giveaway for the purpose of getting contact details)
• sharing testimonials to build social proof
• using targeted ads with special offers
• setting up retargeting, or remarketing, to reach out to previous website visitors by showing them ads on social media
• launching referral campaigns

3 – Search Engine Optimization

When you’re facing a challenge or trying to solve a problem, odds are you head straight to Google. That’s what most people do, and its why SEO is so important.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is  how businesses can make sure their products, services, and websites are being shown to the people looking for them. When users enter a query into a search engine, the search engine uses an algorithm to determine which websites will best satisfy that query. When done correctly, SEO can register your website with a high search engine results page (SERP) ranking and create a consistent stream of qualified traffic.

SEO is also valuable because it yields organic leads which are proven to convert more leads into prospects. As such, it is a budget-friendly form of marketing that can help you build an authentic audience, create consumer trust, and improve online reviews and rankings.

Strategies for using SEO for qualified lead generation include:

• performing keyword research
• creating an SEO-optimized and active blog
• increasing your website speed
• utilizing link-building
• actively posting on social media
• managing customer reviews
• leveraging local SEO strategies, if your business attracts prospects within 45 miles

4 – Pay-Per-Click (PPC)

Many people think of search engine marketing, or pay-per-click, as a tactic to promote e-commerce; however, it’s also a valuable channel for businesses and websites looking to boost their online lead generation. In addition to helping to fill the top of your funnel, PPC can also target prospects at all funnel stages. Clicks are only charged to your credit card when a prospect lands on your website or landing page.

PPC for lead generation has many advantages, including:

• attracting consumers who are looking for exactly what you’re offering
• boosting keyword rankings and website traffic
• bidding on various stages of the funnel and controlling the messaging along the way
• crafting your messaging based on what people are searching for
• enriching your understanding of your leads and their behaviors
• tracking ROI

In addition to the above, you can tightly control your daily click budget. Once a budget is reached, ads are “turned off” for the day.

While organic marketing is an excellent way to attract leads, paid search engine marketing (SEM) methods like PPC can fast-track the road to higher SERP rankings.

Regardless of the type of products and services you’re offering, your lead generation strategies can make or break your business. It’s best to rely on a professional marketing team to organize, create and track your marketing while you remain focused on the day-to-day responsibilities your business requires.

Contact us today to discuss how the X-Factor Web Marketing team can help you generate quality leads online or with help another marketing question, such as how to build brand awareness online.