Optimize Your Website For Lead Generation [2023]

The lead generation process typically starts when a user clicks on your ads, campaigns, links, or any other type of call-to-action which led them to your landing page or website.

Now, the visitor is on your landing page, and this is your chance to convert this visitor into a lead and further engage in the sales cycle.

The first 3–5 seconds decide whether a visitor will leave your site or stay for the information or product they seek.

It means if your landing page is optimized for conversion and matches the intent of the visitor that led them to your site, they’ll stay otherwise they’ll leave within the first 3–5 seconds.

Usually, this landing page includes a contact form that collects the visitors’ information like name, email address, contact no., requirements, etc.

If the visitor filled out the form, you got the lead.

This is the typical website lead generation process.

Since we have understood the process of generating leads from the website, now we’ll talk about how you can optimize your website for lead generation.

Ways To Optimize Website To Generate Leads

Let’s dig deep into this and check out this list of 11 actionable steps to generate more leads from your website…

1. Optimize Landing Pages For Conversions

Landing pages are the place where your visitors land when they click on your ads and campaigns.

They must be highly optimized for conversions otherwise you’re gonna waste all your ads budget.

As I mentioned above, you got only 3–5 seconds to somehow make your visitors stay on your website so that they can convert into leads.

Now, the question is how you can make them stay.

So, the landing page consists of some elements. And you have to work on every element to engage your visitor so that you don’t lose them for good.

Let’s talk about each element.

1.1 Title

The Title also known as Header is the main headline of the page.

It is the first thing that catches your visitor’s attention.

This Shopify trial landing page is a very good example of an awesome Title.
It gives a clear and very appealing message and offers a very lucrative deal of ₹20/month.

Just like this, your title must speak about your product and services in the most simple yet appealing manner.

It should be something that makes your website visitors want to scroll down and look further.

If you can win over your visitors with your Title you have won half the battle.

1.2 Description

I have seen most people don’t give much significance to the description.

A description is the next line below the title and it speaks a bit more about your product or service.

The description is an excellent chance to engage your visitors by showing your USP, building authority, telling more about your products, offering something valuable, showing your credibility and this list goes on.

Yet most landing pages don’t leverage this the way they can.

In the above landing page of Sendinblue, they tried to build the authority of their brand by showing the number of companies using their email marketing tool.

In this case, it builds a sense of trust among the visitor about the product.

You can also do something like this and impress your website visitors.

So, always make the most out of the description of your landing pages.

1.3 CTA (Call-to-Action)

Every landing page has some kind of call-to-action button on it.

The important thing is how you’re using it for maximum conversions.

Your title, description, and body show your unique value proposition, the benefits of your products, and what users can expect from your product but your CTA is what guides your visitor to take a desired action.

Without a good CTA, all your efforts to bring visitors to websites make no sense.

And it has to be in the right place for Maximum conversions.

As you can see in the above image, this is the landing page of Typeform, a tool that helps you build a landing page.

This CTA is right next to the title and description. and why it’s great.

Because of the title — that you can build the no-code landing page of your dream.

And description even sums up this by stating that you can build a landing page in minutes.

This is what most people are looking for in a landing page tool that you can build a no-code landing page without spending much of your time and start generating leads.

And right after this amazing title and description, there is the call to action button that states: Get started — it’s free.

This is the exact right place because just after reading the title and description, your user is excited and would want to try this out.

1.4 Existing Clients Section

The existing client section is a part of your landing page where you put logos or names of your clients.

It is extremely important.

Why?

Because it builds your brand value and trusts among your website visitors.

If you have built your existing clients section something like the above, imagine the impact it will create on your website visitors when they see so many big companies are already using your product.

They would want to be on that list.

But it’s not something new, and almost every website already has this section.

But the important thing is where you have placed this section on your landing page.

You should try to put it somewhere on the top side of the landing page so that as soon as a visitor lands on your website, it catches their attention without spending much time.

Remember that 3–5 seconds rule we talked about above?

1.5 Testimonials and Reviews (Social Proof)

This is kind of obvious that putting some kind of social proof in your landing pages will definitely help in converting visitors into leads.

This is because we, human beings are wired in such a way that when we are looking online for any product or service, we always want to seek out the validation of that product. Testimonials and reviews do this pretty well.

Even in business, most of our decisions are connected with our emotions.

Meaning, when we see a lot of positive reviews and testimonial videos of any product, we unconsciously incline toward that product.

This is a well-known marketing tactic — to bring emotional value to your products.

That is why it is extremely important to add testimonials and reviews on your landing pages.

You should always try to add some growth numbers or graphs to your testimonials.

If you can put video testimonials, that’s even better. They bring even more trust and authority to your brand.

The placement of the social proof on your landing page also matters.

Usually, social proofs are below the benefits of your product in order to build authenticity, but they should not be too below that your visitor doesn’t even reach there.

1.6 Contact Form

Last but not least.

Even the most important part: The Contact Form.

Why contact form is the most important part?

Because the contact form will collect all the information of the visitor and convert it from just a website visitor to a lead.

All of the other elements of your landing page have done their work to bring the visitor to the bottom of the page, now it’s your contact form that will lead to conversion.

So, your contact form must be engaging and highly optimized, and absolutely not boring.

It should be simple yet attractive. Neilpatel.com has done a very good job in its contact form. It is very simple, and straightforward and asks for very few details that the user will easily fill out.

You can also add a drop-down button in your contact form.

This is another marketing tactic that works absolutely great. Your visitors don’t have to think and write about their queries or requirements, they just have to select one of the options listed there.

It just increases the chances of them selecting one of the options and giving you their requirements.

Bonus tip: Your contact form should never take visitors to any other page.

After filling out all the details, you can simply show the thank you message on that same page itself. People just hate it when websites take them to different pages.

2. Use Conversational Live Chat / Chatbot

Live chat widgets and chatbots are great lead generators and you should definitely leverage them for generating and qualifying leads from your website.

In today’s digital scenario, they are even more relevant.

The reason is simple.

Today’s user is very busy in their own life. They don’t have time. They’re doing almost everything on the go (not everything 😜).

So, if you wanna hold your user, you gotta resolve their queries and talk to them in real time.

And live chat widgets and chatbots work great for this.

Whenever a visitor lands on your website, your chatbot can initiate the conversation and start the engagement.

Because when a user is coming to your website, he is looking for something that you offer, so, if can just start talking to them and listen to their requirements in real-time, they’re most likely to convert.

3. Use Exit Intent Technology

Exit intent is a smart behavioral technology that monitors the mouse movement of the visitor on a webpage and assists marketers detect when a visitor is going to leave the webpage without conversion or making any purchase.

The main purpose is to engage the visitors when they’re going to leave your landing page.

You should definitely use exit-intent popups to capture more leads, increase your subscriber list, reduce cart abandonment rate, etc.

Imagine a visitor lands on your landing page, roams around a bit, and then decides to leave your site and suddenly a pop-up appears on the screen with a coupon code, a free trial, or a discount.

He would definitely want to check it out if your offer is appealing enough. And instead of leaving off, he clicks on CTA and gets converted as a lead.

Isn’t it great?

Popups can increase the website conversion rate by up to 40%.

You can use popups in various ways —

• Make your popups personal (personalization)
• Offer a discount
• Offer free shipping
• Offer coupon code
• Offer free trial
• Offer something valuable for free
• Suggest related products

4. Optimize Your Website For UX

User Experience is everything when it comes to generating leads from websites.

You’ve got everything that your user seeks but if your website/landing page is not UX-friendly, you might lose most of your visitors.

If the overall experience on your website is not good enough, your visitor won’t convert or talk to you.

It is that simple.

Apollo.io has done great work in design, content, readability, engagement, colors, etc., and is a very good example of an overall UX-optimized website.

You can also make your website UX-friendly by keeping a few things in mind.

And if you focus on these few things, you’re all set to go.

4.1 Design

Design is the first thing towards conversion rate optimization.

It is the first customer touch point that the visitor experiences and if it is not good, it simply leaves a bad impression.

A good website design is essential in order to increase the conversion rate.

Research by Standford University states that as much as 46.1% of people say that design is the top criterion in deciding the credibility of the company.

And more than half of visitors leave the website after the first 8 seconds, so if your design is better, you might stand a chance to hold the visitor on your site and convert them into leads.

The above stats clearly shows how important it is to improve your website design.

4.2 Loading Speed

The second most important thing in UX optimization is the loading speed of your website.

You can run ads and bring visitors to your site, but if it’s slow, it just ruins the experience of the visitor.

Everyone wants fast and instant responses. And if your website is not fast, no one would want to stay on it.

Image Source: Google

And ultimately will increase your bounce rate and reduce your LPV rate.

LPV rate is the ratio of total landing page views to the total clicks you got.

There is always some drop-off when someone clicks on your ads to reach the landing page.

The major reason for this is the loading speed of your website.

When a user clicks on your ad, and your site takes too much time to open, the user will just close the tab. This LPV rate should be at least 70%.

So, if your website is slow, you’re not just ruining the experience of your visitor but also wasting your budget.

There are various simple ways to increase your website speed:

• Cache your web pages
• Enable browser caching
• Compress and optimize your images
• Reduce your redirects
• Minify CSS, HTML & Javascript

And Not just in UX but the loading speed also helps in improving the SEO of your site.

So, by increasing your website loading speed, you’re not just improving the experience of your website visitors, but also improving the organic ranking of your website.

4.3 Mobile Friendly

Approximately 50% of all traffic worldwide comes from mobile devices.

In the fourth quarter of 2022, mobile devices alone generated 59.16 percent of website traffic globally. ~ Statista

Mobile is handy and you always have it in your pocket.

An internet user spends more than half of his time on mobile devices.

And because people spend so much time on their mobile phones, your website must be mobile-friendly otherwise you’re gonna lose the majority of users who will visit your website on mobile devices.

4.4 Value Proposition

Value proposition means your landing page should match the intent of the visitor and offers the value that the visitor seeks when he searches for something.

It means your ad campaigns should be highly optimized and targeted.

And your landing page should be even more engaging in terms of value delivery.

For example, if a user is searching for CRM for small businesses and clicks on your ad campaign, your landing must be optimized for small businesses only and if the user finds that you offer CRM but it is for enterprises, he will leave immediately and search for other options.

Because, here, the intent and the expectations of the user were very clear that he is looking for a CRM for small businesses only, but you somehow didn’t manage to meet the expectations of the visitor.

Similarly, if you can meet the intent and delivers exactly what your visitor wants, you got it.

4.5 Follow Hick’s Law

Named after British psychologist William Edmund Hick, hick’s law states that the time it takes for a user to take a decision is directly proportionate to the number of choices he or she has.

In simple words, if you give too many choices to people, they will get confused and take much longer to decide.

But if you only give a couple of relevant options, they will make up their mind in much less time comparatively.

The same thing applies to your website also.

You should only add 5–6 options max in your menu.

So that your visitors have a few but more relevant options and can decide quickly.

Just like moz.com. Their menu has only 5 options and each one clearly states what they’re about.

So, your user can quickly navigate to the page where they wanna go, and won’t get lost on your website.

5. Offer Something Valuable For Free (Lead Magnets)

This is yet another great marketing tactic to bring your visitors again to your website and gain their trust.

Offering something valuable to your visitors without asking for anything is your chance to prove your credibility and create a trustworthy image of your brand.

Your user will get something related to the problem that brought them to your website, and they don’t even have to pay anything in exchange which is great because they don’t want to spend their money or time if they don’t trust you or haven’t used your product or service before.

So, you’re doing exactly what they want by doing this.

Udemy offers free courses to its users and builds credibility among them.

After having the free course, the user will definitely be ready to pay for any paid course if that free course was good enough.

Because he knows that Udemy courses are valuable and worth paying for.

Below are a few ideas of what you can offer to your visitors for free:

• E-books, whitepapers, and research reports related to your industry.
• A newsletter with exclusive content and updates
• Webinars or online workshops
• Free trials of your product or service.
• Online courses or tutorials.
• Access to a community forum or discussion group.

These kinds of free offerings also called Lead Magnets can position your website as a valuable resource and increase engagement with your visitors.

And ultimately helps in website traffic conversion.

6. Show Your Credibility

The success of your website depends on your credibility.

Your credibility is one thing that you’ll need to convert more website visitors into leads.

Credible means trustworthy and reliable.

So it is essential for you to win the trust of your visitors and build a reputed image of your brand.

Because your users want to make sure their time and money are not being wasted.

There are several ways to build your credibility such as:

6.1 Social Proof

You should add logos or names of companies that are already using your product or service.

We already talked about this above in the first point.

It is simple. No one wants to take the first chance and lose their money.

So, by adding your existing clients to your website, you’re saying that you’re already been used and trusted by many other companies.

It builds a sense of confidence among your users.

And make sure your social proof is easily visible.

6.2 Case Studies

Case studies are similar to social proof.

But instead of adding the logos or names of companies, you’re putting an entire report about how a company achieved its goals by using your product.

Fractl is a very good example of building credibility by adding case studies on its website.

6.3 Press Mentions & Awards

Press mentions are powerful credibility boosters.

So if you got an award or got mentioned in the press, you must add it to your website.

They build trust and authority in your brand.

Leverage them to gain the trust of your visitors.

6.4 Reviews From Influencers

Reviews or testimonials from some powerful names in the industry can be the game changer for you.

These influencers have a stronghold in the market, thus reviews from them carry a lot of power and reach.

It builds your brand’s credibility like nothing else.

7. Keep Adding Updated Content

You must have heard this saying “Content Is Key”.

Well, it’s true when it comes to building an image of your brand.

You must keep adding updated and relevant content to your website.

And not just this, you should also update your old content from time to time.

By doing this, you’re positioning your website as a go-to resource among your targeted audience and ultimately building your credibility and authenticity.

Fresh and updated content results in more social shares and helps in high search rankings.

Brian Dean of Backlinko knows exactly how to leverage content for bringing traffic, building authority, and generating leads.

It differs from industry to industry how you can use content marketing for increasing your conversion rate.

But whatever industry you belong to, the content might not help directly in generating leads but it surely delivers results in long term.

8. Use Different Landing Pages For Each Offering

You should always use different landing pages for different offerings.

This is because, if a user is searching for something that you sell and land on your website, he would want to see those products only that he desires and not any other products.

For example, if you run an online shoe store, you can add all categories and all types of shoes on your website.

But you must create different landing pages for each type of shoe.

If a user is landing on your landing page after searching for sneakers, then your landing page must be optimized for sneakers only and not for any other type of shoe.

Similarly, if a user wants to buy sports shoes, your landing page should include everything about sports shoes only and not any other type of shoe.

So this way, you’re giving them a personalized experience by showing them only what they’re looking for and nothing else.

So, you must create different landing pages for each offering completely optimized and devoted to that particular offering only.

It will help in converting visitors into leads.

And also the more landing pages you create the more leads you’ll generate.

To back this up, there is research by Hubspot that states that businesses with more than 40 landing pages generate 12 times more leads than those with only 1–5 landing pages.

9. Crystal Clear & Personalized CTA

We already talked about CTAs and their placement above in the first point.

You guys already know about CTAs and how to place them on your landing pages to get maximum results.

But another important thing is that your CTA should be crystal clear and must scream about your offering in a simple and clear manner so that your user can easily understand what they’re gonna get after clicking on the CTA button.

And it should be completely personalized if you want to get the most out of them.

Meaning, don’t use “Sign Up Now”, “Sign Up For Trial”, “Sign Up Free”, etc. everywhere.

Instead, use different CTAs on different pages and for different users.

Tweak It asks its users to collab with them, which is far better than conventional CTAs, because Tweak It is a design studio, and by this, they are asking their users to work with them and not to buy their product. And it works great.

WordPress is another great example. Their themes section doesn’t ask users to sign up to check the themes, instead, their CTA simply says to Find your theme.

You got my point.

10. Track And Measure Performance

So you’re doing all the efforts to bring visitors to your website and then convert them into leads.

But if you’re not measuring the results, everything is just for nothing and you won’t be able to scale your lead generation process.

Reason being there are so many things involved in the lead generation process. Lead magnets, contact forms, landing pages, live chat tools, content, etc., and if you can’t measure their performances then how will you find out what’s working and what’s not?

If something is working, then how to improve it and get even better results?

And if something is not working, then where’s the gap, what’s missing?

To get the answers to these questions, you must track each and everything otherwise you’ll generate leads but you won’t be able to scale the process and ultimately lose tons of money.

11. A/B Testing

Test, Test, Test.

Testing different things on your website will help you evaluate what works better for you.

Usually, A/B testing works by creating two different versions of the same thing and distributing it among the same size audience for a certain period of time.

Results will be different for both versions, and hence you will understand what‘s performing better for you.

When it comes to A/B testing for increasing website conversion rate, usually there are two types:

Design Test: where you’ll make changes related to the design of your landing page. You can test the different colors on your CTA, or you could change the layout of a particular section.

User Experience Test: where you’ll make changes in those places that impact the user experience. You can change the placement of your CTA and find out if keeping it on the top right works better or in the center.

Never forget to send the kickback emails to your leads.

Kickback emails are when any visitor fills out your form, clicks on CTA, and give their details, your system should automatically trigger an email to them after the submission.

Depending on the type of CTA they clicked, usually this email is a thank you email for sharing their requirement and getting in touch.

It is extremely important to send kickback emails because it will let your leads know that they have been acknowledged by you and they will soon hear from you with some solution to their problems that led them to your website.

It builds trust and the genuineness of your brand among your leads.

And it doesn’t need your involvement, you can automate this process.

So, this was it for this post. I tried to include all the important points with the help of which you can optimize your website for conversion and generate leads.

I hope it would help you in setting up your lead generation process.

If I missed any point, let me know in the comments below.

Cheers!!