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Tips in Generating Leads Through The Internet

Many companies know that the internet is one of the most powerful channels to generate leads yet lack the know-how on how to proceed. This is a summarized version of how to generate leads through the internet.

Search Engines

When people search for specific information online, they are looking to find companies or websites providing information about services. These people are already possible customers, searching for the best product or service. They are, in fact, already interested prospects.

And companies who know how to tap into the internet  to attract them benefit because they are providing their information when the prospect is searching, rather than disturbing them (e.g. advertisements).

With this, people who find their websites are looking to spend more time reading through the content because they are researching on this information.

There are specifically 2 types of traffic generation methods through search engines:

Organic Traffic aka Search Engine Optimization

This is where your website is “recommended” by google or yahoo, based on your content because they perceive you as an expert in that field. Both search engines have different approach on how to establish your “authority” status. By hiring a search engine optimization expert, your website can increase its rank in your targeted keywords in no time at all.

Benefits:

• One of the best methods for generating free and massive flow of prospects
• Targeted prospects as they find you by the specific keywords that they are looking for. Which is typing words into the search engines to find an answer
• Positions you as an expert by being found first

Cons:

• Slightly expensive when you hire an expert however in the long run, you will cover the costs many times over
• Takes time to build your “expertise” to google

Lead Generation: Good – 9/10

Costs: High – 8/10

Suitable for: All Companies

Paid Traffic

This is utilizing the paid ads listing on google and yahoo search engines. The ads are highlighted in colorful shades and positioned beside the top listings, usually at the right side of a search result. In as little as 10 minutes for Yahoo ads or 3 days for Google ads, your ads will be running and available for viewing.

Benefits:

• Immediate flow of prospects
• Can attract extensive variety of prospects ( as you can target an extensive range of keywords) on the search engines compared to Organic traffic in a shorter time frame

Cons:

• Recurring expenditure however if you generate more profitability than expenses, it is definitely worthwhile to invest. It is the only marketing expense, that when properly done, shrinks as time passes.
• Needs expertise and knowledge to manage your accounts otherwise you might be spending more than unnecessarily

Lead Generation: Good – 7/10

Costs: High – 7/10

Suitable for: All Companies

Company Website

This is an online presence where you feature your company services and products to people who find your website. The graphics, branding, and copywriting is vital for a competitive online lead generation. Some companies consider their websites not as a leads capturing tool, but rather more of an online brochure for their products.

Once you change that perception, you can actually utilize the website to become an effective sales tool. Choose to speak to your prospects and their issues rather than introducing your services and products. And always capture their contact by providing a free report or e-newsletter.

In fact, all traffic should be sent to your website with the intention to capture their data. The odds of people patronizing your products at first viewing is very low, thus, you have to rev up the interest further through your e-newsletters and convert the cold leads to hot leads.

Benefits:

• Leverage on time with the website, rather than having to keep repeating your services to different clients
• Leverage on time by using it to capture leads of prospects and convert them into sales, reducing your workload and increasing your profits
• Can position yourself as the leader in the industry by having a website that sells and convinces.

Cons:

• Nil as it is a necessity to have a website online

Lead Generation: Good – 10/10

Costs: High – 6/10

Necessary for: All Companies

Company Blog

A blog is perfect for frequent updates as it is much easier to use. The web is now bursting at the seams with a huge number of companies who have made the effort to create an online presence. To give you the lift to make you rise above the competition, you need to develop a captivating personality around your brand. You need to create a following through common beliefs and values.

Make a point of sharing interesting information and give them sneak peaks of your bubbling personality. Offer solutions to your prospect’s problems to gain their trust and gratitude. Your chances of attracting new prospects grow as your blog becomes more popular and readers begin to get to know you.  People want to know people and find out more about them before they raise their hands and tell you that they are interested.

Benefits:

• Can increase conversion rates on your offer if they like your personality (through the blog) and return to find out more information
• Especially useful to build a relationship with clients and prospects
• Easy to set up and free!
• Helps your articles be found in search engines (as google spiders) love them and helps improve the rankings of your blog / website (if it is linked together)
• Can be used as a prospects capturing site too, if you provide a free report or gift on your blog in return for their contact details

Cons:

• More time consuming compared to the rest as it is continuous

Lead Generation: Good – 9/10

Costs: High – 0/10

Suitable for all industries even though some companies still view blog as a causal marketing tool. If sun microsoft system, publishing companies, wine companies and even companies who help telecom companies save money are using blogs, why not jump on the wagon before being left behind in the dust of your competitors?

E-newsletters

A commonly overlooked tool that could help you generate much more leads than you expect. After you capture a person’s contact, make frequent communication and aim to build a relationship with them. Provide useful content and keep asking them to make a tiny step forward. If they enjoy your content and like the personality (through the e-newsletters), they are more likely to respond favorably.

In addition, by making frequent offers, you will be in their minds when they decide to use your service or products, hence increasing sales!

Lead Generation: Good – 8/10 – as people forward e-newsletter to their friends

Costs: High – 0/10

Suitable for all industries

Facebook

Facebook has been the strongest competitor to google as their number of subscribers have grown exponentially within 2 years. In fact, they are crafting applications to allow people to search for information inside facebook and has plans to become one of the portals with the biggest number of users.

Many companies are fearful of facebook as it is a conversation. You give out contact and other information to your customers or prospects and they leave comments. There is no way to moderate bad feedback or prevent negative remarks.  And it is a continuous process to build and enhance your relationship with them.

If you intend to take advantage of the benefits offered by facebook, you need to first define your objectives. Would you want to get feedback, send invites for your events or share product info? Secondly, decide on a strategy on achieving your objectives. Thirdly, determine who the key influencers are and include them in your list and make a positive connection with them. Fourthly, have a fallback plan should you receive bad feedback to diffuse any negative effect.

It is not surprising that all types of companies are building a presence on facebook, they include dentists, aesthetic doctors, notebook companies, psychologists, golf companies and many many more.

Benefits:

• If you lead your tribe (your fans) to cultivate a trusting relationship, you can double or triple your sales
• A great way to generate new prospects by finding them or being positioned correctly in facebook
• Easy to set up and free!
• You can be found in search engines based on the name of your fan page (which companies create)
• Trigger multiplier effect if done correctly

Cons:

• More time consuming compared to the rest as it is continuous
• Can back-fire if not done properly

Lead Generation: Good – 7/10

Costs: High – 0/10

Suitable for industries whose target market is utilizing the portal. The average age of facebook users is 35 years old and above. The context of the facebook fan page affects the success rate as you cannot simply create a fan page about the company but rather seek to provide some valuable insights or knowledge in your targeted customer niche.

Twitter

Obama popularized twitter and it has been buzzing ever since. Twitter can be employed to supplement your blog or facebook account for disseminating essential information to your followers. Twitter is a great way to find people interested in your niche because once you register an account, you can search for people with similar interests. Tap into this growing community to build a relationship with your target market. And use twitter to get them reading your blog or facebook profile.

Benefits:

• Fast and easy way to generate followers by identifying them inside the twitter database
• Great way to break the ice by providing feedback and comments to “tweets”
• Free to set up
• Helps people find you online if they search by your name or twitter account
• Trigger multiplier effect if done correct

Cons:

• More time consuming compared to the rest as it is continuous
• Can show low results if done without an objective

Lead Generation: Good – 5/10

Costs: High – 0/10

Suitable for companies with a blog or facebook account and want to “train” their prospects to keep returning to these pages.

Social Media Websites like Squidoo, Hub Pages, Digg and Delicious

Social media websites are similar to twitter as you utilize them to be found by loyal followers in each community. Spread out your articles into these social media channels to spread your “word” online and be found by people looking for a product or service that you are providing.

Benefits:

• Be found in the search engines
• Free to create an account
• Improve ranking of your website if done correctly
• Increase brand awareness if your articles appear everywhere in search engines

Cons:

• More time consuming compared to the rest as it is continuous
• Takes time to generate results

Lead Generation: Good – 4/10

Costs: High – 0/10

Forums

Identify where your target market are and build a conversation with them through providing value tips and insights to their questions. Projecting yourself as an expert and providing relevant content, are sufficient tools that often captivate prospects to click on your link and learn more about you.

I know a guy who launched his eproduct by simply participating extensively in forums and built a database of 800 ready prospects in a few weeks. So if your target market is hungry for your information or knowledge, it is a great opportunity to share your expertise and invite them to join your database.

Benefits:

• Easy to identify target market in forums
• Free & simple to execute
• If done correctly, can increase awareness of your company’s services and products very quickly
• Increase brand awareness if your articles appear everywhere in search engines

Cons:

• More time consuming compared to the rest as it is continuous

Lead Generation: Good – 6/10

Costs: High – 0/10

Suitable only for industries where there is a lot of talk in the forums, mainly consumer markets.

There are many different channels and techniques to generate leads through the internet. Based on your market and preferences, select at least four channels to experiment and learn. Because you do not want to be overly dependent on any channels, just in case it dries up.

The great thing about the internet is that you can predict the demand in advance because of the online data and archived information. With this, you can predict the anticipated response to your online marketing campaign and track every activity as everything done on the internet can be recorded. When you acquire a mindset to keep improving your campaigns and learn from every activity, with time, you can generate massive prospects at very low costs.

If you are keen to learn about the potential of your market in the internet, click here to read about the free customized report.

Pamelina Siow is an expert on generating leads through the internet. To be updated about her latest tips, catch up at Pamelina Siow blog.

★★★ Watching Golf online in 2011 ★★★